My good friend Martha prompted my search for this commercial. My family jokes about it because in our family of four we have a music professor, a composer/arranger, a theater technician, and a modern dance major. This is what it looks like when we get in the car:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L2OqPKYfJU
This is when we are NOT stuck in the snow of course!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Snow removal... Austrian style...
There has been very little snow in Salzburg until this past week. Mother Nature seems to be making up for lost time and it has snowed heavily for days on end. I am from Wisconsin so I am used to snow. I am also used to Wisconsin style snow removal which for the most part is speedy and efficient. European snow removal is neither.
As near as I can figure, the snow removal system is one of laissez-faire. Everything is left to melt and/or re-freeze. Sometimes there are gravel bitties that are casually tossed on the sidewalks, but generally the roads AND sidewalks are a series of frozen ruts. This can make ambulation hazardous. I live a block away from a senior housing complex and I see them out teetering in their trachten with trekking poles, tentatively making their way to the Thursday market.
I shouldn't say that there is NO snow removal as the snowplow DID come through at some crazy hour in the middle of the night and cleared a small swath down the middle of the street. There are no policies regarding snow removal and parking, so the apartment dwellers who park on the streets take their chances with being trapped by the snowplow detritus. Yesterday I saw one such unfortunate attempting to dig his small vehicle out from under a mound of snow. He obviously wasn't used to doing this since his solution was to pitch the offending snow either under his car, effectively high-centering it, or under the car parked directly in front of him, high-centering that one as well. I am afraid that I was a bit of a voyeur in that I HAD to stop and watch this brand of insanity. I knew he wasn't going to get out but he hopped in the car and floored it. Had this been an effective strategy, he certainly would have driven his vehicle into the rear end of the car in front, but as it was, the wheels just spun and he sank deeper into the snow. He repeated this procedure several times, shoveling the snow back under the car, then gunning the motor. It was gloriously futile.
I haven't checked yet today to see if he ever made it out.
As near as I can figure, the snow removal system is one of laissez-faire. Everything is left to melt and/or re-freeze. Sometimes there are gravel bitties that are casually tossed on the sidewalks, but generally the roads AND sidewalks are a series of frozen ruts. This can make ambulation hazardous. I live a block away from a senior housing complex and I see them out teetering in their trachten with trekking poles, tentatively making their way to the Thursday market.
I shouldn't say that there is NO snow removal as the snowplow DID come through at some crazy hour in the middle of the night and cleared a small swath down the middle of the street. There are no policies regarding snow removal and parking, so the apartment dwellers who park on the streets take their chances with being trapped by the snowplow detritus. Yesterday I saw one such unfortunate attempting to dig his small vehicle out from under a mound of snow. He obviously wasn't used to doing this since his solution was to pitch the offending snow either under his car, effectively high-centering it, or under the car parked directly in front of him, high-centering that one as well. I am afraid that I was a bit of a voyeur in that I HAD to stop and watch this brand of insanity. I knew he wasn't going to get out but he hopped in the car and floored it. Had this been an effective strategy, he certainly would have driven his vehicle into the rear end of the car in front, but as it was, the wheels just spun and he sank deeper into the snow. He repeated this procedure several times, shoveling the snow back under the car, then gunning the motor. It was gloriously futile.
I haven't checked yet today to see if he ever made it out.
Men in black!
I'm sure I've said it before, but the color black is like the European National Uniform. I was in Munich the other day for a concert (more about that in a minute) and I was at the Starbuck's in the train station watching the teeming masses on the street corner. Over half of them were dressed in black. I then realized, much to my chagrin, that I too was dressed in black.
I then got on the subway and saw a sign about "Schwarzfahren." This is a term with which I recently became acquainted. It means "black riding" or "riding without a ticket." The subway is full of people and I think it must be very hard to check everyone for tickets. No one is really on the subway long enough for a controller to check tickets, but the penalty is steep if you "Schwarzfahren." Astoundingly, it's not as high as the penalties in Salzburg (40 Euro vs. 60 Euro) but then things don't seem to be as expensive other places as they are in Salzburg. I may revise that opinion when I go to Vienna in a few weeks, but for now I'll let it stand.
