Ich bin Berlin!

Saturday/Sunday was a couple of days designated for touring in Berlin! I've travelled quite a bit but never had the opportunity to hit Berlin. Lucky for us it's was only an hour from Frankfurt.






After a quick train ride we arrived at ostbahnhof station. It was perfectly situated as when we got out, it was right by the Berlin wall. That's right, THE Berlin wall. Our tour guide Dieter gave us a great walk through the main area where beautiful murals have been painted over every several meters or so. I tried my best to describe to our young athletes about the Cold War, communism, threats of nuclear war, etc... Not sure how relevant it was for them but we tried.






We were able to hit plenty of souvenir shops for Berlin paraphernalia and such. There may have been some broken hearts over missing a Birkenstock shop,but there were plenty of great gifts purchased, so I hope you all enjoy them.











Thanks to Noah Erskine for this post

The Mariposa and Matmen invasion of Europe has been a blast! This trip has been amazing so far, great techniques, new friends, great food and amazing adventures! The techniques here have been quite funky, but surely useful. I can't wait to use them against the coaches back home, and hopefully I can perfect them so I can use them at tournaments. The wrestlers here have been interesting. So far I get along with them. I also had the honour to hear stories from them about how wrestling saved them. It gave me even more respect for this wonderful sport. Did you know some people use wrestling not only as a sport, but for spiritual healing, religious activity and even as a family tradition?
Because of these factors, I got some traditional techniques that will stay with me forever and I even got to wrestle with the best! The Matmen kids were very nice too, and they changed my opinions of them, just being our rivals and the "Evil Empire", but moreso friends and even a part of our Mariposa family.
The food here has been very different, but very delicious! We've been honored to eat some of their traditional foods. We have also been taking amazing adventures such as the great mountain we climbed, that we got to see Poland or even the trips to Berlin. The wrestling sessions have been hard, the coaches have been great teachers and amazing guardians, but I can't wait to come home to kick some ass and even share my adventures in Europe!

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Location:Kieler Straße,Frankfurt,Germany

And just like that

And just like that... its over. You know when you go on that awesome ride at wonderland and then it just ends? Or when you get to have the BEST time with a friend and then they have to go home? Or better yet, going to Europe with a bunch of friends, training your collective asses off together, sight-seeing together, climbing mountains, swimming, laughing and crying with each other, you know, generally having an awesome time.



Danke to our german host Dieter!



But we have pictures, videos, and some phenomenal memories. The wrestling technique is great and all but the friendships are the best. Climbing mountains. Comparing blisters. Lieutenant Dan. Chris's dress up birthday. Where do we begin?



Here we are in Paris, totally exhausted as our plane gets delayed another half hour but all we can do is smile. What a ridiculously good experience. I love the bonds that have been created between Matmen and Mariposa and look forward to waching these friendships continue over the years.

Thanks moms and dads. Thanks grandparents. Thanks coaches Ivan, Bob and Capp for making this happen. Nobody here will ever forget it!

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