Holidaaaay

Officially on holidays for three weeks now, yay!

Bro is going to FB company-wise and hence I have to redo the stupid, 10-y-o page, right?

Well. Whilst searching for pics for the part "History" I found the one above.
Bro and me, in peace, calm, having a break, being lost in daydreams.
A holiday. Happy times.

I love it and have good - great - memories of that holiday at the North Sea.

Any parent with kids being apart 5 years can imagine this isn´t easy. So... fond memories of this age are rather rare.

These days we´re besties, all turned out good (see last post with little Niece) :-)

Just had to add this pic here, that´s all.
16C here - not funny! 30+ it should be! Coldest Country in Europe - nothing to be proud of, gah! Better weather predicted for Monday + , though :-)

Happy weekend!

NO Hats For Baby Girl!!!

This is Ingo making a Strawberry-Cake. Cause my family was about to visit.

It sure was a hit!

Sorry bout all the blurry pics - I laughed my head off!

Little Niece recognised me, I guess.
Her new thing is: Pointing!!! And smiling big whilst doing so. Too cute.

Here she is just before going mad... I come to that later (bad "Uncle Ingo!"), hehe :-)

See... she just looks at Ingo, not at the hat (and yes. The Chicken was about to die... and yes... Ingo explains to her where the hat is from - you got a clue?)

She is so... brave! We were in the living room and she was crawling outta the room, into the floor, not caring if anyone would follow, made the whole, long way to the end of the hall/floor and went into the dark bathroom (no window!). WTH? Girl - what are you up to?!

Ingo tried to give the "moose-Girl" an adequate hat... but NO!!! She didn´t like it for sure.

Well. It sure was very nice to have them here. Due to traffic it took them nearly two hours to get here! (some 60 km!)

Little Niece explored everything - gosh I really have to learn to put all sensible stuff away! Did you know Babies find just everything?!

Well. At some point she got a little bored, so I asked if she can already ride the moose/elk (after I learned she´s way too young to have a lolly (was all bio!)).

Ingo got it down, Bro sat her on it and she thought it was quite funny.
(Bro held her tight, certainly, she´s 11 months now only)

Well.
You ride an animal - you need a cool hat - is what Ingo thought... Let`s see about it next time.
Ingo said Little Niece definitevly didn´t want to leave, she made her whole body all stiff to not fit into the trolley - I thought she was just grumpy. Gotta learn a lot, huh? Being an Auntie isn´t easy! ;-)
She´s a cute girl.

And she doesn´t like hats. At.All.

Speak German Part I

Ingo wanted to have this book and sure as always... since he reads on holidays only, I started it first.

I expected the author just complaining about the - really often unnecessary - mix-in of English words.
We call it Denglish, btw.

The book is a hit.
Clever, well written and with many details I just didn´t know.
If you´re interested in living languages - read along!

I´m only as far as page 41 out of nearly 180 and I have so much to share already!
Laugh your butt off or shake your head in disbelief - I make this a series (I think, maybe of 2 only) cause it is kinda a journey!

Sarah if you happen to be here... this book changes my view (hence me) on the whole debate.

So... let´s go ahead, shall we?

The author gives an ode to the German language and also reveals it´s stupid sides at times. Example...

tomato juice = Tomaten-saft
(one word, Tomatensaft, I split it up for easier reading) - a juice made from tomatoes, right?

From what is Husten-saft, hence??? Yikes?
On the other hand... you call it cough syrup. Not as near to yikes as we are, but also close, no?
There are more examples but it´d take too long to explain for being funny for you.

Apropos long... One thing people always state: German is too long, English is fast and easy. Umm... no.
Again, for many you need to know how to pronounce, so I give only the "obvious" ones.

Bahnhof - railway station
Fluchtpunkt - vanishing point
Trödler - second hand dealer
Kundendienst - after-sales service
vorgestern - the day before yesterday (!!! hello?)
Umweltschutz - environmental protection

The author collected German words used in the English language - written in newspapers, used when talking about Germany (Autobahn and such) and regularly (Gesundheit, Angst, Kindergarten...) - over 100!

