Married To A German :)

[Dr. ZoSo 0]

Ironically, they WILL eat Peanut Butter and Nutella Sandwiches.

What is up with that? lol

I can't really wrap my mind around Nutella and regular butter bread that I saw some people eat. Nutella was another one of those things that I had never ate before I went to Germany and initially found it way, way too sweet. But over some two year period, I acquired a taste for it to the point of eventually eating it out of the jar, which is unfortunate.

My wife eats that all of the time. I still to this day cant get past the sweetness of nutella. She loves it with buttered bread.

[veronicavonn 7]

Nutella on buttered bread? WOW. lol

I like the nutella, but usually nutella on two peices of bread is more than enough.

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I had to eat it on something very sour for it to work. Dense seed breads, best with no yeast, worked well with it for me. The first time I had it, it was on white, untoasted toast bread. I was less than impressed. Now... ich ess Nutella mit dem Löffel!

[jundp 191]

Can't get video to work for me

Wacken, have you been to the Wiley Open Air? P and I are going the night before we return to the US. Die Toten Hosen will be there. We miss one of the festivals by about 2 days (it might be Wacken?) but we're thrilled we can make this one.

[Otto 83]

They disabled 'embedding' - click the link to see it at YouTube

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Duh, should have checked to see if it worked before posting it.

Nah, I haven't been there. Sounds like fun though!

Wacken is having its 20th anniversary this year and is already sold out, plus it is pretty far from where you are going to be anyway, all the way up in Schleswig-Holstein. We think we'll try to get out there next summer.

[veronicavonn 7]

Wiley Open Air? Wacken?

What in the world are those? And sorry for sounding totally clueless, but I am! lol

How about Oktoberfest. Anyone going this year?

I went last year. Had a freakin blast.

Husband and I are planning on going again this year but want to get a hotel room. lol

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I just saw this on ARD: 40 Prozent der Alleinerziehenden brauchen Hartz IV

That's quite a number. :/

Edited May 25, 2009 by Wacken

[jundp 191]

Wacken...I just made Patrick read that to me. A couple of paragraphs into it he said "why am I reading this?"

Veronica, they're punk/metal/music festivals. The one we're going to is very near to where my husband is from and since I've been dying to see Die Toten Hosen for about 3 years...needless to say our kids are pretty excited as well.

Never been to Oktoberfest, but my husband has. He says he's 'indifferent' to it. He is very German in his emotions, eh?

[jundp 191]

Oh and Veronica, we should try to get together while I'm in Germany this summer. We'll be going to Nuernberg and then on to Prague. My best friend also lives in Nuernberg and loves to speak English I should introduce the two of you!

[Dr. Obvious 49]

Heh. We watch the news from over there here pretty much every day. It's good continual listening and reading practice for me, plus I like knowing what is going on. You shouldn't make your husband read it. You should try to badly translate it and read it and bang your head on the desk a bunch of times because it sucks to learn German. That was the story of my third and fourth years of German at uni. Ye gods, when I had to read Goethe's lesser works and German business/economic journal articles, I was ready to slit my wrists.

I've been at it 8 years now, and every now and again, a German dependent clause structured by the rules of English grammar will fall out of my mouth. I really do know better. Still, it's all worth it when I can have a conversation with my husband in his own language or can correct my daughter's German. Also none of my in-laws can or are willing to speak English with me (embarrassed, I guess) and I like them. Despite the rough start, I think my life would have been poorer not to be able to speak with them.

The closest I have ever been to Oktoberfest was the movie Beerfest. I've never had any serious interest in going and neither has my husband. Eventually, I'll go to Muenchen I guess.

[veronicavonn 7]

ooohhhh, music festivals. That makes sense. lol

The only one that I had heard of was "Rock Im Park" which is in Nuernberg.

By the way, I am not IN Nuernberg, that is just the closest "metrolpolitan" city. I actually live in a very small town just outside of Bamberg. We travel to Nuernberg for shopping every couple of months. And my husband and I went out to "Coyote Bar" in Nuernberg a few weeks ago.

I would definitely enjoy a meetup with you when you come, jundp. Just send me a message on here and we can go from there.

I watch German television shows and movies with my family. I can say that it DOES and DOES NOT help me learn German all at the same time. lol. I have to REALLY pay attention to grasp what they are talking about. If I am not paying attention, I don't hear a word they are saying and, thus, hate it. lol So, I am still learning German, but I have a long way to go.

I actually posted on a website that I use frequently last night looking for accomodations for Oktoberfest. My husband and I decided that after last year, it would be much funner to just pass out in a hotel for the night.

Edited May 26, 2009 by veronicavonn

[Dr. Obvious 49]

I watch German television shows and movies with my family. I can say that it DOES and DOES NOT help me learn German all at the same time. lol. I have to REALLY pay attention to grasp what they are talking about. If I am not paying attention, I don't hear a word they are saying and, thus, hate it. lol So, I am still learning German, but I have a long way to go.

I found TV very useful for learning colloquialisms, getting used to the small differences in dialects and learning how to identify them, and just vocabulary building in general. Even now, I am still picking random words up. It was pretty hard at first to turn on the TV and force myself to watch. For all the German I had, it wasn't sufficient to watch TV without difficulty! I was also surprised by how much I learned in school was used sometimes but not was what native speakers I had contact with often preferred to say, so there was some relearning going on. It took around 4-5 months before TV stopped being a chore that I was forcing myself to do and I began understanding without resorting to constant translation. After those months of German language boot camp hell, I also understood others soooo much better. But it sucked, because until I got past that, I didn't know IRL any native speakers of English or good ESL speakers besides my husband, so I was in a sink or swim kind of situation.

As for open airs, Germany has so, so many, for many types of music. They are a lot of fun if you also like camping for the several day long ones. For all the artists you could get to see at once, it is a real bang for your buck.

[veronicavonn 7]

Unfortunately, my husband and I do not have they money for me to attend an Integration Course, which is the cheapest way to learn German in Germany.

I applied for the 1€ per hour courses, and I was denied. The government thinks that my husband makes too much money and should be able to pay for it no problem. Thing is, he works in construction. Sure, in the summer, he brings home 1800 after taxes, but he is laid off EVERY winter. Thus, we save money for the winter! We have a family of four (he has two children from his previous marriage) and they live with us. The children's mother does not ever give us money for anything. 1800 per month for a family of four is NOT enough money to pay for the course, which is 1200 for 3 months. Sorry, we just don't have the money.

So, I have been learning German online, in books, and from my husband and stepchildren. It's defintely not easy, but I sure as heck speak a lot more now than I did before I moved to Germany.

Edited May 26, 2009 by veronicavonn

[Dr. Obvious 49]

That really sucks. I thought maybe a volkshochschule might offer it cheaper, so I looked. Well, kind of, but still not cheap at 250 euros in Nuerenberg per course (4 weeks). I looked at Bamberg, but there was only German for people preparing for the citizenship test.

https://online-service2.nuernberg.de/caruso...=30510&tr=9