Sunday, September 30, 2012

Was isst man beim OKTOBERFEST?

 Von Chefkoch des Käfer-Zeltes, Andreas Schinharl


Das Dirndl: MODERN

Deutsche Welle



Wie findest du das Dirndl?

Culcha Candela VON ALLEIN

mit Songtext



Und hier sind die Jungs:


Freundschaft v. Glasperlenspiel



Mit Songtext dabei!
Wo ist das Video?
Hier bringe ich euch etwas von der Gruppe, und auch von dem Lied:


Und hier kommt das Lied im Konzert: 

--Wisst ihr woher der Name Glasperlenspiel kommt? -- Schau mal bei Step into German  -- und mach im Wettbewerb (contest) mit!

Gesucht und gefunden -- Söhne Mannheim

 Diesmal ohne Xavier Naidoo



Gesucht und gefunden Songtext

Wieviel Momente fasst ein Leben?
Wieviel Versuche braucht ein Herz?
Sag, wirst du dich ergeben?
Fürchtest du den Schmerz?
Du weißt was ich nicht weiß,
Ich weiß was Hoffnung heißt.
Vergiss nicht, vergiss nicht was uns bleibt.

Wir haben gesucht und gefunden.
Unsre Ängste überwunden.
Haben die höchsten Gipfel erklommen.
Haben die Gegenwart bekommen.

Du wartest auf ein Zeichen,
du wartest schon so lang.
Lass den Augenblick verstreichen.
Verschiebst das jetzt auf irgendwann.

Du weißt was ich nicht weiß,
doch ich weiß was Hoffnung heißt.
Vergiss nicht, vergiss nicht was uns bleibt.

Wir haben gesucht und gefunden.
Unsre Ängste überwunden.
Haben die höchsten Gipfel erklommen.
Haben die Gegenwart bekommen.
Haben die Gegenwart bekommen.

Und ich fühl wieder wie ein Kind.
vergiss nicht was uns bleibt.

Wir haben gesucht und gefunden.
Unsre Ängste überwunden.
Haben die höchsten Gipfel erklommen.
Haben die Gegenwart bekommen.
Haben die Gegenwart bekommen.

Wir haben gesucht und gefunden.
Warn gelöst und gebunden.
Haben die höchsten Gipfel erklommen,
haben die Gegenwart bekommen.


1000 symbols left

Söhne Mannheims (mit XavierNaidoo)

Für Dich



(Neulich singt Xavier nicht mehr mit den Sö-Mannheimern, aber hier hört man immer noch seine schöne Stimme.)

Songtext   (Parents as Angels; Angels as Parents ....) 

Es ist so, wie du sagtest.
Du merkst es, wenn du erwachsen bist.
Und so ist es jetzt.
Ich dank euch für was ihr getan habt.
Wie viele Eltern machen schlapp?
Ihr habt euch durchgesetzt.
Jetzt versteh ich euer Verhalten.                                                                                                                  
Inmitten dieser Gewalten                                                                                                                                                     
Blieb ich so gut wie unverletzt.
Wie konntet ihr das durchstehen Ohne Amoklauf und Durchdrehen?
Ich hab euch unterschätzt.

Refrain:
Eltern wie Engel, Engel wie Eltern,                                                                                                 
Wer sonst hier hält für dich diese Welt an?
Für dich, für dich...

Ihr habt nie aufgegeben.
Im Glauben an ein Leben
Habt ihr es geschafft.
Von brennenden Schiffen zu springen,
um euer Leben zu ringen,
Wie habt ihr das gemacht?

Auch wenn ich mich oft weigerte,
Meinen Respekt nie zeigte,
Ich zeige ihn euch jetzt.

Refrain:
Eltern wie Engel, Engel wie Eltern,                                                                                                                           
Wer sonst hier hält für dich diese Welt an?
Für dich, für dich...

You can see the changes in my eyes,
It’s no surprise.
Maybe I’m just getting older, or I’m getting wiser,
But thank you, Momma, for everything you’ve done for me.
It’s like an angel came to earth just to set me free.
And I hope one day I can share the energy,
Give it to my own son like my father heavenly.
And Lord I hope you are hearing me,
I’m sacrificing myself eternally.
And dear Poppa, thank you for your philosophy,
I’m indebted to you perpetually.
Yeah, I stand here now and I hope that I make you all proud.


Xavier Naidoo & Cool Savas = XAVAS

 Sie haben gestern für Baden-Württemberg das Bundesvision Song Contest gewonnen -- mit ihrem Lied  SCHAU NICHT MEHR ZURÜCK




Here's How This US NAVAL OFFICER Uses German


Lieutenant Commander Risa Simon • United States Navy

Education and Qualifications:
• A native of Miami, Florida
• 1994:  Bachelor of Arts Degree with Honors in Modern European Studies, Vanderbilt University
• 1997: Master of Arts degree in Modern Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Univ. of Michigan.
•  LCDR Simon has conducted study abroad programs in the native languages of several overseas universities including:
-- The American University in Cairo, Egypt (1997);
-- Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (1995);
-- University of Regensburg, Germany (1993); and
-- University of London (1992).
She speaks German, Arabic, and Hebrew, and is currently studying Persian/Farsi.

• 1998:  LCDR Simon earned her commission from Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida
• thereafter, she reported to Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ONE, Detachment Misawa, Japan
• where she qualified as a Naval Aviation Observer while providing in-flight support to deployed air crews.