Funny note... my customer, Volkswagen is using "fahrvergnügen" since 1990 in the United States - and it works!

He also points out that some words are written and mean the same, like: arm, winter, person...

Even France took over some of our words. When they lost in soccer against Germany in 1986 they wrote in the papers: "Kaputt!" - we thought it was a "joke", but no... they use this word in real life.

I think this one is typically German.
On one hand women call for equal rights - and sadly we´re far-far away from it concerning pay (amongst other).
Alice Schwarzer on the other hand insists on using the male and female address - you know how this goes on many people´s nerves?
Does the following bring any additional information to you?:

die Politikerinnen (female, ladies first, huh? Let´s stay old-fashioned in this one, being totally inconsistent) and Politiker,
Beamtinnen und Beamte,
Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter
and-so-on.

I fought very hard and won. In our B2E-Portal we have the statement that we use the male form and adress also all women with this.



The point the author tries to make here, though is: some people have power over language.
Like also the Black Panther Party - even in Germany we have to call them Schwarze (Blacks) and get in trouble for saying Neger. Clever guys they are (in contrast to Alice Schwarzer who makes women look worse in the political sector in my pov...)

Speaking of short words, huh?
For "Negerkuss" (as it was called before, "Negro-Kiss", for ages and loved with no stupid/weird thoughts by all kids) you say (via wiki) Chocolate-coated marshmallow treats we have to say "Schaumkuss" now, referring to the (accidetially) white foam-like mass in the inside.

More to come...

Addendum Just today the news reveal the United Nations agree to the German text/statement concerning climate change, see also BBC News

Am I That Old-Fashioned?!

nasty greedy

Usually when you get in contact with others... don´t you first greet them? Say at least "hello"?

I´m so sick of people´s behaviour when using E-Mail these days when writing to a group-mail-account.

We started introducing picture puzzles and always combine it with a raffle and sometimes cool stuff to win, like concert-cards and such.
You sure know picture puzzle, huh? You have a specified number of fakes, each fake gives a letter and those letters make a word.

Guess what kind of E-Mails I get in 95%?

Dear editorial staff,
I guess the word you are looking for is "the solution".
Kind regards, "name"

Hello?!!! There is a human being reading your damn E-Mails!!! Where are your manners?
Would you stomp into my office and do that?!
Not greet me, just throw the solution at my face, followed by your name, turn around an leave?


The internal communication celebrates it´s 40 years anniversary. And this month our portal celebrates it´s 10-years one.

Another raffle, really, really cool prices to win.

Don´t you think someone would even congratulate us?
So far: None.

The people are just nasty greedy, how sad is that?

Sorry, just had to get it out in my morning-break. Back to work (which today is not fun, hence, I´m really very disappointed).

Addendum/update: So far out of some nearly 1450 hardly 100 managed to adress us and give congrats...

Ours Was A Dark Red

I think it might´ve been this model. Or one or two versions younger. (I was only 4 when they sold him)

I wouldn´t want one, but seeing this one always makes me happy. The owner even has a roll of toilet-paper in the back:

These days BMW is not a good car anymore, sadly.

Speaking of cars! I know why I left some space behind me. What is this guy thinking how am I supposed to get out there???

Yesterday evening we went to Split again.

This is supposed to be an appetizer:

I took it as a main course and this restaurant is really great! This was the first time I was not asked "is that all you wanna eat?" - it was just accepted!

It´s really such a nice area over here:

By The End Of Day One...

So. I was so looking forward to going to Cologne for further training.

Bro studied there and after a rather rough relationship in childhood (we´re five years apart with me being the older one and a Grandma who absolutely loved him cause he looked like her youngest son - and she lived with us)... well he invited me over for a week back in 2003.

He made the flower of the necklace I wear, btw! - He´s not only an Optometrist, but also a Goldsmith.

It was an awesome week and hence I love Cologne.

Maybe I could´ve visited the Chocolate Museum even! It was closed the entire week back then due to renovations.

Yes. I don´t like sweets. Anyways I think it´s interesting.