The concert I went to in Munich was a concert of Hebraic music at the Orff Zentrum. The Orff Zentrum is a state sponsored library/recital hall/ archive dedicated to the preservation of Orff's work. Mostly theater works, not so much pedagogical work. Most of that material is here at the Institut. To get to the Zentrum, you need to go through a walkway from the main drag - Ludwigstrasse - to quiet Kaulbachstrasse. You can see the stacks at the state library all lit up, and there's a kindergarten located on the walkway. And there are crows....
The BBC recently did a mini-series called "The Tutors" starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry the VIII and Jeremy Northam who was Thomas Cromwell. Things ended badly for Cromwell and he was executed at the Tower of London. Of course the mini-series had several shots of Jeremy Northam in his prison cell and the most creepy thing about it (other than "Oh my GOD they're going to execute Jeremy Northam!!!!!! OK, it's a middle age woman thing..). were the crows cackling in the background.
The crows in the States are pansies compared to the crows over here. The crows here are big and ugly and have the most evil and sinister sounding voices imaginable. It is REALLY spooky. They sound like they are literally over your shoulder when they are indeed many feet over your head. And they never shut up!!
So the lovely walkway is shared with these harbingers of doom. They don't bite or attack or anything, they just sound sinister.
I was happy to get to the Zentrum because it is a bright cheerful place. For those of you that are interested in such things, it is located on the same site as the Günther Schule was in the 1920s. There is a beautiful Bechstein piano in the recital hall and everything is very tasteful.
The concert was a series of pieces by Ernest Bloch, some songs by Ravel, and the Kreutzer sonata by Beethoven. An interesting mix to be sure. Bloch is not necessarily my favorite, but the violinist was AMAZING!!!! The entire concert was top notch and the evening was rounded out by a reception afterwards (with wine!) where you could talk with the artists. It was lovely and the audience truly appreciated the evening. There was even an encore written by Orff!
Of course, all this sonic beauty was somewhat tempered by the fact that I had to walk the crow gauntlet to get to my hotel. But no matter. I had a hard time falling asleep because the concert had been so wonderful!!
I then got on the subway and saw a sign about "Schwarzfahren." This is a term with which I recently became acquainted. It means "black riding" or "riding without a ticket." The subway is full of people and I think it must be very hard to check everyone for tickets. No one is really on the subway long enough for a controller to check tickets, but the penalty is steep if you "Schwarzfahren." Astoundingly, it's not as high as the penalties in Salzburg (40 Euro vs. 60 Euro) but then things don't seem to be as expensive other places as they are in Salzburg. I may revise that opinion when I go to Vienna in a few weeks, but for now I'll let it stand.
The concert I went to in Munich was a concert of Hebraic music at the Orff Zentrum. The Orff Zentrum is a state sponsored library/recital hall/ archive dedicated to the preservation of Orff's work. Mostly theater works, not so much pedagogical work. Most of that material is here at the Institut. To get to the Zentrum, you need to go through a walkway from the main drag - Ludwigstrasse - to quiet Kaulbachstrasse. You can see the stacks at the state library all lit up, and there's a kindergarten located on the walkway. And there are crows....
The BBC recently did a mini-series called "The Tutors" starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry the VIII and Jeremy Northam who was Thomas Cromwell. Things ended badly for Cromwell and he was executed at the Tower of London. Of course the mini-series had several shots of Jeremy Northam in his prison cell and the most creepy thing about it (other than "Oh my GOD they're going to execute Jeremy Northam!!!!!! OK, it's a middle age woman thing..). were the crows cackling in the background.
The crows in the States are pansies compared to the crows over here. The crows here are big and ugly and have the most evil and sinister sounding voices imaginable. It is REALLY spooky. They sound like they are literally over your shoulder when they are indeed many feet over your head. And they never shut up!!
So the lovely walkway is shared with these harbingers of doom. They don't bite or attack or anything, they just sound sinister.
I was happy to get to the Zentrum because it is a bright cheerful place. For those of you that are interested in such things, it is located on the same site as the Günther Schule was in the 1920s. There is a beautiful Bechstein piano in the recital hall and everything is very tasteful.