• LCDR Simon’s subsequent tours of duty include
-- service with Naval Special Warfare Unit THREE in Manama, Bahrain from 2000 – 2003;
-- US Southern Command Headquarters in Miami, FL from 2003 – 2006; and
-- the Joint IED Defeat Organization in Baghdad, Iraq from 2006 – 2007.

LCDR Simon’s personal awards include:
• the Bronze Star Medal,
• the Joint Service Commendation Medal,
• the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal,
• the Joint Service Achievement Medal (2), and
• the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

I’ve used my German in the following ways:
• Communicating with German (and even Polish) coalition forces.  Since 2001, we operate a lot with our European allies.
• Studying Middle Eastern history (for my MA) – you’d be surprised how many important texts on the Middle East are written in German.
• Studying other languages – my background in German has been instrumental to studying other languages, especially Persian/Farsi, which surprisingly has a lot in common with German!
• Traveling through Europe and the world …
--I toured the Valley of the Kings in Luxor Egypt with a 6’7″ German guy I met at Karnak Temple;  --I’ve buddied up with German divers during dive cruises in the Similan Islands off of Thailand; the Great Barrier Reef; and the Red Sea!
• Not to mention how useful it is knowing German while traveling through most of Europe.
-- I remember this one time helping some German tourists in Spain communicate with the police … they told me their story in German, I translated it to English for my friend, who in turn translated the English into Spanish for the Police!  How ’bout that for fun!

BROWN University Transatlantic Outreach Day 2012

Ja, den Tag an der Uni hat uns Spaß gemacht!  
Vielen Dank, Professorin Sokolowki!  
Vielen Dank, Deutschklub von der Brown Universität.
Vielen Dank, German Information Center aus Washington DC.
Unsere Probezeit in der Kapelle
 
  
 Wo ist die Nutella?                                      Wir waren nicht schlecht (d.h. stark!). 
Ach!  So groß?                                             Dan, Nett, Scott und Hannah glaubten das
 -- Und gibt's hier einen Löffel?                           AlexiBexi Lied ,,Dynomit" sei am besten.

Zwei aus der Sudbury Gruppe teilten mit uns auch Gedichte.  

Hier, die Preisen:  Wir ALLE haben gewonnen!

-- Vor dem Regen.  
Ja, wir hatten Glück mit dem Wetter bis ganz am Ende:
Wir kamen ein paar Minuten zu spät wieder zur Schule an. . . 

Diplomacy: fascination with cultures leads to position at U.S. Embassy in Albania

Lifestyles & People - The Times-Tribune 
Citizen from West Scranton, Pennsylvanian

Language of diplomacy: West Scranton native's fascination with cultures leads to position at U.S. Embassy in Albania - Lifestyles & People - The Times-Tribune

How many German students choose to study Latin?

ANSWER:  Latin is enjoying a comeback.  According to a recent TV program about 1 in 10 German "High Schoolers" are choosing to study Latin (as their 3rd or 4th langauge).

The references sound upbeat.  One can read Harry Potter in Latin.  The really popular Winnetou western series is also in Latin.  There are online discussions in Latin, and also a weekly Latin news broadcast out of Bremen that kids can listen to.

Check it out HERE!

--> If all of these resources were available at our school, would Latin be YOUR next world language choice?

Siemens CITY OF THE FUTURE



Where are these studies taking place?
•  Singapore's Future Cities
•  Zürich, Switzerland

Comments?

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Für Sie bin ich nicht der Herr Kohl!

Hier ein Gespräch mit einem Reporter.   Der Politiker heißt ,,Herr Doktor Kohl!"



Verstanden?  Vielleicht beim 2. mal?

Kinder Märchen: Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten

 von einer Schulklasse gezeichnet und süß erzählt. 



Kennt ihr diese Geschichte über diese vier alten Tiere?
•  einen Esel (a donkey)
•  einen Hund (a dog)
•  eine Katze (a cat)
•  einen Hahn (a rooster)

Sie wollten nach Bremen hin.  Dort könnten sie doch Musik machen.
-- Wo sind sie dann zusammen geblieben?


In praise of multilingualism

Engage.  Innovate.  Discuss.     (Do you like the way Mr. Penberg thinks? Let's discuss.)

SMARTBLOG on Education   By David Penberg on September 20th, 2012

Language learning and cultural diversity are two dimensions of what we bring to school; but two, I am afraid to say, of the most underdeveloped and mediocre. But why? Shouldn’t there be better ways to support second language learners, and if so, how might we deploy the capitol of children’s multilingualism in the teaching and learning process? You learn a lot by observing young learners at work.

In the final weeks of the last school year, I asked a class of third-graders to research second languages. They did massive class-by-class questionnaires and gathering of data. They asked their classmates these questions: How many languages do we speak as a community? What languages do you speak at home and what are they? They came up with 24 languages: Vietnamese, Hindi, Russian, Chinese, Turkish, Portuguese, Italian, French, etc., and we are a small school of 400 children.

From a fairly straightforward research project that was ostensibly a language study incorporating math skills and applications, interviewing techniques, data gathering and representation, children received a sense of identity as second language speakers. What is more, as a school it gave us data, the kind that has value to help us think about how diverse a language community we are and what the teaching and learning ramifications might be.

