Mothers Day Post: The Cork Mammy, I miss her

I know I'm early but here is a post praising that wonderful person who is my Mammy. She has technically cancelled Mothers Day as its a BIG birthday soon but more on that next week! She'll kill me for calling her "Mammy", but it is a for a competition!

My Mammy is a true Cork Mammy, not only does she mother me but she will mother any of my friends that visit by feeding them! Shes is fabulous. She is even managing to Mammy me when I am over 1,000KM away. Only a Cork Mammy can do that.

She sends me packages regualarly with the Pheonix in it or books to keep me in reading materials. She rings when she can, though it costs a fortune.

To sum her up in one word is impossible!

She is: kind, accepting, funny (she regularly sends me dirty jokes by email and text), loving, patient (though I do test it to the max) among many other adjectives that have fled from my mind.

I will never forget her reaction when I came out to her. But she is so accepting now of me, any friends I bring home (whether I am linked romantically to them or not! and she will always ask that! :P) and where I go.

My Cork Mammy, is an inspiration to me. It is because of her I love reading, music, history and languages. To say she is 'hip' is an understatement, she is completely 'with it'! I suppose it helps having two kids who will include her in everything, even at times when we think she is nosey!

My Cork Mammy lends me clothes when I am doing drag for Macra Na Feirme!

All in all, I dont know where I would be without my Cork Mammy.

Happy Mother's Day Mum! I miss you!

xxxx
Steve

I could be on ITV!!

No, I am not going to be interviewed or anything like that. I have ordered tickets to be in the audience for the filming of a new ITV series which will be filmed here in Köln. Its free! Its called "Beat the Stars" and it will be presented by Vernon Kay.

The blurb is as follows:

Here is your chance to visit our new ITV Prime Time Show called „Beat The Star“ hosted by Vernon Kay.

„Beat The Star“ is a reworked version of the German series titled „Schlag den Raab“ (Beat the Host). In contrast to the German concept, each show in the UK version will feature a celebrity to compete with a member of the public. Just as in the German version, the two will have to take part in a number of competitions, including sports, knowledge and dexterity. If the contestant beats the celebrity opponent, the contestant will win £50,000 pounds. If the celebrity wins, the money will rollover leaving a £100,000 jackpot in the following show.

I found out about it on Toytown (As per usual).

I have booked 4 tickets for two shows if anyone ones to come with me. Email, leave a comment on facebook/bebo or PM on toytown!

They are:
Friday, 18th April 2008 time of arrival: 6:00 pm ending: 9:00 pm
Saturday, 26th April 2008 time of arrival: 6:00 pm ending: 9:00 pm.

Anyone going to theses shows let me know also! :D

Book your own tickets: English Website German Website

Important: The difference between Irlander(in) and Irlandich

So I finally figured out what I have been saying wrong and confusing the Germans. I normally say (well used to) "Ich bin Irlandich" which means "I am Irish Language!" Ooops! So the proper way to say it is Ich bin Irlander" or "Irlanderin" for those of the feminine persuasion. That means "I am an Irishman" or "Irishwoman". Of course it is easier again to say "Ich komme aus Irland"!

If like me, you dont look Irish (thank you foreign lineage), people get confused and think I am a number of nationalities which I have mapped out below!




I have been told I am from:

• France (Speak French with a French accent)


• UK (Close)


• USA (argh! NO!)


• Ireland (people get it right now and then)


• Italy (Theres Italian blood somewhere back along!)


• Greece


• Spain


• Portugal


• Tunisa


• India


• Pakistan


• Netherlands


• Iran


• Germany (When I was in the US)


• Romania (Could pass before as one of my Romanians friends brother!)

Okay, thats enough about nationalities!
Tschüss!
Steve

Wow! A german blogger in Ireland!

Was doing my usual wasting time thing and looking at irishblogs.ie, where i occasionally find interesting blogs and posts and today I found this website listed, Irland Inside Blog. Its a blog completely in German about Ireland. cool, have read off it, if you can read german, which I can't.

Its interesting to see other expats blogging!

TT Köln Noticeboard: Kino Trip Sun 24th Feb

Me and the TT gang are off to see Sweeny Todd in the Metropolis on Ebartplatz. Dont worry it will be in English. If interested we are meeting at 17:15 CET outside the cinema!

