The last word

Earlier today Brian was reading something in German and commented that he always had to look up the word regelmäßig. I asked him what it meant and he read out the list of English words.

Regelmäßig: constant; continuous; measured; periodic.

I complained that I didn't like words that could have two opposite meanings. How could a word mean both "constant" and "periodic". So I looked up "periodic" to make sure I wasn't using it incorrectly.

Periodic: recurring at intervals of time; occurring at regular intervals; repeated at irregular intervals.

I didn't like it that periodic could sometimes mean occurring at regular intervals and sometimes mean occurring at irregular intervals? That's when Brian brought up semi-annual and bi-annual and how both mean occurring twice a year. Which is confusing enough, but add to it that bi-annual can also mean occurring every two years and then things get really confusing.

As I continued to complain about words that had two opposite meanings, Brian said that you can tell the meaning based on context. A bi-annual sale would most likely occur twice a year while a bi-annual sports event would occur every two years. What about a bi-annual family reunion, I asked. Every two years, Brian answered. What if it wasn't really a family reunion but really just a get together but someone called it a reunion because words often have more than one meaning, I asked. Every two years, Brian answered. And then someone got mad -- but I don't really remember who.

It may have been me.

I took the computer so I could look up words. And Brian asked me what I was going to try to prove. And I said maybe I wasn't going to prove anything. I was just going to write a blog post.

A cautionary tale

Last Saturday Brian, Jessica and I headed to the Naschmarkt to check out their goods. I always enjoy walking through the flea market, but I rarely buy anything. But this time I found the greatest book ever.


It may not look like much to the untrained eye -- just an old book that's falling apart -- but I knew what it was right away. A book of cautionary tales.

If you're a big fan of The Office, you may recognize this story from "Take Your Daughter to Work Day". Dwight tries to read the story to the kids but doesn't get very far before Michael stops him.


In this story, a young boy is warned by his mother to stop sucking his thumb, but once she goes away, he sticks his thumb back in his mouth. That is until a tailor comes along with a large pair of scissors...


...and cuts off his thumbs!

Even if you don't understand German, it's pretty easy to learn the lessons just by looking at the illustrations. This story, for example, tells you what might happen if you play with matches.


Despite the cats' warnings, Pauline couldn't resist the matches. And look what happened.


As if the girl in flames isn't graphic enough, the final illustration shows the cats sobbing next to a pair of shoes and a pile of ashes.

If you need to teach your child some lessons, you can also find this book in English. And if you want to read all of the tales and see the original illustrations, you can find them here.

It's that time again

Last year I wrote about Austria's tradition of Nikolo and Krampus. In case you missed it, instead of bad kids going on Santa's naughty list, they get chased around and whipped with branches by a devilish figure called Krampus. Krampus traditional shows up on the 5th or 6th of December, but tonight the Krampuses (or is it Krampi? I think I prefer Krampi.) were out in full force.

The photos below are from Krampuslauf -- or Krampus Run. As far as I can tell, it's basically an event where adults enjoy scaring the bejeebers out of their kids by exposing them to these frightening creatures. Be warned, these really are some frightening images.

The first group traveled with Nikolo. They looked scary, but they didn't taunt the crowd too much.


This guy doesn't look too bad. Look, he's smiling.


That is, until he started yelling in the face of the guy standing right in front of me. I was a little too scared to stand directly next to the barrier because I didn't want to get so close to these creatures. Moments later, the Krampus was hitting this guy's backside with his switches. But don't worry, the guy was laughing the whole time. The kids, on the other hand, had run away screaming.


Here are a few more Krampi. They don't look quite as festive, but they certainly look scary. I think seeing one of these guys would be enough to make me want to behave the whole year.

Small word, big difference

One of the many difficult things about learning German is figuring out which preposition to use. I used to think it wasn't such a big deal if I used the wrong preposition, but after a recent experience I realized that perhaps it's more important than I thought.

About two weeks ago I made my second trip to the Austrian equivalent of the DMV office in order to transfer my U.S. driver's license into an Austrian driver's license. It really isn't a difficult process, but it's not so easy either. Generally, to transfer your license you have to fill out some forms, make some copies of various documents, and get a physical then take all of the papers to the Verkehrsamt (let's just call it the DMV) and get the license transferred. But when you're diabetic like me, you also have get a note from a specialist, get blood work and see a special doctor at the DMV.

