Raul Gonzalez quietly raves about life in Germany

To celebrate the return of the Bundesliga from its long winter break, we have a special guest post from Raul on his first season away from Real Madrid.

Hello. My name is Raul. Raul Gonzalez. Writing is hard for me. But write I must. I write to respond to what is said about me, what is thought. People think I'm quietly intense. People think I'm unhappy in Germany. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The day I signed for Schalke was very happy for me and my family. I did not know the city where Schalke played, but I knew that city was in Germany. And Germany was not Spain. Before my decision, the new Real Madrid manager was very honest with me. I am thankful for that. He had his assistant tell his assistant to have the janitor at Valdebebas clear out my locker in June. Real men speak with actions, not words. I respect him for that. And his assistant. And his assistant's assistant. And the janitor. I had always envisioned my decade long career at Madrid ending in such a manner.

From that happy ending sprung an even happier beginning. The move to Germany has been good for many reasons. I was not always playing every minute of every game at Real Madrid. I am not playing every minute of every game at Schalke, but the manager tells me he believes in me. It is very pleasant to come to work everyday and be told by your boss that "he believes in you." I feel very inspired, sitting on the bench, or in the stands at games, hearing my manager's voice echo in my head. Belief is very important in my personal and professional life.

Personally, the move to Germany has made me and my family very happy. I still do not know the name of the city where we live, but it has lots of dark Gothic buildings. During the winter, the sun sets at 4pm. The weather gets much colder than in Spain. White stuff has fallen on the ground that is like cold powder water. Each morning, I wake up and use a butter knife to clear the cold powder water off my car's front and rear windows. Yesterday morning, the cold powder water on my car was so cold that, as necessary, I tried to heat my butter knife in the microwave. The microwave caught on fire, but my wife rushed into the kitchen and used baking soda to put it out. This is exactly how I envisioned the last chapter of my career unfolding.

As you can see, despite some gloomy pictures and rumors that I am quietly intense, I am very happy in Germany and laid back.

Elliott writes about soccer at Futfanatico.com