Off to Deuschtland!

Well I will be beginning my long trip to Saxony-Anhalt on Wednesday and will be out of contact for at least a couple of days. After that I will be starting my 9-10 month stint in Germany and will probably be less active than I already am, if I am even active on the Org. I don't know what else to say, but good bye and any random bits of advice are welcome, especially the humorous ones.

EDIT: Oh that's horrible...Would a mod mind correcting the spelling to Deutschland, I must really be getting jittery.

Don't act like a Turk there. :laugh4:

...and have a good journey and experience..:2thumbsup:

Have fun.:2thumbsup:

An important piece of advice, under no circumstance must you ever, ever mention the war. I repeat, do not mention the war, especially to older Germans, younger ones might be okay, but old, just don't risk it. I have first hand experience of this, my nan is German and WW2 is not allowed on the TV when she is the house or all she goes on and on about it for what seems like forever.

https://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2807/ftowers1yi5.jpg


Have fun !

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Originally Posted by doc_bean

Have fun !

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Just a walk in the park.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

drink beer

You can mention WWII, but you have to be sensative that's all. You have to realize even though there were some bad apples and some horrible leaders many of the soldiers fought for their homeland not senseless killing. Just because they are German doesn't mean they are any less or more interested in WWII in my opinion.

Good luck Kenshin. Best of watches. I hope it goes well and you can adjust.

Visit Bayern the beautiful my friend, you will not regret it.

Edit: If you go to Nuernberg, there's an Internet Cafe in the Lorenzkirche U-Bahn station that offers very reasonable rates, all things considered.

Have fun Kenshin.

Bye bye my fearful enemy. :bow:

Have fun. ~:)

Come over and visit Holland if you have the spare time, probably not even that far by car / train - not by American standards anyway.


:balloon2:

Be sure to visit Wörlitz when you are in Sachsen-Anhalt (I will actually go there this weekend).
You should also go to Wittenberg.

But I guess your host family will make sure that you see these places ~:)

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Originally Posted by Dutch_guy

Come over and visit Holland if you have the spare time, probably not even that far by car / train - not by American standards anyway.


:balloon2:

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Wouldn't count on that, Saxony is on the other side of Germany.

Have a great time UK.

you visit many places.


have fun.

Well my grandfather died today...
He's been sick for quite a while and this morning he had a seizure and then later on his heart stopped. He is hours away and I had already said my goodbyes and pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't see him again. It's been a pretty tough day, but I'll be heading out as planned. This may be my last post on the Org for quite some time, the earliest I could be back is maybe next Sunday or Monday, but I won't be on very frequently.

Good bye Org, I'd miss you if my life wasn't going to be so hectic.

blegh. :no:

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

Well my grandfather died today...
He's been sick for quite a while and this morning he had a seizure and then later on his heart stopped. He is hours away and I had already said my goodbyes and pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't see him again. It's been a pretty tough day, but I'll be heading out as planned. This may be my last post on the Org for quite some time, the earliest I could be back is maybe next Sunday or Monday, but I won't be on very frequently.

Good bye Org, I'd miss you if my life wasn't going to be so hectic.

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Sorry to hear about your grandfather, Kenshin. Take care, bud.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

Well my grandfather died today...
He's been sick for quite a while and this morning he had a seizure and then later on his heart stopped. He is hours away and I had already said my goodbyes and pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't see him again. It's been a pretty tough day, but I'll be heading out as planned. This may be my last post on the Org for quite some time, the earliest I could be back is maybe next Sunday or Monday, but I won't be on very frequently.

Good bye Org, I'd miss you if my life wasn't going to be so hectic.

---

~:mecry:

I guess nobody has the blessing that I have. My grandfather is 91 years old(he celebrated today 91 years old) and he is in a good shape.

WWII veteran, 8 decorations, aircraft pilot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

Well my grandfather died today...
He's been sick for quite a while and this morning he had a seizure and then later on his heart stopped. He is hours away and I had already said my goodbyes and pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't see him again. It's been a pretty tough day, but I'll be heading out as planned. This may be my last post on the Org for quite some time, the earliest I could be back is maybe next Sunday or Monday, but I won't be on very frequently.

