Aufwiedersehen Deutschland, cheers London!

The last few days in Germany were...awesome!  Igor's 28th birthday was on May 2nd (3 important people in my life are tauruses...go figure) and we celebrated it on the 4th.  We went paintballing...I thought I was going to be awesome.  I definitely was not.

I seriously think paintball is a sport for people who really like first person shooter games (i.e. Halo, Doom - for the older folks out there).  There were no trees to climb up, so I just kinda hid in the back and tried to shoot people.  I wasn't the most successful.  And I surrendered really easily.  Some pictures:

Me before paintball started.  As you can tell, I'm wearing climbing clothes...I'm an idiot.  You gotta layer up for paintball!  Those things hurt!!

Left to right: Dennis, Katja (priceless expression!), and Tabea (Igor's girlfriend)

Me, still smiling before paintball....our paintball instructor took pity on me and gave me an extra pair of pants to wear!

Tabea, Igor's girlfriend, giving a thumbs up!!  That mask is very becoming of her...



This is Igor's original team.  I think Yusre (the guys on the very right who is turned away), is smoking...oh, Germans...

But!  The cool thing is that we got to go bouldering on saturday!!  For those of you who don't know, I've gotten really into climbing.  Bouldering is a type of climbing where you are not tethered.  So climb up and jump down.  You're never climbing very high though.  But it is tricky.  German boulderers are very different than Seattle ones.  Differences:

• Height: Seattle is filled shorter people at the gym; in Germany, every guy was like 6 ft tall.  This actually makes a really big different because it determines how far apart the grips are placed.  A taller person has a bigger winspan than a shorter person.  So moves taller people can make, I literally have to jump to make.
• Overhangs:  There are a lot of overhangs in Germany, where you are almost literally climbing upside down.  One of the cool/defining characteristics about bouldering is that it is much more daring than regular climbing.  If you miss a hold, you will fall.  Climbing in an overhang is...tiring, to say the least :).  Gravity's a bitch (sorry Newton).  Anyway, more overhangs == need more strength during climbing.  German climbers are pretty strong.
• Arm strength vs. core strength:  As mentioned above, German climbers are strong.  The interesting thing about climbing is that the best climbers int he world aren't necessarily the strongest, but they know exactly how to shift their body weight, which means they have incredible core strength.  The latter is where Seattle falls.  A climber who relies on their arm strength to work their way up the wall, it's pretty clear that every move requires a lot of effort.  A core strength climbers looks pretty effortless on the wall (but it requires just as much effort!)

Alas, now I've left Germany.  But I'm London!  And I'll give you a hint that I'm not here to drink high tea or eat the shortbread....I'm here to visit my sister!  She moved to London 1.5 years ago (about the same time as I went to Seattle).  So, I finally came out to see here!

Cheerio ol chaps!

 Priya