mánudagur, júní 12, 2006

Is there more to Germany than yarn?

Well, I'm back from my vacation as became already clear in the last post.
I was planning to put up a collage with the iconic sights I visited during my trip. Talking about planning, here it is. However, I or blogger/blogspot are incapable of including the time-consuming mouseover effects I added to the whole thing. After a couple of days tinkering with CSS commands, I gave in. If you are curious (aka know what the pictures show) click on the image to be transfered to a stand-alone version.

Germany in pictures

Because some readers were wondering... I am originally from Germany but live in Iceland. Thus,it is only natural to consider my my holidays a trip back home. Strangely enough, only after a few days, I found myself thinking that I am going back home to Iceland soon.
What an emotional confusion! Good for you is that I was thinking about a contest (read: giving away yarn!) in this context.
What do you have to do to join the party? Okay, simple as that. Tell me something funny, charming, likeable maybe even ridiculous about Germany or The Germans in general, or a particular story/event/feature that comes in your mind. If you can, try to avoid stereotypes (is it possible ? ;-)) - uups, do I sound like a teacher? Or like a German?
Germany - Land of ideas
[haha]

This is a selfish contest, I need some refreshment on why to feel home in Germany.
What is in it for you? German sock yarn, of course!
Box full of sock yarn
In this box, fresh from Germany, is some Trekking, different sorts of Regia (Canadian colours - so much for the German theme, but also bamboo sock yarn!), Opal and Meilenweit, some of them are summerly cotton blends. And there is more than you can see here.

The "contest" is as easy as this:
Leave a comment here, telling me something admirable about Germany. It can be a keyword or a whole story, about people, nature, art, music, literature, (yarn shops!?), whatever. I want to read something that makes me smile or laugh or cry or best of all homesick.
Because drawing a winner will be completely biased, I decided to announce a random winner as well. If you don't want to make me to be homesick (which is in fact a nice gesture as well - not to make me sad, I mean ;-)) but want to win some yarn anyway, leave me a comment as well. Just write you want to be in the drawing.
Still with me? Okay,
a) there will be one winner, who qualifies by heart-rending argumentation and
b) another winner, who is randomly picked from all comments.
Therefore, the ones with German topics double their chances to pick something from my sock yarn stash (which will be flashed in its enterity exclusively to them. Hehe)
You have time until Sunday, 25 June. Now, go ahead and good luck!

19 ummæli:

sheep#100 sagði...

The Passion Play in Oberammergau!

Nafnlaus sagði...

The best thing that popped into my head was visiting our oma and opa in Buchen (Dad was German but we lived in California) and Oma would make our breakfast. My sister and I would eat CAKE and cafe au lait for breakfast! It was so enchanting because our mom would NEVER let us have sugar like that. I thought all Germans had cake for breakfast for years!

craftoholic sagði...

Biergarten!!! A Mas(the biggest mug of beer), Brezn (pretzel), Radi (radish)and all the quirky old geezers that come with it.
I'm soo homesick right now....

Jenna sagði...

Although I've never been to Germany, a few things come to mind. I've heard that Germans use their bicycles year round to get around and use them to carry all their gear, groceries, etc. Utilitarian and eco-conscious. My boyfriend is a BMW motorcycle enthusiast, so I'm sure he would like to praise the amazing engineering of their engines, which are essentially the same as when they were created in the 20's.

There have also been some hilarious Volkswagon commercials on here lately in the US. They feature a man with a German accent (don't know if it's real or fake) making of fun the cars Americans try to make cool by adding expensive accesories. The funny part is that the guy is dressed in hip hop clothes and uses all the rap slang. For some reason, hearing him says "I dropped it like it's hot" with the accent always cracks me up.

Dave sagði...

The best thing that I know about Germany is the people. When I moved away from home, a very nice German couple "adopted" me. Thirty years later, I still go to their house at Christmas and Easter, their daughter is one of my best friends, and I can honestly say that they have made a profound impact on my life. When I make a decision, I ask myself, "What would Hans & Gerta say?" They haven't steered me wrong yet. So yes ... the people, with their warmth, their openness, and their love.

Nafnlaus sagði...

Need I state the obvious: Just think about the weather girl ;-)

I don't know from which part of Germany you are, but imagine sitting in a beautiful beergarden, in the shade of trees, with one liter mug of lovely brew in your hand (that you can hardly lift because, you know, one liter is heavy stuff). Wearing lederhosen (for the stereotype, even though you're a girl). It's a lovely place.

