stephanrinke.net: Stephan's Blog

Dodging Bullets in Presentations

2009-12-03T17:36:00.001+01:00

This semester I am teaching a course on professional classroom communication to future teachers at the University of Bochum. We have spend some time looking at presentations and figuring out what separates the good ones from the bad ones. One of the main criticisms of the bad presentations was the amount of text used in them. The presentation below explains why too much text in presentations makes even the most interested audience fall asleep and explains ways of avoiding this trap.

Dodging Bullets in Presentations

View more presentations from Rowan Manahan.

Bottoms up ;-)

2009-05-07T16:01:00.003+02:00

The scariest thing is probably that I felt able to answer the questions about my bottom ;-) For those of you who know me, is this an accurate description?

Your Butt Says You're Laid Back

You are an easygoing, trusting person. You don't get too worked up, because everything usually works out in life.

You are not afraid to flirt and show off what you've got. At times, you can be a bit full of yourself.

You are drawn toward close, one-on-one relationships. You crave a partner - romantic or otherwise.

You are outgoing and confident. You are proud of who you are, and you are brutally honest.

You tend to be a serious, straight laced kind of person. It takes you a while to warm up and let loose.

What Does Your Butt Say About You?

Teaching in the 3rd Millenium

2009-04-30T09:50:00.000+02:00

A group of 35 students is lucky enough to have me as their tutor for their second half of the Introduction to Linguistics. Unlucky for them (and me) that there is not a single more suitable room available during the time slot. How I am supposed to teach in my inimitable interactive, cooperative way is still a bit of a mystery to me. Am thinking about moving the class into the corridor in front of the lecture theatre. While this lecture theatre was designed (and badly I must say!) for at least 200 listeners, it's not much good for 35 learners. The lack of day light and the ample fluorescent and slightly flickering illumination does its best to stifle any creative thought. If I was allowed I'd teach this course solely through moodle and would meet up with smaller groups every now and then.

Playing for Change

2009-04-29T19:01:00.003+02:00

This project has finally awoken me from my long blogging hibernation:

What a brilliant project! Please check it out and if my word is not enough, watch my favourite Playing for Change Video below. If this doesn't convince you, I give up ;-)

Rainy Days...

2008-11-06T09:27:00.000+01:00

This is what my orange umbrella says about me, but what does your brolly say about you?

What Your Orange Umbrella Says About You

When faced with adversity, you are able to come up with a creative solution.

Problems don't ever get you down. You see them as an opportunity to think outside the box.

You are playful and light hearted. You make the dullest tasks interesting and lively.

You are curious about the world around you. You take every moment as an opportunity to learn.

On a rainy day: you should get out there and play in the rain

The Umbrella Test

Learning Styles don't exist

2008-09-18T18:51:00.003+02:00

Hi guys,

if you belong to my teaching cirlcle of friends and relatives, this may be especially interesting to you.

I am getting ready for my autumn break in Andalucia in two weeks time and just cannot believe the heap of work I have to get through till then. But hey if you are a teacher , who am I complaing to?

The traditional Holland weekend

2008-09-12T21:00:00.001+02:00

This year the traditional Knüdeler weekend away has taken place in Volendam, Holland. After spending the previous family weekends in Kamperland, we spend our weekend away in Volendam, home of all dutch wedding singers. The picture below shows some of us having a go at Lacrosse on the beach, thanks to Benjamin's imported Lacrosse bats (is that what they are called?)

Firefox 3 Download Day

2008-05-29T18:16:00.004+02:00

Don't you think it's about time to switch to the world's best browser? If so, do it on Download Day and help Firefox set a world record for most downloaded software in 24 hours. Click the badge below for more information. The date has now been published it's 17 June 2008!

Eurovision Song Contests - Alternative Scoring

2008-05-24T23:15:00.001+02:00

And here are the results of the Mülheim Jury:

Spain: 12 points
Azerbaijan: 10 points
Ukraine: 8 points
Finland: 7 points
Latvia: 6 points
France: 5 points
UK: 4 points
Germany: 3 points
Turkey: 2 points
Armenia: 1 points

Scores out of 5 were given for the following categories: "Coolness", Glam, Cringe Factor, Outfit, Performance, Catchiness of tune, giving a max total of 30. Our full score board can be viewed here.

Information on the contestants can be viewed on the official Song contest Website.

We certainly had a lot of fun deciding which song is the crappiest. Let's see whether we predicted the winner...

Foster's - also a contraceptive?

2008-05-11T11:30:00.001+02:00

It's quite funny how sometimes things line up like this. A day before consuming this very can of Australia's finest, one of my Linguistics students pointed out a sign very similar to this on packets of prescription drug Contergan. She wondered whether women would possibly mistake the drug for a contraceptive.

Well, in Lichfield city center I have witnessed several times that Foster's can work as a male contraceptive after consumption of several cans (dosage is highly individual :-) ). I just want to mention:

* Brewer's Droop
* Women don't seem to find highly inebriated yobs too sexually attractive. This makes scoring highly unlikely...

A sad day - Humphrey Lyttleton dies aged 86

2008-04-27T17:57:00.002+02:00

Still in shock although when somebody is 86 it shouldn't come as a surprise.

If you want to read up on his life and achievements you can do so here or here, I'll remember him for his inimitable sense of timing, style and humour in his function as chairman of Sorry I haven't a clue. Thanks to Vic introducing me to the Clue I listened to the majority of programmes broadcast between 1997 and 2004 and have also listened to classics and special compilations published by the BBC.

Therefore I can safely say that Humph and his crew have had a tremendous influence on my English and sense of humour. But most importantly he is responsible for the fact that during certain times of the year, Monday used to be my favourite day.

I'll miss him.

PS: Annette and I have just found that she already listened to Humph's Jazz albums before I even knew him. She just never made the link between the Jazz musician and the comedian.

The Symbiote

2008-04-08T20:18:00.001+02:00

Phew, I feel safer again, now that this sculpture has been removed from our college.

Is it just me or does this thing look like the symbiote from Spiderman 3?

Google Praise

2008-04-03T08:10:00.002+02:00

I'm still dead-chuffed about this post in the Official Google Docs Blog. I never would have thought that a simple idea like the one posted in my Web 2.0 in Foreign Language Teaching blog would

a) be innovative enough to be deemed worthy of a mention by Google themselves
b) find that much attention in the language teaching community

It just goes to show that you need not just do it, but talk, write or make videos about it so that other people can benefit, too. If we all share using the www, we can really take informal professional development to new heights.

Moodle Praise

2008-03-31T18:16:00.002+02:00

As part of my ongoing quality management in my courses I let students fill in a feedback questionnaire which also includes an item for general comments. The comments below showed me again that I'm on the right track with what I'm doing Moodle-wise

"I really liked the idea of Moodle because it gave chance to interact
and discuss about topics unlike the one-way interactions in
blackboard, where students just download files. Also, it was very
helpful always to get into group works which made students to apply the
reading materials. And I believe that having the group works uploaded
and evaluating them were very useful because each students got to see
what other groups have done."

"Moodle ist prima, um Hausaufgaben und Projekte schnell und unkompliziert an den Dozenten zu übermitteln. Der Dozent war außerdem über Moodle immer schnell erreichbar."

Martin Dougiamas Uses Blackboard / Moodlemoot 2008 in Heidelberg

2008-03-18T18:01:00.004+01:00

Well, not the competitor of Moodle, of course. How could you think that I'd even mention this inferior commercial LMS in my blog!

