Getting started in a 'new' language isn't easy even though something over forty years ago I had enough to make myself understood with a few German-speaking friends and odd cousins. Never having got beyond a sort of child-speak stage I am now struggling with declining articles, variations in pronouns that make English look simple and verbs that change according to pronoun and tense.
The pronouns change according to gender, so you have to get to know whether a thing is masculine, feminine or neuter and some things you would think are obviously "neuter" turn out to be masculine or feminine in German! A good example is in the Communion service where "The Body of Christ" becomes "Der Leib Christi" and "The Blood of Christ" becomes "Das Blut Christi". The "Body" is masculine, but the "Blood" is neuter. It gets more complicated when you hit composite nouns, because now it is the last sylable which determines the gender. But now I'm jumping ahead to far for my own good!
For now I had better get to grips with -
Ich wohne
Du wohnst
SieWohnen
Er/sie/es wohnt ....
and the plural gets even better ...
Wir wohnen
Ihr wohnt
Sie wohnen
sie wohnen
OK, that's enough mayhem for the rest of you for today. I'd better get back to my exercises and crack on. I have to master at least the basics as I've booked myself a place on an Intensive Language Course offered by the Volkhochschul, in Wiesbaden and it starts in eight weeks time...
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Monday, 5 July 2010
Marking birthdays...
On Saturday we celebrated Mausi's mother's birthday. We began with a breakfast of melon, smoked ham, bread rolls and champagne or Buck's Fizz in the shade of the plum tree in the garden. With eleven round the table it was most enjoyable even as the temperature began to climb we all managed to stay in the shade and to enjoy the gentle breeze which, from time to time, brought a welcome coolness.
By lunchtime though, the temperature had reached around 35*C and still climbing, so we re-arranged the table down in the basement family room which remained a much nicer 20*C and set up the chairs and crockery and cutlery for the afternoon tea session and fourteen more guests. Then Mausi, her sister, Mum and I all took a short rest in cool spots before the new guests arrived at 15.30. By this time the temperature outdoors had hit 37*C and still going up, though there were some huge thunderheads building to the south of Dietzenbach...
Now, you will be wondering about the German v Argentina game. Yes, we watched the first half, yes, I was shouting for Germany, and yes, it was a great game and a fabulous score!
And I'll tell you that the basement was ideal, the cakes superb, the tea and coffee perfect and so was the company.
The storm was brief in Dietzenbach, but enough to cool the air and Mausi and I got home at around 21.30 to find that we had had a great deal more rain here than in Dietzenbach and the air was pleasantly cool as we went to bed. A great celebration and a great game of footie. What else is there to ask for?
By lunchtime though, the temperature had reached around 35*C and still climbing, so we re-arranged the table down in the basement family room which remained a much nicer 20*C and set up the chairs and crockery and cutlery for the afternoon tea session and fourteen more guests. Then Mausi, her sister, Mum and I all took a short rest in cool spots before the new guests arrived at 15.30. By this time the temperature outdoors had hit 37*C and still going up, though there were some huge thunderheads building to the south of Dietzenbach...
Now, you will be wondering about the German v Argentina game. Yes, we watched the first half, yes, I was shouting for Germany, and yes, it was a great game and a fabulous score!
And I'll tell you that the basement was ideal, the cakes superb, the tea and coffee perfect and so was the company.
The storm was brief in Dietzenbach, but enough to cool the air and Mausi and I got home at around 21.30 to find that we had had a great deal more rain here than in Dietzenbach and the air was pleasantly cool as we went to bed. A great celebration and a great game of footie. What else is there to ask for?
Ridiculous...
Sometimes the lengths the "Warmists" will go to in order to frighten their foot soldiers and scare more tax money out of the politicians just gets stupid. I'm not going to comment further on tthe article I found at Watt's Up With That?
It is entitled Ponderous Pachyderrms Prevent Permafrost...
Read it for yourselves and you'll see exactly what I mean.
It is entitled Ponderous Pachyderrms Prevent Permafrost...
Read it for yourselves and you'll see exactly what I mean.
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Independence Day
I hope all my friends in the US will have a great Independence Day Celebration.
Their idealism is to be admired as is their work ethic, the freedoms they have under their constitution should be the envy of the world, not the target of those who hate freedom. Its worth defending, its worth aspiring too.
