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We Germans are usually a walking cliché ... we are efficient, organized and almost anal where cleanliness and order is concerned. But sometimes we just go too far.
Example: The place where I live. Buchholz is a very small village with 250 households and 438 villagers. We have our own mail pick up point, and we are surrounded by fields, meadows and the Buchholz Forest. The nearest two bigger cities are Erkelenz and Wegberg which are under 10 kilometers away. However, Buchholz is officially a burrough of the city Moenchengladbach. Now, the city of MG is about 14 kilometers away.
Well it is okay, we can still buy our produce in other towns. BUT! All our mail is picked up either by a postman from Erkelenz or Wegberg ... you can imagine that parcels and mail take much much longer this way because it will be send to MG first then to the destination and when we receive mail, it will first be send out to MG, then to Wegberg and from there to Erkelenz. A parcel or letter will sometimes take up to a week to be delivered to us. Totally gaga!!! And why? Because the postman who delivers from MG in our neck of the woods doesn't want to drive the few kms to us as it would infringe with his union accepted radius of work. Totally anal, I tell you.
And don't get me started on internet connections 'evil grin'.
Example: The place where I live. Buchholz is a very small village with 250 households and 438 villagers. We have our own mail pick up point, and we are surrounded by fields, meadows and the Buchholz Forest. The nearest two bigger cities are Erkelenz and Wegberg which are under 10 kilometers away. However, Buchholz is officially a burrough of the city Moenchengladbach. Now, the city of MG is about 14 kilometers away.
Well it is okay, we can still buy our produce in other towns. BUT! All our mail is picked up either by a postman from Erkelenz or Wegberg ... you can imagine that parcels and mail take much much longer this way because it will be send to MG first then to the destination and when we receive mail, it will first be send out to MG, then to Wegberg and from there to Erkelenz. A parcel or letter will sometimes take up to a week to be delivered to us. Totally gaga!!! And why? Because the postman who delivers from MG in our neck of the woods doesn't want to drive the few kms to us as it would infringe with his union accepted radius of work. Totally anal, I tell you.
And don't get me started on internet connections 'evil grin'.
On the sixth it's St. Nicholas Day here in Germany, the Netherlands and other Mid-European countries. While it is not an official holiday, this name day of St. Nikolaus Bishop of Myra is still celebrated for the children.
On the eve of St. Nicholas Day (5th Dec.) children put out their Nicholas boots, usually either boots or shoes polished to a shine and over night St. Nicholas fills them up with sweets and cookies. He is usually accompanied by Servant Ruprecht (Knecht Ruprecht in Germany, Zwarte Piet in the Netherlands) who will punish naughty children.
Usually all children get sweets.
St. Nicholas was a prominent figure in Byzantine times, he was a bishop of Graeco-Turkmen descent and he is reputed to have created a lot of miracles. He also loved children and he left sweets and sometimes money for children in their shoes or sandals outside the houses. Hence his name day celebrations.
Until Coca Cola came up with their red suited Santa Claus in the early 1900s, St. Nicholas and also the 'Weihnachtsmann' (Christmas Mann, Santa Claus, Sinterklaas and Father Frost) were shown to wear a bishop's robe and tiered hat in blue, yellow or green - never red!) but from 1910 onwards the red suited (still in bishop's robes mind you) St. Nicholas spread from England to mainland Europe. .
Unfortunately this tradition is more and more a thing of the past, Nowadays, we get visits of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and not the 'Weihnachtsmann' or the 'Christkind' anymore. We celebrate Halloween but not St. Martin anymore. I really wait for the day when we idiots start celebrating Thanksgiving not in September/October when there IS a real harvest time and a time to give thanks, but in November with turkeys and American-Indians.
Can't the US keep at least their traditions to themselves? They are already the self-declared Earth police (sign the blasted Kyoto and follow treaty, for god's sake!!!!) or the self-declared financial moguls (Standard & Poor's where were you when the US was almost bankrupt??) but the American way of life is not something to cry home about. And no, you didn't bring Democracy to the world, that were the Ancient Greek.If democracy of the ppl means politicians getbribed 'prepped' by lobbyists to follow their interests ... sorry, that is not democracy as I see it.
Anyway, I wanted to write about German customs, not rant about the US of A.
On the eve of St. Nicholas Day (5th Dec.) children put out their Nicholas boots, usually either boots or shoes polished to a shine and over night St. Nicholas fills them up with sweets and cookies. He is usually accompanied by Servant Ruprecht (Knecht Ruprecht in Germany, Zwarte Piet in the Netherlands) who will punish naughty children.
Usually all children get sweets.
St. Nicholas was a prominent figure in Byzantine times, he was a bishop of Graeco-Turkmen descent and he is reputed to have created a lot of miracles. He also loved children and he left sweets and sometimes money for children in their shoes or sandals outside the houses. Hence his name day celebrations.