But lacking more modern media to show us where he grew up, he resorted to using a good old German blackboard and chalk. The picture was taken at Germany's moodlemoot 2008 in Heidelberg. If you think that the lack of modern communication technology in the lecture theatre suggests an unsuccessful and badly organised conference, you couldn't be more wrong!

The conference was brilliantly organised with lots of relevant, stimulating and thought-provoking contributions. Thanks to Gisela Hillenbrand and Christian Grune's Workshop on the roles and capabilities in Moodle I am feeling confident in creating and changing user roles in our local Moodle installation for example.

It was also particularly nice to meet new and old like-minded people at the moot. It helps making you feel less like a weirdo and gives you energy

The highlight of course was having Martin Dougiamas at the moot. His approachable down-to-earth manner made the conference truly special.

German Moodlemoot 08

2008-03-12T15:20:00.005+01:00

Hello there!

Greetings from Heidelberg where I am currently attending the German moodlemoot 08.

I have already visited workshops on the roles and capabilities in Moodle as well as the new version 1.9. A lot of interesting stuff, which will mean a lot of playing with our Moodle Site to make it serve our needs at the VHS Essen (adult education college).

At the moment I am in a workshop on Web 2.0 in Moodle and I thought since blogging is so Web 2.0 I'll write a post about it. A lot of the things I know and do already but there are always little things which give food for thought. Ulrike Montgomery's presentation can be found at the end of this post.

A big shout also goes out to my colleagues at the college who are stepping in for me while I'm in Heidelberg!

The guys in the picture are form left to right: Martin Dougiamas (Chief Moodle Developer), Stephan Rinke (my humble self) and Michael Tighe (US English Services), whom I had already met at the Moodle conference in Duisburg. Thanks to Martin for being such an approachable and down to earth guy. You really made this conference special!

| View | Upload your own

Happy Birthday, little Rink!

2008-03-12T08:32:00.002+01:00

Since I cannot hug him personally with me being in Heidelberg at the moodlemoot 08, I want to send out a big Happy Birthday to my brother Thomas aka little Rink.

Have an excellent day. I'll have a wheat beer on you tonight!

Happy Birthday, Vic!

2008-03-08T10:13:00.002+01:00

Happy 65th birthday to the shed man! I know he wouldn't care much for flowers or anything that the bland masses regard as pretty, so here's a heart-warming picture taken by Parksy that only like minded people will be able to appreciate.

It must be the saw dust, engine oil, copper grease and WD40 which have helped Vic to maintain his useful looks. Perhaps I'll develop a new men's grooming range with these secret ingredients and sell it to the makers of my men's skincare range of choice XCD.

Anyway, a big hug and three cheers from all of us here in Mülheim go out to the man who first got my hands oily. May he always have enough wood, copper grease, Gold Block tobacco and items on the list to ensure that Sue keeps him in good health ;-)

Hole in the wall - no cash...

2008-03-06T21:08:00.002+01:00

"Hmmm, what's this thing sticking out? Maybe if I bash it hard enough it'll disappear into the wall."

One would think that a professional would know that when you push something in, it'll have to come out somewhere. Well in this case a left over fixing of a previously removed radiator in our new bathroom made it's way into our dining room.

Rink and Rinkette are not happy Krauts, I can tell you!

Driver

2008-02-24T21:52:00.003+01:00

Oh, the fun you can have with a right-hand-drive car in Germany...

Police stopping me. Policeman leans in and says: "Oh, no driver today?"

"Do you think if I could afford a driver, I'd be travelling in a Polo?"

Luckily he had a sense of humour and let me drive on without going through the whole works.

Have a good start to the week, guys!

Comma ?

2008-02-14T10:11:00.002+01:00

You Are a Comma

You are open minded and extremely optimistic.
You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything.

You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests.
You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time.

Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to.
(But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.)

You excel in: Inspiring people

You get along best with: The Question Mark

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

I am not sure I agree on all points said about me, but then again my self-knowldge (which is supposed to be true knowledge) may be limited. Well, if you know me, leave a comment. Perhaps you can make me face facts...

Verbophiles can feed the needy

2008-02-11T21:36:00.001+01:00

Since so many of my mates (e.g. you Rob and Piers) like weird and strange words I thought I'd advertise "Free Rice" here.

Free Rice basically tests your knowledge of English words and for every word you get right, the website donates 20 grains of rice to the United Nations Food Aid Programme.

So go there, test your vocabulary and do some good!

Free Rice

My best vocab level is 40 so far. Not bad for a stupid Kraut, is it? But can you beat it?

Happy Birthday, Alice Cooper!

2008-02-04T19:59:00.000+01:00

Happy 60th to the Coop!

Thanks to Markus who wanted the Trash album for his birthday in 1989 I got introduced to Alice Cooper and now co-own all his albums (together with my brother) and always enter him in the "favourite artist" section in questionaires.

Unbelievable that he is already 60, particularly considering his stage show. Most 30 year olds would struggle to perform like him. I sincerely hope he honours his promise to retire no earlier than six years after Mick Jagger and that he'll tour in Germany soon. If you have never seen him live make sure to go. It's a real good night out as can be seen here.

Anna's Maryland Blog

2008-01-27T20:12:00.000+01:00

Anna has just started her blog about her stay at the University of Maryland. We all miss her tremendously but at least we are able to keep up to date with her exploits in the land of the free. By the way, so can you! If you can read German that is...

Anna's Maryland Blog

We miss you Anna. Make sure to post more regularly than I do!

Food for thought...

2008-01-24T13:50:00.000+01:00

This is one for anybody involved in education, be it teachers, parents, politicians...

Saint Martin's Day

2007-11-16T08:00:00.000+01:00

11 November is not only the anniversary of armistice day and the start of the carnival season in Germany but also Saint Martin's Day. The legend of Saint Martin sharing his riding cloak with a beggar is used to teach German children the value of sharing. On and around this day children in Germany make their own lanterns and go from door to door singing special St Martin songs. Normally they receive sweets as a reward for their efforts. So you could say that it's a friendly form of trick or treating. A lot of schools, kindergartens, villages and cities also organise a St Martin's parade. Some picture's of the parade organised by the Bismarckschule, Krefeld I have embedded at the end of this post. Just click on the picture to be taken to the webalbum.

Martinszug Bismarckschule

Sorry for the long break

2007-10-17T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi guys,

sorry that I haven't posted for such a long time but things were getting a bit too much here at Rink headquarters:

a death in the family
a heart attack in the family
a laptop on the blink
planning the next semester at the Volkshochschule (adult education college)
"The nosy nonagenarian" moving into a senior citizens' home

But now I am ready to go and post non-messages regularly again.

As I haven't got any new pictures to post (I had to borrow Thomas my camera as his has gone to the big autofocus in the sky) I have just embedded another video of the world's sexiest lexicographer, Erin McKean.

A busy time ahead:

University will start next week and I am teaching two courses on the side, one grammar and one on 2nd language acquisition.

I am involved in a learning partnership with three European partners, so I will travel to Utrecht at the end of the month. There I will hopefully be able to convince our partners that Moodle is the tool of choice for our communication.

Ah and yes, my main job. A couple of things happening at the college. Our drive to attract younger people is in full swing and I am working on that with a project group. Demographic change will mean that the college will have to restructure internally and a paper charting possible changes till 2012 is sure to lead to heated discussion. Together with two colleagues we are also trying to realise a project funded by the European Social Fund. Not an easy task when you're low on resources, rooms and teachers...