Sometimes though, I get the impression that their "Liberal/Left" hate the constitution, hate the freedom it gives, and wish to destroy the US as it is and create in its stead yet another nation of minorities with clashing cultural ambitions and tinpot dictaors running rackets in every community.
Long may Independence Day mark the continued success of a bastion of Western values and freedom.
Their idealism is to be admired as is their work ethic, the freedoms they have under their constitution should be the envy of the world, not the target of those who hate freedom. Its worth defending, its worth aspiring too.
Sometimes though, I get the impression that their "Liberal/Left" hate the constitution, hate the freedom it gives, and wish to destroy the US as it is and create in its stead yet another nation of minorities with clashing cultural ambitions and tinpot dictaors running rackets in every community.
Long may Independence Day mark the continued success of a bastion of Western values and freedom.
Saturday, 3 July 2010
Birthday celebrations...
WE are off to Dietzenbach today to celebrate Mausi's mum's birthday. It's a feast in two halves, one in the morning and another group in the afternoon. AS the weather promises to be fine, clear and HOT, this should be interesting.
At any rate, we intend to make this a special day for her, a grand dame in every sense.
At any rate, we intend to make this a special day for her, a grand dame in every sense.
Friday, 2 July 2010
Heat and waste disposal...
I guess that summer has arrived at full strength here in the Taunus. The temperature for the last several days has been in the high 20's Celsius and threatening to get hotter. This is, of course, a typical feature of a "Continental Climate" and as the land heats up and stores the heat, the night time cool down - particularly here in the low 50* latitudes where the sky is still light at 23.00 - is quite small. So we go to bed warm, and wake up warm.
Today is going to be a stinker - already over 25*C in the shade.
At least the efficient waste disposal system here in Germany is hard at work. Last night we cleared a whole lot of junk and unwanted furniture from the basement. This morning a large "crunchy-munchy" truck arrived and proceeded to load a mattress, the metal bits and one or two other things we were discarding. Crushing these into the huge load bin, it then moved on, leaving all the wooden stuff behind with the shouted assurance that "Das Holzwagen kommt!".
"Das Holzwagen" turned out to be another "crunchy-munchy" truck and the furniture was chucked into the load bin, then the crushing scoop got to work. In short order the bulky furniture was just so much splintered wood chip, no doubt now on its way to a chipboard or MDF plant!
There is quite a bit more to be got rid of, but as this is mostly electrical goods we have to take these to the disposal site ourselves. Recycling is a serious business here, even garden waste is shredded, mulched, bagged and sold as fertiliser. Not a lot goes into landfill in fact. Bought some cold drinks from the supermarket? There's a deposit on the plastic bottle - take it back and you get a refund. Beer bottles, cold drink bottles, even water bottles are all deposit refundable. Glass bottles are all reused, plastic bottles are shredded, remixed and reformed into new ones or, and here's a surprise for all you "fleece" wearers - turned into "fleece"...
Now there's a thought next time you put it on. You're probably wearing a collection of old cold drink bottles.
Today is going to be a stinker - already over 25*C in the shade.
At least the efficient waste disposal system here in Germany is hard at work. Last night we cleared a whole lot of junk and unwanted furniture from the basement. This morning a large "crunchy-munchy" truck arrived and proceeded to load a mattress, the metal bits and one or two other things we were discarding. Crushing these into the huge load bin, it then moved on, leaving all the wooden stuff behind with the shouted assurance that "Das Holzwagen kommt!".
"Das Holzwagen" turned out to be another "crunchy-munchy" truck and the furniture was chucked into the load bin, then the crushing scoop got to work. In short order the bulky furniture was just so much splintered wood chip, no doubt now on its way to a chipboard or MDF plant!
There is quite a bit more to be got rid of, but as this is mostly electrical goods we have to take these to the disposal site ourselves. Recycling is a serious business here, even garden waste is shredded, mulched, bagged and sold as fertiliser. Not a lot goes into landfill in fact. Bought some cold drinks from the supermarket? There's a deposit on the plastic bottle - take it back and you get a refund. Beer bottles, cold drink bottles, even water bottles are all deposit refundable. Glass bottles are all reused, plastic bottles are shredded, remixed and reformed into new ones or, and here's a surprise for all you "fleece" wearers - turned into "fleece"...
