random musings

Rathaus - The name Germans give to their City Hall and mayoral offices :). Hmmmm! (not to be translated literally like Rot Haus which means "red house")

The local Supermarket here has an "American Section" with items such as muffin mix, pancake syrup, and (get this) taco makings.

German Grammar - when two vowels go walking the first does the talking. But when it is "ei" or "ie" Americans would think that the second one does the talking because the German "i" is pronounced like the English "e" and the German "e" is pronounced like the English "i". So, words like Wiesbaden (city near Frankfurt) have the long /e/ sound (because of the i) and words like Eis (ice cream) have the long /i/ sound (because of the e). Got it?

Dinkel - sounds like one of those words that Brazilians could have a lot of fun with!! Actually, this is spelt flour and here in Germany they have tons of stuff made from Dinkel: biscotti, cookies, noodles, bread, crackers, etc. And, it is available at nearly every grocery store for a very reasonable cost!

Trockter - Our neighbors upstairs kept telling us about their Trockter (pronounced like doctor with a very hard /d/). Later, Murilo swore they said their daughter was a doctor. I disagreed but missed part of the conversation so had to defer until I could investigate further. Trockter means daughter! And, their daughter actually works for a lawyer. Lorene and I laughed - there are a LOT of doctors around her and many seem to be girls!!

TV - Germany has it's own version of "Funniest Home Videos" and you don't have to understand German to be annoyed by it. Starsky and Hutch AND Mr. Bean reruns are alive and well and dubbed with German.

Lastly, the chocolate here is absolutely amazing! Jessica bought some the other day - dark chocolate with maracuja (passion fruit) and jalapeno. Sounds weird but YUM!!

My classroom at the FIS Primary School (my desk is there on the left next to the trash and recycling bins and my computer is on this side of it facing the wall). I love the windows - and there are skylights above.