Left my heart in Munich

Behind those hazel eyes

The first impression is not necessarily correct.

V spotted M in KK near the city center on a Friday evening. It was a chilly summer night.
M has soft brown hair with long curves at the end, messy but with strong personality. He has a beautiful face for a man, unshaven beard at the tip of his chin.

V saw him 20 minutes after she entered KK looking for her friends.
She immediately spotted this beautiful looking young man who was with a group of friends chatting and laughing right next to her table.

"What a beautiful face," she thought to herself.
V asked her friends to check M out.
They giggled and giggled.

V and M talked after V's friend approached him for her one hour later.

"Why are you doing this to me?" M's very first sentence said to V after he sat down next to her.
"Excuse me?" V’s heart was beating fast.
"Yeah, why are you doing this to me? I am in a conversation with my friend and why your friend insisted me sitting here with you?" M replied in an upset tone of voice.
"Oh my, I am sorry, I have no idea what my friend said to you, but if you feel uncomfortable sitting here, please do return to your seat. We were just discussing how beautiful your face is, that's it." V answered.
M looked at V in her eyes, puzzled but pleased.
"I know I am pretty." He said.

That was the very first time V saw M's eyes.
Those big eyes with color she cannot describe.

M stayed to chat with V.
Most of the time, he has puzzled facial expression about things she said.
V felt a bit unsure about where to look when she talked.
His puzzled eyes were quite hard to identify.
Nevertheless, it was easy to tell that both M and V were interested.
They exchanged phone numbers and decided to meet the next day.

Her first impression for M was simple. M is a beautiful young man, who knows he's beautiful,
This means that he knows how and possibly plays with his beauty towards women.
"It is fun and it will be just for fun," V thought to herself after she left KK.
"It's not so hard to deal with snobbish people or people like him,"
V was working in an industry which there are enough snobbish celebrities to deal with before she left the company two months ago.
"And he's just a boy."

But first impression is not necessarily correct.
Certainly first intention can be changed.

V didn't know exactly how it all started.
V discovered more of what she wanted to know about M originally in the following month.
M was young but ambitious.
Surely girls fell all over for him all the time, however he's not as playful as she thought he was.
In many ways, M was quite traditional.
He wanted to finish his school and got married to the girl he loves by the age of 26 because he didn’t want to be an old dad.

V is eight years older than M,
She was successful in many ways already and her life was pretty much set.
She loved listening to him talking about his stories so she can learn more about him.

Then, unexpectedly, V fell.
Didn't know how it happened, but she fell for him.

When M decided to end, V was surprised to find herself feeling confused and hurt.
She asked him to look into her eyes and told her the truth.
M's words and reasons were pounding her brain.
But V saw something else from his eyes.
Those eyes with color she cannot define.

V left where M stayed.
M kissed her on her lips and watched her walk away.
V realized what it was all about behind those eyes.

They will meet again, and feelings cannot be killed.
The eyes told.
________________________________________

"Are those eyes hazel?" I asked.
"What's hazel?" he answered.
"The color of your eyes." I said.
"I have no idea, they are between brown and green" he replied.
Ah - behind those hazel eyes, I saw my own reflection.

My Germany

Keep Alicante in heart and we just stay there, you said

More than 10 years

One of my best girlfriends - Mong - from junior college got married last weekend.
Once again, I missed the wedding since I am never in Taiwan.
We chatted over the internet - thanks to technology - and she updated me lots people's news.

Those people who once passing through my teenager's life.

It was 14 years ago when all of us met in the junior college in pan-chiao (Chih-Lee).
I just graduated from the junior high school.
That summer, I had short hair just below my earlope.
Eagerly wanted to grow up or to be recognized as a grownup, I permed it with curves.

First day in school, I met all four of them, who later became my best friends for the next 5 years.
We joined the band club together,
Mong and Wen played drums, Yi and Ying played clarinet, and I played trumpet.
That was my 5 years in the junior college.
Classes, band, home, and boyfriends.

I met so many people from the band club,
Some I thought they would stay important to me all through my life.
But it never happened.

More than 10 years has passed by.
My life changed tremedously since my graduation at the age of 20.
The girls, I see them once in 3 years.
The boyfriends, two got married, one moved to New York.
The trumpet, never touched it again.

I cherish my friendship with the girls deeply,
but our lives went to different directions for the past 10 years,
we grew apart.

Mong updated me lots people's news over the internet today.
Those people who once passed through my youth, and most of them didn't stay.
There are so many changes to each one of them.
I can't deny that people do change, but you just need more than 10 years to see the difference.
I am the best case, even my taste for food changed.

It's been more than a decade.
Life can be so interesting.
I gave up on the complication, now I yearn for simplicity.

2006 FIFA World Cup Fever

It was eight years ago when I first experienced the crazy football fever.

Summer of 1998, Los Angeles
I was there with a group of French students and a group of Brazilian students in the TV room of UCLA. Not sure about the game but that night, we celebrated it with the French, and I fell in love with the sport.

Summer of 2002, London
Traditional powers Germany were actually not on the tongues of most as favourites before the tournament. But they made it to the final.
I had to woke up so early in order to catch the time difference between Europe and Asia.
Standing in central London, it ended with its most familiar conclusion,
The yellow-clad South Americans holding aloft the FIFA World Cup trophy,
Brazil claimed its fifth world championship.
I became a fanatic football fan for the sake of the excitement.

Summer of 2006, Munich
I am witnessing every step of every game live from the country of the official host.
Began with last Thursday, opening game of 2006 FIFA World Cup here in Munich.
I celebrated Germany's pride with the other 35,000 Germans,
We partied from 7:30pm when the game finished until 4:30am when everyone on the street of Gielastrasse were drunk.
I've been spending my days at the world famous Olympia park following the games,
After Germany's second victory last night, I know this sport stays in me.
I am becoming a football fan with knowledge of the sport, knowing the history, the tactic, the rules, the players...

It's football carnival here, I am in the carnival every second of my life at the moment.
Which country I am in favor to win since there's no Taiwan?
Deutschland und England vor!
For these two nations fulfilled my life and built me who I am today.