Other projects in the pipeline are training sessions on Moodle for all teachers at the college, a workshop on Web 2.o in teaching and lobbying for a breeding programme to save the future of the Morecambe Bay Shrimp Hound...

You see I am a busy Kraut.

PS: Erin, you are allowed to use this text for any purpose you like ;-)

Which instrument should you have learnt?

2007-09-20T08:27:00.000+02:00

Apparently I Should Play the Saxophone:

You are charismatic, friendly, and very uninhibited.
You have a lot of personal expression to bring your music.

Improvisational and informal, you can't deal with an instrument that has too many rules or complexities.
You are much more interested in creating unique solos than immersing yourself in music theory.

You have a lot of style, and you definitely are one smooth operator.
And while you may not play perfectly, no one's going to accuse you of being boring.

Your dominant personality characteristic: being very outgoing

Your secondary personality characteristic: your flair for the unique and dramatic

What Musical Instrument Should You Play?

British Days in Castle Linn

2007-09-09T14:09:00.001+02:00

Today we spent a lovely albeit cloudy morning at Castle Linn which hosted this year's British Days in Krefeld.

Although the country fair was advertised as "British Days at Burg Linn" the stalls featured soap from Marseille, cheese from Austria and clothing from Australia. However it was avery nice fair with lots of the kinds of little things that Sue likes. I'm sure that Nathe would have been more interested in the falconry display. The only stuff we bought though were some spices I need for my curries and a cross stitch kit for Annette.

Back to school

2007-09-03T19:43:00.000+02:00

to all of you going back to school today: "Have a good start". I know it's hard going back after six weeks off but just think of all the little eager minds that want to be filled with knowledge ;-) Shame that school isn't out for ever...

Lexicography

2007-08-31T10:36:00.000+02:00

Perhaps it's because I am a language geek or because of her cute glasses, but Erin McKean really makes lexicography sexy. And you learn an awful lot of fun stuff about dictionaries. What do you think?

Anti-Telesales Script

2007-08-30T09:52:00.001+02:00

The tele marketer counter script found on lifehacker.com is for all those of you who want to follow a caring approach to tele-salespeople, but nevertheless want to get rid of them.

Vic has found though that "I'd rather staple my scrotum to the dining room table than continue our conversation" does the trick as well.

Back at work

2007-08-12T15:20:00.000+02:00

and what a shock to the system. The start of our enrolement weeks means staying till 7.30pm on most nights and since I am involved in several projects about to be launched soon, there are 101 things to do. Also I had to mark exams and essays for the university job.

There are good news as well though. All my linguistics students have passed their exam, the weather has improved and we can spend a lot of time in the garden (our most glamourous visitor so far can be seen in the picture).

Lichfield Mercury 2 August 2007

2007-08-12T15:08:00.000+02:00

I've been meaning to post this for a long time and never got round to doing it. The letter below (Lichfield Mercury, 1 August 2007, click picture to enlarge) illustrates brilliantly the difference between English and German newspapers. I doubt that the Mülheimer Wochen or Essen's Südanzeiger would have printed this. I absolutely love the letter as it at least provides the victim with some valve for their anger.

I hope the thieving illegitimate sons of female dogs have been caught and that Mr or Mrs Sawyer had their stuff returned.

(Lichfield Mercury, 1 August 2007)

More Sun

2007-07-28T19:32:00.000+02:00

Not very warm, but a welcome respite from all that rain!

Time to try out the boomerang Hella gave Nathan. After some time we actually managed fairly well. We're still glad however that we just have to walk into a superstore to get some meat. If we had to hunt for it Aborigine-style, we'd have turned vegetarian by now.

Apparently the sunshine today has just been a brief interlude as the forecast looks pretty grim, especially for those regions hit by the floods.

Let's hope the meteorologists are as precise as always and we'll end up with decent weather.

Sun at last

2007-07-24T20:40:00.000+02:00

Having finished the Harry Potter, Annette agreed to come to Nottingham with me- a city we both really like. Unfortunately our sunny day in Notts will be the only one this week as the weather forecast looks quite grim. In the pictures you can see the reasons why Nathan and Sue would probably quite like Nottingham: there's a Big Wok all you can eat Asian buffet place and Nottingham is one of the very few places in England to sport a tram system.

The Barretts

2007-07-23T19:49:00.000+02:00

Despite the unpromising weather report we spent a superb day today with the Barrets. After a wonderful lunch -typically British: mixed antipasti (olives, grilled courgettes, houmous, garlic bread), salmon, raspberry pie- we went for a nice walk along the canal in Alrewas before returning home to just chill and read. The weather worsened in the late afternoon and so we had the perfect excuse to laze about and keep on reading. Annette has half-finished the latest Harry Potter, which Little Rink and Tina left as a surprise on our doorstep in the middle of the night after buying it at The Mayersche book store in Essen as soon as the sale started.

Holidays back home

2007-07-21T19:33:00.000+02:00

After a reasonably smooth journey we have arrived safe and sound in Lichfield.

All in all it took us nearly 11 hours for the 440 miles. Had we been more daring, we could have done it in 9, but our worry to miss the ferry made us leave so early that we had two hours to spare. So we took a long break in Belgium and before the Channel crossing.

One thing is sure however: had we left later we wouldn't have seen Herbie on our way to Dunkirk. Luckily no section of our route was affected by the flooding which has submerged large parts of the Midlands and so we were only delayed by the M1 roadworks.

Arriving at the Greenhouse is always wonderful. There is something magic about this place: the old police house, the wonderful garden with its vegetable patch and massive apple tree and the wheat field that stretches from the back garden to the horizon.

Rear Window

2007-07-16T21:52:00.000+02:00

Unlike in the 1954 Hitchcock movie our spying neighbour is not wheelchair-bound, but apparently just as bored as James Stewart. It doesn't her take seconds to be at the window or on her balcony to follow our every move as soon as we are in the garden. And this is quite a feat for a nonagenarian. However it's driving me up the wall. I've never met anybody as nosy as this woman. And today I provided quite nice entertainment for the old biddy:

stripping paint of our garden bench
reading in the shade
moving our peonies to make space for the bamboo we were given on our wedding day
planting the bamboo
having a glass of wine

Summer would be so nice if it wasn't for this methusalean spy. Well, at least our jumbo sized parasol provides us with some privacy, otherwise it would be unbearable. Sometimes however it can be good fun to quickly look up towards the window and see her flinch back. You can play this game four or five times before she moves to a new observation post. And the other neighbours enjoy watching Big Sister walking backwards and forwards on her balcony desperately trying to peek underneath the parasol.

Big Sister is watching you

True 80s child

2007-06-23T18:17:00.001+02:00

Your Taste in Music:

80's Alternative: High Influence
80's Pop: Medium Influence
90's Alternative: Medium Influence
Adult Alternative: Medium Influence
Classic Rock: Medium Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

Grönemeyer concert in Bochum

2007-06-13T20:00:00.000+02:00

What would we have given for this view... We went to see Herbert Grönemeyer, one of the most successful German singers, in Gelsenkirchen's Schalke Arena last weekend. The football fans amongst you will know that the Schalke stadium is massive and together with about 55,000 other fans we witnessed a superb concert with lots of audience participation. Should any of my former A-level students read this, they will surely remember the songs "Alkohol" and "Bochum" , which were just two of the classics Herbert performed during the 3 hour show.