On my first trip, I waited for an hour or two just to find out what information I needed from the specialist.The second trip was much faster. I was shuffled back and forth a bit and finally ended up with the DMV doctor. He reviewed the note from my doctor and the results from the blood work and asked me a few questions. Fortunately, he spoke English, so it was pretty easy. When he was finished he said everything looked good and that I would receive a license in five year.

I couldn't believe it! I was going to have to wait five years to get a license. Actually, sometimes the rules are so odd around here that I could actually believe that I would have to wait to get an Austrian license. The doctor explained that I would have to return to the DMV office in five years and if the results from my blood work were consistent I would be able to get an unrestricted license at that time. He sent me down the hall to talk to someone else.

I was just about ready to cry. After all that work and I wouldn't be able to get a license for five years. But I held it together. When I talked to the next guy, he told me that I could go home and that I would get a letter in about two weeks and I could get a license in five years. We spoke for a few minutes (still in English) because I wanted to know if there was anything I could do to get a license now. Something just didn't seem right. That's when it hit me. Both guys had told me that I could get a license in five years, but they actually meant that I would be able to get a license that was valid for five years. After five years, they would check my blood work again and if I was still stable I would be able to get an unrestricted license, or a license that doesn't expire.

So now I'm just waiting for this letter, which should be here any day now. I'm still not sure whether it will contain my driver's license or if it will be another paper I have to take back to the DMV. But I'm pretty sure it won't be a letter that tells me I can pick up my license in five years.

Jammen

For those of you trying to keep up, here's something else to add to your list of things to learn in order to be like Alisha: how to make jam. In all fairness, I think it's significantly easier in Austria because they have this lovely sugar that contains pectin, so that takes a lot of the scariness out of canning.

Let's start at the beginning. Last week, one of Amanda's neighbors invited her over to show her how to make jam. Now, this woman called it marmalade, but when I looked up the difference between "marmalade" and "jam", I realized what they made was actually jam. After a little more research, I discovered that the English word "marmalade" is translated to "Orangenmarmelade" in German. And the German word "Marmelade" is translated to "jam" in English. I also learned that "jammen" is the German verb "to jam". That's not really related to the food jam, but I found it amusing.

So, Amanda learned to make jam from her neighbor last week and she taught me how to make jam this week. Now I must teach someone how to make the jam within the next week. It's the David Watson method of jam-making. (I know that only a handful of people are going to get that joke, so don't worry if the last sentence didn't make any sense.)

Here goes... How to make strawberry jam.

Start with fresh strawberries. I bought some of these from the Naschmarkt and the rest from the grocery store. The ones from the Naschmarkt were definitely better (looking and tasting), so next time I'll make sure to get enough from there. And while I was at the Naschmarkt, I took a few photos for Almost Daily Vienna. They'll show up over the next few days.

Let's get started. (Have I said that already?) Wash the berries.


Next, hull and slice the strawberries.


Then, add a little water to a large pot (enough to cover the bottom) and toss in the strawberries. Bring to a boil over a medium high heat while occasionally stirring and mashing the fruit. The juices will be released as it heats up. When it becomes juicy, add gelling sugar.

I had never heard of gelling sugar before and I don't know if it's available in the U.S. It's sugar that contains pectin (to gel) and citric acid (to preserve). When I googled it, the first site returned was a store in the U.S. (German Deli) selling the imported German brand, so it may be hard to come by in the U.S.


After it cooks a bit more, pour the hot jam into sterilized jars. I washed my jars in the dishwasher and then popped them in the oven for a few minutes to sterilize them. Put the lid on, then let them set overnight. Amanda's neighbor's grandmother used to always wrap her warm jars in a blanket so they would take longer to cool down. Neither Amanda nor I knew the reason for this, but we did it anyways.


