German Corner

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From Brezeln to Bier

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For discussion of schools see separate thread

Wochenend und Sonnenschein... did everyone enjoy it? We went off to Alexandrowka in Potsdam to have a mosey around, sort of Russian Dorf with log houses and a Russian Orthodox church:

www.potsdam.de/cms/beitrag/10000085/26846/

admylin, I was wondering if your dp might like the Harz if they come here in summer. There are some cute looking little places there.

Morning. We had lots of sunshine too. Went shopping for new shoes for ds on Saturday so not very enjoyable. I'm another one who is mystified about shoe shops here. They either seem to be really expensive or dirt cheap with no service and shoes that fall apart after a couple of weeks.
Dc played outside yesterday, we barely saw them all day! It really made me appreciate that aspect of life here. They have so much more freedom here than they would have in London.

taipo are you from London originally? Service in shoe shops is non-existant, isn't it? I just get that foot measuring thing and do it myself but you wait forever to get a shop assistant to bring you a pair of shoes.

I haven't had the experience of shoes falling apart yet though!

Sssandy, I'm originally from Hampshire but we lived in SE London for 3 years when we came back from Hong Kong.
We did get ds's feet measured properly yesterday but they didn't really have anything to offer for very narrow feet which both dc's have. Still payed a fortune for a fairly standard pair of shoes.

gosh this reminds me dd is still in her fur-lined winter boots today and I should really get some kind of Übergangsschuhe today. She has such big feet though, I wonder where it will end. She's 7 and she wears size 35. They will be like boats when she has finished growing...

how did you like life in Hong Kong taipo?

It took a while to settle in but I loved it by the end. Very different way of life and very hectic in most urban areas. People aren't really aggressive though compared to London and other big cities and I always felt safe whatever time of day. Hong Kong also has beautiful and remote scenery which most people don't realise. We lived on the edge of a lovely nature reserve. It was like having a jungle in your back garden! The beaches were also fantastic. Where did you live before Berlin?

We only had sunshine on Saturday. We really could have done with it on Sunday as we were at the Easter market with the kindergarten selling Kaffee und Kuchen. Brrr, it was chilly.

Don't remind me about summer shoes. We are going to have to get new ones soon too. I might wait a while and go to the Geox outlet on our way to Würzburg. You get the Geox shoes there for about 30 to 40 euros, so a good bit cheaper than in the normal shops. The service is nonexistant but at least with Geox shoes you can take the insole out.

AIBU to make the DCs wear their winter boots till mid April?

No, I hadn't realised there was much natural environment left in Hong Kong, I suppose I think of it as a giant city stretched over the whole island. I lived in Morocco before coming to Berlin and before that in London and Venezuela.

well they say, don't they ks, der April macht was es will, so it could still even snow? In a way I'd be glad because I stupidly bought dd a skisuit at the onset of winter. I have had dd wearing her school sportshoes as every day shoes because she was getting sweaty feet in those lined boots.

Thing is you need something covered for now and then sandals in summer.

I bought some snow boots for dc last November, cheapish ones from Aldi, but still virtually unused. Ds did go out in his once in the rain and stepped right into a fetid, muddy waterhole. Now they're festering away in the cellar.
You've moved around a lot Sssandy! How did you like Morocco? Do you also feel that you don't really belong anywhere?

I'm not sure, I'd still like to think I will find my niche in life taipo! It's complicated by the fact that I am an expat dc myself (I was born in Africa) and we moved around a lot during my childhood too.

I was very happy in Morocco actually although work could be a trial at times, we did laugh a good deal. Not all aspects of life were great in Morocco (it's quite fiercely policed and as a woman you are naturally more restricted there) yet in an odd way I did feel a lot freer there and I suppose because it didn't drag on so long, it felt more like an adventure.

The first time I took dd to have her feet measured the man measured the length. When I asked about the width he said I didn´t need to worry as all babies/toddlers have the same width feet - err - no they don´t. Totally lost my faith in German shoe shops there and then and nothing since has convinced me to change my mind.
We had rain on Saturday and dh was away, so I took the kids to an indoor Spielplatz and they bounced around for 3 hours while I drank coffee and read magazines, so it wasn´t too bad really. I usually hate those places.

