united in Austria :-)

7. August 2010
As the portuguese footballer Zé Vitor had to leave St. Gallen's football club in spring, he decided to take on an offer from Cyprus and signed a contract with 'AEL Limassol'.
AEL Limassol spent the first two august weeks in Austria to prepare for the new season which will kick off at the end of the month. What a coincidence! :-))
So we decided spontaneously to head off on a road trip to Salzburg. It was a 5-hour journey and after we had lunch, we hopped back into my friend's little blue Fiat Punto and drove another hour to get to a small village called Bad Wimsbach.
The only reason making it worthwile to pay Bad Wimsbach a visit was the friendly game between the two football clubs AEL Limassol and Hertha BSC (from Berlin). AEL's president and vice-president were delighted to meet two girls who travelled all the way from Switzerland to support their team and so we had to pose for a couple of photographs. :-D But hey, I'd rather be famous in Cyprus than not being famous at all! =P
It was a great weekend! We got the chance to have a proper chat with Zé Vitor. He signed the football jerseys we had brought with us and in exchange we gave him an "Espenblock" scarf and some Swiss chocolate. He promised to get us free tickets for a match in Tsirion Stadium (AEL's home ground) if we travel to Limassol.
CYPRUS, YOU BETTER BE PREPARED! Because we will attend the game between AEL Limassol and Omonia Nikosia on october 23rd. I can't wait! :-)
(By the way: Zé used to wear shirt number 8 when he played for St. Gallen and I'm happy for him that he got the same number on the back of his yellow AEL jersey.)

Football

I always loved being in football stadiums. No matter what team played. It's about the great atmosphere. You don't get that anywhere else. In a football stadium I feel strong and comfortable. A beer in one hand, greeting familiar faces with the other. Clapping and shouting as if my parents had never taught me any good behaviour at all. In football stadiums I feel at home. To me they are like my old sofa where I can put my feet up and relax.

And then there is the FCSG (FC St. Gallen). Only a few years ago I would have rather burnt in hell than missing a match of my most beloved football team. When I used to work in Ireland I even flew from Dublin to Switzerland just to see the FCSG lads play. Back here I'm living barely 15km away from the stadium. And yet I decided not to spend yesterday afternoon in there. I was afraid I'd miss out on a delicious dinner. I had never hoped for that day to come so soon.....but it was suddenly here: I prefered food to a football match!

I mean, how sad is that?

I wish I could name the feeling that had overcome me yesterday. It was some kind of a total laziness... Or sluggishness. A friend of mine suggested to take me to a mental institution until I would be given the all-clear. ;o) But there was no need for that.

When I woke up this morning, it was here again. The urge, the inner desire to pilgrim to the stadium. And I realized I can't wait for saturday when the FC St. Gallen is playing against the FC Zurich. FUSSBALL ÜBER ALLES! :-))

Feli withouth football would never work! And thank God for that :-)

Urban Dictionary

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Have you ever visited the 'Urban Dictionary'?
It's fun to look up the urban meaning of your name! :-))

So let's see what a "mad cracker" really is:
- british slang for someone who is insane
- insane person, psychotic
- mad racist white man
Hehe, good to know! ;o)

And here are a few hilarious descriptions about my home country Switzerland:
- A country in central Europe with beautiful mountains known as the Alps. Every citizen has an assault rifle, would be a very tough country to invade. Don't mess with the masters of chocolate!
- Not so helpful in the war; but nice chocolate. "So what part did Switzerland play in the WW2" - "Shut up and eat your Toblerone!"
- The act of being neutral or non-committed on a subject, usual a controversial one. "Hey, whaddya think about those Red Sox finally winning the World Series? - "Listen, I don't wanna get into it, man. I'm SWITZERLAND on this one."
- Piggy bank of the world.
- A country of yodelling mountain goat herders and hot blondes named Heidi. (:-D)
- Switzerland is a country in Europe; but Switzerland ISN'T Sweden! And Swiss is not the same as Swedish! Get it? American: "Where are you from?" - Swiss tourist: "I'm from Switzerland." - American: "Oh nice, I like the Swedish girls!"

Raclette Pizza

Most families, couples and singles in Switzerland have an electric table-top grill with small pans at home. It's a modern way of serving the famous dish "Raclette".
But you can actually use this Raclette grill for making tiny little Pizzas! :-) We only use homemade pizza dough in our house; same goes for the tomato sauce. Everybody can choose their individual toppings. I prefer a simple Pizza Margarita. So I pour a little olive oil into the Raclette pan to make it greasy. I then take a bit of the pizza dough and press it flat into the Raclette pan. Tomato sauce, Mozzarella cheese and some Oregano is all I put on top. Such a tiny pizza takes approx. 15 minutes until it is ready to eat. But it depends on how thick the base is. For a real crispy base you should put the Pizza on top of the grill before enjoying it.

Bon appétit! :-)