I already hinted at the start that our view was far from perfect as we were standing quite far away. We knew that before, however we counted on Schalke's famous video cube which normally gives you close-ups of whatever is happening, be it penalties or concerts. Well, so much for Germany technology, precisely at the start of Herbert's performance the cube decided to go on a more persistent strike than any French air-traffic controler would be able to maintain. Two people allegedly tried to fix it during the whole show but to no avail. Therefore we just had to trust that the person on stage was actually Herbert. Judging by the reaction of the audience a bit closer to the action it must have been though. Otherwise the countless LaOla waves going round the stadium would not be explicable.

The pic was taken by gnibert by the way. Thanks for allowing non-commercial use.

5 years ago...

2007-06-01T17:00:00.000+02:00

... I re-met Annette at Charlotte and Olli's wedding (happy anniversary, by the way!). I already knew Annette from my time at school but being a year below her I probably was small fry in these days.

Who would've thought that three years later we would tie the knot and decide to walk side by side on this jouney of life? A bit scary to think that 5 years have already passed. However those five years definitely make me want more.

And what better way to celebrate the anniversary than being in college on late duty? Hooray!

Peace, man!

2007-05-31T09:00:00.000+02:00

Or not? This index makes interesting reading. The authors have created an index of "peacefulness" of a nation based on indicators such as trust towards fellow citizens, deployments of troops abroad, crime, etc. I was surprised to see the UK way behind Germany, but when reading the indicators (particularly deployment of troops) it became clear why this is the case.

You Are 71% Peaceful

You are a very peaceful person. All is good in your world, no matter what's going on.
Occasionally you let your problems get to you, but you generally remain upbeat.
Your inner strength is inspirational - much more so than you may realize.

How Peaceful Are You?

Have a peaceful weekend!

Green

2007-05-18T09:40:00.000+02:00

I never used to like olives till I met Annette, but apparently
I am Olive Green

You are the most real of all the green shades. You're always true to yourself.
For you, authenticity and honesty are very important... both in others and yourself.
You are grounded and secure. It takes a lot to shake you.
People see you as dependable, probably the most dependable person they know.

What Color Green Are You?

Ascension Day

2007-05-17T09:00:00.000+02:00

Just to rub it in to all British readers of this blog: I'm having a day off today! Neh, neh, neh, neh, neh, neh.

Ascension Day

ESC, College and Blue Men

2007-05-13T11:20:00.000+02:00

And again the Brits didn't manage. Hadn't it been for Ireland and Malta, you would have achieved the only graceful result possible in the ESC: nil points! Well, there is always somebody to spoil it for you...

I had the questionable honor today to represent the college all day during our open weekend, which which would have meant sitting around bored out of my skull till all courses have finished. Luckily, my colleague Judith relieved me of my duties as she had some business to finish at the college anyway.

In the evening Annette, Martin, Katrin and I went to see the Blue Man group in Oberhausen. Martin got free tickets and I have to say that I would have been annoyed with the show had we had to pay. In my opinion the show wasn't particularly spectacular, original or funny. It was an entertaining evening but considering that the cheapest tickets are around €40 it's not worth it. The attached video message by the blue men is very relevant however!

Oh by the way, you can listen to the soundtrack of my life by starting the player on the left...

Hard at Work

2007-04-25T20:49:00.000+02:00

What a week! The college's course programme had to be completed, my classes at the university of Bochum have started and on Saturday I started training 10 language teachers in using the online learning environment Moodle.

It's great to be teaching at the university again. Due to my classes running on Fridays I have very small groups and both classes are in English linguistics, so that I am able to teach my pet subject. I have decided to accompany the classes with Moodle and so far the students have accepted this format very well. It allows me to post all material needed as well as giving the students the opportunity to work towards their credit points online by completing activities and showing collaborative research. This also means that I can put a lot of the ideas I got during the moodle07 conference into practice (the pic on the right was taken there).

Saturday's kick-off session of my Moodle seminar for teaching staff at the college also went very well. Most teachers seem to see the value of supporting their language classes online. I am sure we will have some courses piloting this new way of teaching in the coming semester.

Just one day of work tomorrow before the Bank Holiday on 1 May. Thomas, Tina, Annette and I are going to see Spiderman 3 tomorrow and we'll probably have a quiet day in the garden on Tuesday, if our nosy neighbour won't bother us too much that is. Well, it's gotten a lot better since we set up a massive parasol blocking her view...

Easter Holidays

2007-04-20T18:53:00.000+02:00

How quickly did these holidays fly past? We had only just broken up for Easter when we had to go back to work, or so it seems.

It's been a brilliant holiday. We went to Paris at the start of the holidays and had an excellent time there. Having been there so many times now we didn't stress so much about seeing the sights and just wandered around wherever it took our fancy. A visit to the Place des Vosges (Victor Hugo's address and definitely not a place to be miserable) and a wander round the Marais is always a must. Since I had never been to Père Lachaise cemetery we went there as well and Oscar's headstone convinced me of the Improtance of being Wilde.

On our return from France Vic delivered Nathan who stayed with us for a week. I think I can speak for all of us when I say what a terrific time we had. A highpoint seems to have been the head massage device and going on the trams for Nathan. Not to forget our card playing marathons...

Last weekend I escorted Nathan back to England and stayed one night at the Greenhouse before meeting up with Liz and Rob, who proudly showed off his Lotus to me. I'm quite jealous actually, but there is no way I could drive it. People being able to afford luxury sports cars apparently tend to be vertically challenged.

The last week has been pretty busy with the new course programme having to be entered till next Thursday. Lots of stuff still to be organised before the new language courses can be published in our course calendar. But I'll get there. Have an excellent weekend!

Happy Birthday, Rob!

2007-04-12T19:56:00.001+02:00

Chicken Dhansak

2007-03-17T20:12:00.000+01:00

Some time ago I wrote about things I'm missing about England. Today it was time for a curry again and wanting to extend my repertoire I found an excellent recipe for Chicken Dhansak. It is easy to cook and tastes just like in a curry house.

Annette made some Raita to go with the Naan and the added green food dye created the true nuclear green we all love from the Indian restaurants.

So we are absolutely stuffed now, ready to veg out on the couch.

A very good day on the whole: curry, me being able to find a pair of jeans that fit me, not having to pay for a battery replacement and watch polish at Oberhausen's Swatch Store and most importantly of all talking to Nathan. Shame about the weather, but that meant I had an excuse for staying in bed till noon and reading my new John Harvey novel, "Flesh and Blood", which I can really recommend!

I'm a happy man

2007-03-02T11:14:00.000+01:00

Alice Cooper has just announced the upcoming release of his new album "Along came a spider" as well as the next world tour. Whoooopeee! The featured interview gives the release date as well as some more evidence of what a nice guy the Coop is. Being able to freely admit to being an alcoholic must really take some bottle (couldn't resist this well-worn pun ;-) )

100 Jobs

2007-02-22T12:06:00.000+01:00

Warning! The blog featured in this post is highly addictive and may well waste a good deal of your time.

Now this makes an interesting and highly entertaining read. Oliver Davies created this blog in September 2006 after having been turned down for numerous jobs he applied for. Well, having applied for jobs he was perfectly qualified to do, he decided to up the ante and apply for jobs he quite clearly is not qualified to do and see if this is anymore successful. The amusing results of his experiment can be read here .