Nafnlaus sagði...

i love the bread here. also the fact that you can be in the city and country at the same time. there's none of those terrible suburbs that are found in the states. also, the fact that people take care of their animals.

CelticCastOn sagði...

STRUDEL!!! and all those other yummy desserts!

Nafnlaus sagði...

Well, Germany gave us great architects, like Mies van der Rohe and writers like Bertolt Brecht. Culture out the wazoo, as we say here in the States, and I for one am thankful for it. But Germany (Berlin, to be exact) is also the setting for one of my very favorite films, the funny and sweet Mostly Martha: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246772/

Nafnlaus sagði...

First, a little poem:

O Germany,
Although I've never personally seen her shores, I see here everywhere I go
In the faces of many people I love, and also of those I do not know.
I see her heritage in the faces of my dear children, husband and mother-in-law it's true,
And when I look into the mirror, a bit of Germany is there too.
Because even tho' Germany is a beautiful land, it's true
Germany is the people who live there, and who live on in me and you....


I'm thankful for my German heritage, and for German people. For they are what made/make Germany great. And not just Germany but many other places in the world have been made better by German folk as well.
Have a great day!
PBnJ

Nafnlaus sagði...

My German friend Andrea and I flew into Germany together from England to her Hometown Bremin.

http://www.bremen.de/fastmedia/473/ecard500x500px.jpg

From there she took me for a day trip to the North Sea. It was January and the Sea was frozen around the perimeter. There was beautiful scultural art... like a huge giant keizer chair you had to literally climb up on. And beautiful metal head sculptures leading from the beach to the water. I had never seen anything like it and it is hard to discribe how I felt and still feel.

I love the streets in the old city of Oldenburg where my girlfriend lived at the time while going to University. I loved the windows of her apartment that could open in three different ways. I loved the lady at the bakery that laughed and giggled when she heard me speak telling Andrea that it had been so long since she learned English in school, that she had forgotten it all. You could tell that she wanted to try, but was too shy to make a mistake.

My first night club in Germany where I found it so odd that everybody danced facing the wall. Where Cruel Summer by Ace of Base was a big hit back then.

The ominous cathedrals in Köln and the good shopping. The little incense burner that my friend Anneke gave me that looks like a man who works outside at the train station. Aaaak, I rember it all like it was yesterday!!!

aija sagði...

When I think about Germany, I think about my 3 years of high school German and the German foreign exchange student who was housed with our teacher during my senior year (3rd year of German for me). She'd sit with us during our lessons and afterwards come outside to lunch-- she told us that she had no idea what our teacher was saying when she spoke to her in German (apparently all the time, in class and at home), and no idea what us students would parrot around class, either :)

Liz sagði...

I have a few things I love/miss about Germany.

I remember spending Saturday downtown, walking on the coblestone road with a little paper cone full of pomme frites to be eaten with a fork the size of your pinky. I've never had anything better :)

And one memory that really stands out...We were going home from a fair (I was maybe 10 yrs old) and there was this big white walking bridge. Some chick was beyond drunk, walks next to the bridge, squats on the hill, and pees her heart out. In front of everyone, police included. She finished, got up, and went on her way. As an adult, I can appreciate this story a lot more!

And then there's the Edeka...were I spent countless days raiding the candy bin and gourging myself on kinder eggs.

I could go on and on...Now I'm "home" sick. I'll get back there some day. :)

lindsey starr sagði...

Big down comforters on the beds, almost always fluffed and folded in half over the bed! ....keeping things looking neat and proper (heaven forbid something hangs over the edge). The few times I have been lucky enough to be in Germany, I have always loved this. It seems ubiquitous there, and never found here in the states.

Jenn sagði...

I think the best thing about Germany is that my dad's family and my hubbo's dad's families are from there. And there is this rumor that I'm related to Kaiser Whilhem. Hmmmm.

Unknown sagði...

Lived for a half year in the Eiffel region (10 y ago) on a farm, the people were really friendly and the nature around there was super, ganz toll!
And now, during the WC football, the germans organised everything very well, and are really nice to us, the Dutch people. I love watching tv right now!

WandaWoman sagði...

I really have no ideas about Germans, except umm, forthright and open, beer, soccer and lots of sock yarn. Do I qualify for both? :-) Looks like you got a lovely haul of sock yarn!

Sonja sagði...

1. Germans have very good craftmanship. If you buy anything that's German you can be sure it is of good quality.

2. Germans seem to like Iceland!

Jenn sagði...

HOW DID I MISS THIS???