My 7 cups of sliced strawberries made 5 jars of jam. I think I may try to make jam with other fruits

ich bin ein Wiener *

I've been wanting to use that title for a while now... Ever since I read a Wiki article about JFK's speech in West Berlin where he made his famous "ich bin ein Berliner" statement. Have you ever heard that Kennedy made a grammatical mistake and accidentally called himself a jelly doughnut instead of a citizen of Berlin? Well, I had never heard it either. But apparently that rumor is going around. And it's wrong. Wiki can explain it better than I can:

According to an urban legend that is both completely untrue and practically unknown in Germany,Kennedy made a slightly embarrassing grammatical error by saying "Ich bin ein Berliner," referring to himself not as a citizen of Berlin, but as a common pastry:

Kennedy should have said "Ich bin Berliner" to mean "I am a person from Berlin." By adding the indefinite article "ein", his statement implied he was a non-human Berliner, thus "I am a jelly doughnut".

The legend stems from a play on words with Berliner, the name of a doughnut variant filled with jam or plum sauce that is thought to have originated in Berlin.

In fact, Kennedy's statement is both grammatically correct and perfectly idiomatic, and cannot be misunderstood in context. The urban legend is prevalent only in English-speaking countries but largely unknown in Germany, where Kennedy's speech is considered a landmark in the country's postwar history. The indefinite article "ein" can be and often is omitted when speaking of an individual's profession or residence but is necessary when speaking in a figurative sense as Kennedy did. Since the president was not literally from Berlin but only declaring his solidarity with its citizens, "Ich bin Berliner" would not have been correct.

So there you go. The next time you're at a soiree and someone starts in on what a fool JFK made of himself in Berlin, you can set that person straight and turn them into the fool.

Now all of that was just introduction. Let's get to the point. Why would I say, "ich bin ein Wiener? Drumroll, please.

I got my residency permit today! (Brian too.) We're now official (and legal) residents of Vienna. And it only took about a year.

* For all you German-speaking folks out there, yes, I know that "ein Wiener" is masculine. But I figured that if I named this post "ich bin eine Wienerin," no one would start an urban legend that I called myself a hot dog.

My Vienna :: My school

This is where I've spent the better part of the last 9 or 10 months:


This is the language center for the University of Vienna. Before it was part of the university, this building and the others around it were the general hospital.

More precisely, this is where I've been spending so much time:


This is the classroom for the German course Brian and I have been taking since October. (We were an almost identical classroom a little further down the hall for our September class.) And yesterday, we visited this classroom for the last time. We have both officially passed the 7th level (M3) and are finished (for the time being, at least) with formal language study.

It's amazing when I think about the progress we've made. We're not yet fluent in German, but we can actually talk to people and understand what's going on around us. And when we're familiar with the subject matter, we can get along quite well. In preparation for our final exam, we had to read three newspaper articles and write a summary and our opinion for each one. During our oral exam, the professor selected one of the articles and asked us to discuss it. Brian talked about a legal document that has to do with the care of the children in the event both parents die. And I talked about the global food crisis caused by soaring food prices. Not simple subjects.

We've made some friends along the way, as well. Two of the girls in our class started the first level with us in September. And several others have been in class together for two semesters. On the last day of class, I brought chocolate chip cookies (using my Aunt Sue's famous cookie recipe). They were a big hit and a couple of classmates even asked where we lived and whether we would be staying in Vienna this summer. I think we'll be keeping in touch. :)

Yesterday we met for a few minutes in our classroom to wrap up some final issues then headed to a cafe in the courtyard for a little socializing before we parted ways. I think everyone was ready for summer break.

I don't want to brag, but...

You know how some people with blogs spend all their time gushing over their kids and how awesome they are? (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) Well, I don't have kids, so I'm just going to have tell you how awesome I am. And let me tell you, I rock.

I came to this conclusion yesterday afternoon. Today is a holiday and tomorrow Brian and I are heading off on overnight trip, so I had a ton of things I needed to get done between 2:15 when we got out of class and 6 or 7 when everything closes down until Friday.