Good bye Org, I'd miss you if my life wasn't going to be so hectic.

---

~:mecry:

I guess nobody has the blessing that I have. My grandfather is 91 years old(he celebrated today 91 years old) and he is in a good shape.

WWII veteran, 8 decorations, aircraft pilot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

Well my grandfather died today...
He's been sick for quite a while and this morning he had a seizure and then later on his heart stopped. He is hours away and I had already said my goodbyes and pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't see him again. It's been a pretty tough day, but I'll be heading out as planned. This may be my last post on the Org for quite some time, the earliest I could be back is maybe next Sunday or Monday, but I won't be on very frequently.

Good bye Org, I'd miss you if my life wasn't going to be so hectic.

---

~:mecry:

I guess nobody has the blessing that I have. My grandfather is 91 years old(he celebrated today 91 years old) and he is in a good shape.

WWII veteran, 8 decorations, aircraft pilot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

Well my grandfather died today...
He's been sick for quite a while and this morning he had a seizure and then later on his heart stopped. He is hours away and I had already said my goodbyes and pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't see him again. It's been a pretty tough day, but I'll be heading out as planned. This may be my last post on the Org for quite some time, the earliest I could be back is maybe next Sunday or Monday, but I won't be on very frequently.

Good bye Org, I'd miss you if my life wasn't going to be so hectic.

---

~:mecry:

I guess nobody has the blessing that I have. My grandfather is 91 years old(he celebrated today 91 years old) and he is in a good shape.

WWII veteran, 8 decorations, aircraft pilot.

wow 4 of the same posts... is that a record.

Have a good trip

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

Well my grandfather died today...
He's been sick for quite a while and this morning he had a seizure and then later on his heart stopped. He is hours away and I had already said my goodbyes and pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't see him again. It's been a pretty tough day, but I'll be heading out as planned. This may be my last post on the Org for quite some time, the earliest I could be back is maybe next Sunday or Monday, but I won't be on very frequently.

Good bye Org, I'd miss you if my life wasn't going to be so hectic.

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My condolances :no:

Well I am in Germany now and everything is working out really well, except not knowing the language of course. I'm not going to stay long, but I figured I should tell you guys that things are going well and my host-family and first day of school went well.

Willkommen in Deutschland ~:cheers:

Enjoy your stay in Germany UK. Do check in with us when you can.

Sorry to hear about your grandfather.

Time for an update!!!

Who's excited??

Okay so I have now been in Germany for a little over a week and have gone to an AFS Orientation camp. It wasn't really worth much, except I got to speak English and work on my Spanish. I also took a communal shower, which was strange for me, but since there was only one other person there and I knew him somewhat well by then it was okay.

Sunday I drank my first beer, which was okay once I got used to the taste. I'm not going to be one of the exchange students that gets drunk, throws up on the bathroom floor, and then frantically tries to find the German words for Bleach and disinfectant so that his/her host parents don't find out when they get back though.

School is going a bit better, and I am starting to fit in a bit more, but I am still an outsider and the language barrier is still a big problem.

I don't really know what else to write, but if anyone is thinking about being an exchange students or has any questions feel free to post them, I'll get to them eventually, if not immediately.

Have fun in Germany Kenshin you lucky....Censored beep beep beep beep beep. Beeps a pretty fun word beep beep beep

You got to drink real German Beer!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lucky...:2thumbsup:

A girl in my German class spent a year there on an exchange. She said she kept a lot of water around to drink it all very quickly after a night of drinking. Apparently, it helps drop her score on some kind of meter that was used to judge her intoxication level. Sounds a little fishy, but there's your anecdote from me, I suppose.

Lucky for you, though, the strongbeer-season is approaching. I have no other suggestions, though, besides that visting Bamberg for the smokebeer is a good idea. Oh, and everything in moderation...even moderation.

One word. Weissbier.