100 Jobs

St Valentine's Day

2007-02-14T11:57:00.000+01:00

Bill Walker

2007-02-12T11:44:00.000+01:00

A very sad day for me personally and the University of Bochum. Bill Walker has died having been seriously ill for some time.

Bill was the man who first aroused my interest in linguistics and without his introduction to linguistics peppered with his dry wit I never would have studied linguistics or would have worked at the University. Later, when he became a colleague of mine -well I should say when I became a colleague of his- I have always known him to be helpful and willing to give advice to the new member of the department. We never did work out how much beer you'd need to fill up the seminar room up to the window sill and we never went out for that drink. I wish we had...

Web 2.0

2007-02-08T10:04:00.000+01:00

For all of you who want to know what web 2.0 is all about here's an excellent video giving a brief but thought-provoking introduction by Prof Michael Wesch ...

Get Your Coat - You've pulled!

2007-02-07T10:33:00.000+01:00

To all you gorgeous, slim yet curvaceous, intelligent women out there. My brother in law Sebastian (not yet 30, fit, handsome, virile and a medical doctor) is still available.

Any fit girls with a serious interest please leave a comment and I'll make sure to pass it on.

More Tea, Vicar?

2007-02-02T17:04:00.000+01:00

When walking past this tea shop in Essen it occurred to me that considering that tea is Britain's most favourite drink, there do not seem to be many specialist tea shops around.

In Germany several chains operate tea shops selling your ordinary breakfast blend and Earl Grey, but also specialist teas such as white tea, green tea and a multitude of fruit infusions.

The main difference between tea drinking in Germany and England seems to be the ceremony involved with drinking tea in Germany. "Want a cuppa?" , wouldn't do for an offer in Germany. You'd have to list the different teas you have and don't you ever think of using tea bags. It has to be loose tea. That's why we own the contraption shown in the second picture. Admittedly, it is the Rolls Royce of tea pots but something similar can be found in most German households.

Don't get the wrong idea though, the majority of Germans (me included) will always choose coffee when offered a drink. In fact, I suppose coffee is the German tea. Whereas having proper coffee is still something special in England, the ceromony involved in having tea in Germany suggests that German coffee is English tea and vice versa.

My dad in marzipan

2007-01-28T14:26:00.000+01:00

It was my dad's birthday last Friday and his mate from work gave him this specially made birthday cake. The cake depicts some of my dad's passions (religion, philosphy, sauna, cigars) and the sculpture of him sitting in the sauna and smoking a cigar is very true to life (although he would of course never ever smoke a cigar while actually being in a sauna!).

My mum probably wishes he was always this sweet!

My old car on Google Earth

2007-01-26T20:00:00.000+01:00

If you look very closely (or you enlarge the image by clicking on it) you can see my old infamous Union Flag Polo. It has been scrapped in the meantime but in Google Earth (Coordinates are 51°27'58.41'' N 6°54'05.17'') it lives on!

This car served me well through the longest part of my stay in Staffordshire and ran well above 130,000m without any major repairs. It didn't even need any major work done after it jumped off the road into a big heap of horse crap. Well that taught me not to drive Schumacher-Style (Ben still thinks that little accident was an amateur job)

I also learned how to service a car on it (thanks to Vic!) and got my hands dirty doing so (a very rare event!).

It also survived a vicious attack on Lichfield's Aldi car park when some illegitimate son of a female dog threatened to bash my head in and instead knocked its little wing mirror off (the b***ard was caught and sentenced by the way).

I sometimes miss the old banger, although I can't remember how I actually managed to fit in it.

How about you? Any pics of your belongings on Google Earth? Is there a car that you really miss?

Happy New Year 2007!

2006-12-31T12:42:00.000+01:00

To all of you,

have an excellent new year 2007. Stay healthy and may all you wish for come true! Peace and Light,

Stephan

Where did 2006 go? I can hardly believe that this year has already passed.

Looking back it seems like yesterday that we celebrated the new year in our old flat in Mülheim's old part of town.

Last February we started renovating the place where Annette’s grandparents used to live so that we could move in. This project meant the initiation of me into the circle of DIYers. Who would have thought that I would end up knocking down walls, plastering and using power tools?

Much of this year we have spent putting the finishing touches to our new place and finding the right furniture. We still need a lamp for the dining area and a bathroom mirror, but apart from that we are done. The next big project will be redesigning our garden next spring. Annette has already gotten into gardening; I am not quite so enthusiastic, yet.

In the course of this year I also passed my probation period and settled in at the Volkshochschule Essen, Essen’s adult education centre. I don’t feel like the newcomer anymore and am enjoying my new job. Currently I am having fun implementing an e‑learning strategy. Well, you know I have always enjoyed playing with computers...

Annette is still at her primary school in Krefeld and her workload seems to be ever increasing. Although her school day officially finishes at 1.30pm, I’m home earlier than her frequently. So we sit together in the evenings and while she is doing her marking I “play” on the computer (the aforementioned e-learning thingy or this blog, for example).

In the summer we spent a lovely week in Lynton, Devon and then picked up Nathan in Lichfield to have him stay with us in Mülheim for two weeks. We also celebrated our first wedding anniversary during this time and it was nice to have Sue and Vic, my English parents, over for the party as well.

In the autumn we celebrated Margret's and Norbert's 60th bithdays with a huge party and in November we all went away on a nostalgic family holiday to Holland. In December Annette and I also spent a lovely weekend in Münster, where Annette used to live during her university years.

The last couple of days I stayed in Lichfield to see Nathan and deliver the presents Santa left in Mülheim. A shame, I was only able to stay for two days but we made the most of it and I am now a Lego master-builder as well as an Uno expert.

I wonder what the new year will entail for us personally. I hope we will keep being blessed with good fortune as the last couple of years have been very happy ones. On the whole the year will probably proof quite difficult for the Germans; VAT and National Insurance contributions will rise and a lot of people will really be worse off. But I think I am due for a little pay rise, so it's not all bad news...

25 December - Happy Birthday, Monika!

2006-12-25T22:06:00.000+01:00

Happy 50th Birthday, Monika. Thank you for letting Annette's Mummy practise with you!

Cages

2006-12-11T20:50:00.000+01:00

This is a picture of Münster's St Lambert's Church with its three cages hanging from the spire.

Originally the baskets were used to display the dead bodies of Jan van Leiden, and other anabaptists after the troops of Bishop van Waldeck liberated Münster. However they'd make a great storage room for all kinds of people you want rid off. If it was up to you, who would you put in them? My wife Annette thought exactly 0.23 seconds to come up with three names. I still cannot make my mind up. Can you?

Last film seen: A Good Woman
CD currently playing: Billy Idol - Happy Holidays

Things I like most about Germany

2006-12-01T17:41:00.000+01:00

My wife Annette
Rouladen mit Rotkohl und Knödeln
Beer and wine are sold at reasonable prices

Without Annette I'd be incomplete. There's no better reason to move to Germany than being with somebody you want to share the rest of your life with.

Especially in this cold time of year roulades with red cabbage and dumplings are a meal to look forward to. Annette's way of making them is of course inimitable. However another good recipe can be found here. If you struggle with the German try this babelfish translation. It also shows why translators won't be out of work for decades to come...

