LÖRRACH - BFA held its annual home track meet & soccer match in Lörrach today. The skies were overcast making it an almost ideal day to run. Several Sonne families were able to make it to today's meet and watch their sons compete. Corban's 4x100 team placed second and qualified for the Regionals. Overall, BFA's track team placed third with 85 points.

The Falcon soccer team upped its record to 5-0-1 by beating Hanau 5-1. DavidA put the Falcons on the scoreboard by blasting a kick from the right side of the box early in the game. It was a fabulous shot will virtually no margin for error. The Panthers (2-2-1) answered by scoring on a header to knot the score 1-1. BillyR the scored the next three goals for BFA and freshmen SergeU provided the final margin. BFA avenged the only blemish on their record (a tie with Hanau in the season opener for both teams) by pulling away from their 2-1 halftime lead. Speaking about the rematch, Coach Greathouse said, "We fought for the ball this game, especially in the second half." He added, "Hanau actually outhustled us in the beginning, winning most of the balls but we were able to make adjustments and fought back." The Lady Falcons dropped their match 5-0. Unfortunately, the JV teams did not play due to SAT exams.

Currently Watching Once Upon a Time in Mexico (edited) Starring: Antonio Banderas, Willem Dafoe, Johnny Depp, Salma Hayek

RIEDLINGEN - BFA will celebrate its 2006 Spring Party a little earlier this year. Normally, it's held after class elections and introduces next year's student council but this year we're going to party early. Last night, TreyR (class of 2002) joined us for dinner; he met with some of the younger siblings of his former classmates. When he was here, Jo, was only in 8th grade...my, how time flies!

Currently Watching King Kong (filtered) Starring: Jack Black, Naomi Watts, Adrien Brody Trivia: The epic movie is currently ranked 34th on the all-time box office sellers with $544M in worldwide receipts; production cost was $207M. Peter Jackson was paid $20 million to direct this film, the highest salary ever paid to a film director in advance of production; The New York set was only four blocks across and one story high; the rest was added digitally; King Kong's roar is a lion's roar played backwards at half speed; Adrien Brody did his own stunt driving; The insects attacking Jack Driscoll at the canyon bottom are gigantic versions of the Weta, a species native to New Zealand and the namesake of Peter Jackson's production studio.

 Let's see...it's the first Tuesday of May...that should be cause to declare Sonne Hair Day. Judging by the 'do's we spotted, perhaps some of our guys may want to go into Cosmetology. Actually, we think the guys are experimenting with hairstyles for JSB.

During the BFA 50th Anniversary Celebration, the original houseparents of Sonne, Wes and Nettie Neufeld, dropped by for a visit. Alan had the opportunity to speak to them further at the banquet and collected these interesting morsels: 

• The Neufelds came to Germany in 1985 and served as dorm parents for two years in Sonnenhof. They were in their mid-twenties at the time with two small boys.


• Sonne was originally a GIRLS dorm!   BFA had 5 dorms in 1985.


• BFA combined girls from two other dorms (formerly guesthouses) to form Sonne:  8 from Hittonheim dorm in Holzen and 18 from Maien dorm in Marzell; the school added 10 more for a total of 36 girls. (Note: Maien, which was just down the street, was demolished several years ago.


• The Neufelds were assisted by 4 RAs; they also had a cook who lived in a nearby guesthouse.


• Wes shopped once a week, packing the dorm van from front to rear. All the dorm dads used to shop together (their primary form of male-bonding then) and Ted Dick would pay for the bill.


• Our front yard looked like a park. There were beautiful flowered hedges that ringed the stonework. It was so pretty that weddings were performed there.


• The fire pit was huge and had a wishing well on top. The whole school would come to Sonne for barbecues and games.


• There were lots of canvas recliners with wooden frames that allowed the girls to suntan out back.


• Sonne was the first (and only dorm for a while) to have a...microwave!


• The Web was the ONLY place to listen to music. Students would congregate and play board games. They set up a small canteen there that sold candy and other goodies.


• Staff were only given 3 weekends off during the school year.  Each workday, they were off between 1-3 p.m. (current staff generally rest between 12-4 in theory).


• After serving at Sonne for 2 years, the Neufelds dorm-parented at HBR for 2 more years.

Wes and Nettie are back in Canada and live near Vancouver. Even though Nettie had a very emotional trial leaving Canada to come work at BFA, it was even more emotionally trying to leave Germany and return home. They understand the deep bonds that form in a dorm family and they love hearing from their former students.