Just learned today that we have two foreign exchange students in our school and there both from Germany. Well anyways good luck on your stay in Germany.

Time for another update!

I went to my first big party on Saturday, it was quite fun, but the drunks were very very obnoxious. There were 15 or 16 of us and tons of booze, luckily most of us knew how to drink without getting drunk, and the other three or four were a pain, but what are you going to do. My host brother was the drunkest, and the most annoying, but fortunately I didn't have to clean it up when he puked in the kitchen (habe ein kotze in die kuche??? How do you say that in German?). We stayed up until about 4:30 in the morning.

Unfortunately my host brother didn't act nearly as hungover as I had hoped, but other than a bit of a misunderstanding due to my rather sparse knowledge of German Sunday went quite well.

I also ate smoked Aal (Eel in English) today, which was very tasty, and not much else new of any importance has happened, but I think the party contained enough firsts for the week.

Ooops I almost forgot, we also had the police called on us. At about 9, or 9:30 we went outside to have some fresh air because the room we were in was very hot, unfortunately several people were either already fairly drunk, or were egging the drunks on so one of the neighbors soon surreptitiously took a picture of the group, yelled at us and called the Polizei. Luckily they seemed to be quite annoyed, but not pissed so no charges were laid against us and we just had to keep it inside and down for the rest of the evening. I'd have been really annoyed if they had fined, or arrested, or whatever the whole group because I barely said a word when we went outside, again due to my horrible German.

Ein kotze? I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

I didn't have to clean it up when he puked in the kitchen (habe ein kotze in die kuche??? How do you say that in German?)

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"Ich habe in die Küche gekotzt" = "I have puked in the kitchen"

"kotzen" = "to puke" (verb)
"Kotze" = "puke" (noun)

~:)

sounds like a gay ol time

I knew what I came up with sucked, thanks for the clarification Ser, but it would be "Er habt in die Küche gekotzt," because I was not the one to puke in the kitchen, my host brother was.

Never keep drinking when drunk if you have started to loudy protest that you have drunk too much, and then start arguing with yourself about whether or not you need to finish the bottle, or sleep it off. Just sleep it off.

And oddly enough I felt better (I was a little sick the night of the party) the morning after even though I had only 5 or so hours of sleep.

Go figure.

Just to knitpick (but not to pick at you ~;)):
"Er hat in die Küche gekotzt"

Remember to also drink enough water when you consume larger amounts of alcohol - this will alt least attenuate the hangover ~:)

Well at least I don't think my German is very good....

I don't consume large amounts of alcohol...Others at the party did, but several of us had only a few drinks, then some had a fair amount of alcohol, and a few had lots to drink. I shouldn't start drinking again at 3:00 in the morning after having nothing but a piece of chocolate or two to eat since 8:00 though.

Wow, my german's better than someone who lives there atm! ~;p

Anyway, how was the actual school part?

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

Well at least I don't think my German is very good...

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Don't worry - you got the structure right, and after you spent 9 months here you will probably speak quite fluently ~:)

My first significant exposure to the language was 19 days ago on the plane, so sue me.

Ser does this sentence happen to be correct? Ich vill gehe der Zimmer Aleksandr und arbeiten. The spelling might be a little bit off here or there, but whatever, it was the first completely original sentence that I said to my host family, they were really happy, but I would like to know if it is correct.

Ugh, AFS making me do these stupid exercises on this CD is making me spend too much time on the net....

EDIT: Ah Schule, well it has been interesting to say the least. I don't know the language so it is difficult to understand much of what is going on. I also don't really like how the teachers are so unavailable after class, and generally the way they teach all of their lessons but foriegn languages. In that department they are much better than my school, and probably most American schools. I'm really glad the kids here have been helping me out, otherwise I would be miserable.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

Ser does this sentence happen to be correct? Ich vill gehe der Zimmer Aleksandr und arbeiten.