There is a significant connection between multilingualism and becoming a global citizen (worldly) — both are connected and interdependent. What we see in the rest of the global world are ambidextrous young learners for whom multilingualism is the key to community. Music is one of those ambassadors. The New York Times published an article in the spring extolling the value of multilingualism for its organic relation to brain growth. I would like to proffer, with humility and urgency, my own set of reasons, based on empirical evidence and the veracity of 57 years of fieldwork.

•Learning a second language is a tool for appreciating ones native tongue as much as, if not more than, learning a new one. The awareness of syntax, vocabulary and grammatical structure move from the unconscious to objects of knowledge.

•Knowledge of a second language is a gateway to cultural awareness and sensitivity. It is not merely words, expressions or verb conjugations that we learn, but an entirely new and different way of looking at, organizing and perceiving the world. It breeds a mindfulness that broadens how we see others.

•When we risk ourselves to learn another language, that vulnerability opens us to growth and new experience. Learning another language is also a tool for developing habits of critical thinking, as an opportunity for examining and comprehending our own culture with more depth and insight.

•Utility. In many parts of the world, children speak at least two languages, and often more. If being global is about the capacity to understand, respect and communicate with others who are different, then aren’t we committed to this outcome with the same level of intentionality we invest in becoming competent in math or science?

So let’s get to it. Mandarin clubs. French clubs. Italian, Hindi and Deutsch. More hours of Spanish instruction from first grade onward that sensitizes and familiarizes children to another language. We should be doing it everywhere — after school, before school, in libraries, museums and airports, wherever there are adults and children. Students who speak more than one language are quite simply better prepared to face the polyglot world of the global village. Because whatever it means to be educated in a global world where the boundaries are blurred and new modalities for communicating require adaptiveness and openness, hablando otro idioma will be central to success.

David Penberg is an urban and international educational leader. Most recently he headed Stevens Cooperative School as an interim, and prior to that he was head of school at the Benjamin Franklin International School in Barcelona and head of studies at the American School Foundation in Mexico City.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Deutschland von OBEN!

Terra X   Die Städte:  44 Minuten.



Fotos über Deutschland:  Each photo comes with a label.  COOL.  
 9 Mins.  Followed by additional shows upon click.



Teil 1   14 Minuten



Teil 2   14 Minuten


Political Symbolism - A Dramatized European Breakup



OK.  It's in English.  This will help us to list the many various references there are in this piece to current events in Euro-Land.

Who wants to start?

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

German Battlions at Battle of Antietam --

 PRI's The World

Remembering the Immigrants who Fought in the US Civil War

By Chris Woolf September 17, 2012

What language is on this memorial to the fallen in the battle of Antietam?

Translation:  Erected in memory of our fallen comrades by the Survivors of the Regiment.


A ceremony was held Monday in a small town in western Maryland to remember the bloodiest day in American history. 150 years ago, on September 17th 1862, a Union army led by General George B. McClellan attacked Robert E. Lee’s Confederate forces along Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, Maryland. The Union didn’t win outright, but rebel forces were forced to retreat the next day.

The human cost, to both sides was immense.  23,000 men were killed, wounded or went missing that day.  Never before, or since, have so many Americans fallen in battle in a single day.
The “victory” allowed President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation a few days later, freeing the slaves in the rebel states.

Those are the well-known facts about the Battle of Antietam. One of the not-so-well-known facts is how many of those who fought that day were foreign-born.   Germans formed a huge proportion of the Union troops. An entire Corps of several divisions was formed of German volunteers, and every order from the general down to the lowest corporal was given in German. In at least battle, it was Germans fighting against each other, when Major Leopold Blumenberg, from East Prussia, led the all-German 5th Maryland Regiment against a position held by the 12th Alabama, led by another German Captain Adolph Proskauer.  (Both of these leaders were also Jewish.)

The World commentator, Lisa Mullens, had the following conversation with Patrick Young, a Professor at Hofstra University and active blogger on the role of immigrants in the Civil War:
 
Mullins: As you write in your blog, Patrick, the Civil War generally is thought of as a conflict among Anglo-Americans. You are from Long Island, so why don’t we start there? What role did immigrants from New York play in the Battle of Antietam one hundred and fifty years ago today?

Patrick Young: One in four soldiers in the Union army was foreign-born, about a third of them from Ireland, about a third from Germany, and a third came from places as diverse as Scotland, Hungary, Nicaragua, Siam, really all over the world. And at the Battle of Antietam they played a particularly and a really heroic role.  .....The lead unit, the 69th, the Fighting 69th New York, which was recruited just a few miles from where I’m speaking right now, lost sixty percent of it’s soldiers in just a few minutes. We also had German troops that played a major role in the battle as well. 

Mullins:  Tell us about the German troops.

Young: Well, German immigrants had joined into units, and these were very interesting units. They were units that spoke German.  

Today, we have big debates over bilingualism, and in 1861 the Secretary of War tried to ban the speaking of German in the Union Army. Abraham Lincoln overruled him and because of that we find tens of thousands of Germans who were fighting that day at Antietam who really played an important role in various parts of the campaign. 

Mullins: There were a lot of reason why immigrants, why those who were foreign-born, would want to be part of the Civil War here in America. ...There was recruiting that went on just on the docks where immigrants would be coming in. What were some of the other incentives that were provided to them? Why did they fight?

