All the way from Good Old Germany…..
… which is not far at all, to be honest… it could take me longer getting a train into London (which is about 30 miles away from our Marlow office) than sitting on a plane for 45 minutes to step off on German ground….!I am Conny (Cornelia - really, but no-one is allowed to call me this, apart from my dad when he is trying to tell me off…. Luckily this era of my life is well and truly over).
I started working for Astral Travels this summer and don’t regret the move at all. It is exciting changing jobs and this has been very challenging and a lot of fun as well. I get to talk to and help so many people from all over the world every day… I just love it!
It wasn’t like this always though... when I arrived in the UK, it wasn’t easy! All these different accents and habits… amazing! So scary and weird! I went to Australia last year and obviously found it to be very similar to England (apart from the weather!!!)… However, every day it still amazes me how different everything is to life in Germany.
Anyway, the following does sum it up a bit… and this is especially for all you lazy English (no – British!!! … my boyfriend (or do I need to call him “partner” since I am nearly 30 now???), is Scottish and has promised me to learn German for 4 years now!!...), but I appreciate your attitude, because you don’t HAVE to learn it, ‘cause the whole world speaks English anyway… ja ja, I know!...…
Anyway, here it is:
Why English is tough
Twenty-one reasons why English is hard to learn:
01. The bandage was wound around the wound.
02. The farm was used to produce produce.
03. The dump was so full it had to refuse more refuse.
04. We must polish the Polish furniture.
05. He could lead if he would get the lead out.
06. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
07. Since there was no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
08. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
09. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10. I did not object to the object.
11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12. There was a row among the oarsmen on how to row.
13. They were too close to the door to close it.
14. The buck does funny things when does are present.
15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18. After a number of injections my jaw got number.
19. Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
20. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
21. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
There is another thing I thought might be interesting for some:
Did you know…
… The daily Usage of the German Flag is sooo different, compared to many countries……
The German flag is used in an entirely different way than the English (or British) flag. Here in England you can see the flag wherever you walk. In Germany, people are not proud of their flag. Nobody wears t-shirts with their flag or flies the flag openly. In fact, people would find you strange if you did.
I believe, this might be quite interesting, especially for The British nations who are used to seeing their flag or the union jack everywhere.
In Germany it's a really different thing. If you travel through the country, you won't see any (or not many) German flags. You probably wonder why? Maybe you won't believe it but this goes back to World War 2, even if this war has been fought 60 years ago. The Germans still don't show any pride in their country.
But, maybe, the Football World Cup 2006 has changed attitudes towards patriotism?? (I hope so!)
As we all know, Germany was the host of the football world cup 2006. This event seemed to have changed the German's perception towards their flag and patriotism. Before the event you rarely saw any German flags flying in the country, but once the first game started, you could not buy a German flag in any shop due to the incredible demand.
This may not be a big deal to the English, but as stated above, there has never been this kind of flag waving in Germany since the end of World War 2, not even after Germany won the world cup in 1954, 1974 or 1990.
If it was just plain support - and this might have well been the case - then everybody will be looking back at all the articles written about this topic and wonder why it was such a big a deal. However, if the new found relationship between Germans and their flag did picture a change in people’s patriotism, then the world cup 2006 was the trigger of an incredible change in German culture which can only be seen as a very positive step forward.
I’ll be back soon – with my own German Blog (!) and many more strange English ways (from a foreigners point of view….) as well as the many joys to be discovered here!!!
Ohhh, and by the way…. The Scotsman and I were on the “Total London Tour” last week. The London Eye was breathtaking!!! Even with that rather grey sky…. How amazing!
posted by Londons Premier Tour Operator @ 10:24 AM
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