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If you wanted to say "I want to go to Aleksandr's room and work" the translation would be:
"Ich will in Aleksandrs Zimmer gehen und arbeiten" (you could replace "will" with "möchte" to make it less strong)

If you wanted to say "I will go to Aleksandr's room and work" the translation would be:
"Ich werde in Aleksandrs Zimmer gehen und arbeiten"

Or did you want to address a person named Aleksandr with your statement?
(then you might say: "Ich werde ins (or "aufs") Zimmer gehen und arbeiten, Aleksandr")

Ich will in Aleksandrs Zimmer gehen und arbeiten

That one, danke.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ser Clegane

"Ich habe in die Küche gekotzt" = "I have puked in the kitchen"

"kotzen" = "to puke" (verb)
"Kotze" = "puke" (noun)

~:)

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Ah. I've never heard ,,Kotze" before. I would have used ,,Goebel".

Yes - the verb "göbeln" is also used (I don't even know if a nound for that exists), although it is less common than "kotzen" - might be a more regional term ~:)

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Originally Posted by Ser Clegane

Yes - the verb "göbeln" is also used (I don't even know if a nound for that exists), although it is less common than "kotzen" - might be a more regional term ~:)

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I'm fairly certain that ,,Goebel'' is a noun. It would seem to be, anyway, if ,,Goebelmasse'' is.

(I'm having trouble using the numpad shortcuts for the umlaut...they seem to trigger a search function at the .Org. What's going on there?)

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Originally Posted by GoreBag

,,Goebelmasse''

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Never heard that one (but as we are talking about "slangwords" here that does of course not mean that it doesn't exist or isn't used)

I like it ~:)

That reminds me. In what province are you staying, Kenshin?

Sachsen-Anhalt, I am probably 5 minutes from the border with Niedersachsen and in the Northern region. I am not very close to Mecklenburg or Brandenburg though. I am sort of in the bulge righ before Sachsen-Anhalt starts to peter out into Mecklenburg.

I did just look at a map, but if I messed anything up I am really very sorry, the map didn't actually show my town and though I would say my Germany Geography is fairly good I do have the occasional stupid Amerikaner moment due in part to a lack of knowledge and in part to so much being different and new.

And to end this on a more interesting note I think my host dad may be a little nostalgic for the good old days of the DDR in some ways...He's one of two people in my town to read Neues Deutschland (sp on Neues?), a socialist paper, and he makes jokes about people being capitalists and comments about the DDR all the time.
But he's pretty cool, and it is kind of cool that both he and the guy who lives on the second floor both still have their coats from when they were in the DDR army, though I think the other guy definately keeps it not because of nostalgia but because it is a fairly good coat.

Ah, not fishheads, then. Phew.

Yeah, you've spelled 'neues' correctly.

How do you like the schedule at German school thus far?

At the moment I'd have to say I dislike it. Different classes every day and very short classes (50 minutes compared to 1.5 hours where I'm from) really messes me up, and I don't like how I have to take my classes for the whole year. Also I am required to be in a German class with the class that I have joined, so I pass notes for that period because it is way beyond me. Having to be in Latin also blows, because I don't know Latin, it's in German, and they've been taking it for 3 years or so, so I pass notes and study German. I don't really hate it though, it is something I can live with even if I prefer the way that it is done in my school back home, though that is a bit weird compared to many US schools....

I remember being interested in attending school in Germany because there was simply less time spent at the school.

Hmmm, I think the school day is a little bit shorter on average, a six lesson day runs from 7:10 or so until about 12:50, at my school in the US you are in class for between 7 and 7.5 hours a day, here you have 3 days of 5 hours of classes, and two of almost 7. So yeah I guess that is true, but the girl that lives on the second floor of my house (not a member of my host family, I live in a condo like arrangement) has one day with 10 classes, so she probably goes to school for about as long as people at my school in the US.

Have you tried the coffee beers yet?

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Originally Posted by GoreBag

I remember being interested in attending school in Germany because there was simply less time spent at the school.

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There is considerably less summer holiday then in Canada, however, if I recall correctly.

If you get in hole just say: "Ich bin Auslander nicht verstahen"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GoreBag

Have you tried the coffee beers yet?

