day 6 -Fri

Wrigley Field - Home of the Chicago Cubs Baseball Team is the destination today. All American and German partners meet at the `L´, the `Elevated Train´ that takes us to North Chicago where Wrigley Field is located. As we travel early for the tour of the stadium it´s not crowded and it´s a fun slow ride through the northern Chicago suburbs.
At Wrigley Field the group is split into two halves and the guide takes us around and tells us about the history of this stadium (2nd oldest after Fenway Park in Boston) and the founding of the team, the later owner Wrigley and the actual owners, the Ricket family,  who did all of the latest renovation of the ballpark - it´s more a little neighborhood of itself now. It´s interesting to learn how all the stories around baseball run into daily life and even influence the language. Baseball is American summer sport No 1.
For lunch we stay around in the different restaurants around and as some host parents are with us we can make several smaller groups who spread up.
About an hour before the game, the gates open and it´s becoming crowdy. We have seats in the so called `Bleacher's´. We are opposite homebase and have a clear view of everything. With enough skin protection and hats everybody is ready for the game `Cubs vs. Pirates´. They´re from Pittsburg. Before the game players throw balls into the crowd as a souvenir for the lucky ones who catch them and one goes into our direction where Max can get it. He is celebrated by the crowd around him for having it -congrats to Max.
During the game there is permanent activity of people (and our students) of getting in and out for beer (not our students) hot dogs, soft drinks, nachos and whatever stuff is sold.
The Cubs have a bad day and after 7 out of 9 innings with the Cubs down by 0:8 we decide to leave early to avoid the traffic in the `L´ which is a good decision if you don´t want to lose anybody among 35.000 people on their way home. In the end the Cubs lose 3:9.
However the atmosphere in the stadium, all the people around, the weather and learning about a completely new sport for us Germans make it a wonderful experience for all of us.
The weekend ahead will be spent with activities the host families plan and probably share with other families - so we´ll see what activities all have done next Monday at school — because we DO GO TO SCHOOL on Monday and Tuesday, there is no holiday weekend here.

Frohe Pfingsten from Wilmette!