Young: Well, most of the immigrants who fought in Antietam were actually part of the first wave of recruits, so many of the bonuses or the draft really came in after Antietam. These soldiers said, particularly in the north, Germans said they were opposed to slavery. In fact, I was just reading a German, August Fricke [SP], who lived in Missouri, who, after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued on September 22nd, said, “Now our motto is ‘All men are created equal, white and black.’” And so that was an important role.

Another thing that both the Irish and Germans kept talking about was if the Union split up, it would damage republicanism or democracy around the world. The US was the only major democratic nation in the world and many of the German immigrants ... wanted democracy in their homelands and they said that princes and kings would rejoice if the United States was splintered up into two, three, the Germans thought it might splinter up into five or six small countries just like Germany had.

Mullins: What do you think people should take away from this fact, that there were so many participants in this central piece of American history – the US Civil War, who were foreign-born? And, Patrick, this gets into, I think, what your own interest in the subject it.

Young: Well, I think the first thing we have to acknowledge is that America was a lot more diverse from a lot earlier stage than we often give it credit for. We had Latino colonels in the Union army in 1861, long before we even allowed the recruitment of African-Americans. It also tells us that coming off of a ten-year period of intense anti-immigrant agitation, including violent attacks on immigrant communities, Abraham Lincoln stepped up and created a much more inclusive, much more multicultural America, and I think that he wasn’t frightened by the fact that new immigrants spoke other languages. In fact, he hired a German publicist who published all his speeches in German because he wanted immigrants to know what was going on, he wanted to include them in the war effort, and he understood that they were an important part of the new America that was being built.

Mullins: Did they get treated as well as soldiers whose families had been in America longer?

Young: At first I think there was a lot of resistance to them and there was certainly, after some battles, scapegoating of immigrants.... But at the end of the war you really see a much broader acceptance of immigrants. So I think that there was, worked into the American heart, a change because they had seen that native-born whites in the South had, in the belief of many Northerners, betrayed the United States, whereas immigrants had stepped up to defend the United States to try to keep it together as a nation.

Mullins: Patrick, I’m still interested in what sparked your own interest in the subject.

Young: I’m a Professor of Immigration Law at Hofstra University, but I also have spent many, many terms as the chairman of the New York Immigration Coalition, which is an alliance of two hundred and forty organizations in New York of immigrant groups in New York, and with the 150th anniversary coming up two years ago I decided I’d begin doing research to see if there were any commonalities or if there were any lessons to be learned by today’s immigrants about what happened back then. And the series was originally written for immigrants so they would understand the Civil War, but it’s interesting right now, I find that almost seventy-five, eighty percent of my readers are native-born, often civil war buffs or members of ethnic organizations, not immigrants themselves, but people who have found the fact that I’ve combined scholarship with lively storytelling to be something that’s engaging and also informative for them.....

THANKS TO PRI for providing this "unofficial transcript."




Saturday, September 15, 2012

Best Work Opportunities: Germany


From this week's mailbag:

Thursday, September 13, 2012 6:21 PM    Subject: [AATG-L] German language in Europe

Yesterday at the copying machine I ran into a colleague, a native-born Spaniard, who is on sabbatical this year but has just returned from Spain for an extended visit to campus. She asked me: "Guess
which language is booming in Europe right now?" When I had no ready answer. She smiled all over and said: "German!  --Really!"  She said, "Young Europeans are clamoring to learn German
because Germany is the only country with a strong economy and jobs." Then she gave the example of a German language school in Valencia [southern Spain] which she passed on course sign-up day. It had long lines winding around city blocks. 


Sounds real to me.  Below read about the 2,500 unfilled positions in Baden Württemberg, and what they are doing about it.  (And what is hampering the tens of thousands of applicants. -- 3 guesses!) 