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Nope, I have tried, Gespritzer mit Meracuja (tasty), some orange crap (nasty), Pilsner (iirc, not tasty, but not horrid), Lubzer (Also called a Radler, fairly good), and something else that was handed to me after volleyball last night. Yeah that sounds bad, but I only had two sips and the guy had just turned fifty, and it was fairly good.

When I get in trouble I just say "Ich bin Amerikaner, ich sprechen klein Deutsch." Then people always ask me what I speak and I say English and "Yo hablo un pequito espanol." And then they reply in English because nobody here knows Spanish and everyone knows English.

Anyway I made pancakes for my family today, we will be having them for Kaffee, and unfortunately I put too much salt in them, but you can't tell if you use syrup, and Katja said they tasted good.

And another thing communal showers aren't nearly as weird as I thought they'd be, I had my first one last night after volleyball with maybe four other people between the ages of 17 and 50 and it wasn't nearly as strange as I thought it'd be.

Anyone know why Germans like carbonated water so much? I do too, but here they carbonate everything, and drink it warm. IMHO carbonated water isn't very good warm, but I do really like their carbonated juices, they're much better than the stuff sold in the US.

Oh, Radler. I was curious about those after having learned of their existence, but I can't find them to save my life over here.

Were there no communal showers where you live? My community pool has one...wasn't really a big deal.

Warm..bleugh. That reminds me, though; you didn't happen to bring any root beer over, did you? That'd really gross 'em out.

EMfM: Oh....damn.

I didn't bring any, but I have only found one German who will eat peanut butter, and I eat it almost every day here so I can get away from their wurst for at least one meal a day, so I sort of manage to gross them out anyway. Plus I use less, or no butter, compared to their massive amounts of the stuff.

No communal showers at all. I'm fine with them now, but I was sort of nervous about them.

Radler is pretty good, not as good as the Gespritzer, and not as alcoholic, but good. You might be able to find it under a name other than Radler, and if not it tastes somewhat like Gespritzer (also called Spritzer iirc) but is not quite as strong and has a less subtle sweetness I think, so you could try that to get some idea of what a Radler is like. Though a Radler has half as much alcohol...

Gore you can make a mixed Radler wioth 50% beer 50% Sprite, or a similar lemony/lime soda, but it really doesn't taste nearly as good as the real thing.

Ugh...I'll bet.

Have you tried the hookers yet?

No and I don't plan to, you'll have to come here yourself to try them. Plus there won't be too many out where I am...

Gore the mixed type tastes heavily of beer, with the soda covering the flavor a bit, while the mixed type tastes heavily of the lemony/limey concotion that they use with a slight bite I guess. I'm no alcohol connoseur so I can't be certain I am using the correct words or describing it properly, plus I've only had one so far, but I think you get the idea. They are very tasty, and you're going to have to drink a lot of them to get very drunk.

In other news I got more German chocolate today and I love it soooo much!!!!

I'm not only going to go through caffeine withdrawal if I don't break my habit of only drinking coffee if someone else makes it when I get home, but I'll also miss this delicious chocolate horribly. The vast majority of American chocolate just doesn't compare.

Ugh...I don't understand how you can mix beer with a soda and expect it to taste good.

You simply don't mix beer :juggle2:

:balloon2:

Well pre-packaged Radlers are tasty...

The other one was just me trying not to look like too much of a pansy next to the Germans. Either way I redeemed myself when I said wine was okay because my Mutti was ecstatic to hear that....

I used to hear complaints about North American chocolate when I worked at a British importer. The displace Brits used to say it was too waxy. Correct?

Not a clue how you'd describe it, but rest assured German chocolate is far better. I need to get some pure chocolate so I can have a better idea of how much better it is too....Ah well next time we hit the Aldi's I'll grab some.

.25 Euro back per bottle redeemed, compared to 5 cents per bottle in the states...It's amazing, and we always have loads of bottles.

Ues, were are you exactly in Germany?
Forgot to ask you. Too late now, I am back in Romania. :embarassed:

Sachsen-Anhalt, the northwestern region. I am a few minutes from the Niedersachsen border in Altmarkkreis (sp?) Salzwedel.

Where did you visit? Probably nowhere too close to me, I don't think this is a very touristy area.

So I figured I'd drop in for another update. At this point my German is good enough that I understand pretty mucheverything. I still have a rather strong accent, and don't think that will ever change but I feel like I've come a really long way with the language and though I know my German is sometimes quite bad I am generally able to speak fairly well and people almost always understand me. I've got vacation starting on Friday, and my parents (the biological ones not the German ones) will be coming to visit me for a week, so that should be quite interesting. The weather here in Sachsen Anhalt has been quite good for the last few days so I've started chopping wood again, and though both of my sets of glasses are broken (not my fault!) I can manage quite well without them, and for bike riding and stuff like that I still have a pair of sunglasses with perscription lenses.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dutch_guy

Ugh...I don't understand how you can mix beer with a soda and expect it to taste good.

You simply don't mix beer :juggle2:

:balloon2:

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It's not entirely unknown over here, Shandy/Sneeuwitje is 7up/sprite with a very marginal amount of beer mixed through (so that it can be served to minors). I drank it a couple of times when I was 12 I think, but I don't remember the taste. Probably bad.

Hello? any update Kenshin?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dutch_guy

Ugh...I don't understand how you can mix beer with a soda and expect it to taste good.

You simply don't mix beer :juggle2:

:balloon2:

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It's actually quite cool and refreshing on a hot summer's day, I find, though I still prefer real beer from Bayern.

Personally I rarely drink any beer from Bayern, though I have tried various Heife Weizens and a couple of Pils from Bayern. I find that most of the beers from East Germany are okay, though the beer from a small brewery in Vielank was probably the best I've ever had. And Lübzer Urkraft is an especially good brew...

So I was just on vacation, and though I didn't take any big trips during my vacation I did have a pretty relaxing vacation. I'm now back to school and have a little under fifty days left in Germany, I fly home on July 14th.

Everything is going pretty well, though the weather stinks right now and doesn't look like it'll clear up for several days.

I'm going to be pretty busy in my last month and a half in Germany because of all sorts of village and family activities that happen to take place around this time of year.

Feel free to ask some questions, but I don't really have much else to say at the moment, everything's just become too normal here for me to have all that much to say. Oh yeah and I'm sort of freaked out about having to go home because then suddenly I won't see any of the people here anymore and I'll also have to start preparing for college yet again...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dutch_guy

Ugh...I don't understand how you can mix beer with a soda and expect it to taste good.

You simply don't mix beer :juggle2:

:balloon2:

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http://www.svetpiva.cz/images/articl...375%5B1%5D.JPG

Pretty good, germans are nuts though.

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Everything is going pretty well, though the weather stinks right now and doesn't look like it'll clear up for several days.

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Tell me about it. I'm in München right now (I keep mixing up these ys and zs on this German Keyboard). It' rainy and cold right now, but I'm having a great time. Germany really is an awesome country

I'm pretty used to the y's and z's being switched on German keyboards by now. It'll probably be a shock to come home to an American keyboard and relearn how to type though.

Can you give me some reccomendations on what's a lot of fun in München? I might be going there at some point, though it looks like it won't happen.

Radler is really good on a hot day, not that we're likely to see any for a while. The weather is actually pretty good right now, but it should get bad by the time school gets out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Uesugi Kenshin

I'm pretty used to the y's and z's being switched on German keyboards by now. It'll probably be a shock to come home to an American keyboard and relearn how to type though.

Can you give me some reccomendations on what's a lot of fun in München? I might be going there at some point, though it looks like it won't happen.

Radler is really good on a hot day, not that we're likely to see any for a while. The weather is actually pretty good right now, but it should get bad by the time school gets out.

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The hofbrau house in Munich is amazing. I'll post pictures when I get back to the states (I'm in Belgium now). I drank 2 liters of beer and got so trashed.

As for the day, try the Englischer Garten. It is truly amazing.