Deutliches Deutsch

One thing that's always plagued me here in Germany, is the ability to understand the Germans. Everywhere has its own accents, and its own dialects. Here in Bade-Würrtemberg, it's not as bad as it could be, but there are still some dialects that utterly confuse me: Badisch, Schwäbisch, Allemannish (sp?), Bayerisch. Over in Hamburg, they have their own accents and dialects (I hear, I've never been), including a version of Plattdeutsch (lower German).

While I was in the Sachsen-Anhalt province visiting Gardelegen (more on that tomorrow, or Thursday) I noticed something... The only things I couldn't understand were the words that had not yet entered my vocabulary. There was no deciphering if what that person asked me was "how long have you been studying?" Or "do you want to become a professor with that degree?" Like I normally encounter here, but instead I could hear everything they said, clearly and understandably.

I've only been to six of the sixteen Bundesländer (provinces) of Germany, but so far Sachsen-Anhalt has impressed me the most with their language. The next on that list would have to be Berlin, and dead last? Bayern (Bavaria).

Tschüß

Sechstes Video

Here's the vid:



And here's the pics:

Gardelegen

Sorry for the quick post. I'll update everyone on Gardelegen tomorrow...

Tschüss

Stuttgarte Bilder

Here's some photos from when I went to Stuttgart a month ago. Of course, they'll also be in the links thing to the right. ----------->

Stuttgart

Tschüss!

Hansestadt Gardelegen

In 1945 as the Nazis were retreating, they brought with them the inhabitants of concentration camps on death marches. One such death march ended up in Gardelegen, a small town in between Hamburg and Berlin.

As the concentration camp prisoners were slowing down the Nazi's retreat, they decided to eliminate them, before moving on. They stuck them in a barn on the outskirts of Gardelegen on the Isenschnibbe manor. They burned the barn and shot anyone trying to escape. Afterward they hastily buried the bodies and retreated.

My grandfather was a US soldier during World War Two, and came across this scene. This was the first instance of the allies finding out what was really going on in Europe, and what the Nazis were doing other than just harassing Europeans. I say first instance, but I mean it for the soldiers, not the governments, who I'm sure knew about the atrocities going on. The event was traumatic for my grandfather, as it would be for any sane man, and it was the last place he was stationed until the war ended.

The US soldiers gathered the inhabitants of Gardelegen and ordered them to dig up the bodies and give them proper funerals.

Tomorrow (or rather, in 9 hours) I'll be leaving for Gardelegen (a six and a half hour train ride), to visit this site. My grandfather was a pretty big deal to me, and I'm glad to be able to visit the same place he did 64 years ago.

Tschüss

P.S. You can read more about it here.

Zurück

Alrighty, my wrist feels better (still taking it easy, though), and I'm ready to do my post a day program, and make the most out of this blog while I have it.

I'm going to miss Germany, terribly. I wish I had the money to go to Berlin one more time. But I've still got some pretty cool travel plans lined up.

I'm going to Gardelegen this week. What's in Gardelegen, you say? Not much, but there's a historical site where a Nazi massacre took place, that my grandpa came across with his regiment during World War Two. I think it was the last place he was stationed, and I have some pictures of him there. I'm going to go, just to visit the place and see what it's like. The town doesn't have much, so I don't imagine it'll be too interesting otherwise. I'll stroll in on Friday evening, relax after a 6 hour train ride, and then head out to the site in the morning. I'm hoping it takes awhile to get to, as I don't know what else I'll do with my day. Probably drink beer and read.

Then, in late July/early August, I'm going to Italy with my aunt to visit some family I have in Avellino. I'm training it there too. That should be fun. Then, of course we have Games Day in Köln, and finally my flight back to North America, where the blog will, sadly, end.

And with that, we'll end this post.

Tschüss!

Mein Handgelenk

You may have noticed I haven't been making any posts lately, as I promised I would. This is because my wrist hurts so much, that it hurts to type. For those of you that don't know, I broke my wrist Snowboarding while in 12th grade (17 years old), and it hasn't been the same ever since. Every so often it hurts alot. I haven't been able to do push-ups ever since. Anyways, I'm getting off, 'cause I'm in pain. Lates!

Tschüss!

Bilder!

This also doesn't count for my one post for today (but it should!).

Here's all the pictures I've taken while here. I don't take much, as is evident, but there they are. There's also some that haven't been seen before on Facebook. Ooooo!

General Freiburg pictures.
Paris, France
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Straßburg, France
England, Warhammer World, Frankfurt
Colmar, France

There's also a trip I did from Dublin, up to Scotland, and down to London that needs to be uploaded; as well as some Stuttgart stuff. That stuff is currently being uploaded.

I'll post these as links on the sidebar so that people can see them forever, and ever. Unless Google has some Picasa/Blogger functions somewhere.

Tschüß

P.S. I didn't caption any of the pictures, so it might be a bit confusing, for some. I'll try and caption them one day, but for now just getting them up was pretty cool.