The concert was a series of pieces by Ernest Bloch, some songs by Ravel, and the Kreutzer sonata by Beethoven. An interesting mix to be sure. Bloch is not necessarily my favorite, but the violinist was AMAZING!!!! The entire concert was top notch and the evening was rounded out by a reception afterwards (with wine!) where you could talk with the artists. It was lovely and the audience truly appreciated the evening. There was even an encore written by Orff!
Of course, all this sonic beauty was somewhat tempered by the fact that I had to walk the crow gauntlet to get to my hotel. But no matter. I had a hard time falling asleep because the concert had been so wonderful!!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Beauty and the Beast
One of the most important things I learned in my college methods class was:
"The secretary and the maintenance man are the two most important people that you will ever deal with in a school setting."
Notice it wasn't the superintendent, or the principal, or even the parents. Over my now considerable years teaching, I have found this advice to be more than true. It applies even to the Orff Institut!
The secretary at the Institut is one of the most amazing and generous people I've ever met. Her English is wonderful and she is very helpful and patient when you are struggling with German. When my wallet was stolen, containing my ticket to the traditional Salzburg Adventsingen, she replaced the ticket for me out of her own pocket because she felt it was important for me to experience it. She also lives in my 'hood, and on more than one occasion has given me a ride home. She has an incredible assortment of Beanie Babies decorating her office and the dashboard of her car, all gifts from students current and past. She really is the heart and soul of the Institut!
The "haus meister" is a direct contrast. Sending frightened students scattering in front of him, he stomps the halls in his rubber hip-waders (WHY??), looking neither left nor right and responding to friendly greetings mostly with a loud "Harumph!" In a twisted way, I enjoy these kinds of personalities. There is nothing like sending a bright, cheery "Guten Tag" or "Good morning" his way. He can't ignore it (as much as he would like to) and has to do SOMETHING, whether it's shrugging, or snorting, or "harumphing." It's endearing in a cave dweller kind of way.
The haus meister enjoys routine, rules and regulations. Take Wednesday for instance. Wednesday is "outdoor maintenance day." In the spring and fall, the lawnmower comes out and the lawn gets mowed. It doesn't matter if it's raining or even whether the grass needs mowing or not. It's WEDNESDAY. In the winter, this same principle applies to the snowblower. Out it comes, whether there's snow or not! It's just tough if it snows on Monday. Wednesday is snow removal day and that's it! Who cares if by Wednesday it has turned into a layer of lumpy frozen ice? We'll just roll the snowblower over it anyway.
Then there's the chip and the bats. On weekends, the Orff Institut is electronically secured and one can only gain access with the use of a blue chip. This is not a stock, rather it's a key fob with some kind of electronic fingerprint. You hold it up to the scanner and the door magically unlocks...... but only for 90 seconds. If the door is open longer than this, the alarm sounds and the police are summoned....... along with the haus meister. The police are easy enough to deal with, but NO ONE wants to deal with the wrath of the haus meister.
The computer room on the second floor has a tendency to overheat and it is common practice to open the windows. It is not unheard of to forget to close the windows thereby causing a fledermaus problem. One can only assume that the bats want to check their Facebook page. Who doesn't? I'll bet the haus meister even has a Facebook page!
"The secretary and the maintenance man are the two most important people that you will ever deal with in a school setting."
Notice it wasn't the superintendent, or the principal, or even the parents. Over my now considerable years teaching, I have found this advice to be more than true. It applies even to the Orff Institut!
The secretary at the Institut is one of the most amazing and generous people I've ever met. Her English is wonderful and she is very helpful and patient when you are struggling with German. When my wallet was stolen, containing my ticket to the traditional Salzburg Adventsingen, she replaced the ticket for me out of her own pocket because she felt it was important for me to experience it. She also lives in my 'hood, and on more than one occasion has given me a ride home. She has an incredible assortment of Beanie Babies decorating her office and the dashboard of her car, all gifts from students current and past. She really is the heart and soul of the Institut!
