Winter in Germany

January 18, 2010 By 3 Comments

With Germany experiencing the coldest winter for 13 years we decided to change our plans for the weekend and took our sledge out instead.

This gave us not only a rare chance to go sledging on the hills of Camp King, but also to talk about some of the things that German residents – and possibly long-term visitors – need to know about: Winter tyres, snow-clearing duty and a lack of salt.

Sledging in Camp King

Sledging in Camp King

To find out more, listen to the podcast:

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Filed Under: Monday Podcasts, Podcasts Tagged With: , , , ,

Silvester & Wunderkerzen

December 31, 2009 By 1 Comment

Today is the last episode of our German Words Explained podcast, which has now been going for 160 episodes.

We talk about the topics that we covered, and in particular about the Käseigel. Back in June 2007 Maria promised to make one and 158 episodes later here it is:

Ein Käseigel

Many of the episodes now have transcripts available to download for free.  Sign up on the downloads page to find out more.

To finish off the series, we explain the word Wunderkerzen.

So now, for the last time, listen to the podcast:

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Filed Under: Christmas, German Words Explained, Podcasts Tagged With: , , ,

Lametta

December 30, 2009 By 1 Comment

Lametta is a Christmas decoration found in German homes and in particular on Christmas trees. Similar to tinsel, it is hung over the branches to simulate icicles.

Originally it was made from a substance called “Stanniol”, which is Tin (Sn) flattened to make it into a foil.

To add weight to the Lametta, lead or even silver were added. Often this meant that it was used on New Year’s Eve for Bleigießen. However, modern Lametta is often made of plastic.

To hear a simple explanation and to find out what the number 90/10 has to do with Lametta, listen to the podcast:

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Filed Under: Christmas, German Words Explained, Podcasts Tagged With: , , , , ,

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