First, Brian and I stopped by a train station on our way home from class to purchase our tickets for weekend trip. That's where the awesomeness began. I had a complete conversation with the ticket guy IN GERMAN. I told him I wanted 2 tickets for adults and 1 ticket for our dog, when we wanted to leave (date and time, thankyouverymuch), and when we wanted to return. He asked me questions and not only did I understand him, I was actually able to respond. In German. And I know this guy speaks English because we've bought tickets from him in the past and we only spoke English then. It was truly a triumph and I'm sure I had a silly grin on my face the whole time. Brian was also quite surprised, but he was able to suppress his silly grin until we left the ticket office.

The next stop was the post office where I continued to rock the German. The postman had tried to deliver a package yesterday morning and the slip he left said the package could be picked up the next business day at the post office. But I wanted to try to get the package before the holiday. When I got to the counter, I said something like, "I would like to know whether I am able to pick up the package today." (My German teacher always says that longer sentences sound more elegant and polite.) Fortunately, the package was available and I went on my merry way without having to say much else.

I had one more stop before home -- the pharmacy. Last year we bought some drops for Sharkdog that are supposed to help calm his nerves. We're almost out and we wanted to get some more before our trip on Friday. I showed the pharmacist the bottle and she asked me a few questions and I was able to answer -- all in German. Although, once she had to rephrase a question because I didn't understand it. But then my awesomeness started to wane and I didn't know how to say someone was already helping me when another pharmacist asked whether I needed assistance. However, it was just a short lapse because a few minutes later I was able to ask the pharmacist about the proper way to dispose of needles. (I have tons of sharps from my insulin pump from the past 10 months that I didn't know where to throw away.)

Shortly after getting home, Brian and I took Sharkdog to the vet to get a rabies shot. I tried some more German on the assistant, but it was getting a little late in the day and I was running out of German. So we quickly switched to English. Nevertheless, I'd still say it was a pretty successful afternoon.

Small victories

Today Brian and I went to the university to register for next semester's German course. Everyone in the registration office speaks English, but I decided that I was going to give it a go in German. After all, I'm not in an elementary class anymore.

So I did it in German. And it went off without a hitch. Well, except that I told the woman that I was born in 1918 instead of 1980.

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Remember how I told you about the university field trip last week? We got a video of some of the activities. Here are a few clips that I pulled out so you could see a little of the class and what university students do on a field trip. The first two clips are from some fun in the blue box. In the last clip, we were checking out the teleprompter on the camera. So that's why everyone is looking at the camera oddly. The girl at the end is wearing a blue sweater, but the camera still has the blue box setting turned on, so you can see a bit of a weather map on her sweater.

A disclaimer -- I didn't add the music, it was on the video.

It's a nice day for a white wedding

Today Brian and I had our first oral exam in German class. Just so I don't keep you in suspense for too long, we both did well. We don't have the grades yet, but we are both confident that we passed with good marks.

The whole thought of an oral exam was a little intimidating, but I had a lot of info going into it, so that helped put me at ease. I knew that the proctor administering the exam would not be my regular teacher, I would have to speak over three topics and it would last about 5 minutes.

First, I had to introduce myself and tell why I was in Vienna. Then I had to speak about my favorite object -- the one I presented to the class earlier in the semester. I knew both of these topics prior to the exam, so I was completely prepared for them.

For the third topic, my teacher gave the class a list of possible questions earlier this week. Then when it came time to speak over the third topic, I had to draw a card and answer the question. Some of the questions were really easy. Talk about your last vacation. Where did you go? What did you do? But some of them were a bit more... abstract. What do you think about the future?

Fortunately, I drew a pretty easy question. I'm visiting your hometown for 3 days. What attractions are there? What do you recommend I see? This question was especially easy because it's the exact same question I drew during the practice exam yesterday. So I felt pretty confident in answering it.

The hardest part of the exam was knowing that the proctor could ask additional questions at any moment. She could ask something about your family. Or some detail about your hometown. Or whatever.

I know the proctor asked a few questions, but only one sticks in my mind. While talking about my favorite object (a wedding photo), she asked me whether I wore a white dress.

I'm not quite sure what she was getting at.

Dreaming in deutsch

I had some trouble sleeping last night and decided to get up for a little snack. A few minutes later, Brian realized I wasn't in bed and called for me. I returned to the bedroom to see what he needed. He asked me what I was doing and I told him I was looking for something to eat. That's when the conversation got a little strange.