I am definatley the TT Noticeboard for Köln! :P

KVB go on strike

Well the KVB (Dont ask what it stands for) the company that run the tranport here in Köln are on strike tomorrow. Not good. This is how we get to school every day! Thankfully the Boys Oma (or Opa) will take them instead so I only have to get them up, fed and dressed! I am told the trams and buses will be back running as normal at 9am, but I am not going to venture into Köln just in case.

I just remembered I regularly break KVB rules by drinking on the trams! Oh and by the way if you are ever in Köln buy a ticket (or welcome card, it covers you on the trams) as the fines are steep!! A friend was caught recently 40,-€ on the spot fine! ouch!

I managed to survive the day off and came up with enough things to keep the boys occupied! so am wrecked and have no ideas for the next few days, thank god for the weekend and the rugby!

Okay, thats it for now, oh I'm finally getting my haircut tomorrow. I am being extremely lazy and having it done in the house. Am actually afraid to go to a hairdressers cause of the language difficulty!

Any way tschüss!
Steve

I dont know where this is going...

Well the mother was on to me asking whats happening to the blog and basically everything has lost its newness here and is rather mundane. Tomorrow might be different though. The boys have a day off! I am currently racking my brains for an idea of what to do.... Suggestions welcome!!! I hope it is a nice day.

The weather at the moment is freezing! This morning was the warmest since the start of the week. Its was 2 degrees! It was -4 yesterday so I'm happy with +2!

My nationality was called into question alot at the weekend. People thought I was Dutch and Iranian! Thats another two long ones to add to the list of countries people think I'm from! Probably could make a map!

The gig the other night was fantastic and the meal and the company (the TT crowd) was suberb!

This whole not drinking thing isnt working. On Thursday I agreed at late notice to go to a multi-cultural meetup with my 'Girlfriend' more on that later...., but anyway, being the creature of habit I am, while waiting for the tram, I bought a bought a bottle of Kölsch! Forgetting totally I am off drink... so instead I am cutting down. I now only drink Dreckseck and cola, no vodka, jagear etc etc. Oh Dreckseck is Kölsch mixed with cola.

So the 'Girlfriend' thing... this is funny... myself and one of the TT girls, who is french but studied in Ireland and gets and Irish accent when she talks to me, is often mistaken for my 'Girlfriend'. It happened firstly over my facebook pic >>>
but it happened Thursday night also! We are thinking of getting T-Shirts printed any ideas on what they should say??

Okay I ended up saying more then I though I would. Right to this weekend is Sports weekend for me! Yay! On saturday we have all sides in action in the Rugby 6 Nations!

• 15:00 GMT (16:00 CET) Wales v Italy, Millennium Stadium,


• 17:00 GMT (18:00 CET) Ireland v Scotland, Croke Park,


• 21:00 CET (20:00 GMT) France v England, Stade de France,

Then on Sunday Night (more like Monday morning) you have Klitschko vs. Ibragimov in a Boxing Unification match. Its on at 4:30am here, but I will endevour to try and stay up. Needless to say I don'T think Ill be going out this weekend, maybe Friday???

Right I think thats it for now!

Tschüss!
Steve

Mark Twain: The Awful German Language

Someone mentined this on Saturday after the Ireland V France game and was supposed to post it up on Toytown. Instead I had to go looking for it.

For anyone who is studying (or has studied) the German language it is hilarious. Its the annex from his 1880 book "A Tramp Abroad". Remember he is talking about 19th Century German, but I am discovering the same things! Some excerpts below. Full article here

Surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp. One is washed about in it, hither and thither, in the most helpless way; and when at last he thinks he has captured a rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on amid the general rage and turmoil of the ten parts of speech, he turns over the page and reads, "Let the pupil make careful note of the following exceptions." He runs his eye down and finds that there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it. So overboard he goes again, to hunt for another Ararat and find another quicksand.

Yup, its still confusing me

The Germans have another kind of parenthesis, which they make by splitting a verb in two and putting half of it at the beginning of an exciting chapter and the other half at the end of it. Can any one conceive of anything more confusing than that? These things are called "separable verbs." The German grammar is blistered all over with separable verbs; and the wider the two portions of one of them are spread apart, the better the author of the crime is pleased with his performance. A favorite one is reiste ab -- which means departed. Here is an example which I culled from a novel and reduced to English:

"The trunks being now ready, he DE- after kissing his mother and sisters, and once more pressing to his bosom his adored Gretchen, who, dressed in simple white muslin, with a single tuberose in the ample folds of her rich brown hair, had tottered feebly down the stairs, still pale from the terror and excitement of the past evening, but longing to lay her poor aching head yet once again upon the breast of him whom she loved more dearly than life itself, PARTED."

