Buß- und Bettag

November 21, 2007 By Leave a Comment

Buß- und Bettag is a day celebrated in the Evangelical Church. It is a day on which to change one’s direction and to turn to God as the Church year comes to an end and we move towards Advent.

It was previously a national holiday, but this was changed from 1995 onwards to finance the new Pflegeversicherung. It remains a holiday in Saxony.

Many families start their Christmas preparations on this day, for example they bake the first Christmas biscuits.

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

(Press the “play” button to listen to the podcast)

Download a transcript

Download the MP3 file | Subscribe to the podcast

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

Recycling cars

November 21, 2007 By 2 Comments

Have you ever wondered where the cars damaged by hurricane Katrina ended up? It’s not something that I can really say that I’ve thought much about, even if I am spending a lot of time thinking about environmentally friendly cars!

This report has the answer: they ended up Cochabamba! Despite the cars being classed as total write-offs and the insurance companies paying up, it seems that a lot of those that may normally have been sold for scrap were sent southwards to Bolivia and are now waiting to be repaired.

Modifying cars for the Bolivian market is nothing new – I remember seeing cars that had been converted from right-hand to left-hand drive because they were cheaper to import that way.

But are these write-offs really going to be safe to drive?

Filed Under: Bolivia, Cochabamba

A Bolivian in Madrid

November 21, 2007 By 1 Comment

For those learning Spanish, there is an excellent podcast called “Notes in Spanish” which offers three levels of difficulty and accompanying worksheets.

This episode of the advanced podcast is an interview with a Bolivian lady called Silvia who now lives in Madrid.

If you can understand Spanish, take a listen and hear the Bolivian accent as well as a comparison between the Bolivian and Spanish cultures.

Filed Under: Bolivia, General

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