Happy Christmas
Dear friends,
This year was the year of wonders. In spring, we wondered how long it could take to get a vaccination appointment. In summer, we wondered even more that an entire third of the population is so scholastically underexposed that they do not even want one. And what no one would have thought possible at the beginning of the year, that we would be sitting at home once again at the end of the year, unsure of where the journey is going.
Imitate the sundial’s ways: only count the pleasant days!
One such happy day was my godson’s birthday. For his fifteenth birthday, I gave him, as he wished, a cake with a cartoon character for
pre-school children and a razor.
Together we also fried some GDR-style hunter’s schnitzel from two large sausages. He was completely horrified that his younger brothers,
who had not been socialised by their Bavarian-Hessian parents in this Eastalgic culinary field, could not appreciate this delicacy.
In January we were completely snowed in. Do you remember? Dressed in a cardigan instead of shirt and tie, I had to teach with the backdrop of a parental room as decor. In Leipzig, the trams were not operating properly for a week, so that, still somewhat wobbly on my feet, I had to find a way through snow and on ice to get to my occupational therapy. My therapist was then running out of ideas, because my hand was already too good for therapy. So, I let myself be persuaded to do what I had adamantly refused in one and a half months of rehab and wove a wicker basket. It is nice to look back on it now and realise that arms and legs which last year were paraplegically challenged have still become much better this year.
208 days ago, it was 30 May and I started learning Czech every day. I wanted to know if you can learn a language with an app and how it is taught there. It is certainly a good idea to set yourself goals, but it is equally wonderful not to. Just like it was never my intention to finish my colouring book last year, but merely to exercise my hand, it is wonderful to discover a new language and a new world of thought and to revel in simply doing so. When there is no goal, everything you do is right. Meanwhile, I am approaching B1 level and I can converse in simple language. Fun facts about the Czech language: there are no two different words for hand and arm (ruka), neither for foot and leg (noha). The genitive is everywhere and needs to be marked on the word: a bottle of wine is láhev vína, a bottle wine’s. You can also double that: 5oo grams of flour becomes 500 gramů mouky or 500 grams’ flour’s. That “I am cold” is expressed as “It’s me cold.” is similar to German, but the Czech speak the same way about their age: “It’s me 45.” (je mi 45 let)
Many things were still quite different. We celebrated my birthday as a picnic, each one on their own blanket in the Rosental park. The 3D congress of the DGS could not take place on site. After weeks of testing, with YouTube refusing to let us log in even after countless confirmations that everything was in order, we were able to stream our shows to just under a hundred 3D TVs in our members’ homes. Enjoying 3D with a glass of red wine or champagne on our own couch were three wonderful evenings. At university, seminars with few participants could take place in person again. It was so pleasant not having to mindlessly teach phonetics to a webcam, but to look into the faces of my students and see in them that at times the webcam had understood more.
The year also had a couple of excursions in store. The Leipzig vaccination centre was only 6 km away. However, the Saxon vaccination portal could usually only be accessed after an hour’s wait and appointments were only available with luck in a few cities. So Olaf and I got our vaccinations at the Richard-Hartmann-Halle in Chemnitz. We also caught up on our holiday in Bremen and were given a personal tour of the radio and television museum. Highly interesting: with Tefifon, there was a system in the 1950s where inside a cassette record grooves were scratched into a plastic tape. The system failed because of rights: these were held by the record companies, so that only re-sung titles were available on Tefifon.
What will the new year bring us? I am optimistic. I am looking forward to working on a new phonetics textbook, trips with my husband, godson and my parents, the international 3D Congress in Český Krumlov and other opportunities to use my new language, and hopefully many nice meetings with you.
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