Here is Sonne's houseparent chronology:

1985-87: Wes & Nettie Neufeld
1987-95: Jesse & Doris Frank
1995-96: the Opfers
1996-97: the Siegels
1997-98: Glenn & Shelia Lewis
1998-99: the Derksens (first year as a guys dorm!)
1999-2001: Rob & Cathy McIlvoy
2001-06: Alan & Kathy Drake

Since today is Labor Day in Germany, BFA gave the kids the school day off. We gave them a Friday night schedule last night (translation: they could stay up until midnight) and let them have a Saturday-type hot breakfast (waffles and omelets). It was a sunny day, albeit a tad cold, so the guys did a bunch of outdoor activities including van waxing (ooh that's fun!), jumping a bicycle ramp, softball, bonfire, etc. There was also a mini-Settlers tournament (Caleb won a liter of vanilla Coke).

Currently Playing Die Siedler von Catan - Städte & Ritter von Kosmos Spiel

Currently Watching Be Cool (edited) Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn

KANDERN - Today, our guys attended BFA's dedication of the new Janz Building. JohnG played sax in the morning service and DanielS and DaweedC played violin later in the day. The dedication included a catered meal and was topped off by a 9-meter Black Forest cake. We made it back to the dorm around 3:30 pm, so some of the guys unwound with a movie; others worked on music video, still, others shared their salad with a donkey. Alan had the opportunity to meet with the original dorm parents of Sonne; stay tuned for a writeup of their interesting discussion.

Currently Watching The Jacket (edited) Starring: Starring: Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley Trivia: Cost $28M to produce; worldwide gross of $15M. Keira Knightley credits the food poisoning she had during her audition for landing her the part of a sickly alcoholic; Supposedly, scenes of Adrien Brody sobbing in the body drawer were real; he asked director John Maybury to keep him locked in even when they weren't filming so he could get the feel of the character's despair. Eventually, Brody lost it during filming, and Maybury caught it on tape.

KAISERSLAUTERN - Facing three Division I schools, the Falcon track team placed lower in the overall standings. BenB had a personal best in discus. Several track participant missed the meet in order to attend the BFA 50th Celebration.

 Speaking of which...the entire dorm went down to Kandern to watch the Talent Show featuring BFAers from past and present. The singing, skits and classical music performances were very entertaining! Some of the Sonne guys performing were: Daniel and Daweed played violin with String Thing; Kristoff sang in a parody of "A Whole New World," Jo played a very elderly lady in a dance to the song Thriller; and Kevin did a great job keeping handling stage props and the sound system.

KANDERN - BFA won their home opener before a very enthusiastic Falcon crowd, 3-0, against Patch. With the win, the varsity men moved their record to 4-0-1. It was also their third straight shutout. Extra fans were on hand in order to attend the school's 50th anniversary and to cheer for the Falcons. DavidO put the Falcons on the board with his first goal of the year, a strike from the left side of the box. DavidA then tacked on a goal from the right side of the box to extend the lead; JoriD completed our scoring on a PK. The game was hard-fought on the shorter clay field as the Panthers, 2-3-0, refused to go down without a fight. "It was kickball for the most part," said DavidA. "There were rare instances of good, developed ball control."  The JV boys won their rematch with Patch easily, 7-0, to remain undefeated. DaweedC joined the JV team and played half the game; he almost scored and gave an excellent effort for his first match. The Lady Falcons dropped a close one, 3-2.

Yes, this weekend, BFA will celebrate its 50th year of service. Sonnenhof will do its part for the extravaganza this afternoon by setting up the gym for the banquet. We'll cover the entire gymnasium floor with carpet tiles and tape them down; then set up tables and chairs. Hopefully, 35 of us can accomplish this in a reasonable amount of time.   After the guys come home this afternoon, they'll do their Saturday chores in advance so we can handle the weekend easier...because...on Saturday morning track leaves the dorm around 4 a.m. to travel to K-town. We'll serve a hot breakfast from 7-9 a.m. Soccer will leave the dorm around 8 a.m. to get ready and play in their home opener.

Currently Watching in the Web The Interpreter (edited) Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Jesper Christensen Trivia: Production budget $80M; worldwide gross 147M. This is the first film to be shot inside the United Nations Headquarters - locations include the General Assembly, the Security Council, as well as regular corridors and hallways of the complex; The cast and crew filmed on weekends in order not to disrupt the UN. Matobo is the name of a National Park in Zimbabwe. When Keener gets on the helicopter around 25 minutes into the movie she receives a phone call supposedly in an African language--it's actually Hebrew.

Today, Sonne hosted its final all-staff meeting this school year. You see, all the Residence Life staff meets together at different dorms every other Wednesday. On the other alternating Wednesdays, houseparents meet at one dorm and RAs at another. Kathy and the gang have pulled out all the stops on this meeting. Since it was Kathy's last chance to host the all-staff, we served breakfast and lunch. We even served dinkel bread for those on gluten-free diets. The kebabs and salad bar for lunch were great as well as all the pies. Since we literally made enough for an army, we're going to offer the same menu to the guys tonight. Click on the picture to see it bigger...

Gail also joined us for dinner and to claim her prize for winning the March Madness pool. Her co-winner, Cathy, wasn't able to be here (and enjoy the buffet) but Gail will give her her portion at school. Congratulations again ladies!