The "haus meister" is a direct contrast. Sending frightened students scattering in front of him, he stomps the halls in his rubber hip-waders (WHY??), looking neither left nor right and responding to friendly greetings mostly with a loud "Harumph!" In a twisted way, I enjoy these kinds of personalities. There is nothing like sending a bright, cheery "Guten Tag" or "Good morning" his way. He can't ignore it (as much as he would like to) and has to do SOMETHING, whether it's shrugging, or snorting, or "harumphing." It's endearing in a cave dweller kind of way.
The haus meister enjoys routine, rules and regulations. Take Wednesday for instance. Wednesday is "outdoor maintenance day." In the spring and fall, the lawnmower comes out and the lawn gets mowed. It doesn't matter if it's raining or even whether the grass needs mowing or not. It's WEDNESDAY. In the winter, this same principle applies to the snowblower. Out it comes, whether there's snow or not! It's just tough if it snows on Monday. Wednesday is snow removal day and that's it! Who cares if by Wednesday it has turned into a layer of lumpy frozen ice? We'll just roll the snowblower over it anyway.
Then there's the chip and the bats. On weekends, the Orff Institut is electronically secured and one can only gain access with the use of a blue chip. This is not a stock, rather it's a key fob with some kind of electronic fingerprint. You hold it up to the scanner and the door magically unlocks...... but only for 90 seconds. If the door is open longer than this, the alarm sounds and the police are summoned....... along with the haus meister. The police are easy enough to deal with, but NO ONE wants to deal with the wrath of the haus meister.
The computer room on the second floor has a tendency to overheat and it is common practice to open the windows. It is not unheard of to forget to close the windows thereby causing a fledermaus problem. One can only assume that the bats want to check their Facebook page. Who doesn't? I'll bet the haus meister even has a Facebook page!
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Flu
I have spent the last four days confined to my room as the result of influenza. I am prone to respiratory bother as it is, but I can't recall ever having the flu. Now I can say: Been there. Done that. Bought the T-shirt. Since I have spent a lot of time in the last few days looking at my apartment, I thought you might enjoy seeing what it looks like too!
This is my little kitchen. I like it. It reminds me of the tiny kitchen I had at the coffee shop I used to own. The coffee maker is one I purchased at the Flohmarkt (flea market) and I bought a little bakofen (a Pillsbury Bakeoven!) at Hofer, the Austrian equivalent of Aldi. I can make cafe and kuchen for my friends! The stove works on a timer which I think is a good thing, judging by how much blue burned dinner smoke fills the hallway on a regular basis. Not my dinner of course. I'm a hardened professional. The timer can get inconvenient if you are cooking something which has to simmer for a long time since it maxes out at 15 minutes. But you can adjust!
A picture of my state issue wardrobe and IKEA furnished bed.
The view out my window... sort of. There is a large empty building across the street from me. In fact, there is a lot of empty real estate in this part of town. My studentenheim used to be "the Krankenkassa" which I think means it was a building of doctors' offices. It was something medical. All the Salzburgers know it. When they ask me where I live, I say "The old Krankenkassa" and they say "Oh! Faberstrasse!" I used to find this amazing until I woke up and realized that Salzburg, in spite of its world renown, really is a very small place. Everyone knows everybody.
I brought the fuzzy lamb on the windowsill from home. I figured I couldn't bring my pets (I miss them!) so I brought something familiar and petlike along.
This is my little kitchen. I like it. It reminds me of the tiny kitchen I had at the coffee shop I used to own. The coffee maker is one I purchased at the Flohmarkt (flea market) and I bought a little bakofen (a Pillsbury Bakeoven!) at Hofer, the Austrian equivalent of Aldi. I can make cafe and kuchen for my friends! The stove works on a timer which I think is a good thing, judging by how much blue burned dinner smoke fills the hallway on a regular basis. Not my dinner of course. I'm a hardened professional. The timer can get inconvenient if you are cooking something which has to simmer for a long time since it maxes out at 15 minutes. But you can adjust!
A picture of my state issue wardrobe and IKEA furnished bed.
The view out my window... sort of. There is a large empty building across the street from me. In fact, there is a lot of empty real estate in this part of town. My studentenheim used to be "the Krankenkassa" which I think means it was a building of doctors' offices. It was something medical. All the Salzburgers know it. When they ask me where I live, I say "The old Krankenkassa" and they say "Oh! Faberstrasse!" I used to find this amazing until I woke up and realized that Salzburg, in spite of its world renown, really is a very small place. Everyone knows everybody.