BOSTON.CO

Crisis-hit southern Europeans rush to learn German

By Jürgen Bätz Associated Press / March 6, 2012 
 BERLIN—Spaniards, Portuguese and others from countries hit hard by the debt crisis are flocking to learn German in hopes of getting jobs in Europe's biggest and strongest economy, according to data obtained by The Associated Press Tuesday.
Figures from Germany's culture and language promotion agency, the Goethe Institute, show that people in southern Europe -- where unemployment is high, particularly among the young -- are clamoring to learn German. Other official data show immigration to Germany from Spain, Greece and Portugal is up sharply.
The number of Spaniards seeking to learn German with their local branch of the Goethe Institute rose by a staggering 35 percent in 2011, to 9,000 from 6,500 the year before. Neighboring Portugal saw a 20 percent increase to 2,230 students...
The rise in interest in German is significant in that it shows where jobseekers expect the best work opportunities.  The Germany economy grew a robust 3 percent last year and unemployment has dropped to its lowest level in almost two decades. Spain, by contrast, is sliding back into recession as unemployment hits new records above 20 percent.
"The prospects of getting a job in those countries are miserable, with youth unemployment of 40 to 50 percent," said Herbert Brücker, a migration expert with Germany's Institute for Employment Research.  Many firms in Germany are searching to hire skilled professionals, but a language barrier often hinders successful recruitment.
"Employers are rather demanding when it comes to requiring German language skills," Bruecker said.
Take the example of Schwäbisch-Hall, a prosperous city of 37,000 in Baden-Württemberg, a southwestern state that is home to industrial giants like carmaker Daimler AG and successful small and medium-sized businesses. The companies need skilled workers, but supply in Germany is tight. To help, the city invited a group of journalists from Portugal, Greece, Italy and Spain to a reporting trip this year to cover the issue. The move resulted in more than 10,000 job applications pouring in from Portugal alone, "and the number keeps rising," city spokesman Robert Gruner said.
"They have sent them to every email address they could find on our website, it's incredible," he told the AP.
But the regional job office, which currently has about 2,500 vacancies listed, has found that most applicants share a common problem. "Unfortunately only about five percent have knowledge of German, which makes getting them a job here significantly more difficult," Gruner said.
Those seeking jobs have apparently realized this weakness as well, leading to the boom in numbers at language schools like the Goethe Institute, named after the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 
In Italy, the agency's number of students was up by 14 percent to 4,300, followed by Greece and France with an increase of ten and eight percent respectively.
Worldwide, the number of German language students with the Goethe Institute rose by 7.5 percent to about 235,000, according to the figures.  Some 36,000 of those came to Germany to study with the Goethe Institute here. Of those coming from within the European Union, the number of Spaniards was up 43 percent on the year, while Greeks saw a 22 percent increase and Italians 17 percent.
"Most of them are young people who are taking our classes," Goethe Institute head Klaus-Dieter Lehmann said late Tuesday following the figure's official release. "Not because they want to read Goethe or (Friedrich) Schiller in their original tongue, but because they want to improve their job chances." 

....For more immigration statistics:   Continued...

Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Daniel Woolls in Madrid contributed reporting.
------
Juergen Baetz can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/jbaetz

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Das Automobil: Annual FILM CONTEST from G-I

Beyond Autobahn

HIER FINDEST DU DEN FILM
, und auch die Fragen dazu.

Enjoy the film.

Rewind if you need to to answer the accompanying questions.

(Pay attention to names shown upper right of the people you'll be introduced to.  Antoine's name was particularly difficult for me to decipher on the small screen, around 8 minutes, but his French accent steered me to his comment.)

Submit your answers.

The best ones will qualify for a summer trip to Germany!

HERE'S THE LINK FOR OTHER GOETHE-INSTITUT AWARD OF EXCELLENCE FILMS from past years.

2011:  Mad About MUSIC (with Madsen)
2010:  Generation Einheit/Unity
2009:  Show your Stil
2008:  Greenagers
2007:  Eurokids
2006:  For Butter or Wurst
2005:  Guys and Goals (Fußball, with Steve Cherundolo...)
2004:  German High:  We know what Malia did last summer
2003:  German Beatz - Hil Hop rocks the nation

Sunday, September 9, 2012

NEU in BERLIN 10 Kapitel vom ALEMAO

Man kann hier fast alles verstehen!



Hier die Episoden:

1.  Katja und Alexander treffen einander
2.  Am Markt
3.  Familie Fotos
4.  Kaffe trinken
5.  Wie kommt man zum Bahnhof?
6.  Mädchen Erzählungen
9.  Eine Verabredung
10.  Alexander findet seine Wohnung

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Deutschklubversammlung Nr1 Wer gewinnt den Preis?

Es geht um packen, erst diesmal ohne Gepäck.  Natürlich musste man Glück haben, um unseren Preis auszupacken, aber davor musste man selber einpacken -- oder schmücken, mit Armbänder, Hütchen und Brillen aus Deutschland.

Aber zuallererst (first of all) musste der, der die Nummer 6 würfelte, den Vorgänger fragen, sich auszupacken.  Wir alle fühlten uns ziemlich glücklich, denn es gab Nutella und Limo.  Aber die meisten Mitglieder (most club members)  haben mit dem Würfel gar kein Glück.

Rachael war sehr glücklich.  Sie hatte sogar dreimal die Nr. 6 gewürfelt.  Julia und Hündchen hatten auch Glück, und mussten sich einpacken, dann auch die nächste Schicht Packpapier (layer of wrapping paper) um das Geschenk auspacken. 

Aber am aller Glücklichsten war der Tomi, der das ausgepackte Geschenk (einen Deutschen Schminkstift in Schwarz, Rot, und Gold, und auch einen doppelfahnenden--Deutschland/USA--Stecknagel) gewonnen hatte.  Toll! 

Schade, die ganze Gruppe wurde nicht fotografiert, denn sie kamen, ohne dass es einen Spätbus gab.   Am aller besten ist, dass wir viel zusammen entschieden, geplannt und geschaft haben.  Das kommende Jahr soll in Ordnung sein. 

German Club T-Shirts! Welches?

ICH HABE EINE NEUE WEBSEITE  - von Image Market -- gefunden.

Was denkst du über diese T-Shirts?






Friday, September 7, 2012

Latvia Supports the Euro; Hopes for 2014 Membership in EU


Valdis Dombrovskis, Latvia's Prime Minister speaks with The Economist "Charlemagne" columnist Anton LaGuardia to discuss Latvia's recent successful austerity program, and to justify why Latvia (still) strives for EU membership. Is the solution to the EU's economic crisis really just months away?

Mr. LaGuardia seems practically incredulous that Latvia would consider joining the European Union.  Why might that be?  (CLUE:  In what country is the Economist published, and how does that country stand on this issue?)

