Graham

CDU/CSU

June 3, 2009 By Graham 3 Comments

Throughout June German Words Explained will be looking at the political parties in Germany.

This week we start with the Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU) and the Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern (CSU).

The CDU was founded shortly after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The following politicians belonged or belong to the party: Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard, Helmut Kohl, Theo Waigel, Norbert Blüm and Angela Merkel.

The CSU was founded in at the beginning of 1946, and is the CDU partner in Bavaria.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast:

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Filed Under: German Words Explained, Podcasts, Politics Tagged With: CDU, CSU

Finding a bio-ethanol petrol station

May 29, 2009 By Graham 2 Comments

Until now, I have either been to my regular petrol station to fill up with bio-ethanol, or I have had a list of places that it is available at on my PDA.

But this week I discovered that there is a E85 POI (point of interest) overlay for TomTom navigation kits.

I downloaded and installed it using the TomTom HOME software, and sure enough: I can now ask it to find me a petrol station selling bio-ethanol anywhere in Germany. I hope that the file is kept up-to-date as more places start selling it, and when I next travel further away I’ll be sure to try it out!

Filed Under: Bio-Ethanol Tagged With: E85, navigation, overlay

Jugendamt

May 27, 2009 By Graham Leave a Comment

The Jugendamt is an office, usually located in each Kreis or Kreisstadt and sometimes in other large towns.

The office is not only responsible for child protection and assisting parents that are unable to cope with their children, but also to arrange courses and activities for children.

They are also a point of contact for clubs and societies, eg. to apply for financial support to fund training courses or building repairs. The rules for this vary from state to state.

Volunteers those clubs and societies can prove that they have a certain number of hours of training can go to the Jugendamt to apply for a JugendleiterInnen-Card, which gives them free or discounted entry to places such as swimming pools and museums.

To hear a simple explanation and a short discussion in German, listen to the podcast: