Monthly Archives: January 2012
Auf Wiedersehen in Rodenbach!
When I was a kid back in Texas, my brother Anthony used to call out, “Our feet are the same!” whenever he was leaving. This was, of course, a childish joke on the German phrase, “Auf Wiedersehen!” Being an ignorant …
What exactly does “Auf Wiedersehen!” mean? Auf means at, upon, or on. Sehen means to see, and wieder means again. So “Auf Wiedersehen!” means, “At our seeing each other again!” Or, in other words, “See you later!”
How Many People Live There?
Germany is not like the Texas suburbs I grew up in, with their obsessive-compulsive zoning laws separating business, homeowner, and apartment dweller. Many houses in Germany contain built-in apartments, and many regular homeowners are also landlords. Given their population/landmass ratio, …
The other night, I was watching a television show on World War II. The number of World War II shows on television here is truly astounding! One of the subject matter experts was discussing naval warfare. After talking about U-boats …
At Home
Consider this German home: thoroughly modern and downright adorable. This is what realtors mean by curb appeal. This German house probably dates from the 1800s. Still, it has a lot in common with the modern house above it, and several …
The other night, as I was flipping channels, my television informed me that the title of the next show was Die Gebärdensprache. What kind of Sprache (speech)? I found out that sich gebärden means to behave or act, and die …
Happy New Year!
What a peaceful nighttime scene! Just a quiet street in Rodenbach, Germany. But that was before the madness. I’m from the western United States, a land of droughts, dead vegetation, and fast-moving wildfires. More than 21,000 wildfires burned across my …
One of the interesting things about life in Germany is listening to a German-language sermon each Sunday. Last Sunday was devoted to the Holy Family–Jesus, Mary, and Joseph–and Father spoke at length about what a wonderful Vorbild that family is …