I wonder why those “trolls” never leave a linkback to their site, so we can read their own pearls of wisdom…

Yes, we made it Der Vaterland and had a great time…weather was a little cold and sketchy..but you know, that’s early spring for you (march 20th-30).

We’ll definitely be back.

–tOmToM–

This is kinda funny. Some people were ragging on SAP for using too much English:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XUiLtvKqns

Ciao!
ToMtOm

Have a nice trip to…where did you say you were going this time–Rome? Turkey?..haha

I enjoyed this episode.

-Tommykins

My wife and I are pretty excited and are gearing up for our upcoming German Urlaub…and really feeling the squeeze of the weak dollar. It must have been nice to be in your shoes, the absolute opposite…I’d be stocking up on MacBooks and Ipods if I were in your shoes, coming back to the states

Look forward to hearing from you again, soon. Sorry I haven’t been commenting as much, been scrambling to adjust to a new job…hopefully after our trip ( march 20-30) we can hook up on skype or do a some email Q/A regarding my experiences and observations.

Cheers and happy travels,
Jim

I am still in the U.S. visiting my family near Atlanta and tying up loose ends, but my husband has started work and is blogging about his experiences. His blog is here.

tomtom

Hope your family had a nice xmas, and has a happy new year!

We listened to your podcast Christmas Day and the kids really perked up when they heard my name :-). My husband and I were flying back from Germany at the time you uploaded it. We were there for a week, I had a wonderful time (I had never been to Germany before), and we made all the arrangements for our permanent move in February. We visited the Christmas markets in L?beck, Pl?n, Kiel…fabulous. I was surprised by how warm and friendly everyone was and I think this is going to be a wonderful experience. Also, I don’t speak much German, but both times there was a serious communication error I ended up holding something with a lot of rum in it. I couldn’t figure it out…
Coke–>tote
rot(as in wine)—>spiked with rum

:-),
Vanessa

tomtom

:)

–ToMtOm

Do you celebrate Amerikanische Erntedankfest with your family? Can you procure the ingredients needed for a bangin’ pumpkin pie??

Perhaps we should do an interview for the podcast sometime. I think it would be fascinating for the listeners.

Best regards,
Taural

Back again with a couple of things to add to this podcast:

1) The number 13 is considered unlucky for religious reasons, and dates back to the middle ages. Jesus with his 12 disciples at the Last Supper were numbered in 13 persons, so the 13th person, in this case, Judas, was considered the traitor, and is the “unlucky” or “evil” person.

2) The number 11 is considered a lucky number. Karnival starts in the 11th month on the 11th day at the 11th hour in the 11th minute. The Karnival council consists of 11th council members. People who have their birthdays on the 11th day of the month are considered lucky.

3. Actually it’s not touching the chimney sweep that brings luck - you have to shake his hand. Anybody can do this - most don’t mind, and they automatically do it when they come to your house. Everybody has a chimney sweep, it’s law in Germany. They are considered lucky, because their job, cleaning the chimney prevents the house from burning down. If enough soot gets in a chimney, it could catch fire, just like lumps of coal, and burn the house down, which is why community laws demand that ever house that has a chimney, has to have a chimney sweep.

4. If you drop a spoon while drying them in the kitchen, it means somebody will be coming to visit you soon.

5. For housewarming parties, it’s traditional to bring bread and salt (actually bread & salt, and herbs & wine - the 4 elements), so that the household dwellers never suffer hunger.

6. It used to be traditional to bury your dead dog under the door step so that his dead ghost would keep thieves away from the house.

7. When building a brandnew house, the carpenters have a ceremony of raising a green wreath over the highest point of the house. A sprig of this wreath is supposed to be nailed in the attic later. It supposed prevents the roof from ever caving in.

8. Sprigs of yew bushes are supposed to keep the ghosts of dead relatives away from your house. Sometimes people hang yew branches on their houses or gates, when a close relative has recently died.

9. It is said that when a man can slice even slices of bread with a knife (not a machine) then he is capable of making a good husband.

10. Setting a loaf of bread upright in the sliced off surface brings bad luck.

11. Cats born in the winter should be drowned, because they apparently are uncapable of catching mice.

12. Toasting others with water is supposedly wishing the death upon Stammtisch guests.

13. Taking an umbrella with you guarantees nice weather.

14. Likewise washing your car on a sunny day, brings rainy weather.

15. When you see your friends at a Stammtisch in a German bar, you have to greet them by knocking on the wooden table 3 times. It is said that most Stammtisch tables used to be made of Oak wood, and the Devil was unable to touch Oak wood, because it was a holy tree. So knocking on the table was proving you weren’t the Devil.

16. If you biermat sticks to date’s glass or bottle, then your relationship will be a good one.

17. Women who chew ice are frigid - don’t ask - I don’t know how this one came about!

18. The Gl?ckpilz expression came from people who were mushroom pickers - those who knew which mushrooms were edible and which ones were poisonous. 1/3 of all mushrooms are edible; another third are inedible; and yet another third are deadly poisonous.

19. Wallets should always be given with a penny in them, so that person receiving it will never be in financial want.

20. Giving knives as a present is wishing the person injury and death to the members of his household. This is why you should always give them a token coin so that they can “purchase” the knives. Supposedly this comes from the superstition that the Devil once swore to a smith that he would curse all recipients of his work for tricking him out of his deal with the Devil for his soul.