Brian: "Did you tell the neighbors it was ready?"

I had no idea what he was talking about so I asked him to repeat what he had said.

Brian: "Did you tell the neighbors? That the food was ready?"

Me: "I don't know what you mean."

Brian: "Nachbartisch." (This is the German word for the neighboring table, like at a restaurant or cafe.)

Then he giggled, rolled over and went back to sleep. I asked him today if he remembered the conversation and he said he didn't.

But he still thought the word "Nachbartisch" was pretty funny.

Kultur und Kaffee

One of the girls in our German course is in Vienna to receive training as an opera singer. An opera singer! Isn't that crazy impressive? She invited the class to a concert organized by her singing instructor. It was amazing. I've heard a lot of singing in my life. Just yesterday morning on our walk to the u-bahn I heard Brian's rendition of an R Kelly song. But I've never heard anything like this.

Several other classmates were also at the concert. Afterwards, Brian and I joined two of the other students for coffee -- at Starbucks. Here we are in a city known for their cafes and we end up at Starbucks. But that was okay with me. Starbucks is the probably the only place where you can get your coffee without second-hand smoke. Probably the most impressive part of the whole thing is that we spoke German most of the night. The girl we were with speaks English and prefers English over German. But the guy either doesn't speak English or prefers German -- I'm not sure which one. But either way, it was nice to speak to someone whose first language is neither English nor German. You both get to struggle a little. Although, there was definitely more struggling on our side of the table.

Music and coffee -- that's what this city is all about.

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In other news, if you haven't checked out Sharkdog's blog in a while, I recommend moseying on over there and taking a look at the first installment of Sharkdog Adventures. (Click on the photos to view a larger image.) And don't be afraid to leave a comment. Sharkdog thrives on positive affirmation.

A hard pill to swallow

Alternative and homeopathic medicine seems to be much more popular here than in the U.S. I've known this for a while, but it really struck me recently during German class. Earlier this week we discussed subjects related to health -- body parts, common health problems, etc. During one of the exercises, we were given a list of health problems and a list of remedies and had to "prescribe" a remedy for each problem. Here are some of the more amusing remedies.

Headache -- drink coffee

Dizzy/light-headed -- eat chocolate

Diarrhea -- drink cola and eat pretzels

And everyone's favorite:
Stomachache - drink cognac

Light reading and other ways to learn German

I thought that learning German would be difficult. And it is. But not in the way I expected. You really need to surround yourself with the language in order to learn it. You'd think that wouldn't be a problem -- living in Austria and all -- but it would be quite easy to go through the entire day without listening to a bit of German outside of class.

Don't get me wrong. I hear a lot of German. The announcement on the u-bahn with all the connections at the upcoming stop. The warning that the doors are about to close. Kids playing at the playground we walk past every day. People everywhere on cell phones. But all of that is just white noise. It plays in the background and is easy to ignore.

So Brian and I are trying to be more intentional about listening to the German language. Brian found a nice radio station that has a lot of talk. We generally turn it on while we're working on our German homework or surfing the internet. And I got a library card and have started checking out children's books. I try to read aloud when Brian is out of the house.

And I've just discovered another fun way to listen to German -- watch Scrubs in German. The Haskews recently bought one of the seasons that Brian and I own in English. So I'm quite familiar with all of the episodes. The Haskews loaned me their DVDs and I've really enjoyed watching the show in German.

And it seems to be helping. Brian says that listening to the radio has helped him understand more in class. And I've felt a little more confident speaking to the cashier at the supermarket.

Plus, it's kind of fun learning some of my favorite lines from Scrubs in German.

To begin again

Brian and I started our second round of language courses this week. I'm really excited about this class. The teacher is great and there's a good mix of students. We have three 45-minute lessons per day Monday through Friday. It's so much less exhausting than the summer course, which was four lessons a day. Maybe it's because the class starts at 11:45 instead of 9:15, so I can sleep in a little. :)

My favorite thing about the class -- the knowledge that when it's over at the end of January, Brian and I will have completed the B1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. According to the framework, by this point we:

Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

Describe dreams, hopes and ambitions! Come on, don't tell me that's not exciting. But we're not going to stop there. Oh no, we plan on continuing through the C1 level. Beyond that, I don't know. We don't want to become too pretentious or anything. (Does the description of the C2 level sound pretentious, or is it just me?)