Wie schön ist Nürnberg?

So schön ist Nürnberg, aus Nord-Bayern.de

HIER FINDEN WIR FOTOS VON NUERNBERG.Welches Foto ist dein Lieblingsfoto?


Hast du Fragen ueber diese Fotos?  Vielleicht weiss unsere S.  die Antwort, denn sie war im Sommer doch in Nuernberg mit dem AATG-Austausch-Programm.

Schade!  Die Fotos sind weg.  (Danke, S.)

OK.  Hier sind zwei neue Videos über Nürnberg.





Na?  Welches ist besser?
Für wen könnte Nürnberg eine Lieblingsstadt sein?



Monday, September 3, 2012

Wie alt bist du? Holländer sprechen 1-100



-- Die Holländische Sprache ist ähnlich zu Deutsch, nicht wahr?


Panorama Fussen, Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau

HIER DIE FOTOS: 

(Do click on the helicopters in the sky to get the additional panoramas mentioned below.)

Und hier ist der Text auf der Webseite:

This virtual tour concludes our series of panoramas about the most beautiful castle in Bavaria - Neuschwanstein (click to open our first virtual tour above the castle). Around the famous castle located many other attractions. We were able to capture the castle Hohenschwangau. We have done even a night panorama. We also flew over the town of Fussen, so you can look at this town in our tour.

Germany is the land of fairy tales that gave the world Wilhelm Hauff and The Brothers Grimm, for example. Germany is also home to the most magical castle on the planet, Neuschwanstein Castle, the name of which translates as «The New Swan Cliff». It was built in the second half of the nineteenth century by Ludwig II of Bavaria, or as they called him, «The Fairy-Tale King».

Ludwig II holds a special place amongst other German rulers. What set him apart from his stringent and warrior-like predecessors was his romanticism and dreamy character, so much so that he channelled all of his statesman's passion (alongside with state funds) towards making his dreams come true, dreams of magical countries populated by fairy-tale creatures.

Disillusioned by the daily routines of Munich, Ludwig II was not interested in its problems. Instead, day by day he became more and more submerged in his own dream world. This gave the world several castles - Herrenchiemsee, Linderhof and Neuschwanstein, each one is a masterpiece of world architecture, enchanting us with its weightlessness and fairy-tale silhouettes with magnificent mountains as a backdrop.

Wartburg Castle was chosen as the model for Neuschwanstein as it is the only remaining castle from the feudal period in Bavaria. Ludwig the II's creation surpassed the original. At the time the King was very deeply moved by Richard Wagner's opera «Lohengrin», he saw himself in the opera's main character, the noble white swan-knight, a fairy-tale hero of the ancient legends. And with the help of architects he created his own «Swan Castle».

The walls of the castle depict the magical world of «The Song of The Nibelungs» («Nibelungenlied»), medieval legends of Przival, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser, The Holy Grail, Tristan and Isolde... The masters spent a long time working very carefully on every hall and every panel painting, with every detail a true masterpiece. This is also the reason why the building work took so long and failed to reach completion even in Ludwig's lifetime. As an example, the wood carving in one bedroom took 14 carpenters 4 and a half years.

Yet the King had the incredible ability to combine fantasies with reality, and despite the castle's heavenly appearance, it was equipped with all the modern technology of its time. The rooms in the royal residence were fitted with hot air central heating, toilets were equipped with an automatic flushing system, electric bells were in place to summon servants and some floors even had telephones!

Neuschwanstein is first and foremost a true fairy tale made of stone. It became the prototype for the Sleeping Beauty castle in Disneyland Paris and a source of inspiration for Tchaikovsky's ballet «The Swan Lake». But in the end it drove the King insane, and instead of attending to the urgent duties of his country as a ruler, he went on expeditions, following the footsteps of Wilhelm Tell or had dinner with the spirit of Louis XIV. Night became day and day became night for Ludwig II and for that he was nicknamed The Moon King.

According to Bavarian law a king can be removed from power if found unfit to govern. It is not surprising then that eventually (in 1886) he was deposed. He was transported to the Berg Castle and died the next day in a lake under mysterious circumstances together, with the psychiatrist who diagnosed him as insane. These mysterious events have contributed to the intriguing image of the castle. Just two months after the King's death, the unfinished Neuschwanstein was open to visitors!
And it was the right thing to do. No stories or photos of Neuschwanstein can possibly depict its beauty. Once you have admired our aerial panoramas, we strongly recommend you see the fairy tale for yourself. Getting to Neuschwanstein Castle: there are trains and taxis available from nearby towns.

The walls of the castle depict the magical world of «The Song of The Nibelungs» («Nibelungenlied»), medieval legends of Przival, Lohengrin and Tannhäuser, The Holy Grail, Tristan and Isolde... The masters spent a long time working very carefully on every hall and every panel painting, with every detail a true masterpiece. This is also the reason why the building work took so long and failed to reach completion even in Ludwig's lifetime. As an example, the wood carving in one bedroom took 14 carpenters 4 and a half years.

Yet the King had the incredible ability to combine fantasies with reality, and despite the castle's heavenly appearance, it was equipped with all the modern technology of its time. The rooms in the royal residence were fitted with hot air central heating, toilets were equipped with an automatic flushing system, electric bells were in place to summon servants and some floors even had telephones!