Now there's a thought next time you put it on. You're probably wearing a collection of old cold drink bottles.
Thursday, 1 July 2010
The problem with Rome...
A lot of the discussion in Germany recently has been about the Roman Catholic Church and the abuse that has emerged has fuelled a rather angry debate in some quarters. Part of the problem for the Roman church is the fact that it has, for centuries, tried to be both a spiritual and a secular authority and power. To a very large extent the problem is the 'vision' of the church itself, which is that the 'church' is the ordained ministry and the laity are simply there to support it.
The laity are not expected to understand theology, not expected to contribute to the governance in any meaningful way or to have any say in important discussions within the church. One part of the problem here is the insistence on a "celibate" priesthood. Now, I have no doubt that many priests are celibate, but almost every one I have ever met has, at some stage, 'fallen from grace' and not been able to observe this completely. Rome actually quietly condones some priests long term 'affairs' rather than try to forbid such relationships and this, in itself, is a form of abuse. Unmarried clergy advising couples on "marriage" are often drawing on theory rather than experience to the extent that it becomes totally irrelevant to real life. There is another aspect to thisin that the Roman clergy tend to mix socially only with other clergy or with those of the "yes, father, no, father," persuasion and they - again I am drawing on the experience of a friend and former Roman priest - and lose touch with real life and real issues for their congregation.
The decision making process in the Roman church is done in the rarified atmosphere of the Vatican, generally in language and in academic terms beyond the grasp of the average person and this, in turn, allows the media hacks to seize upon and twist every utterance, every decision and every doctrinal statement. Opening the window and letting the laity take a larger part in the process would encourage more of the lay members of the church across Europe to be more activ in their 'ministry of the people', a very large element of the Gospel charge to every believer which seems to have got lost in almost all the traditional churches in these last years, but which is particularly noticeable in Rome.
How will this change? Of that I am not certain. The Pope is on record as saying he does not fear being a "remnant" of the "true faith" - presumably that 'faith' being the very narrow vision of the Vatican's ultra conservative wing - so we should not expect him to change anything in his lifetime.
I do know that the Roman church needs urgently to at least open consideration of the following: -
- Married clergy,
- Birth control and sexual practices,
- the role of women in the church,
- the claim of Papal Infallibility,
- recognition of and co-operation with other Christian Churches.
The first of these dates to the Middle Ages when the monastic orders managed to gain control of the Vatican and imposed the "monastic ideal" upon the clergy. Even as late as Cardinal Wolseley in the UK priests in some areas were married and the Cardinal himself had a "partner" though she was never described as his "wife". Birth control has to be recognised - before the human population grows beyond what is sustainable, a point that may already have been reached. It is all very well to argue that human sex is "purely for procreation" and must therefore be only used in that context is overly simplistic and a refusal to recognise that sex is a natural activity between humans and has been since the dawn of time. Of course it should be 'special', but to say it should occur only when it is desired to achieve conception is simply unrealistic.
Rome refuses to address the role of women in the church, other than in non-ordained supporting roles. Again they refuse to recognise that the early church made extensive use of women in ordained roles seen as equal to the male counterparts as deacons (NOT deaconesses!) and there are suggestions that many were even "presbyters" (Priests) and several examples exist of women who may well have been Bishops. Post the Synod of Nicea women's roles were downgraded and relegated progressively to a subordinate one, but as late as the 8th Century, the Coptic Church recognised Mary Magdalene as their "Apostle". Part of this was due to the spread of "Arianism" with even the Bishop of Rome adhereing to the Arian Heresy as late as 310 when Martin of Tours began the fight back and the restoration of the doctrines of St Paul and St John.
The doctrine of Papal Infallibility is a major issue for many Christians, and it is of fairly recent date. Even the claim of being the "One True Faith" doesn't bear close scrutiny since there are a wide range of documents in existence that show that for the first thousand years or so of the church's history the faith that was shared by Orthodox and Catholic was essentially the same - except for the claim of the Pope's to being "Successor of Peter" and therefore the Supreme Authority. There is in fact no evidence that the other Apostles ever acknowledged Peter in that role except as their "pater familias" and certainly don't seem to have deferred to him in matters of teaching or practice!
