Handstands, Uno, and the city of Munster

Good news. It is harder to cry while doing a handstand.  

I am thinking that it is much less a gravity thing and more a distraction thing.  I am concentrating so much on the hand standing that I can’t really give my emotions much thought.

So, getting better at handstands should help me cry less.  It’s like the expression “killing two birds with one stone” but far less violent. More like, “achieving two goals with one handstand,” or maybe just “grow a pair!”

Oh yeah, I also worked on pointing my toes for anyone who noticed the lazy feet.  How embarrassing.

Now I just have to figure out how to take this handstand off the wall.  

But enough about me. 

How about Munster?

Munster is the city we have been in these past ten days and just may be one of my favorite German cities.  It is the bicycle capital of Germany  (I am not even sure what that means, but I like it) there are a ton of students, it is easy to get around, and it is pretty liberal.

On our first day here, Brent, Jane and I walked around the city to do some “recon” for New Year’s Eve.  Jane and I had done this last year in Essen and it seemed to work pretty well.  We scoped out a bunch of bars,analyzed deliberated, then made a very informed decision on where to ring in the new year.

You see, the maturity and intelligence put into the decision making process makes the immaturity and silliness of the actual night okay.  It’s a wash.

This time, during our exploration, we found a cool-looking and eco-friendly clothing store, which led us to a cool-looking and eco-friendly guy, who then made us a list of cool-looking (and possibly eco-friendly) bars.  Jackpot!

On this list was a bar very close to our hotel, called SpecOps.  We knew it wasn’t a place for New Years, but a good place to grab a drink at some point.

That point came the following night, with Brent, Paul, Charlene, Michael, Michael’s parents and Michael’s very first skating coach.

As we walked in, we noticed was how quiet the bar was.  There was some pretty great music playing, but that was it; no one was talking.

We thought, “Oh sh*t, we are going to be the loud Americans” (who dragged a poor French girl with them.)

Then we realized that at every table groups of friends were playing good old fashioned games-- board games and card games (note- NOT video games.)  Behind the bar was an array of games to choose from.  

It was pretty nice; there didn’t seem to be a smart phone, computer, blue tooth earpiece, or social networking machine in sight, and although there wasn’t much conversing going on, everyone was participanting in some group activity.  Face to face.  Crazy, right?!

One point for you, Munster.  

So we grabbed Uno, some chips, salsa, drinks and made ourselves comfortable.  

And I feel it necessary to mention--for any of you that might place bets on Uno games-- that the “older generation” (as in Michael’s parents and skating coach) kick a** at it.  Watch out for them.

Ringing in the New Year in Munster