The Dentist

So today I had my first experience with the German health care system. I went to the dentist.

I'm not really the kind of person who dreads going to the dentist. In fact, I actually like a good tooth cleaning. I attribute my attitude to good genetics. Now going to the orthodontist is another story entirely...

I don't know how this is possible in the western world, but I went to the dentist today and had little more done to my teeth than an x-ray and a visual check up. The visual checkup consisted of me opening my mouth and the dentist saying numbers and commenting on the condition of my teeth.

Yep...no teeth cleaning.

I left the dentist today feeling a bit cheated.

According to my husband, the dentist only cleans your teeth if that's necessary. Since I have had my teeth cleaned every six months for as long as I have had teeth to clean, they apparently didn't need to be cleaned.

So either I have very good dental hygiene or my dentist is lazy. I can't decide.

Okay, so I don't think she is lazy. The dentist was very nice and really seemed to know what she was talking about. I think this is probably just normal practice in Germany. According to my husband, you are only encouraged to go to the dentist once a year. He did tell my that next time I can ask them to clean my teeth even if they don't think it is necessary.

On a positive note, I didn't have to pay a dime.

Thoughts?

A Christmas Carol

Today, David and I were discussing movies and the subject of "A Christmas Carol" came up. We were trying to decide on a movie to go see. My German isn't good enough yet to follow a film, so our options are a bit limited. We were trying to decide between "Inglourious Basterds," the new Twilight movie, and the latest Woody Allen movie. I should mention here that three movies in English is a VERY good selection. Throughout all of October and November, the only English movie in town was the Michael Jackson movie - and we were NOT going to see that.

In a bit of a bold move, I suggested that we go see the latest movie version of a Christmas Carol, because any American could follow that movie in any language. As a child I must have seen the play live at least 5 times. Every Christmas, my brother and I watch the Muppet version as a bit of a fun tradition.


Upon mentioning "A Christmas Carol," David suggested the we should go see it. - I thought he was kidding.

Apparently, in one of the nearby towns, there is a one man show of "A Christmas Carol." In English. David has even seen it 3-4 time there. The guy who puts on the show is a British guy. David said that the show would be in English, which surprised me.

Here is a bit of our conversation (with some embellishment).

David: The show is in English.

Me: Really? They don't translate it.

David: Nah, the guy is British. Why would they?

Me: Well it's not like it's hard to translate. It's just Charles Dickens.

David: Who?

Me: The author of the play! ....(awkward pause)....Nevermind....

David: It sells out every year.

Me: Wow.


So now, David an I are planning to go see the one man version of "A Christmas Carol" in one of the best preserved medieval town in Germany. This should be interesting....

To be continued....

How is this possible?!?!?

My husband has NO idea who Audrey Hepburn is.

Not even a clue. How is that even possible!?!?!?????

This makes me sad. A bit depressed even.

The other day i was wearing a t-shirt with an Andy Warhol style picture of the lovely Audrey Hepburn on it. David then asked me why I am wearing a shirt with Marylin Monroe on the it.

Sigh....

Audrey Hepburn and Marylin Monroe are not the same person. One is classy and the other is a bit trashy (sorry for the rhyming).

Not sure why i wrote about this....

RAUS EMMA, RAUS

German Word of the Day: Raus (Out)

On Saturday, David and I took our took dogs to their first dog training class in Germany. We have been trying to coordinate getting our dogs into training classes for the last year, but due to many unforeseen conflicts, we have not been able to. Needless to say, our two dogs are sweet, but lack the good manners necessary to be taken out in public on a thrice daily basis.

Our dogs are already well versed in a few standard commands: SIT, DOWN, LEAVE-IT,..

Somehow the German commands seem to be a bit more effective. We are teaching the dogs German commands and they actually respond better.

To give a good example of this I will use the word sit. In German, SIT is SITZ. That extra z really seems to drive the command into the dogs head. Both David and I agree that they respond better to the commands when we give them in German.