Probably the single issue which causes more pain between the churches than any other is Rome's refusal to recognise any other communion. That is probably the first and most important issue Rome must address in the coming years. As a famous Roman once remarked - "United we stand. Divided we fall." If Christians cannot get around the same table at least some of the time, our faith will be relegated to the dustbins of history and our civilisation, founded upon Christian teaching, will vanish with it.
The laity are not expected to understand theology, not expected to contribute to the governance in any meaningful way or to have any say in important discussions within the church. One part of the problem here is the insistence on a "celibate" priesthood. Now, I have no doubt that many priests are celibate, but almost every one I have ever met has, at some stage, 'fallen from grace' and not been able to observe this completely. Rome actually quietly condones some priests long term 'affairs' rather than try to forbid such relationships and this, in itself, is a form of abuse. Unmarried clergy advising couples on "marriage" are often drawing on theory rather than experience to the extent that it becomes totally irrelevant to real life. There is another aspect to thisin that the Roman clergy tend to mix socially only with other clergy or with those of the "yes, father, no, father," persuasion and they - again I am drawing on the experience of a friend and former Roman priest - and lose touch with real life and real issues for their congregation.
The decision making process in the Roman church is done in the rarified atmosphere of the Vatican, generally in language and in academic terms beyond the grasp of the average person and this, in turn, allows the media hacks to seize upon and twist every utterance, every decision and every doctrinal statement. Opening the window and letting the laity take a larger part in the process would encourage more of the lay members of the church across Europe to be more activ in their 'ministry of the people', a very large element of the Gospel charge to every believer which seems to have got lost in almost all the traditional churches in these last years, but which is particularly noticeable in Rome.
How will this change? Of that I am not certain. The Pope is on record as saying he does not fear being a "remnant" of the "true faith" - presumably that 'faith' being the very narrow vision of the Vatican's ultra conservative wing - so we should not expect him to change anything in his lifetime.
I do know that the Roman church needs urgently to at least open consideration of the following: -
- Married clergy,
- Birth control and sexual practices,
- the role of women in the church,
- the claim of Papal Infallibility,
- recognition of and co-operation with other Christian Churches.
The first of these dates to the Middle Ages when the monastic orders managed to gain control of the Vatican and imposed the "monastic ideal" upon the clergy. Even as late as Cardinal Wolseley in the UK priests in some areas were married and the Cardinal himself had a "partner" though she was never described as his "wife". Birth control has to be recognised - before the human population grows beyond what is sustainable, a point that may already have been reached. It is all very well to argue that human sex is "purely for procreation" and must therefore be only used in that context is overly simplistic and a refusal to recognise that sex is a natural activity between humans and has been since the dawn of time. Of course it should be 'special', but to say it should occur only when it is desired to achieve conception is simply unrealistic.
Rome refuses to address the role of women in the church, other than in non-ordained supporting roles. Again they refuse to recognise that the early church made extensive use of women in ordained roles seen as equal to the male counterparts as deacons (NOT deaconesses!) and there are suggestions that many were even "presbyters" (Priests) and several examples exist of women who may well have been Bishops. Post the Synod of Nicea women's roles were downgraded and relegated progressively to a subordinate one, but as late as the 8th Century, the Coptic Church recognised Mary Magdalene as their "Apostle". Part of this was due to the spread of "Arianism" with even the Bishop of Rome adhereing to the Arian Heresy as late as 310 when Martin of Tours began the fight back and the restoration of the doctrines of St Paul and St John.
The doctrine of Papal Infallibility is a major issue for many Christians, and it is of fairly recent date. Even the claim of being the "One True Faith" doesn't bear close scrutiny since there are a wide range of documents in existence that show that for the first thousand years or so of the church's history the faith that was shared by Orthodox and Catholic was essentially the same - except for the claim of the Pope's to being "Successor of Peter" and therefore the Supreme Authority. There is in fact no evidence that the other Apostles ever acknowledged Peter in that role except as their "pater familias" and certainly don't seem to have deferred to him in matters of teaching or practice!
Probably the single issue which causes more pain between the churches than any other is Rome's refusal to recognise any other communion. That is probably the first and most important issue Rome must address in the coming years. As a famous Roman once remarked - "United we stand. Divided we fall." If Christians cannot get around the same table at least some of the time, our faith will be relegated to the dustbins of history and our civilisation, founded upon Christian teaching, will vanish with it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
