Monday, January 20, 2020

German WE (weekend)

The German club meeting was packed out with people today. We had a record-breaking no. of 13 at the table once the late birds had all filtered in. There were some great conversations that took place and good humor all around. I very much enjoyed myself and I would hope that the others did as well. 

The mix of German speakers in the group today was a bit more varied than usual: 

two from India
four from Germany (one native dialect speaker who can speak the standard when pressed)
one from Italy
one from Ireland
one from Israel
one from Indonesia/Holland
three from California (one of whom had German-Jewish parents)

I like a group that includes new visitors as it's always interesting to learn why folk were keen on learning German to begin with. Alternatively, it's equally interesting to learn what drew Germans to California. Silicon Valley seems to be the reason for many, but one German, who is a German club regular, moved here for love.

Last night, I attended a Glühwein party put on by a friend of a friend. Glühwein, for those of you who do not know, is a hot, spiced wine consumed in German-speaking countries. 


Food grade lye makes a pretzel a pretzel!
I brought pretzels to the Glühwein fest.

I suppose not surprisingly, about half of the Glühwein party attendees were German. I spoke a bit with them auf Deutsch, but, mostly, we spoke in English about the cultural and linguistic differences found in German-speaking lands and sort of took the piss out of Swiss Germans (as you do when none are present). 

One of the men at the party turned out to be an old friend of a dear friend of mine. They, he and my friend, were both in bands that gigged together in the local music scene some thirty years ago. In fact, I had probably met this dude more than once back in the early 90s at various music shows. Darned if I have any memory of it now, however.






16 comments:

  1. It sounds wonderful. Growing up (long before I was old enough to drink alcohol) I remember the delicious scent of gluhwein on winter's nights...

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    Replies
    1. Oh, yes! Glühwein keeps one good a toasty. :)

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  2. The reason I'd learn German, given the opportunity (having blown the one at school), is the wonderfully batty word order. I love it that the greeting "Pleased to meet you" comes out as "It pleases me to learn to know you" (Es freut mich, Sie kennenzulernen).

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    Replies
    1. You were too busy with biology, from what I have read. ;)

      I tried this one on at the Glühwein fest:

      It was a pleasure to have met you. = Es hat mich gefreut, dich kennengelernt zu haben.

      'kennenlernen' is a fun verb. It's guess it's like making one's acquaintance, really.

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  3. HEY! My grandparents were Swiss Germans! Them's fightin' words! LOL

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    Replies
    1. Haha! I kid because I love.

      Lemme guess...your Swiss family surnames include one of these:
      Schulthess*
      Hodel
      Furrer

      *this is a bit of a trick as 'Schulthess' is basically the 'Smith' of German Switzerland

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  4. A bit too many drugs at those early '90s shows? ;)

    There is a Swiss blogger I follow. Alas, she writes her blog in English.

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    1. I was pretty shallow. If band dudes weren't smoking hot, then I might not have been inclined to remember them. :S

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  5. I have German ancestry but no real knowledge of food etc. Did visit Germany in 1953 (too young to drink anything hot and spicy). I might have enjoyed pretzels. :)

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  6. Is Glühwein the same as mulled wine?

    I was at a dinner party with a woman that met me back in the 90's. I don't remember her and I don't think she remembered me. I think it's safe to say I'd changed more than she had!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, it's the German version of mulled wine.

      Your dinner party recollection made me smile.

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  7. Dear Bea, sometimes, for me, life seems to be circles within circles. Arcs of circles that begin in one period of my life and are made the complete round in another period! Peace.

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  8. I hope Google Translate treats me well: Ich bin froh, dass du eine gute Zeit hattest.
    Enjoy your weekend, Bea. Take care.

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    Replies
    1. Gut gesagt! Yes, it was a busy, good time.

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