Aufweidesen pet....

As mentioned in a previous posting I had a German boy "Tino" staying with my family this week as part one of my son's school exchange visit. (or should that be sons, or sons' see apostrophe postings) It's been interesting but to be honest I've hardly seen him. The German group have been off to London (twice), Brighton, The Pantiles, I think they spent one half day in lessons. Sounds like a complete jolly to me! We did have a sunny day earlier in the week when we played basketball, juggling and football in my back garden. Tino it seems is an exceptionally good footballer, in fact I think he said that he was transferred for a fee to another club near his home town and trains 4 times a week! Do we do that here with 15 year olds? His party trick was ball juggling, ending up with the ball perched on the back of his neck and then, get this, he removed his T shirt completely whilst keeping the ball balanced on his neck. I was impressed anyway! I think I'll stick to watching it on the telly. This session did end up with a 'friendly' game in the garden my son and Tino versus my daughter and me, with a very small goal to make up for the lack of space in the garden, calling for some really good close control, which neither my daughter or myself had. We played that for a bit, and then Tino suggested that it should be him versus my family, in other words, 3 against one, although, it has to be said, my daughter was keener on playing on the climbing frame! He seemed confident as he went one nil up in the match which he'd called as the first to three. Then, I'm sorry for sharing this with you in a way, I'm almost ashamed to admit it but the competitive instincts kicked in, and 1966 and all that sprang to mind as I stepped up to the challenge. It had become England vs Germany! I couldn't help myself. England we managed a 3:2 victory (shame it couldn't have been 4:2 I hear some of you say. Geoff Hurst would have been proud of us!) I swear that Tino, a really lovely polite lad, went into a bit of a sulk after that; me raising my arms in victory maybe was a little over the top I'll grant you. Then last night we planned a farewell supper for him, but since I had to be somewhere at 8pm the lads were under strict instructions to be back early so that we could all eat together. The call came at around 6 that they had just arrived at the bowling alley and were just about to start a game! So that put paid to the farewell dinner. Tino threw his cloths around the room, left food in his draw, didn't unpack his bag all week, took ages in the bathroom in the morning, lounged around in bed at the weekend and do you know what I concluded by the end of the week? He's German yes, but above all else HE'S A TEENAGER just like my son. Anyway I saw him off this morning and I'll miss him, he's welcome to come back any time and he's promised to send me a ticket to the European Champions League final when he's playing for Bayern Munich or Man United in a few years time....