Have come across this yet, thank god.

Personal pronouns and adjectives are a fruitful nuisance in this language, and should have been left out. For instance, the same sound, sie, means you, and it means she, and it means her, and it means it, and it means they, and it means them. Think of the ragged poverty of a language which has to make one word do the work of six -- and a poor little weak thing of only three letters at that. But mainly, think of the exasperation of never knowing which of these meanings the speaker is trying to convey. This explains why, whenever a person says sie to me, I generally try to kill him, if a stranger.

Oh so confusing....

Every noun has a gender, and there is no sense or system in the distribution; so the gender of each must be learned separately and by heart. There is no other way. To do this one has to have a memory like a memorandum-book. In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl. See how it looks in print -- I translate this from a conversation in one of the best of the German Sunday-school books:

"Gretchen.
Wilhelm, where is the turnip?
Wilhelm.
She has gone to the kitchen.
Gretchen.
Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden?
Wilhelm.
It has gone to the opera."

To continue with the German genders: a tree is male, its buds are female, its leaves are neuter; horses are sexless, dogs are male, cats are female -- tomcats included, of course; a person's mouth, neck, bosom, elbows, fingers, nails, feet, and body are of the male sex, and his head is male or neuter according to the word selected to signify it, and not according to the sex of the individual who wears it -- for in Germany all the women either male heads or sexless ones; a person's nose, lips, shoulders, breast, hands, and toes are of the female sex; and his hair, ears, eyes, chin, legs, knees, heart, and conscience haven't any sex at all. The inventor of the language probably got what he knew about a conscience from hearsay.

you think it be okay to figure out this cause I learned french and its the same idea, but no, they change the genders and add a new one! I am so confused!!!

There are some exceedingly useful words in this language. Schlag, for example; and Zug. There are three-quarters of a column of Schlags in the dictionary, and a column and a half of Zugs. The word Schlag means Blow, Stroke, Dash, Hit, Shock, Clap, Slap, Time, Bar, Coin, Stamp, Kind, Sort, Manner, Way, Apoplexy, Wood-cutting, Enclosure, Field, Forest-clearing. This is its simple and exact meaning -- that is to say, its restricted, its fettered meaning; but there are ways by which you can set it free, so that it can soar away, as on the wings of the morning, and never be at rest. You can hang any word you please to its tail, and make it mean anything you want to. You can begin with Schlag-ader, which means artery, and you can hang on the whole dictionary, word by word, clear through the alphabet to Schlag-wasser, which means bilge-water -- and including Schlag-mutter, which means mother-in-law.

Just the same with Zug. Strictly speaking, Zug means Pull, Tug, Draught, Procession, Markh, Progress, Flight, Direction, Expedition, Train, Caravan, Passage, Stroke, Touch, Line, Flourish, Trait of Character, Feature, Lineament, Chess-move, Organ-stop, Team, Whiff, Bias, Drawer, Propensity, Inhalation, Disposition: but that thing which it does not mean -- when all its legitimate pennants have been hung on, has not been discovered yet.

One cannot overestimate the usefulness of Schlag and Zug. Armed just with these two, and the word also, what cannot the foreigner on German soil accomplish? The German word also is the equivalent of the English phrase "You know," and does not mean anything at all -- in talk, though it sometimes does in print. Every time a German opens his mouth an also falls out; and every time he shuts it he bites one in two that was trying to get out.

There important words, you hear them alot! especially also! I would also add "genau" to this list. It means exactly. I always hear it.

An excellent read. Well worth it!

Amanda Schmidt - American girl missing in Berlin

I know I get a few readers from Germany hence this post. I hate it when it happens. Please if you have information on her whereabouts ring her family or tell her to do so.

Amanda Schmidt
Born 11/18/86 - she is 21.
Last seen on the flight from New York to Berlin.
Missing in Berlin, Germany.
Identifying characteristics tattoo of Curtis on back of her neck.
Three piercings in left ear one on the right.

If you have any information call this united states phone number: 001 484 542 1247.

ValentinsTag Anti-dote

Okay so get over the ValentinsTag (Valentines Day) blues, my self and a few TT'rs are going out to drown our sorrows (I'm off the drink, I know but I might make an exception!). We are meeting at rudolfplatz starbucks and going for Mexican! yay!

We are doing a kinda secret santa where everyone brings a box of chocolate and we exchange em! It will be nice! (Note to self get a box of chocolates!)