In other news...

I received two books from my mom that I'm super excited about. The first one is Bend-the Rules-Sewing by Amy Karol. I love Amy's blog -- Angry Chicken -- and love the stuff I've seen in the Flickr group. I took a sewing class in junior high, but haven't sewn much (if any) since then. This book has patterns plus basics for beginners. Amanda and I have already decided that we're going to pick out some projects and head to the fabric store in the not-too-distant future and then Amanda's going to teach me to sew.

The second book is Sock and Glove: Creating Charming Softy Friends from Cast-Off Socks and Gloves by Miyako Kanamori. I decided I must get the book after seeing this adorable elephant on another one of my favorite blogs, house on hill road. And it doesn't disappoint. I'm too lazy to scan some pages, but you can find some here on Angry Chicken.

Wow, there are a lot of links in this post. I hope at least some of you made it to the end and didn't get distracted on one of those other pages. Since my last two posts didn't include any pictures, I figure I better throw one in here so you don't get too bored. Brian took this picture of Sharkdog at the Karl Marx head during our recent trip to Chemnitz. Who has the big head now?

Who does number two work for

Last week, Brian and I noticed these signs popping up near our apartment.


I was quite excited because this is the same sign that is on the trash cans around the city where you can get free bags to pick up your dog's, um, mess. So I thought perhaps the city was going to place some of these free bag dispensers where the signs are located. (Currently, the closest dispenser is about 1/2 a mile away and the closest sign is right on our corner.) Then we noticed there were a lot of signs and I decided it must just be a campaign to remind everyone to pick up after their dogs.

The day after Brian and I spotted the signs, we saw an old lady spot the sign for the first time. She stopped in her tracks and burst out laughing. Then she looked at us to make sure we were enjoying the sign as well.

In case you can't read it, the sign says "Nim ein Sackerl für mein Gackerl." Brian said that it's more important to keep the rhyme than to provide an accurate translation, so I've been trying to come up with something similar in English. But I'm at a loss. The only thing I can come up with is "Take a scooper for my pooper." Can you come up with something better? The only rule is that it has to rhyme. I haven't been able to find "Sackerl" or "Gackerl" in any dictionary, so I'm pretty sure they are either slang or made-up. (The online dictionary includes slang terms, so that's why I'm throwing out the "made-up" idea.) Feel free to use made-up words, as long as they convey the meaning.

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In other "number two" news, Brian and I finished our first German course and guess who the number one and number two students were? If you guessed me and Brian, you're only half right. It was me and Rodika. Well, Rodika and me, since I was second. But you don't know Rodika, so really it was an unfair question. In any event, Brian and I both passed the class and that's what's important. Here we are with our little certificates (that we had to pay for).

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I'm going to be out of town until next week, so don't expect anything new until Tuesday. But now you have plenty of time to come up with a catchy slogan (in English) to remind us to pick up after our dogs. I'm going to be really disappointed if no one comes up with something.

A day of firsts

I made my first trip to the pharmacy today. You have to get practically everything related to medicine at the pharmacy, even if it doesn't require a prescription. I needed three things -- test strips for my glucometer (for which I had a prescription), something to relieve sinus pressure, and something for Sharkdog to help him calm down when he's nervous. It seems a little strange that you go to the same place to get medicine for yourself and for your dog, but that's the way it works.

I was all prepared to do this in German. Okay, so really I only had two sentences ready -- "Ich habe ein klein hund mit angst. Haben Sie homeopathic Medizin für meinen Hund?" I figured I could get by with gestures for the other two things. But I chickened out. I asked the lady if she spoke English and of course she did, so we did everything in English.

I did not, however, chicken out at the post office and confidently told the clerk, "Ich möchte eine Briefmarke," as I pointed to the place on the envelope where the stamp goes. I'm sure I looked like an idiot. Especially since I've spoken to this same clerk twice -- in English. And a moment later I had to revert to English to ask how long it would take for the delivery.