I brought the fuzzy lamb on the windowsill from home. I figured I couldn't bring my pets (I miss them!) so I brought something familiar and petlike along.
Nancy Drew and the Case of the Missing Staubsauger
If you paid attention to the last post, you'll know what a staubsauger is!
When I was younger (yes, dinosaurs still freely roamed the earth) I loved the Nancy Drew books. What was not to like? Nancy had a cool dad, a dreamy and supportive boyfriend Ned, a convertible and brains! In short, everything I aspired to when I reached my late teens.... especially the convertible. She was a positive role model!
I was helping my friend Gabrielle do inventory at the book store last weekend and sure enough she had some Nancy Drew books in the Young Adult section. I was glad to see that they are still in print and even more glad to find that they are still selling even here in Austria.
In what has to seem to be a totally random fact, I was awakened at 4:30 Saturday morning by the unmistakable sound of the person upstairs vacuuming their floor. Now I ask you. WHY??????
What makes this so remarkable is that until a few days ago, the vacuum cleaner was MISSING!!!!!
I have to back up here and give you some more information. I live in a studentenheim which is kind of like a dorm, but not exactly. University tuition here in Austria is free (unless you're a student in the Special Course) or minimal, but unlike the USA, housing is not provided. It's every man for himself. Studentenheime are loosely affiliated to universities in that they provide housing for students, but they are not a university entity. There is no cafeteria, food is entirely the student's responsibility. I live in a studio apartment. I have a kitchen (no oven) and minimal kitchen supplies. I have minimal furnishings, which is fine, and I don't pay utilities, which is great. There are laundry facilities in the basement (again, every man for himself), a haus meister (house master) who is on site from 9-11 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays but never on St. Swithen's Day, and lounge (translate: smoker's paradise) on every floor. As far as cleaning supplies go, again it's every man for himself.
The putzfrau (another fabulous compound word!) keeps the housekeeping supplies in a closet on the first floor. Everyone knows where it is, and since there are no rules about using them (as there are no rules about anything, i.e. NOT playing your stereo between 1-3 AM or vacuuming at 4:30, or slamming doors) people tend to be fairly casual about borrowing and returning. I myself have borrowed the "heim Staubsauger" (house vacuum cleaner) on several occasions, which reminds me, I need to borrow it today. I am always diligent about returning it promptly, because I know there are about 200 other people in the building that could make use of it as well.
Shortly before Christmas, the house vacuum cleaner went missing. I had wanted to vacuum my room before I left for the break, but being unable to locate it, decided it might be better to wait until I returned. The dust wasn't exactly going to go anywhere. When I returned, I noticed that there was now a sign posted in the elevator, in German, asking that please, if you had borrowed the vacuum cleaner, return it. The sign hung there for a couple of weeks. Alas, no sign of the VC.
Around the end of January, I received an email from someone at the "main office" (which as I may have mentioned before is on the other side of town and has odd office hours) stating that unless the vacuum cleaner was returned on such and such a day at such and such an hour, the powers that be would conduct a room to room search and when the vacuum cleaner was found, the unfortunate person would be publicly humiliated. Of course, this was all in German. With maybe one exception, everyone on my floor is foreign and speaks something other than German first, probably English second, and German may be 3rd, 4th, or not even on the list. When they changed the security system in late November, there was total pandemonium on the floor when all the doors spontaneously unlocked at 8 PM. People had no idea the system was being changed even though they had received an email explaining everything...... in German.
Upon receiving this latest email, I went downstairs to discuss the matter with the Hausmeister. He understands English but doesn't really speak it, I understand German, but don't really speak it, so we have these great Germish conversations. I told him that I did not have the vacuum cleaner and that I didn't want him in my room and I said I thought the vacuum cleaner would turn up if the information went out in English. I explained that yes, this IS a German speaking country and yes, they have every right to expect us to make the effort to translate the information that is sent to us, but that the bottom line is, NOT EVERYONE DOES. The Hausmeister understood, but he didn't feel that his English was good enough to post a sign. Neither did the house speaker who was also there to discuss the missing item.