Until Coca Cola came up with their red suited Santa Claus in the early 1900s, St. Nicholas and also the 'Weihnachtsmann' (Christmas Mann, Santa Claus, Sinterklaas and Father Frost) were shown to wear a bishop's robe and tiered hat in blue, yellow or green - never red!) but from 1910 onwards the red suited (still in bishop's robes mind you) St. Nicholas spread from England to mainland Europe. .
Unfortunately this tradition is more and more a thing of the past, Nowadays, we get visits of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve and not the 'Weihnachtsmann' or the 'Christkind' anymore. We celebrate Halloween but not St. Martin anymore. I really wait for the day when we idiots start celebrating Thanksgiving not in September/October when there IS a real harvest time and a time to give thanks, but in November with turkeys and American-Indians.
Can't the US keep at least their traditions to themselves? They are already the self-declared Earth police (sign the blasted Kyoto and follow treaty, for god's sake!!!!) or the self-declared financial moguls (Standard & Poor's where were you when the US was almost bankrupt??) but the American way of life is not something to cry home about. And no, you didn't bring Democracy to the world, that were the Ancient Greek.If democracy of the ppl means politicians get
Anyway, I wanted to write about German customs, not rant about the US of A.
Is it just me ...
Dec. 22nd, 2010 04:20 pm... or are dog owners and animal activist, especially FEMALE ones, just plain crazy?
Some of you know that I was a member of an animal activist message board for Southern dogs and that I left this board after the admin of said board embezzled money that was supposed for immediate medical care for other less fortunate dogs in Spain. Additionally, to prevent ppl from finding out, she cut off options from certain accounts, I'm sure some ppl thought we were back to good old Stasi times or current Chinese. She wanted to restrict contact between members of her board, PMs, Emails .. everything was cut off, going as far as kicking ppl (me included) out of her board.
Some friends (well I thought they were friends) and I got together and someone started a new forum, for which I provided the banner and came up with a name: Jeder Hund (any dog).
Unfortunately, the new admin got some delusions of grandeur. Personally, I never really warmed up to her and after a few little skirmishes over the past few months, I frankly didn't like her, neither virtually on the board, nor in person. But I kept mumm. I ignored her and her postings and every thing was oh-kay-ish.
Well, apparently my ignoring her and also vehemently refusing to apologize for drawing similarities to the old board and administration put a huge chip on her shoulder and she restricted my account. She sent me a message along the lines that she didn't like me emailing and phoning ppl ... Hello??? Are you God? Ruler of the Universe? Who made you and which country?
So I took the plunge and left. This is sooo idiotic. And Claudia, the co-admin of the whole board, knew about it. She knew I was on the black list and yet she never told me, never said a word. Stupid cow that I am (I thought she was a friend) I took in her dog last week for 6 days because she had to go to the hospital and neither her husband nor her daughter could take care of it. Now that I call some friendship. I'm good enough to dogsit but not good enough to be warned. Hey, thanks for nothing!
Oh well ... I never really fit into this whole thing and I'm glad I'm out of there, just sad that I got to know a couple of ppl I liked to read but now have no chance of contacting them.
Then again ... I have my flist here. That is enough. :)
Some of you know that I was a member of an animal activist message board for Southern dogs and that I left this board after the admin of said board embezzled money that was supposed for immediate medical care for other less fortunate dogs in Spain. Additionally, to prevent ppl from finding out, she cut off options from certain accounts, I'm sure some ppl thought we were back to good old Stasi times or current Chinese. She wanted to restrict contact between members of her board, PMs, Emails .. everything was cut off, going as far as kicking ppl (me included) out of her board.
Some friends (well I thought they were friends) and I got together and someone started a new forum, for which I provided the banner and came up with a name: Jeder Hund (any dog).
Unfortunately, the new admin got some delusions of grandeur. Personally, I never really warmed up to her and after a few little skirmishes over the past few months, I frankly didn't like her, neither virtually on the board, nor in person. But I kept mumm. I ignored her and her postings and every thing was oh-kay-ish.
Well, apparently my ignoring her and also vehemently refusing to apologize for drawing similarities to the old board and administration put a huge chip on her shoulder and she restricted my account. She sent me a message along the lines that she didn't like me emailing and phoning ppl ... Hello??? Are you God? Ruler of the Universe? Who made you and which country?
So I took the plunge and left. This is sooo idiotic. And Claudia, the co-admin of the whole board, knew about it. She knew I was on the black list and yet she never told me, never said a word. Stupid cow that I am (I thought she was a friend) I took in her dog last week for 6 days because she had to go to the hospital and neither her husband nor her daughter could take care of it. Now that I call some friendship. I'm good enough to dogsit but not good enough to be warned. Hey, thanks for nothing!
Oh well ... I never really fit into this whole thing and I'm glad I'm out of there, just sad that I got to know a couple of ppl I liked to read but now have no chance of contacting them.
Then again ... I have my flist here. That is enough. :)