When buying wine or beer in Germany, I cannot believe how much I used to pay for a decent tipple. A good bottle of wine can be had for less than €6 (convert to Pound Sterling) and beer is bought in crates of 20 returnable bottles for less than a Euro per bottle. And who wouldn't argue that good food and drink forms an important part of a desirable quality of life?

The one thing I really like about Germany at the moment is the festive spirit, the Christmas decorations, markets and the illuminations. We're off to Münster tomorrow which has one of the most beautiful Christmas markets.

Things I'm missing...

2006-11-24T11:39:00.000+01:00

most about England and the English currently are:

going out for a curry
Real Ale, preferably not from a can
Customer service and being able to apologise

There is something deeply satisfying about going out for a curry with friends. I miss the food, the food-sharing, the way the waiters serve you and their accents. There are hardly any Indian restaurants in Germany, but in recent months there has been a steady increase of all things Indian in Germany. You only have to switch on the telly or browse the book stores. We now can buy authentic Indian recipe books, some Curry restaurants have opened in the bigger cities and bollywood movies are shown on the smaller private channels (you have to take the good with the bad, apparently)
The real ale, and the Pedigree just happened to be the last can I had, I only really miss in autumn and winter. During the summer months a nice Pilsener is definitely my choice. However, when the days become shorter and the temperatures drop, I feel more like the darker, sweeter and more complex taste of the ale. A shame that the weight restrictions of the airlines rarely allow me to take home more than a couple of cans...
I recently had to find out that customer service is virtually non-existent. While watching the new James Bond at its pre-premiere, the sound track was corrupted for several minutes. When complaining about this, not once were the words "we are sorry" uttered. On the contrary all blame was deflected and a bag of pop-corn was offered sarcastically as compensation. I remember getting free tickets once in Birmingham's Star City cinema because they hadn't cleaned the theatre properly...

There are a good many things that I prefer about Germany though. Which ones, I'll post next time.

Last film seen: Casino Royal (excellent James Bond!)
D-Rink of the week: my last can of Pedigree

Angels baking biscuits

2006-11-18T20:55:00.000+01:00

You may know the old proverb "red sky at night, sailor's delight". The Germans, being not quite as maritime as the Brits, tell children that a sky like the one in the picture indicates angels baking biscuits.Well, judging by the photograph there'll be plenty of fatties up there.
Current CD in stereo: The Beatles: "Love" (already out in Germany!!!)
Last Films seen: "Kill Bill" (1&2)
D-Rink of the week: Legado Muñoz, Tempranillo 2005 (bought at our favourite wine shop)

A weekend away

2006-11-11T13:16:00.000+01:00

Some impressions from our weekend away in Zeeland, Holland. My parents in law didn't want anything materialistic for their birthdays so everyone chipped in to present them with a family holiday in Kamperland.

I dont know what it is, but again I realised that there is something about the sea which eases all tensions and let's you wind down.

A welcome break before writing all those blooming project applications for the European social fund. We are desperately trying to consolidate the 18 per cent cut, the state government has threatened all public adult education institutions with. Have they still not realised that taking money out of education is extremely costly in the long run? I really feel like smacking those responsible.

Well, enough of this rant. Good news is that you can subscribe to these rants now via the link on the left (RSS Feed), so that you will always know when I add a new post.

Have an excellent week!

One I haven't trodden on

2006-10-30T20:47:00.000+01:00

Here's our friendly neighbourhood hedgehog. Luckily our current home has sufficient outdoor lighting, so that he is unlikely to suffer the same fate as his colleague a couple of years ago.

Well, this hedgehog shouldn't have decided to sit on a dark doormat during a pitch-black night. I assure you, the prickly pal was okay: I took him to the vet after I stood on him and was told he would be alright to be released into the wild (surely to be run over by an HGV the next night).

Glasspecker

2006-10-24T21:44:00.000+02:00

Would you like to enter your living room and be faced by this?

I'm sure Sue'd get bored if she didn't have a regular practical joke played on her. Whatever it takes to spice up married life, eh? I wonder whether Vic hid the black-handled knife before playing this joke on her.

Over to you, any particularly inventive pranks you played on somebody recently?

PS: Happy feast day, Nathan.

My office

2006-10-07T23:05:00.000+02:00

Just to show that Painsley's going away present is still appreciated: a picture of my office at the adult education college in Essen. I know the teachers among you will be envious about the office as it's bigger than your standard departmental office in a school. But, believe it or not, I miss teaching youngsters.

My office has just gotten better: I have my own printer now, which means that my daily fitness routine of walking an accumulated mile to and fro between printer and office will have to be substituted by proper exercise or my plan to lose weight will be seriously compromised.

Busy week ahead. I will have to plan next semester's timetable with no classrooms available.

I miss this view

2006-09-24T20:43:00.000+02:00

While looking through my photo collection I came across this one and I felt homesick straight away. This is the view from the Greenhouse, where I used to live for a good seven years.

Tranquil, isn't it? I loved watching the seasons change and walking round the field definitely helped clearing one's head whenever necessary.

Sorry for the long pause between posts, but I am in the process of implementing Moodle at Essen College and haven't had much time. If you are looking for an online learning environment that's easy to use, pretty much self-explanatory and -most importantly- free, look no further!

David Hasselhoff Games

2006-09-09T14:13:00.000+02:00

Miles Mendoza of Website of the Day fame has unearthed these games:

I know that the Germans have a lot to answer for, but in true Juergen the German style I want to apologize particularly for prolonging The Hoffs career and allowing him to sing!

Rob, I know you love The Hoff, so don't get caught playing the games using the school network.

I need a drink...

2006-09-04T19:00:00.000+02:00

and so will you if you have gone back to school this week. I have already had two weeks of hell:
Courses needed to be cancelled due to lack of participants, participants asking the most stupid of questions, teachers leaving at the last minute and, to top it all, a report to write about last year's targets. Not a single night that I went home before 8pm.

Okay, I have whinged enough. If you have gone back to work recently, I wish you a good start. And have one for me.

You Are Whiskey

You're a tough drinker, and you take it like a man
That means no girly drinks for you - even if you are a girl
You prefer a cold, hard drink at the end of the day
Every day, in fact. And make that a few.

What Alcoholic Drink Are You?

A sad day

2006-08-23T21:48:00.000+02:00

when an English icon such as HP sauce is no longer produced in England. Seeing the HP factory with the familiar logo on the factory building used to be a very nice sight for me traveling out of Birmingham towards Lichfield.

I'm gutted!

I can still remember the first time I had HP sauce. It was in Kirwan's Irish Pub in Mülheim, which was then located in the old part of town but has subsequently moved to the city centre. I had an all-day breakfast and instantly fell in love with the taste. Shame you cannot really get it in Germany...

Back fom the Holidays

2006-08-11T14:02:00.000+02:00

On the right you can see some impressions of our stay in Lynton (Devon).

Our stay in London didn't do much for us this time around. It was just too hot and crowded. Perhaps we were also too tired from the journey. So sod Samuel Johnson .

Our stay in North Devon, however, was truly spectacular. Lovely countryside, superb food and time to relax and unwind.

Nathan staying over with us afterwards was brilliant as well. We really enjoyed having him over and miss him tremendously now. The place has gone awfully quiet since he has left.

Well, like all holidays this one was too short. We're back at work and have only managed a third of the things we wanted to get sorted around the house. At least I managed to cut the hedges today. It's been long overdue...