I asked myself "What would Nancy Drew do?" I posted a sign in the elevator in English.
Guess what? The vacuum cleaner showed up. I'll never know if it was the sign in English or the threatening email In German that initiated its return, but I for one am glad that it's back and my room is much cleaner because of it.
When I was younger (yes, dinosaurs still freely roamed the earth) I loved the Nancy Drew books. What was not to like? Nancy had a cool dad, a dreamy and supportive boyfriend Ned, a convertible and brains! In short, everything I aspired to when I reached my late teens.... especially the convertible. She was a positive role model!
I was helping my friend Gabrielle do inventory at the book store last weekend and sure enough she had some Nancy Drew books in the Young Adult section. I was glad to see that they are still in print and even more glad to find that they are still selling even here in Austria.
In what has to seem to be a totally random fact, I was awakened at 4:30 Saturday morning by the unmistakable sound of the person upstairs vacuuming their floor. Now I ask you. WHY??????
What makes this so remarkable is that until a few days ago, the vacuum cleaner was MISSING!!!!!
I have to back up here and give you some more information. I live in a studentenheim which is kind of like a dorm, but not exactly. University tuition here in Austria is free (unless you're a student in the Special Course) or minimal, but unlike the USA, housing is not provided. It's every man for himself. Studentenheime are loosely affiliated to universities in that they provide housing for students, but they are not a university entity. There is no cafeteria, food is entirely the student's responsibility. I live in a studio apartment. I have a kitchen (no oven) and minimal kitchen supplies. I have minimal furnishings, which is fine, and I don't pay utilities, which is great. There are laundry facilities in the basement (again, every man for himself), a haus meister (house master) who is on site from 9-11 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays but never on St. Swithen's Day, and lounge (translate: smoker's paradise) on every floor. As far as cleaning supplies go, again it's every man for himself.
The putzfrau (another fabulous compound word!) keeps the housekeeping supplies in a closet on the first floor. Everyone knows where it is, and since there are no rules about using them (as there are no rules about anything, i.e. NOT playing your stereo between 1-3 AM or vacuuming at 4:30, or slamming doors) people tend to be fairly casual about borrowing and returning. I myself have borrowed the "heim Staubsauger" (house vacuum cleaner) on several occasions, which reminds me, I need to borrow it today. I am always diligent about returning it promptly, because I know there are about 200 other people in the building that could make use of it as well.
Shortly before Christmas, the house vacuum cleaner went missing. I had wanted to vacuum my room before I left for the break, but being unable to locate it, decided it might be better to wait until I returned. The dust wasn't exactly going to go anywhere. When I returned, I noticed that there was now a sign posted in the elevator, in German, asking that please, if you had borrowed the vacuum cleaner, return it. The sign hung there for a couple of weeks. Alas, no sign of the VC.
Around the end of January, I received an email from someone at the "main office" (which as I may have mentioned before is on the other side of town and has odd office hours) stating that unless the vacuum cleaner was returned on such and such a day at such and such an hour, the powers that be would conduct a room to room search and when the vacuum cleaner was found, the unfortunate person would be publicly humiliated. Of course, this was all in German. With maybe one exception, everyone on my floor is foreign and speaks something other than German first, probably English second, and German may be 3rd, 4th, or not even on the list. When they changed the security system in late November, there was total pandemonium on the floor when all the doors spontaneously unlocked at 8 PM. People had no idea the system was being changed even though they had received an email explaining everything...... in German.
Upon receiving this latest email, I went downstairs to discuss the matter with the Hausmeister. He understands English but doesn't really speak it, I understand German, but don't really speak it, so we have these great Germish conversations. I told him that I did not have the vacuum cleaner and that I didn't want him in my room and I said I thought the vacuum cleaner would turn up if the information went out in English. I explained that yes, this IS a German speaking country and yes, they have every right to expect us to make the effort to translate the information that is sent to us, but that the bottom line is, NOT EVERYONE DOES. The Hausmeister understood, but he didn't feel that his English was good enough to post a sign. Neither did the house speaker who was also there to discuss the missing item.
