gigamatic

So, I called my parents' new home in Florida, and my mom answered: "Do you want to go half on your dad's Father's Day present?" And I'm thinking, I just spent a freaking buttload on this new house, and you're gonna want something big, arent you?

Well, after playing a guessing game about what costs $200, my mom finally told me they had found a small, used, motor scooter. Again with the guessing, my mom tries to get me to figure out the color. Turns out, it's pink.

What is it with my dad and pink? Is there something he isn't telling? Or is he just an old man who doesnt care what people think anymore?

So, now my parents have a motor scooter. Hooray.

***

Sunday was The Vee's birthday... as usual, viel spaB! But, I also learned a lot. The "Happy Birthday" song in German is just that... not "Zum Geburtstag, viel Gluck!" (which is what we learned in high school, but seems to be the wrong preposition to me, anyway). Frohlich Geburtstag, vielleicht?

And, "Just Married" (as in what you write on newlyweds' cars) is not written in German either. Surprise!

My favorite is when she and her roommate float in and out of English conversation. Usually, I can follow along, but I always feel like I'm snooping if I listen to them speaking German to each other. But, I pick up only bits and pieces, so ... whatever.

It's strange to me to now know so many Germans and German speakers. In my high school, we had a choice of 2 languages: German or Spanish. Spanish was what everyone took. Back then, Spanish students outnumbered German students 4 to 1. Now, since there is open enrollment, it's no longer the case. German is being taught every period of the day, and at 4 levels.

My interest in German came from when I was small, and my dad had just taken a job with AEP. Some German engineers came to see the work that was going on at the plant, staying for several months (a year?) here in the states. They got to know my dad really well, and often came to visit our farm. Every year since, they and my parents have exchanged holiday greetings and bits of family news, all in German (all usually read and translated and written by me.)

Heinz Blum and Werner Ott were their names. One has a boy my age, I think. The other, if I remember, has 2 boys and a girl, one boy who just got married last year. They sent photos. Stefan (Heinz's son) and I used to exchange stamps when we were both into stamp collecting. We also used to exchange baked goods. (Mmm, ginger cookies...)

Someday, if I ever get there, I'll stop to see them, if just to say hello. Having not seen them in 20 years, there is nothing much we have in common, but it would be sort of neat.

And one last bit of German trivia in my family: my grandmother, here in Ohio, grew up in a German "neighborhood" in among the rural hills. Her best friend growing up was German, and I met the lady many times while she was still living. I know my grandma misses her very very much, since they spent a LOT of time together after their husbands were gone.

Ugh. I'm pretty good at depressing myself.

Tonight will be spent at the new house, cleaning the living room for the new furniture's arrival. Woohoo!