Holidays

2006-07-12T20:55:00.000+02:00

We're off on our well-deserved holidays tomorrow night. First we'll have a weekend in London and then we'll move on to Lynton on the North coast of Devon. After five days we will pick up a certain boy in Lichfield before driving back to Mülheim where he will stay with us for a bit. Pictures of the holiday will of course be posted. Till then enjoy the summer and your well-deserved holidays. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't have too much of the kind of rain you can see in the picture above.

Before I forget, Martin, all the best for your travels. Come and see us in Germany some time. I am sure you will be missed at Painsley. Shame I didn't see you in Bad Salzig. People have told me why you weren't there... Start a blog and keep us all posted how you are getting on!

Piers, congratulations on your retirement. Painsley is losing a truly learned man with a big heart and no bad bone in his body! I'm sure your diary will be even more packed and people will have to book you weeks in advance. We are expecting you in Mülheim next year!

World Cup of Hearts

2006-07-09T12:44:00.000+02:00

What a brilliant tournament it has been. Perhaps not so much the football itself; the number of goals for example is disappointing and some performances by the referees have been diabolical.

What the tournament has done for Germany however is incredible. All of a sudden it is okay for Germans to fly the German flag and to show that they are proud of their country. Something that is quite natural for people of other nations, but in Germany this has always been eyed suspiciously.

Now what is even better is that even people from different cultural and national backgrounds have been supporting the German team and have shown that they like living in Germany. And with supporters as the ones that you can see in the picture, who would have doubted that the German team would win the World Cup of Hearts?

Thank you for being our guests in Germany and making this World Cup a very special one. You have given us the opportunity to show what being German is really about and it brought out the best in us.

Visiting Painsley in Bad Salzig

2006-07-06T20:19:00.000+02:00

I went down to Bad Salzig on the Rhine on Tuesday to meet up with some of my old colleagues from Painsley Catholic College where I worked before my return to Germany. It was really quite emotional to see them again as we had a very special department during my time there.

Working at Painsley definitely wasn't always easy; the pressure was immense and some of the decisions and policies were, in my view, often more concerned with achieving a well-oiled machine rather than having people's best interests in mind. At the time however it has always been a place where everybody worked hard and played hard and the atmosphere among staff was very supportive, "herzlich" and warm. But I have heard that this kind of spirit also forms during army boot camps. So perhaps it was quite natural ;-)

It was also nice to see so many of the kids I taught in Year 7 again. This year group was very special to me as I introduced the KS3 strategy with three teaching groups, which meant a lot of time spent with them. I was surprised how many of them I still knew by name and impressed to see how they have developed in the last two years. The best thing however were their excited faces when they saw me and their telling me that I am being missed at Painsley. It showed me how much I miss teaching young people.

Well enough nostalgia for one post. I'm off to enjoy a glass of the Hock Liz gave me as a thankyou for helping out during the day!

England Game

2006-07-02T13:48:00.000+02:00

It's not our fault. Everyone in my family did their best to support the team. Thomas even managed to send them off to the game. Shame he couldn't get any nearer to be able to take a better picture.

The only thing positive is that I'll be able to watch the final now without changing allegiances every ten seconds or so.

We had a plan...

2006-06-25T12:42:00.000+02:00

... and it worked.

As you can see in this cut from the Rheinische Post newspaper, the German team learned it with the aid of Sweden's most successful furniture store! And in a nation buying themselves silly at Ikea, (Billy, Bonde, Ingo and what not) this had to work. I have to admit, our place could also function as an Ikea show-home, but if the skills acquired during the assembly of bookshelves can be transferred successfully to footballing tactics, I'm all for it.

Well, what could the English team learn from Ecuador in order to beat them today? Only thing Ecuadorian I can think of is bananas... There we are, bend it like Beckham.

I'll keep fingers crossed later.

Got a warning yesterday about wearing my St George's Cross wristband, but they were all smaller than me ;-)

Sweden

2006-06-22T09:43:00.000+02:00

So against Sweden it is then. Their national team has already set up their camp in Essen, so we have quite a variety of football teams here now. The Italians are in Duisburg and Mexico and Sweden are in Essen at the moment.

Unfortunately the gorgeous Swedish blondes clad only in blue-yellow bikinis didn't want their picture on the web, so you will have to make do with these two likeable fellows (what a shame, Rob, isn't it?). They seem to be deluded enough to think that Sweden will actually win on Saturday. I'm sorry but even German hospitality has its limits!

We are through (England and Germany that is)

2006-06-20T23:46:00.000+02:00

Unfortunately I was only able to watch the second half of the Germany game, after some plonker arranged a meeting with representatives from the German-Tunisian Society, which I had to attend. Thanks, Carlo ;-)

Now, the England game, what can I say? Rollercoaster ride of emotions or what? Well, what counts is that England didn't lose and that England and Germany won't play one another on Saturday. Watching this game would be pure torture. I will have to steel myself for the final, won't I?

Please tell Sean at Moorlands (Is he still around?)

2006-06-19T21:18:00.000+02:00

Apparantly I'm Irish deep down inside.

Your Inner European is Irish!

Sprited and boisterous!
You drink everyone under the table.

Who's Your Inner European?

Now I know where that fascination with Guinness, whiskey and explosives comes from...

PS: Who are you, mystery guest from near Sunnyvale, California? Leave a comment, you seem to be my most regular visitor.

Alice Cooper (again)

2006-06-16T19:11:00.000+02:00

Thomas and I went to the Alice Cooper / Deep Purple open air concert in Bonn yesterday and had a truly great time.

Not only did we manage to make it through to the third row, but our haul is quite impressive as well. As you can see in the lower picture, Alice and the band were in their usual generous mood. For once it paid to be of a certain height...

It was quite amusing at the end to walk past the Red Cross first aiders who did a double take after seeing me covered in stage blood (a lot of it had already come off by the time the top picture was taken).

I'm sure the England victory is due to us crossing our fingers during the concert and Eric Singer kitting out his drums with England flags (look carefully at the bottom picture). Hope we don't have to play England next. It would be shame if they lost on penalties again ;-)
Will have some hot tea now, perhaps my voice will come back...

Supporting England...

2006-06-11T16:59:00.000+02:00

... is not easy when you are abroad and not English. However I am doing my best and am flying (well at least wearing) the St George's Cross.

Fights gotten into: 0 (so far)
Unfriendly looks: some
Statements along the lines of "Good team" or "They have got the best chances ever to make it through to the final": many

There is an interesting bit of numerancy though that sees Germany as the winner of the world cup:

54 x 74 - 1990 = 2006

Germany won the World Cup in 1954, 1974 and 1990...

Chinese Fortune Cookie

2006-06-04T20:16:00.000+02:00

For those of you, who like my Dad, accidentally eat their fortune slip, you can have a virtual Chinese fortune cookie here.

I wonder what my Dad's fortune said? Perhaps, "diet rich in fibre leads to long life"...

Hope you don't choke on food.

Peace and light!

Image source: http://www.amyjogirardier.com/fortune%20cookie.jpg

Learning Italian and the Dalai Lama

2006-06-03T22:34:00.000+02:00

You know the theory of people being linked to any other person on the globe through only six steps? For example if you can link up to me then you are linked to Eddie the Eagle (I bought him a point of squash in a pub in Lichfield once) and Campino of the Toten Hosen (I met him at Düsseldorf airport), but since last week also to the Dalai Lama.