One possible argument is that our dogs have simply stopped listening to us. Emma

The more likely reason, the German command has a much harsher and more stern sound. When you say a word like SITZ or PLATZ (DOWN), you can't help but sound like you mean business. Dogs need authority. Most dogs actually like authority. The exception here would be our Emma. Emma is as stubborn as a dog comes, but that's another story.... Back to German dogs commands.

My favorite command to give the dogs: RAUS. This means GET OUT. It's just fun to say. Not that I don't want my dogs around, they just tend to have a bad habit of getting into things they shouldn't.

My Rules for Riding on Public Transportation

When riding any form of mass transportation there are unwritten rules:

1) Keep your eyes to yourself. ( I find a book helpful here)

2) Don't sit on a seat that is facing backwards. (Just weird)

3) Keep a straight face. (This applies specifically to situations when someone sits near you who hasn't showered but has tried to hid the stench with cheap perfume)

4) Don't sit next to anyone unless you can't find another empty seat. (This rules is an important one)

5) Ignore people acting strangely, crying children, and stupid schoolchildren without parental supervision. (It just feeds the insanity).

6) Be conscious of the elderly and offer them you seat. (this is just good manners even though most people don't do this.)

Blame it on the fairy tales

German word of the day: Wort (word)

There is one thing about the German language that really annoys me. All of the nouns are capitalized.

For the last week of class I kept thinking that it must just look like my teacher is capitalizing random words.

My mistake....

Like a good student, I was doing my homework last night. As David looked over my work, he told me to capitalize the nouns.

Me: Why? The staaten (state) isn't a proper noun.

David: All nouns are capitalized.

Me: What? Weird. Why?

David: I don't know. I know more about English grammar than German grammar. Ask your teacher. He'll know.

So today I asked my teacher about why all nouns are capitalized and I got a story worth sharing.

Apparently, the first German dictionary was compiled by the Grimm Brothers. Grimm like the fairy tale guys. When they took the dictionary to the editor, they were told that there were too many worts (words). ( Uh duh, it's a language. The breadth of any language isn't short. Sorry for the aside, I just need to add in my two cents here.) The editor told them they needed some way to distinguish between different types of words. So they capitalized the nouns...and it stuck.

Danish (and one of the other Scandinavian languages) also used to be like this. Then, after WWI, they wanted to deGermanize their languages and took out the capitalization of all nouns. During the communist era, many leftists in Germany tried to rid the German language of the old, bad ways. It didn't work. So here we are today...capitalized nouns.

My hands are purple!?!

I've finally moved into my new apartment and have so time for a brief blog.

My husband LOVES red cabbage. He loves it so much that he decided to buy two of them for us and 3 for his parents. (Yes, my mother-in-law thought it was a bit much too.) Don't get me wrong here, I like red cabbage. However, two red cabbages is the equivalent of 4 pots of cooked red cabbage. This means lots of work for me. I love to cook so normally this wouldn't be a problem, but there was a tiny flaw this time....I just moved to a new country and don't quite have the equipment to cook red cabbage. So here is how it all went down:

I stare a the cabbage and like any good engineer, I assess the problem.

I attempt to cut the cabbage in half. However, I have a 2 in knife that is pretty dull as my only sharp kitchen tool.

I fail miserably.

I take a deep breathe, regroup and I decide instead to use the grater. I soon find the 3 kg cabbage a bit too heavy and too large to manage with a grater.

I put the cabbage on the cutting board and take the dull knife and start to manually shred the cabbage.

I find this method to be slow, but it gets the job done so I continue.

About a tenth of the way into shredding the cabbage, my father-in-law comes in and observes the madness.

Ralf: I'm no expert in the kitchen, but usually doesn't one use a long knife to cut such a vegetable.

Me: Usually I do, but this is all I have.

Ralf: Oh dear!

30 minutes later....

The cabbage is shredded and in cooking in the pot.

I survey my work space, and to my horror everything is a lovely shade of bluish-purple--- INCLUDING MY HANDS!!!

Sigh...the things we do for those we love.