I also had my first haircut in Austria today. No one at the salon spoke English. When I walked in, a girl asked me to have a seat and I started trying to tell her what I wanted. That's when she explained to me (in German) that she only washes hair. I felt silly, but I've never had a shampoo-girl. I'm familiar with the concept, I've just never seen it in action. So she calls over the girl who is going to cut my hair and again I try to explain what I want. Fortunately, I also had pictures. I'm brave enough to go to a salon where no one speaks English, but only with backup. The rest of the hair-cutting experience was pretty much on par with experiences in the U.S. And when it came time to pay, I understood the girl when she told me the cost! I know it's a little thing, but it's still pretty exciting when you start to understand people.

Oh yeah, and there is one thing that I've found that you typically get in the pharmacy section in the U.S. but can find in grocery stores in Austria -- glucose tablets (for low blood sugar). And where can you find the glucose tablets in the grocery store? Why, in the candy aisle, of course. I always knew that glucose tablets were just candy posing as medical supplies -- probably so the manufacturer can charge more for them!

This one is not about food

For all of the German-speakers out there, you'll have to let me know if you've ever heard this word: Vokuhila. I ran across the word on a forum for expats living in Vienna. It's an acronym for "Vorne kurz, hinten lang," or, in English, "short in the front, long in the back." That's right, it's the mullet. I even looked it up in my favorite online dictionary, and sure enough, there it is.

The mullet is alive and well in Vienna. Brian and I often spot young (and not-so-young) guys sporting the 'do around town. Which makes one wonder: Where do these guys come from? Where are they going? Then last week I found these coupons stuck in my mailbox and I just knew, this is where they must be heading...

Can you spell that, please?

Today in class we worked on the three Rs. Arithmetic? Yes, we did math problems in German class. The teacher would say something like "590 plus 210" and whoevers turn it was would answer "800." The point was to practice recognizing and saying German numbers, but the addition and subtraction part was a little tricky.

In any event, it reminded me about something I mentioned in an earlier post about the German language -- the proficient use compound words. Rather than using a space or hyphen, the German language often strings words together into a single word. For example, numbers are written as one word. In English, you would write 362 as three hundred sixty-two. But in German, you write dreihundertzweiundsechzig.

But it's not just numbers. If you're my age or older, you probably remember the VW ads from the late 80s with the slogan Fahrvergnügen -- or driving pleasure. Sometimes the compound words can become quite long. A Fernsprecherteilnehmerverzeichnis is a telephone list of participants. And a Verbesserungsvorschlagsversammlung is a meeting for improvement suggestions. If you google "long German words" you'll find all sorts of examples.

I'm not sure that these words are actually used, but it's still kind of fun to see how many words can be strung together to create a new, quite-concise word.

School Daze

Yesterday, Brian and I headed to the university to take the placement test and buy our books. Since we both wanted to start at the beginning level, they didn't make us take the test.

This morning all of the students met in the auditorium on the main campus for an introduction and then we made a short trek to the language center down the street. There were about 800 students ranging in age from 16 to 60+ in the auditorium. I think the university offers eight language levels and each level has five to eight classes.

Brian and I are in the same class along with nine other students. We are the only students from the U.S. in the class. There are three students from Japan, and then one each from South Korea, England, Canada, Poland, Spain and Moldova (a small country between Ukraine and Romania).

Our first day of class went well, but it's very long. We meet from 9:15 to 1:00 each day and have four 45-minute lessons and three 15-minute breaks (or pause, in German). We have to leave around 8:00 in the morning and return around 2:00 in the afternoon, so class takes up a good portion of our day.

The teaching technique is a bit more conversational than I was expecting, but I think it's going to be good. This technique seems to be the preferred method as all of the schools we looked at used a similar technique. We spent most of the day repeating questions and answers such as "What is your name?" and "How long will you be in Vienna?" We also worked on numbers and days of the week. Today, the teacher allowed some English, but starting tomorrow, she says only German will be allowed.

I know this is a pretty dull post, so I will leave you with some lovely photos of my favorite hound.

He can turn left.

And he can turn right. Plus he's really, really ridiculously good looking. Perhaps he should be a male model.