Well. Date for the training was in October. But we found out it´s the same lame tutor two of my colleagues had to endure. No concept and if you have a question he said: Let´s take a break, huh?, so he can google the answer.
No way they send me there.

So. Frankfurt it is.
Gah, Frankfurt. I actually only know the train-station and the way to the airport (and the airport).
Have been there as a student for some days and didn´t like it.

But.
That´s not really the problem.
If only one guy from another country shows up... it will be held in English.

And the description sounds scary enough.
My brain ended the last sentence of the first part with:

"By the end of the first day, you will be well on your way to becoming an efficient Liferay PortalAdministrator dead."

Doesn´t this sound like a ton of info pressed into only one day?
It would be hard to digest in German.
But in English??? By golly.
I sure can babble away like this. But all the technical terms... bu-huuu.

And I don´t like Frankfurt, there, I said it!
Here are some more pics of my week with Bro in Cologne btw on FB.

... And That´s Why

Don´t they look kinda sad and awful?
My Alfalfa and Cress are already 6 days old - but they don´t grow properly, esp the Cress looks crap.

I blamed it on the bad weather. Since cress smells rather not good, they´re both outside on the balcony.

But... now I think it´s not the weather at all.
I bet that "thing" that lives at my neighbour´s place becomes alife at night and scares those poor plants to death!

Don´t you think so, too?

This is what I see from my PC when I look out.
Yikes. At first glance I thought it´s a man.
It´s not.
It´s freaky.
I´m not even sure I should eat Alfalfa and Cress. Maybe they turned bad? Har-har.

No really.
What is that stupid thing? Stands there for days now...

Weather: Good today! 23C, sunny!
Forecast for tomorrow and the rest of the week... 19C, rainy.
Summer, where are you (going again)???

P.S.: Have you noticed the "Yoga-Clock" to the right? I love it...

Addendum... I took Ingo´s cam, which is much better and has an awesome zoom.
It is...

... just a jacket.
Ok, Cress and Alfalfa: grow!

The One And Only

Well. Hello to Newcastle. Umm. It´s quite yum. But surely not the one and only!
I was fighting a beginning migraine anyways - but Ingo rocked me through it on the swing and I felt great again.

Heck. Might that still be due to that acupuncture-sessions back then I took - which I didn´t really believe in and my Doc admitted he doesn´t know how exactly it works, either?
Guess him being honest made it all work.

What not helped was him telling me of his daughter all the time despite me keeping reminding him I went to school with his 5-year-older son!
Once he forgot two needles - in.my.forehead. Whilst talking to me. You know how long those needles are, don´t you?
Anyways. Since then I hardly had migraine again, yay.

So, instead lying down in pain I took pics of Ingo sewing. Meat. For making Cordon bleu -

and despite the title of this blog... here I liked the ham, YUM!

Weird thing was... we both ate the end that was sewn! Eeek. or: Good quality of the thread/twine???

Sunday we had another BBQ. Love it when Ingo wears a cap like this, girls can guess why, huh?

Gilmore Girls can, right? ;-)
Oh and apart from the matching colors... those "shirts" used to remind me of Al in Tool Time. Thanks again, Gilmore Girls, now that Luke comes to mind I can stand that much better :-)

And yep. Was also bought in Perth:

I got yummy corn btw:

And certainly got hungry an hour later. Yummy but no stomache-filler!
But... we had cracker and cheddar-cheese :-)

This view is a little disturbing, though... the top of the otherwise nice house opposite to us (you need to enlarge to see the "horror-Look"):

Aw, well. Summer... can´t it stay like forever???

In other news: Bro and his family are sick still. So next weekend won´t work out with meeting up.
Which isn´t that dramatic (for us, that is!!! For them it sure is...) since Ingo got on very short notice he has to bring our Moped through TÜV.

Life never gets boring, huh?

Hitler Speaks Also English

On the way home from work today I stopped at Aldi to get Ingo his Soda.

At the cashpoint was only one customer in line before me, a man in his late 60s.
The till girl asked him politely if he had a cent, maybe?

His reaction:

"Nein!!!! Sorry!" with the r spoken rather harsh (German).

