I found this conversation more difficult than I expected. Part of it was the language, of course. When I speak English, I can say what I mean, but sometimes I need time. I search for the right word. I start a sentence, then I stop, then I try again. Some topics are easy because they…
The sun was shining that morning, but it was not warm. That is how the conversation began. The Mayor asked me if the birds were singing in my world, and I said yes, they were singing, but it was windy, and we only had five degrees. He told me he had ten. It was a…
I remember someone once telling me that work should be fun. At first, I agreed almost automatically. It sounds right, doesn’t it? If you spend most of your life working, then it should at least feel good. Otherwise, what are you doing? But when I think about it more carefully, I realize that “fun” is…
I remember standing next to a machine for eight hours, doing nothing but watching. At the time, it didn’t feel dramatic. It wasn’t a bad day. It wasn’t even a hard day. It was just… quiet. Repetitive. Predictable. A piece of metal in front of me, a process to follow, and the feeling that tomorrow…
I still remember how quiet it felt on that first day. Not quiet in the sense of silence—there were machines, people, movement—but inside me, it was quiet. I didn’t know what to think yet. Everything was new, and at the same time, nothing felt special. It wasn’t a big moment like you imagine when you’re…
He didn’t look like someone who had made a mistake. That was the strange part. Alexander sat there calmly, almost thoughtfully, describing the moment that had taken him off the pitch. A red card. Two games suspended. The kind of thing that, from the outside, looks impulsive. Emotional. Maybe even reckless. But the way he…
I noticed it immediately on Monday morning. I was yawning before the day had even started. My energy was completely down. The strange thing was that only the day before, around three in the afternoon, my energy had been at its highest point of the whole week. We had our first football match of the…
On Saturday night in Pilsen, I stood in the middle of a club with my teammates, the music loud, the lights moving, everyone laughing — and I felt nothing. Not nothing emotionally. I was happy to be there. But my body was empty. My energy level was so low that even lifting my arms felt…
I sometimes smile when people ask me whether I am German or Bavarian. On paper, of course, I am German. I have a German passport, I speak German, I work in Germany. It’s simple. But when someone asks me that question, it doesn’t feel simple. If I say, “I am Bavarian,” what do I really…
On Friday evening, I stood in the cold at the football training ground, and I was tired in a way that sits deep in your bones. I had just come back from a business trip. My head was full of Excel files, product data, meetings that still needed preparation. My wife was not happy that…