21. When embarking on a sailing excursion, you always have to offer the first sip of a bottle of spirits to the Gods of the Seas for a safe journey.

22. Giving your ship a female name protects you from the angry wrath of the Gods of the Sea.

23. Women on board a ship, means something will always go wrong.

24. The 30th of April is a day that people have to dance from the evening all the way into the wee hours of May 1st, otherwise the Devil will rule the world.

1. You mentioned that drivers have to must have the following documentation with them at all times: F?hrerschein, Fahrzeugschein, and Fahrzeugbrief. The F?hrerschein (driving license) isn’t an absolute must. If you don’t have it with you, you get fined an Ordnungsgeld, and you have to go to the police station later and show it to them. The Fahrzeugschein is an absolute must. And the Fahrzeugbrief is NEVER in the car, because the Fahrzeugbrief proves ownership of the vehicle. If the Fahrzeugbrief is in the car, and it is stolen, it isn’t really stolen, because whoever has possession of the Fahrzeugbrief is legally the owner of the vehicle.

2. 100 km is not the minimum speed on the Autobahn - it’s 80 km, because vehicles towing trailers which do not have brakes are required to drive 80 kmph. Trucks may not drive any faster than 90 kmph, and I have never seen a fully-loaded truck with trailer make it up a hill faster than 60 kmph. You also forgot to mention Baustellen - road construction sites, where you are required to drive 60 kmph or less.

3. Although motorcycle helmets are required by law, those “Madmax” suits are not required by law. Ask any local Harley Davidson chapter in Germany. They might wear the pants, but not the overall suits.

4. 1 U.S. mile = 1.609344 km, therefore 100 kmph = approx. 60 kmph not 40 kmph

5. 18-wheeler trucks may not exceed the 90 kmph speed limit, even when passing, because they have speed recorders on their dashboards, which are checked by the Autobahn police on a regular basis.

6. Flashing your lights is NOT illegal in Germany. It is only then illegal if you are doing it to intimidate another driver (i.e. N?tigung). If you are warning another driver from the left lane who is merging left, who doesn’t see you, it is good safety practice and not illegal.

7. The ADAC recommends that you if you must, walk on the other side of the aluminium guard rail. It is still too dangerous to walk on the pavement.

8. Since you are only required to have one warning triangle, you can’t put it in front of and behind your car at the same time. It only goes behind the car at a one hundred metre distance

9. The orange safety vests are highly recommended, but are not officially law (yet) in Germany. You will need one for every passenger in the car later.

10. The recommended maximum speed limit unless otherwise posted is 130 kmph. Although you can drive as fast as the car will let you go, there is a sort of basic speed law, and if your insurance company thinks you were driving to fast, even though there was no speed limit (i.e. 200 kmph in a snow storm), they may decide not to cover for damages.

11. You forgot to mention snow tyres, and the laws pertaining to snow tyres.

12. You forgot to mention how often Geisterfahrer enter the Autobahn, and radio and traffic warnings, and maybe that automatic warning system in the car radios.

He could have fit right anywhere from Ah-Ha! to Flock of Seagulls.

Awesome tunes.

–tomtom

Awesome song!

–tomtom

:p

The most fun, however, was reading the newspaper ads that you packaged them with! It was most-definitely worth the wait…

Falco (yes…like “rock me amadeus”), one of my Huskies, would also like to thank you…He got one of the Ritter Sport bars that I left on the coffee table. He’s been bouncing off the walls all day.

Thanks again!
Jim
STL

vielen Dank! Es ist mir sehr peinlich, aber ich habe es nicht geschaft die deutsche Grammatik und Rechtschreibuing zu beherrschen. Perhaps I should invest some more time studying!!

thanks for your commment!
Taural

That being said, however, they are most certainly used to dealing with “Ausl?nder” if you are going ot be living near Hamburg.

Besides, no one’s goning to deny you anything. You’ll just have to do a lot of waiting and sighing over inept civil servants. It makes a good horror tale to tell your stateside friends.

Are there any particular topics that you might liked covered in a blog or podcast? I ‘d be glad to do some reasearch for you!

-Taural

she also has loads of free themes at the WrodPress page.

We did the logo ourselves. My wife is a designer, so between the two of us we worked it out.

and I found your blog through the Blogrush widget in my side bar. I was curious to what everyone else was writing about.
cheers,
taural

Been a listener since sometime in September. I found you through podcast alley and for the first time I am looking though and really enjoying your blog…
Thanks for doing this episode. We are moving to Pl?n, northeast of Hamburg, in February. The work contract if for four years…but who knows? My son will be nine and my daughter six. It was nice to hear a bit of what to expect from the schools. Is the first day of school pretty much the same across Germany? My concerns as a future first-time expat are about dealing with the bureaucracy of a strange culture when I do not even speak the language…although I am working on that a bit :-).

I just applied to the Robert Bosch Stiftung yesterday. It’ll be neat to see if they take me or not.

Ciao,

ToMtOm

Don’t fret, however, I’ve probably eaten my higher-than-healthy American weight in German chocolate procured from my local international foods store.

I’m sure it’ll come long after we’ve forgotten about it.

Who doesn’t love a little bit of cheezy German techno every once in a while?

–tomtom