Then its on to Jameson's on Friesen Str to see the Afflicted. Should be good fun!

God I think I'm becoming the TT notice board for Köln!

German Txt Spk

I was flicking through one of my german phrase books the other day and I can across a section on texting, or SMS here in Germany. It was really interesting. So here is a few SMS sprechen! Oh they do use alot of English ones such as 4U etc. So if you see these in an SMS from me you will know what they mean!

N8 - Gute Nacht (Good night)
STN - SchönenTag noch! (Have a nice day!)
3st - Das war dreist (That was cheeky!)
FF - Fortsetzung Folgt (To be continued)
RUMIN - Ruf mich an (Phone me)
TWU - Treffen wir uns? (Shall we meet)
BIGBED - Bin gleich bei dir (I'll be there soon)
BSG - Brauch sofort Geld (I need money urgently)
HASE - Habe sehnsacht (Miss you)
DAD - Denk an dich (Thinking of you)
BSE - Bin so einsam (I feel so lonely)
MAD - Mag Dich (I like you)
ILD - Ich Liebe Dich (I love you)
*freud* - Ich freue mich (I'm happy)
*heul* - Ich bin traurig (I'm sad)

Anyone know any more german text speak? send it to me as a comment or an email!

UPDATE: So Joe, my fount of information when it comes to german and germany suggests another two but fogets my German is Scheiße. Thank god for google translate!

he adds

*gg* - Großes Grinsen (Big Grin)
*fg* - Fettes Grinsen (Fat Grin)

he then gives me the link to the Deutsch Wikipedia page on German Txt Spk. Have a look. it might as well be double dutch to me!

Safety sign

Via Thats Ireland thinking of printing this off and putting on my door....

yea, i know im neglecting this blog...

well i intend to make up for it now!! :D
so lets get to it. Mixture of subjects today, have a rough list written but we will see where it goes.

Letter Writing
I've started writing letters home to family and friends and its great fun. though when writing them I feel like I'm back in Mr. O'Hallorans History class, trying to write as much as in can in a short space of time. The last letter home to a friend who regularly texts me was four pages long! you can say so much more in a letter. If you want a letter email me or text me!

The Boys and Irish
The boys have asked me to speak more in Irish to them. Now I am glad I can speak Irish, but its amazing how much comes back when you try and formulate sentences! Though I miss my Irish - English Dictionary.

Update on the Boys
The last two mornings have been a struggle barely getting out the door on time to get the tram. We were late today, thankfully the tram was late also (It happens rarely!)!

Apart from that things are going well, though I'm getting a lot of "It's not my problem" when they wont do what they are told!

Irish in Köln
I met two lads who studied in UL on firday in one of my regular haunts and they knew all my friends back in UL. Crazy! I can never get away from Ireland!! :D Had a great night!

I'm Giving Up Drink
*Shock Horror* and all that. Yes, im cutting down on the amount of Kölsch I am drinking. Im only giving up till Paddy's Day mind. Or if another excuse comes along I'll take that! :D

Valentines Day (ValentinsTag)
So Thursday is the day Hallmark loves. I'm going to hate it. I'm not normally a big Vale's day person but being single in a different country will make it that bit more depressing.

Ireland V France (6 Nations)
Went out on saturday to watch the Match on RTE in one of the Irish Pubs with the TT Gang. Had a great laugh, pity we lost. Though it was only me (Ireland) and Helene (France) watching the match. We even had flags!! We are crazy, wait till Paddy's day, then we will be CRAZY!!!

Okay think thats it for now. Remember if you want a letter I need an address!!

Karneval: photos

Okay so i finally uplodaed photos from Karneval.

Weiberfastnacht, Thursday 31st of January
Karneval Samstag, Saturday 2nd of February
Rosemontag Part 1, Monday 4th of February
Rosenmontag Part 2, Monday 4th of February

I could write all day about what happened at Karneval but I think the pictures tell the story. I did take videos but I have no software that I can understand to edit it, so will have to wait till Im back in Ireland for them!

Needless to say I WILL be back for Karneval. It was crazy different and exciting. I met people from all over the world (Ukraine to Canada!) and have made good friends.

Anyone who says the Irish are crazy has not been to Köln for Karneval!!!

Karneval Hangover

So Karneval finishs tonight at 12:00CET. Thank god. I cant go on with this really. me hgead is pounding. The parade yesterday was great fun and the weekend was excellent and i mad emore friends. always important. tomorrow i will do a proper post i promise. and ill post videos!! :D