Languages

I have to speak German in the office. I guess that makes sense, since I live in Germany. I had an interesting conversation today, though. One of my team members is Hungarian. He has been learning German for about 10 months, which is about how long I took lessons. He isn't as comfortable with his German, though, and he prefers English. Today we discussed the pros and cons of speaking German or English with each other. We decided that we could speak English so he could improve that since he and I both speak German with everyone else. Then we continued our conversation in German. It is weird how that works. I have a lot of trouble switching out of German. Pretty much, if I set my mind to it, then off I go. His German is good, too. He asked me the other day how I managed to still be able to speak after 5 years away from Germany. I told him that I fake it. It is amazing what a handful of words and a complete lack of pride will do for you. Last time, I was really worried about sounding dumb. I simply don't give a damn now. I guess I am simply more confident in who I am, what I know, and what is important. And what isn't important is my percentage rate on my German grammar and vocabulary.

In other news, there is a bully at the kids' kindergarten. He is apparently a real handful and causes loads of trouble. Aiden is in a scuffle almost every day. Briana has been in a few. And by scuffle, I mean that the bully hits/kicks/throws sand at them, and they retreat or try to get out of the situation. The teachers are aware of the problem, but there doesn't seem to be much they can do about it. Sarah got a concerned look on Wednesday because she smiled when the teacher said that Aiden finally fought back. I am afraid I might have to start encouraging Aiden to fight back. Which not only do I not support (I have never been in a fight with anyone except my sister), but I can't picture him doing. It also isn't easy telling him to never, ever hit anyone. Unless they are hurting Briana. When B is getting hurt, he is to kill whoever is doing it. What a messed up message to send. But he's good about that. Well, maybe not the killing part, but he sure does take care of his little sister. He's just about the best big brother ever.

Speaking of his little sister... She is sort of notorious around the house for being really crabby when she doesn't get enough sleep. Sarah warned her teachers about that a few days ago. The teacher asked her what she meant, and she said something in German that Sarah didn't understand. So Sarah asked her the next day if she meant bitchy. Which is a very accurate description. The teacher was horrified. She said that that was a very bad thing to say in German. Which is odd. Because I heard the F word no less than three times in English and once in German ON THE RADIO this morning. Within a 20 minute time period. But saying someone is bitchy is bad.

What strange people.

Interesting keys

So the German keyboard has a few extra keys. Noteably Ö, Ä, Ü, ß, and €. But there are some other unusual ones that make me wonder what early typists/programmers were doing. We have shift access to the degree symbol ° (where the tilde would normally be), CTRL+ALT+2 (or 3) gives ² and ³. Shift 3 doesn't give you the pound sign, it gives you the paragraph sign: §. And this is the one I think is the most interesting. CTRL+ALT+m gives... µ.

 

When my dad was in school working on his chemistry degree, he had to learn either German or Russian because all of the important scientific research was done in Germany and Russia. I wonder if that led to this odd keyboard requirement. Overall, it's a real pain because a bunch of the other keys are in different locations compared to a US keyboard to accomodate this. I spent most of my day hitting backspace.

What a week.

I have had a busy week.

My boss' last day was today. Technically it is Friday, but he's taking a couple of days off to move some stuff to his new apartment. So today was a frantic dash through everything I needed to know that we haven't discussed yet while getting interrupted a bazillion times for people to say goodbye. I also got a review of another colleague's test system because he's leaving as well. He's the one I came over to replace. Then I met with another guy who's work I'm assuming. His job was the one I thought they meant when they told me I was getting more responsibility. He worked fairly autonomously. They apparently meant his job, on top of the first guy's job, and my team leader's job to boot. Just to be safe. So starting next week, I'm three people.

So we'll see how things turn out. I get to manage half a dozen people (eight if you count my two alter egos). I am not a native speaker, and haven't had to speak their language consistently in 5 years. I have been brushing up for 3 months, but still battle to understand most conversations, and every week I learn about some new work law that doesn't exist in the US.

It oughta be fun.

You said it, Sister.

Last weekend we were out and about causing all sorts of trouble with the kids. On the way home, we stopped at the ice cream stand by the tram stop. Aiden got his typical two scoops of lemon. B decided to be adventurous, and got a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of melon (i.e. cantaloupe). it is pretty good. i got a couple scoops of it after trying hers. Sarah got her typical scoop of lemon and scoop of strawberry. On the way out the door, the boy asked if B's ice cream was good. She said it was really good. His response?

You said it, Sister.