17 Months in B.K. City (Part 2)

As I said in my first blog, I will talk about football, youth coaching and general life in Bad Kissingen.

So before I arrived here, I knew I'd need to find a football club, so I went about this 3 months before I arrived. I'm now playing for FC06 Bad Kissingen and coaching their U9 team aswell. I'd be bored alot of the time if it wasn't for football here as it occupies up to 6 days of my week. 

Here's our team photo from the start of the season. We are doing well at the moment, we're 2nd and hoping to get promoted. 

I think I've played in every position except goalkeeper. I scored my first goal in Germany as well at the start of the season. A great cross into the box and I planted the header into the top corner. The keeper had no chance. Unfortunately at the wrong end! Own goal. I later got substituted and we lost 2-1. I was playing centre back that day and since then I've been gradually moved further away from our own box. A few games on the bench didn't seem to be far enough away from our box so that's why I started up front in a friendly last week, scoring 0 goals in total.

As well as trying to play football I coach the U9s team, which is good fun. We have tournaments monthly and are also in a league. We train twice a week in Summer and once a week in Winter. It's enjoyable for the kids, parents and trainer, especially the tournaments where prizes are given to every team.

Away from football for a while. There are some of the differences I've noticed between Deutschland and Ireland. Everything is so much cheaper here. Nights out are a third of the price, you don't need to bring I.D. and the clubs close at around 5am. Accommodation is so cheap aswell. I've never rented in Ireland but from what I've heard it can be treble the price compared to here. I don't know how Shamrock Rovers have done it for 26 years. 

Another major difference between here and Éire is the school system. School begins here at 8:00, they don't wear Uniform and it's a mixed school. Lessons finish at 1:00 and then they have sport or other activities afterwards. We had winter sports day a few weeks ago and went sledding and skiing at the Kreuzberg.

They celebrate Karneval here, unlike in Ireland. Everyone dresses up and goes crazy for a few days. Here is a picture of my costume. 4 of us did a Moulin Rouge dance aswell at our football team Karneval Party. After a weeks practise we were ready and the crowd seemed to enjoy it. The party went on all night with some great costumes on show. I didn't know whether to use the girls or boys bathroom, but the hairy chest and beard gave away the fact that it was just a costume. Ich habe sehr viel Spaß gehabt. Es ist so schade, dass wir Karneval in Irland nicht feiern.


 A few things to look forward to over the next month:

• League of Ireland season starting
• Easter Holidays (Osterferien)
• Saint Patrick's Day Party
• My league season starting back after a long winter break

Again, feel free to comment or if anyone is thinking of moving abroad to a non-English speaking country and wants advice feel free to ask questions.

Come on the Saints,