I was honoured to be chosen to translate a letter to His Holiness fo the mayor of Essen, who wants to visit an exhibition on Tibetan art together with the Dalai Lama. If he accepts the invitation, I have good chances to interpret for the mayor. Keep your fingers crossed. That would really make my day!

Apart from translating letters I have spent last week learning Italian. I can now introduce myself and ask other people's names, ask for directions, say what my hobbies are and go shopping, all in Italian.

Annette and I have agreed though that I'll stick to Spanish and she will keep at learning Italian. I get the impression that she wants to know at least one language better than me. Don't tell her that her German is infinitely better than mine.

Another premiere today: I cut my first hedge.

Ascension Day

2006-05-25T20:20:00.000+02:00

Just to rub it in: I have had a day off today. But don't be too jealous, it's been tipping it down all day and to make up for the free day today, I'm on INSET tomorrow AND Saturday.

We couldn't watch a movie today either as our DVD-player has ceased to function. It just doesn't read any CDs or DVDs anymore and spits them out after a couple of minutes. Any ideas how to make it work again?

The German post service have increased the postage on letters to other countries, so that a birthday card I sent, has been returned. The illegitimite sons of female canines... They seem to make a difference though according to who is sending the letter. My Mum's card has not been sent back.

Well, there's also good news. My telephone and Internet provider is lowering the costs of Internet telephone calls to England. From 1 June I'll only be paying 1ct/min (about 0.64p/min). I'll call you, promise...

PS: The card has arrived Sue. Thank you so much!

Allemagne douze points

2006-05-20T22:00:00.000+02:00

Tonight is the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 and normally I would hardly be able to contain my indifference. When Germany stopped sending people like Stefan Raab and Guildo Horn (equivalent of having Mr Blobby or the The Wombles compete for the UK), I lost interest. Tonight however could see the return to the old "we will not honor this competition with serious entries"-attitude. Texas Lightning, the German entry, consist of some of Germany's finest comedians (and, no, they are not the only ones we have), so we may be in for a surprise. At the moment however it looks like they are going to take this seriously, but you never know.

One entry that surely cannot be serious is Finlands, or is it? Looks just like the guys who pour out of pubs in Stoke at closing time, I reckon.

I know that at least one person has been gearing up for the big night tonight (haven't you Vic?). So if you watch it, have fun. At least you have the inimitable Terry to take the Michael out of contestants, something I will miss dearly.

Before I forget, have a very happy birthday, Mel! Lots of love from all of us here in Mülheim!

The official Eurovision website
Eurovision on Wikipedia
The German entry

I wish I was there (It's frigging cold in Mülheim...)

2006-05-20T20:00:00.000+02:00

As you can see below, Barcelona is the place I was meant to live in...

You Belong in Barcelona

When it comes to Europe, you don't want to decide between culture and fun. You want art by day and a big party by night.
Barcelona is ideal for you. You can check out some Picasso, eat some tapas, take a siesta, and then dance all night!

What European City Do You Belong In?

Getting there...

2006-05-14T21:09:00.000+02:00

This is for all those of you who have requested a more exact description of our new home. As you can see we have a bit of garden with a lilac and lavender. The bottom left picture shows a premier: my first own bbq. The remaining pics show views of our kitchen, dining and living rooms. As you can see we still need to buy some lamps, but all in all we are getting there.

At least our cellar is nice and dry (wink, wink, Pete, thanks for the letter!).

Have a good start to the week!

Want to talk Fußball?

2006-05-09T14:39:00.000+02:00

then check out the British Embassy's World Cup Website which features a good glossary of football language as well as info on venues and some funnies. I'm sure the German Speaker of your choice will help you in acquiring a proper German accent so that you can slag off the ref properly (how about Piers or Jill?).

31 days to go...

We have moved...

2006-05-01T18:36:00.000+02:00

... and I'm back online. Sorry for the long radio silence, but there was just so much to do. We moved two weeks ago and still it took me ages to find a motif which wouldn't include boxes and too much mess.
At least I can show you our pride and joy: the new teak table. Frugally minded visitors could also use it as a spare bed, if they don't suffer from vertigo that is (it's good 4ft high). I'm sure it would be okay for Losh who is used to hard Japanese Futon beds and can breakfall in case he slips off during the night...
We're still waiting for our bathroom to be finished; at the moment we have to take showers very carefully, as the shower wall is still missing.
Also, there are still some bits and bobs missing in the kitchen but the cabinet maker has promised that all parts will arrive next week (Fingers Crossed).
Two things fill me with pride at the moment: 1. our friend Björn has won his lawsuit against the German Football Association and 2. Essen and the Ruhr have become capital of culture 2010. Perhaps Painsley will have to visit the Ruhr then and not the Rhine or Berlin!
A nice diversion to see you through tea-break can be found here. Thanks to Miles for finding it.

Farmer Pickles is German!

2006-03-13T22:40:00.000+01:00

and he tries to stay incognito by wearing a pair of glasses. I actually know the guy very well, so Email me any requests for autographs.

If you don't know who Farmer Pickles is, you obviously have a life. However you can find out here.

For the musical amnesiacs amongst you, this page is the answer to your problem. But be careful it's got a high addiction factor!

Home Improvement

2006-02-19T21:24:00.000+01:00

Here's the reason why I haven't been updating the blog as often as I would like to.

Annette and I are moving house again and are busy knocking down walls, removing tiles and wallpaper every free minute, so that we can move in before 30th April, which is when our old flat needs to be vacated.

The picture on the right shows something not many people have seen before: me using a power tool and getting my hands dirty. Vic will be surprised to see that I'm not even wearing rubber gloves!

If you feel like helping out scraping off wallpaper etc, drop a line and I will give you directions ;-)

Have a good start to the week!

Alice Cooper

2006-01-25T18:33:00.000+01:00

Just found this interview here and thought it gives all the answers to the questions people ask me when I tell them that I love going to Alice Cooper's shows.

If you like rock music and haven't seen him live yet, it's a must! Make up is more fun, but not obligatory ...

Tour dates can be found here: http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T11:31:00.000+01:00

We wish you all a very happy and healthy year 2006! May the new year bring as much joy and happiness as 2005 held for us.

Love from,

Annette and Stephan xx

Advent Calendar

2005-12-01T18:31:00.002+01:00

My advent calendar blog is online now. Just click here to view it.

I'd love some comments in my blog so please click on the comments link below and leave a message.

1st Snow

2005-11-26T17:20:00.000+01:00

It's been snowing since yesterday afternoon now and for the 1st time I can remember we are behaving like the Brits. Panic, traffic jams, car crashes, hoarding. Europe is growing together after all! No school closures announced though...

Another thing that makes my day: "I'm sorry I haven't a clue" is back on air. You can listen live on Radio 4 Mondays, 18:30 or anytime online here.

A little surprise coming up on 1st December...

Things that make my day - Duncan Fulton

2005-11-18T16:53:00.000+01:00

I remember first listening to Duncan when I was still in school. I used to stand and listen for ages while he was playing anything from Dylan to The Eagles as well as songs he has written himself. It was nice to see that Duncan is still playing and a day is a good day when I hear him through my office window. It makes me leave the office to get a coffee from Starbucks and stand and listen for a couple of songs.

Duncan is also into golf and a clip of him explaining the art can be found here .

Elitist

2005-11-14T01:44:00.000+01:00

What it says about me below is quite close to the mark. But what elitist are you?

You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.

What Kind of Elitist Are You?
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