I asked myself "What would Nancy Drew do?" I posted a sign in the elevator in English.
Guess what? The vacuum cleaner showed up. I'll never know if it was the sign in English or the threatening email In German that initiated its return, but I for one am glad that it's back and my room is much cleaner because of it.
The Efficiency of German
I love German. It can be rather intimidating to attempt to learn, but it is fun nonetheless. In fact, the word "nonetheless" is a spectacular example in English of German compactness. You could write "none the less" or "none-the-less" but it's much more efficient and economical to write "nonetheless" and it means the same thing anyway. German is full of these compound words. Instead of hyphenating things like "He-who-must-not-be-named" or "orffan-in-austria" the Germans just run them all together. It's quite sensible, albeit not always easy to read.
I love the compound words. They make so much sense! See if you can guess what these words are in English. I've added a fairly literal translation...
A. Hubschrauber - screw
B. Reissverschluss - travelling closure
C. Meerschwein - sea pig
D. Ausfahrt - out drive
E. Staubsauger - dust sucker
F. Flusspferd - river horse
How fun is that???? Give up?
A. Helicopter
B. Zipper
C. Guinea pig
D. Exit
E. Vacuum cleaner
F. Hippopotamus
I've actually had an opportunity to use all those words in conversation. OK, maybe not Guinea pig.......
I love the compound words. They make so much sense! See if you can guess what these words are in English. I've added a fairly literal translation...
A. Hubschrauber - screw
B. Reissverschluss - travelling closure
C. Meerschwein - sea pig
D. Ausfahrt - out drive
E. Staubsauger - dust sucker
F. Flusspferd - river horse
How fun is that???? Give up?
A. Helicopter
B. Zipper
C. Guinea pig
D. Exit
E. Vacuum cleaner
F. Hippopotamus
I've actually had an opportunity to use all those words in conversation. OK, maybe not Guinea pig.......
Friday, February 6, 2009
On the Sunny Side of the Street
I'm sure that you can only imagine what dorm living is like for someone who has not lived in a dorm since her freshman year. Let's just be polite and say that it was quite some time ago. In fact, dinosaurs still freely roamed the earth at that point in time and there was only black and white TV. We used to listen to music on these plastic discs that you scratched with a needle. There were no cell phones, no internet, no laptops, no FACEBOOK!!! How did we EVER survive?
I can remember doing a project for a class when I was still an engineering major where we had to determine a future animal population using BASIC and punchcards. We then had to take the cards to the computer room, which incidentally was not a room full of computers, but a room with ONE computer which took up all available space. The grad assistant on duty would feed your cards into the computer and you would wait for 15 minutes for the answer - 1415 antelope. Or whatever.
Flash forward to today. I am living in a studentenheim (translate: student house) with people my daughters' ages. It has taken some adjustment. It's a bit like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I routinely come home to halls filled with blue smoke from either burned dinners or cigarettes. (Smoking is rampant here in Europe.) One day I was down in the basement jockeying for position for one of the washing machines and I found a confused freshman standing in front of the machine. She had never done her own laundry, confessing that "My mother always does it for me." To which I said, "And she still does!" as I sorted her clothes, set the machine, and let it rip.
One of the students on the floor below must have received a new sound system for Christmas and decided that everyone needed a demonstration of its inherent power. I'm all for showing off your new and fabulous stereo, but not between 1 and 3 in the morning. Never one to hold back, I went downstairs and told them in no uncertain terms that it was irritating.
My immediate neighbor is a nice guy from India named Sunny. I'm not sure that's his given name, but I must say that it's an appropriate nickname. He really has a sunny disposition. Sunny is kind and generous. He also has one of the most resonant voices imaginable. He likes to play virtual football (soccer) and will vociferously encourage or disparage his avatar at all hours. He talks on the phone at a high volume. The best is when he sings. He'll play something on the radio or computer that sounds like "Benny Lava" and sing along.
I must confess that at first I found all of this to be immensely irritating, but after a while I realized that these are all happy sounds and I find it weirdly reassuring to hear Sunny sing in the morning. It means that all is well in the world!
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