Neuschwanstein is first and foremost a true fairy tale made of stone. It became the prototype for the Sleeping Beauty castle in Disneyland Paris and a source of inspiration for Tchaikovsky's ballet «The Swan Lake». But in the end it drove the King insane, and instead of attending to the urgent duties of his country as a ruler, he went on expeditions, following the footsteps of Wilhelm Tell or had dinner with the spirit of Louis XIV. Night became day and day became night for Ludwig II and for that he was nicknamed The Moon King.

According to Bavarian law a king can be removed from power if found unfit to govern. It is not surprising then that eventually (in 1886) he was deposed. He was transported to the Berg Castle and died the next day in a lake under mysterious circumstances together, with the psychiatrist who diagnosed him as insane. These mysterious events have contributed to the intriguing image of the castle. Just two months after the King's death, the unfinished Neuschwanstein was open to visitors!
And it was the right thing to do. No stories or photos of Neuschwanstein can possibly depict its beauty. Once you have admired our aerial panoramas, we strongly recommend you see the fairy tale for yourself. Getting to Neuschwanstein Castle: there are trains and taxis available from nearby towns.

Technically the photo shoot of this type shouldn't take more than two days. However, we decided to give it some extra time... As it turned out, it was a wise decision. Mountains stay mountains (even if it's just low foothills of Alps in Southern Bavaria), so the weather is rather unpredictable there. It is also worth mentioning, that the only time when the castle is perfectly lit for the photo is that short 30-minutes window in the morning. Afterwards the sun travels leaving only the sidewall of the castle in light.

We arrived. But apparently the weather didn't want to cooperate. Day one - it was raining all day; photo shoot was canceled. Day two - the same thing.

On the third day the weather tricked us again. The thick fog covered everything from the very morning. Regardless, we were full of optimism, so we climbed the mountain above the castle, and then descended into the valley, hoping to find a clearing. No luck. Finally after three hours of waiting we decided to shoot the castle at any cost.

However, there are no good shooting spots when the visibility is 30-40 meters. Except for one - right from the center of the castle! Although it's rather risky to fly and shoot in the castle...
Anyhow, we took our chance. Thank God that all the tourists were asleep at such an early hour. The take-off was very difficult due to heavy fog, which was in reality 100% humidity. It condensed large drops of water on the equipment, so we had to be quick. There was no time to go back and correct mistakes.

Our RC helicopter took off and quickly disappeared into the fog. All we had was the screen of our laptop with blinking control lights and short beeps of the height sensor in Stas's headphones.  The time passed very slowly.

In a few minutes, here it was - our helicopter returned from the white foam of the fog, all wet, as if it was in a shower. Everything was covered with large drops of water: the helicopter, the camera, and the lens. Nevertheless, the equipment did its job just fine, and we immediately returned to our hotel room to dry it.

So this is the story of shooting this spherical panorama.

We spent the following day waiting, and only on the forth day did nature smile at us. The weather was wonderful and we shot, and shot, and shot...

  --   Thank you, gentlemen, for such amazing photos, not to mention your rich commentary!  rsb


Town Fussen

Hokä-Pokä. Wer will mitsingen? Mittanzen?



Songtext:
1.  Masculin Körperteile:    der Fuß; der Kopf; der Körper; der Ellbogen; der Popo....

  Du tust den rechten Fuß rein
  Du tust den rechten Fuß raus
  Du tust den rechten Fuß rein
  Und du schüttelst  ihn  ganz aus!
  Du tanzt den Hokä-Pokä - Und drehst dich einmal um! -
               Nur frag mich nicht, warum  ! ?    (Just don't ask me ,,why!")


2.  Feminin Körperteile:  die Hand; die Schulter...

  Du tust die rechte Hand rein
  Du tust die rechte  Hand raus
  Du tust  die rechte  Hand rein
  Und du schüttelst  sie  ganz aus!
  Du tanzt den Hokä-Pokä - Und drehst dich einmal um! -
               Nur frag mich nicht, warum ! ? 
       
3.  Neutral Körperteile:  das Knie; das Bein; das Kinn . .


  Du tust das rechte Knie rein
  Du tust das rechte Knie raus
  Du tust  das rechte Knie rein
  Und du schüttelst  es  ganz aus!
  Du tanzt den Hokä-Pokä - Und drehst dich einmal um! -
               Nur frag mich nicht, warum  ! ? 

4.  Plural / Mehrzahl Körperteile:  die Augen;  die Finger; die Zehen...


  Du tust die rechten Finger rein
  Du tust die rechten Finger raus
  Du tust die rechten Finger rein
  Und du schüttelst  sie  ganz aus!
  Du tanzt den Hokä-Pokä - Und drehst dich einmal um! -
               Nur frag mich nicht, warum  ! ? 
   

Deutsche Bundesländer - mit den Hauptstädten

 German Geography:  The States and their Capital Cities




Hier ist das erste Audioboo für Deutsch-heute.  Die Qualität ist NICHT was ich erwartete.  Ein paar mal klingt es, als ob ich wieder neu anfing.  ,,Niedersachsen"  kann man nicht verstehen.  Schade.  Vielleicht wird es nächstes mal besser.

Und ich kann bei Audioboo das gewählte Bild nicht vorher sehen.  Hier ist eine bessere Landkarte von Deutschland.   Viel Spaß beim Mitsingen!

