American making fun of how Americans speak German

A few months ago I was at a friend’s house staying with his family.  They moved to Germany about the same time as us however live in a different part of Germany so their kids go to German schools.  As we were sitting around the table with both Americans and native German speakers, it was obvious that their two girls were excelling at learning German as the conversations were drifting between English and German.  At one point, the oldest young lady said that Americans (excluding herself of course) sounded so funny speaking German.  It wasn’t just our accents that made us sound funny but the way we make our sentences.  She then proceeded to give an example by saying a few sentences how an American says them (accent and sentence structure) and then said that this is how it should be said (with her German accent and in ways Germans say things).  I was first shocked and then laughing so hard.  When she said everything like an American, I really sat there thinking – “That’s exactly how I would say it and that’s my accent”.  Then when she spoke like a German I thought – “No wonder I don’t understand what people are saying so much of the time – they speak German very differently than I do”.  I laughed so hard that I had to have her do it a couple of times as to me it was just great.  Eventually, I had to ask them to do it on camera and send it to me (which they did and below is the video).

Now this might not be that funny to many of you but if you have ever learned a foreign language with actual native speakers around, I think you can relate. It also proves – learn other languages at a young age!!!

Alex finds the video camera

Sorry for being such a slacker lately about blogging.  Been another period of travels and projects (some really good stuff brewing).  Anyway, just thought I would easy back into things with a little video clip of Alex.  Alex found the video setting on a little digital camera we have and decided to make a series of little videos.  He seems to have had some fun so I thought I would put the clips together for your enjoyment (and mine!).  Take care and talk to you more soon!!

I like Dr Pepper

I like Dr Pepper. I have since I was a kid. I drank Dr Pepper while doing homework, while out with friends, even at parties – that was my drink of choice. While in college, I used to drink so much Dr Pepper that one day I came in to find my roommate had created a “wall” in the window sill from my Dr Pepper cans blocking almost all of the sun light. When I’m doing some serious programming, you know the kind where you loose all track of time and space and even start to think in code, I’ll easily drink one or two 2-liter bottles of Dr Pepper. One time I was programming all day and drank a couple of 2-liters but only when I was standing up to leave for the day (because a co-worker happened to mention the time) did I realize that I’d never made it to the bathroom all day. I made it in record time then.

Since moving to Europe, I have found that Dr Pepper is not as easy to get. Well, at least not in our area of Germany. Every time I travel though, I keep an eye open for some but it is very rare. However my friends and co-workers know my addiction desire for Dr Pepper and sometimes when they fly back from the States on a direct flight they’ll bring me a can. (Several cans have been lost to security officials by people not flying direct) Even some of the Europeans know my craving and a lady we know had her brother who lives in the Netherlands bring me some down on one of his visits.

I write all of this to say, I’ve just been in heaven. Recently, I got two shipments of Dr Pepper. A six-pack from a co-worker while she was up in Belgium and a 12-pack of Diet Dr Pepper (American Style) from some American friends who have some links to a military base here in Germany.

I just finished a can, savoring every last piece of it. It tastes sooooooo gooooooooood. I truly believe that Dr Pepper will be on the dinner table in heaven. Now I must pace myself and not over indulge. I’ll just wait until tomorrow for my next can. Too long, I’ll just wait until tonight.

That day has come

Tonight is a first – Krista was playing a computer game tonight after Alex had gone to bed. In it was a difficult puzzle that she was having a hard time figuring out. She gave up stating, “I’ll just wait until tomorrow and have Alex figure it out”.

The day has come when Krista is relinquishing her title as top gamer in the house hold and passing that on to our 8-year old son, Alex. He, who has grown up in a world that has never known life without personal computers nor the Internet, is taking our house by storm in the digital gaming arena.

The next stage will be when he can figure out ways to do things with a computer better than his dad. Its going to be some tough teen years for us both.

Mac Vs. PC (Transformer Style)

Ok, get past the “Chessy” beginning scene and just wait. It gets to be pretty good.

What are you going to do?

