kaffee & kuchen and german feather dusters

Cecilia visited me on her way to moving to Italy for the summer and fall. We ate, walked, talked about our big life uncertainties two years after graduating from Pomona, and watched the World Cup. Kaffee und Kuchen at Café Laumer was a highlight (their veranda seating is lovely), as was Germany's World Cup win over Australia on Sunday night. We sat outside of a hookah bar in Sachsenhausen and nursed beers, then walked back to my apartment, grinning at all the honking cars and excited people post-win.

Near my apartment, we were accosted by four guys running out a bar, trying to convince us to come in and celebrate Germany's win. When we tried to say we were tired, they became suspicious. Had we not supported Germany?! No, no, we had! We pointed to our leis in Germany's colors. They remained unconvinced; how could we not want to celebrate? Had we even WATCHED the game? One of them wielded a feather duster (in German flag colors) as a microphone. It turned out he wanted us to name the players who had scored each of Germany's four goals (which we knew, but we were flustered, and had not understood the question). At our confused, "Wie bitte?" the guy determined that we needed reminding. "Podolski!" he told us, delivering a whack to my back with the feather duster. "Klose!" WHACK. "Müller!" WHACK. "Cacau!" WHACK. We were then sent on our way, sufficiently shamed.