The door to the stairs with the rustic wooden sign "to the bedrooms" flies open at the exact moment Anke Meyer goes to open it. "Do you have yogurt?", A young Portuguese man asks the daughter of the youth hostel owner in English. Anke looks a bit bewildered, wondering perhaps why the guest wants to eat yogurt at 18.30 clock. "One of our players was injured, his lip is very thick," said the Portuguese, suggesting a swollen lip.
The team comes from a college town.
The 14-man baseball team Academica de Coimbra of Portugal has traveled to Solingen for the European Cup tournament. The games are taking place at the baseball field in Weyersberg until Saturday. Until then, the sympathetic southerners are staying in the hostel ‘Naturfreundehaus Pfaffenberg’ – an environment quite different than they are accustomed to. "We come from a college town. During the semester, there is lots going on" says Jose Dias (34), who doesn’t just play infield and catcher, but also is a coach for the team. "Its also normal to see people out on the streets at night," adds André Henriques (22).
Coimbra, a city of 100,000, is located about 200 km north of Lisbon. The club Academica de Coimbra was originally a sports club for students, and this past year was crowned Portuguese champions for the third time. This qualified player/coach Edward "Ed" Jeffery (30), by the way the English national team, and his crew for the European Cup.
It may seem strangely calm to the Portuguese at the idyllic Pfaffenberg Hostel. José Dias finds it not at all bad, "Solingen is a very unspoiled place. Everything is so beautifully green. I think you could live well in this town. "
Something else has caught 22-year-old Henriques’ eye: "You have a lot more Porsches here!" The guys laugh. In general, the Portuguese baseballers are in a good mood - even though they have yet to win a game in the tourney up to this point. "Tomorrow is our big day," predicts Dias on Tuesday evening - and is right: On Wednesday morning Academica de Coimbra earn the win against the Oslo Pretenders by the score of 6:3.
German cuisine has yet to be tasted, a point of lament for some players as the team eats its dinners at the Portuguese Center. But Dias is proud to recite some German he has already learned: "Wurst!"
A significant difference is the water with fizz, says Henriques, "at home we drink water without carbonation.” Finally, the baseballers get to one remaining important question: "Do you guys have ‘Haribo’ here? We love the little gummy-bears!"
The Meyer Family, owners of the hostel, have been impressed by their Portuguese visitors. "They behave well," says Anke Meyer, laughing and recalling a funny encounter: "My father was asked, 'Can you speak English?’ So that he can talk with the players. He replied, ‘No, but I can speak Solinger Platt, that should be close enough!' "