I´ve just seen that this will be coming to our t.v. screens soon. I always hated the original and can´t imagine how bad it will be now that they´ve dubbed it into German.

Hiya Hupa - not gatecrashing at all! I did wonder about "German-speaking" in the thread title but thought it might put people off if they read it as being "Alles Auf Deutsch".
We've clocked up nearly 500 posts in less than 4 weeks so when this gets too long someone can start a new one with a better name. It was a bit of a spontaneous "blimey we're taking over another thread, should get our own" jobby

I've just seen we're forecasted snow in mid-March and I am heartily fed up of winter.

Sandy have mailed you

omg, another reason to stay away from the TV. How are they going to translate 'fallen Madonna with the big boobies'? I saw Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares dubbed into German recently. They had cut out all the swearing!

Oh my, hupa, I wonder how it will go down here. I was never keen on the original either. Of course, "that episode" of Fawlty Towers has been around here forever and always seemed quite popular, but was more about ridiculing the continued English stereotyping of Germans, rather than parodying everyone who took part in the war. I'm not sure how I feel about this actually - isn't it time to move on from all these daft stereotypes? Afterall 'allo 'allo first aired in the UK about 20 years ago (more even). Or am I being too uptight?

It first went out in the UK in 1982

I agree, franke, 'allo allo' is really quite dated now and I think many Germans watching it now would just pity us poor Brits for still being so obsessed with ww2. It makes me feel quite uncomfortable that they are showing this, almost as if that is the intention, to show us all up for our island mentality. Of course they may find it hilarious here, after all they liked Benny Hill...

Exactly Taipo - the slapstick is absolutely right for the German market, but as you say the content? I get a bit over sensitive I suppose because even members of my own family in the UK have been known to bandy about these stereotypes and I always feel a bit stung on behalf of my kids. A friend of ours did some work experience in the UK and was quite taken aback by the attitudes there. I find it embarassing as an Englander as well as insulting to my German family I suppose.

Who knows what the Germans might find funny. As you say, they like Benny Hill and Mr Bean.

As to the boots, I do have some old shoes that a friend passed on for DS and DD has nice leather shoes from my cousin's shop that would do at a push.

I can not be bothered with snow now though. I want summer. I want to get the paddling pool out again, and the BBQ.

Pro Sieben has bought 'Allo, 'allo?! Are they nuts? They will have to put the silly accents in though because IIRC that is the whole humour in 'allo 'allo anyway, isn't it? So if you take that out, what is left? Think we will have to watch it and dissect it on here Mädels. Wondering when it starts. The Germans will just tolerantly clock it up to British eccentricity, as they always do. They all think we have a totally inscrutable sense of humour anyway so this will just confirm it.

Still can't be worse than all the other crap we see on TV now, can it? Rosamunde Pilcher anyone? (The clothes are all wrong ! They really have an odd view of what British people wear at these tv studios).

OMG did they show Benny Hill here, I can't believe it?!

I can't bear Rosamunde Pilcher and most other dramas are equally bad, especially those where the main characters have really swanky homes and are also unbelievably attractive and just totally unbelievable really. Are there any good progs on tv here? I always seem to end up watching dubbed versions of Friends or Little Britain . I do like Günther Jauch though!

well anything that is under the category "Komödie" I usually skip. I don't watch much on German tv to be honest, just flick from channel to channel most of the time. I ended up watching "Thalasso" on French TV5 the other day out of pure desperation when I was doing the ironing. It is such a (yawn) deadly mariner's programme but there was absolutely nothing else of interest. (not that Thalasso was interesting either mind you).

There must be some good programmes, can't think for the moment of any, sometimes Spiegel TV is interesting and documentaries are often good but don't have any series I like to watch regularly.

If all else fails there is always DSDS !though!

What's DSDS?
I have seen some good documentaries. There was a long series on at the end of last year about the 60's. It was fascinating.