Audioboo Wo ist mein erstes Lied? Hier improvisierte Klaviermusik...

Das Geographielied hätte automatisch hier erschienen müssen. 

Aber schau ..hör zu... was ich gefunden habe:



Ausgezeichnet!  Nur mein Boo war viel weniger schön.  Aber ich will es trotzdem finden.

Und nun versuche ich mein kleines BOO zu finden.

25 German "Loan Words"

Thanks to Lutz S. for sharing this post from:
Daily Writing Tips <info@dailywritingtips.com>      Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:46 PM PDT

The German language has provided English with a huge inventory of words, many of them pertaining to music, science, and politics, thanks to the influence of German-speaking people on those areas of human endeavor. 

Here are some of the more useful German terms "borrowed" into English.

1. Achtung     (“attention”): an imperative announcement used to obtain someone’s attention
2. Angst         (“anxiety”): a feeling of apprehension
3. Blitz           (“lightning”): used only literally in German, but in English refers
to a sudden movement, such as a rush in a contact sport
4. Carabiner   (“rifle”): an equivalent of the English word carbine, this truncation of karabinerhaken (“riflehook”) refers to a metal loop originally employed with ropes in mountaineering, rock climbing, and other sports and
activities but now widely employed for more general uses
5. Delicatessen (“delicate eating”): a restaurant or food shop selling meats, cheeses, and delicacies  NOTE: --? this sounds like it ends in a German word: "essen" does mean "to eat".... but should it really be on this list? 
6. Doppelgänger (“double-goer”): in German, refers to a look-alike, but in English, the primary connotation is of a supernatural phenomenon — either a spirit or a duplicate person
7. Ersatz       (“substitute”): refers to an artificial and/or inferior imitation or replacement
8. Flak          (acronym): an abbreviation for “air-defense cannon” used figuratively to refer to criticism
9. Gestalt      (“figure”): something more than the sum of its parts, or viewed or
analyzed with other contributing phenomena
10. Götterdämmerung (“twilight of the gods”): a catastrophic event
11. Hinterland (“land behind”): originally a technical geographic term; later, in both German and English, came to connote undeveloped rural or wilderness areas, and in British English has a limited sense of “artistic or scholarly
knowledge,” as in “Smith’s hinterland isn’t very impressive”
12. Kitsch        -  something of low taste and/or quality, or such a condition 
13. Leitmotiv   (“leading motive”): a recurring theme, originally applied to music and later literature and theater but now in general usage
14. Nazi          (truncation of “National Socialist”): originally denoted a person,thing, or idea associated with the German political party of that name and later the national government it dominated; now, by association with Adolf Hitler and the tyranny of the party and the government, a pejorative term for a fanatical or tyrannical person
15. Poltergeist  (“noisy ghost”): a mischievous and/or malicious apparition or spectral force thought responsible for otherwise inexplicable movement of objects.
16. Putsch        (“push”): overthrow, coup d’etat
17. Realpolitik (real politics): the reality of political affairs,as opposed to perceptions or propaganda about political principles or values
18. Reich         (“realm”): in German, usually a neutral term for “empire” or part of a name for a nationalized service, such as the postal service, but in English, because of the link to the Nazis, “the Third Reich,” connotes tyranny
19. Schadenfreude (“harm joy”): enjoyment of others’ misfortune
20. Sturm und drang (“storm and stress”): turmoil, drama
21. Verboten     (“forbidden”): prohibited
22. Weltanschauung (“worldview”): an all-encompassing conception or perception of existence
23. Weltschmerz (“world pain”): despair or world-weariness
24. Wunderkind (“wonder child”): a child prodigy
25. Zeitgeist (“time ghost”): the spirit of the time, or a prevailing attitude, mentality, or worldview
________________________________
 Original Post: 25 German Loanwords     


Pur singt Prinzessin • Funkelperlenaugen

Und die Zuschauer singen ALLE mit:



Funkelperlenaugen

Im Hürdenlauf über tausend ,Wenn und Aber'     (running hurdles)
anstatt geradeaus auf ein unbekanntes Ziel
Ich steh' mir wieder mal selbst genau im Weg
wo ist die Ruhebank in diesem grenzenlosen Spiel

Ich denk' zuviel an übermorgen
denk' zuviel an mich
Hab' mir den Blick verstellt, auf jetzt und hier und dich
und das machst du

Du blitzt mich an mit deinen Funkelperlenaugen
das tut so gut, da ist so viel für mich drin
das hilft viel besser als jedes Reden, jedes Denken
nur noch Fühlen, nur noch Spüren mach jetzt Sinn

Die Wellen schlagen fast schon über uns zusammen
doch mit dir im Boot ertrag' ich jede rauhe See
Der Wind schlagt mir wieder mal peitschend ins Gesicht
doch mit dir im Rücken tut's nur halb so weh

Laß mich nicht allein mit mir
laß mich ganz bei dir
will doch noch soviel spür'n, dich und jetzt und hier
und was machst du

Du blitzt mich an mit deinen Funkelperlenaugen ...

Das ist wie Balsam, wie ein echtes kleines Wunder
das heilt viel besser als jede Medizin

Komm und halt mich
halt mich fest und drück mich
so fest wie du kannst

Du blitzt mich an mit deinen Funkelperlenaugen.