Just WT... guess he was just in a hurry and it seemed the two knew each other, too, so this was all rather funny. He had no mustache, either, btw.

And he said sorry, right? That´s polite ;-)

Links, zwo, drei, vier!
Am I "allowed" to use the name of that Austrian guy, Hitler, being German? I wasn´t too sure, really.
"Sorry" is a word adopted by Germans, btw. The younger ones, actually...
You see... "Entschuldigung" is just waaay longer ;-)

See The Positive

I can´t believe we have July already. The good times always go so darn fast, winter lasts like forever.
This morning was all foggy, as you can see in this pic. Kinda beautiful, no?

I have to enjoy every day, see the positive side: It´s summer, yay! Best time of the year!!! We finally have a date for our holiday, too: The first three weeks of August! In a row!

Let´s hope the weather is good for riding the push-bike a.lot. :-)
And that we get done a few things in the apartment, too.

First step started today already, though: Pick up anything from the floor that´s worthy.

Niece is coming over (that´s the plan at least on her parent´s side, but who knows) and she´s right into crawling!

Oh, and I got 200 euros today! That really brightens my mood, no?

Still on the way to work...

The Elliptical trainer I bought (and paid right away, dumb me)... well. Was supposed to be delivered on Monday (I bought it on June 23rd!) - and it´s still not here.
Don´t wanna go into detail about the bad service, long story short: I get the one they had on display, will have full warranty (3 years), free delivery and they pay me back those 200 bucks. That´s ok for sucking service, huh?

Thinking positive, huh?
Ingo promised to clean the floors for little Niece tomorrow - ha, now the entire world (har-har) few Co-Bloggers/Friends know about it - you´ve GOT to do it!), cause I´ll be over at a friend (planned longer ago than Niece-Visit).

(I know I shouldn´t take pics whilst driving. But I´m super-concentrated, promised! And there is near to no traffic in the wee early hours...)

Here We Are

This area is way more idyllic than the old one was, I have to say :-)

Also the facades:

This was on the way to Split, the river Oker:

The Split is a ... umm... strange place.

We were the first guests, the waiter was super-super friendly. Boy, and kinda young (or me getting old! ;-)... buhuu).

When he came back to take the order we got those beverages (for "free"), together with the explanation that they made this themselves:

And, yes. Ingo is wearing a "Braunschweig"-T-Shirt.
My colleague the other day teased me for being so locally-orientated when I wore one.
Well. Today in town I saw two other guys, and from today on, I´ll keep my eyes open and count - and report.
I don´t think it´s all tourists, we´re not that fancy to have many.
I do believe all those Braunschweig-/Löwenstadt-T-Shirt-wearing guys are like me: Proud and happy to live here (and not in Hannover, har-har).

Anyways. We got "free" Coleslaw as entry and the waiter also brought some - how he emphasized - home-made sauce.
Was meant to go with the "real" meal:

Boy, it was yummy! Very, very hot, that sauce, but yummy!
I had Salisbury steak, filled with Feta. Yum.

Weird was the very few guests.
One man came and sat down in the corner and they adressed each other with the informal "du".
Next came a guy... well. You´d rather expect in the streets, begging for money, guess he was drunk, too. He had longer, white hair and was lead through a door, I assume smoking-area?
Later on a guy you´d expect living in the streets with short hair came out.

What was that free drink again? ;-)
No, really. Do they also work as hairdresser?!

Ingo, who´d been more than once in Yugoslavia chatted a bit with the friendly waiter. His (waiter!) German was good, but you could hear an accent, which suggests it´s really a good family(-business) who/which lives also their home-tradition and speak their language at home.
Ingo then ordered a Slivovitz to inform me later that he actually may not drink it (due to Pancreas not working properly), so we shared.
Boy, not again.
Plus, we got another free drink like before.
I managed a proper, romantic pic afterwards none-the-less :-)

Guess we´ll pay another visit in the near future (and skip that Slivovitz).

I just wonder... a Saturday evening and only few guests, yet yummy food, excellent service, clean and reasonable prices.
Maybe we were to early? Went in by 5:45 maybe.
Anyhows... can recommend that place, no tummy-issues on either side.