THE GERMAN ABROAD

Travelling around you do meet some very different people.

When I was in Nepal I went to a football match in Kathmandu. The teams were dreadful and one of them was winning 5-0 at halftime. The team that were winning were playing a 3-5-2 formation and the other team quickly degenerated into the old playground formation of 1-0-9 (I want to score I want to score me me me).

Quite by accident I happened to be sitting next to the only other foreigner in the crowd. He was about 50 years old, German, and had a crazy story to tell.  

I asked him if he was a scout looking for players and he said no so I asked him if he was on holiday and he said no. Running out of options, I asked him if he worked in Nepal and he said no.

“What are you doing here then?”

“I travel the world and watch a football match in each country. I want to see a game in EVERY country in the world. This is my 85th country.”

“Wow, thats great. Do you make a holiday of it every where you go? Is your family with you?”

“No, I come on my own. I got here yesterday and I leave tonight. I am going to Bhutan to watch a game and then I am going home to Germany the next day.”

“Let me get this straight… you have come all the way here from Germany and you won’t see anything else in the country other than the airport, the football stadium and a hotel room?”

“Yes. I have been trying for years to get into North Korea to watch a game but they won’t let me.”

It seems very odd to me to go to all these places and never try to go and see anything. I try to go to a game wherever I go too but I certainly wouldn’t go to the game at the expense of seeing the other things which the given country has to offer.

I do still wonder what number the guy is onto now and if he did get into North Korea.