Back in 2004, Krista and I were in Colorado on the US Election Day going through our orientation and appointment to be missionaries with Greater Europe Mission. Bush was re-elected during that time. Funny situation happened as we flew from Colorado back to our (then) home in North Carolina. A man and I struck up a conversation in the Denver airport. He was extremely upset that “W” was going to have four more years as president and continued to describe to me in colorful language how upsetting it was that this was allowed to happen. I sat there listening not really having or wanting to have an opinion to express. (for the past several elections, I haven’t been passionate about one candidate or the other). Finally, the man, after ranting on for a while, asked me what I was going to do. I declared I was going to move out of the country. The man just stood there silent. He saw that I was serious (although for different reasons than he thought). The conversation ended at that point. He walked away.

Later I wondered what went through his head after that. Here was a man who was obviously passionate and moved by a situation. He had a lot of words to go with his feelings but did he have the action to go with it? I am so proud that so many people in the US went out and voted yesterday (no matter who they voted for). That was action!

Where is your passion? What moves you? What do you hear or see that just makes you scream inside that something must be done! Now do something about it.

I’ve been tagged

Ok, I’ve been a slacker and not posted in a little while but I’ve got a few things to post so hopefully, I can sit down and write them out. The first thing I’m going to post though is that I GOT TAGGED. Cheryl, who is the wife of my BFF back in the States, decided I needed to be tagged. So in following the rules (I’m becoming a good German boy), I now need to share 7 random and/or weird facts about myself. Those of you that know me, know I had to narrow DOWN the list to just 7.

1. [Edited for personal reasons]
2. I use a Mac. Which might not be a weird fact except that I’m a computer professional and people think that “real” computer geeks only use Windows. Well, I’m here to tell you that there’s a lot you can do with a Mac and still be a real geek. Besides, with my Mac I can run OS X, Windows XP, Ubuntu, CentOS, etc. all on one box and it handles it pretty well. Now I’m not a “Oh, Mac is to die for and Steve Jobs is the ultimate” kind of Mac user. Depending on what you use a computer for, Windows may be the best solution for you.
3. My resume is the weirdest thing people have looked at. If I actually put down all my jobs since starting high school it would include (only a partial list): retail clerk for an outdoor equipment store, owner of a lawn mowing business, horse wrangler for a camp in Colorado, security officer for a theme park, sound technician, stage lighting technician, armed security officer for a private policing company, construction gopher, waiter, cook, bartender, dishwasher, host, busboy, customer service rep for an electrical motor repair company, computer equipment buyer, solutions designer for computer/telephony solutions, systems analyst for a software team, project manager for a software development team, Lotus Domino developer, Lotus Domino administrator, web developer, business owner of a Domino/web development company and now a missionary geek.
4. I like to dance when no one is looking. I’m seriously afraid that my wife will put in one of those hidden cameras and then post my dancing on YouTube or something. I didn’t say I CAN dance only that I like to dance (with no one watching is the key).
5. This goes with the dancing but I have a serious affinity to Techno, House and Dance music. I’m very inspired by the works of Andy Hunter and World Wide Message Tribe although Scott Blackwell and his Nitro label do good for me too. Its one of the few things that the French and I have in common.
6. Since moving to Germany, I have this strange habit of bashing the French. I mean its a beautiful country and I go over there quite often (its only 20 km away) but did you know that French people live there? The funniest thing to me is that you can tell this story about somebody doing something totally weird or ridiculous and then end it with – “oh, and they’re French” and that can be accepted as reason for them to act that way in my mind.
7. I’ve jumped out of a perfectly good airplane along with rock climbed, rappelled, kayaked, white water rafted, rode in a Nascar car at 130 mph, and other adrenaline junkie things. At amusement parks about the only thing I don’t like to do are things that go around in circles. That probably stems from the time I stayed on the “Swinging Chairs” ride for 10 cycles in a row (no one was in line). Oh, did I mention I’d just eaten?

Ok, so now I’ve got to choose the 7 people I’m going to tag:

1. Laura, a fellow eDOT’er and our web developer
2. Ted, another missionary who works with GEMStone Media
3. Kristi & Steve, GEM missionaries in Romania
4. Mutating Missionary, I just really like her pictures
5. John & Amy, some more missionaries with GEMStone Media
6. Kelly, a missionary in Slovakia
7. Matt, a missionary who focuses on missionary teens

I have fulfilled my commitment. I am finished.