Interesting things around town

Because I am not German by birth, there are things that are interesting to me that aren't really interesting to people were born here. Last Saturday the weather was very nice so I took a walk around town (with my camera of course). I took pictures of some things I found interesting.
These are the doorbells for all the apartments in our building. You ring the bell for the person you want. They answer on a special phone in their apartment. If they want you to come in, they press a button and the door unlocks for you. If they don't want you to come in, you are out of luck...

Each apartment in our building has their own trash can. They all look the same. Somehow, I think people feel it looks better to see a row of cement boxes then a row of black trash cans.

This is the "seal" for Reinheim. I'm not sure what exactly it is used for, but all the paperwork I had to file with the city has a stamp with this symbol on it.

If it is the middle of the night and all the stores are closed and you run out of cigarettes, do not dispair! You can find one of these cigarette vending machines in every town. Just insert your ID, pay your money, and select the "stick of death" of your choice. I remember seeing these things in restaurants when I was little, but I think they are against the law now in the US....

Isn't this a nice old looking wall? It is part of the old city wall. They have found a way to preserve the wall and integrate it into more modern buildings.

According to the sign I found, this corner tower was used as a prision.

Today it has a much more modern use. It holds a satellite.


I found this sign in the cemetery. It says “The usage rights for this burial place have expired. Please contact the cemetery administration”. What? I have heard from some people that you rent your cemetery spot for a period of time (30 years, 50 years, I’m not sure, that is just what I have heard). Then your family can either renew… or… do you get evicted…? This sign appears to have been here for a while – it is tattered, faded and a bit weather worn. I guess they don’t want to evict the current resident. I wouldn’t either.

Here is a sign that is not uncommon in parks. It tells you exactly what your dog can and can not "doo" in the park.

This is a nice Fachwerk house. It is really fun for me to see these types of houses. They aren't uncommon here. They seem so quaint, cute, and traditional (or at least what I think traditional German is). I don't think I would want to live in one though. There is a lot of upkeep and renovation needed on these houses. Also, I think the rooms are very small. I like big rooms, big windows, and open space (gee, you would think I am from America or something).

These pictures aren't very good, but I will explain what is going on here. In Germany, I understand that it is difficult to get a drivers licence (it can be a long, expensive process, I don't know exactly because I was able to trade my US licence for a German one). To help people learn to drive, there are small "practice parks" like this one. It looks like a normal street with different driving obstacles. People can come here and practice driving. When I asked Robin about it he said you wouldn't want people new to driving to practice on the streets with everyone else – that could be dangerous... funny, because that's how I learned to drive.... The red circle shows a car driving on the course.

Ich kann Deutsch

I started taking a German class a few weeks ago. It is for two hours, two times each week. There are about 9 other women in the class. I am the youngest, the oldest is 53 years old. The women are from all over: Iran, Turkey, Russia, Albania, Maldova, Sudan, Croatia, China, and Thailand. Some women have only been here a few months. Others have been here for several years (up 17 years) and haven't learned German yet.
I decided to start with a mid-level course. I understand nearly everything and I speak well enough that most people understand what I am saying (and if they aren't native German speakers, I can sometimes trick them into thinking I am German... heehee). My problem is that I have no clue when it comes to grammar so I feel like when I speak I sound like a child. Frustrating.
So far, things are going well in the class. The things we are learning remind me that at one point I heard these grammar rules, but didn't have time learn and remember them all. It is helping me to recognize certain grammatical things in normal conversations.... I hope/think it is helping me improve my German as well.
With a new German class comes new funny stories :)
For the class I needed to order the book. We have a book store here in our little town, but I didn't want to go in and try to think of all the German words I would need to order the book. Lucky for me, I could order it on their website and just pick it up from the store. When the book came in, I went to the store to pick it up. Here is how it went:

"Ich habe einen Buch bestellt" (I ordered a book)
"Name?"
"Pfarrkircher"
She turned to get the book. Pulled it out. Looked at the book - a book for learning German. Looked at me. Raised her eyebrow a bit. I could guess what she was thinking at this point... I didn't have to say very much, so I may have convinced her that even though I am a foreigner (I have an accent) I spoke German well enough... or at least well enough that I didn't need a book for learning German. She told me the price of the book. I paid and went on my merry way.

In Germany they offer discounts for foriegners to take courses to help them integrate into the society. I quilify for the discount. Before I could use the discount for my class, I had to take a test at some special office. We made an appointment and I arrived about 15 minutes early. The lady I was to meet with was standing outside her office. She saw me and said, "I suppose you are here to see me?" I explained that I was and that I needed to take a test for the German course I wanted to take. After I spoke, she said my German was fine and was I sure I wanted to take a German class? Ummm, yes. So in we went to take the test. There was also another lady there taking the same test. She finished her test and did very well. I turned my test in and while the lady was correcting it she said she had never had anyone score 100% on the test. When she finished grading mine she told me I had only missed 4 out of 50 (one question she marked wrong, but she told me it could also be correct the way I answered it). She asked again if I was really sure I wanted to take a class - with a score that good, I didn't need a class and the one I was in was probably too easy for me anyway... Yes, I was sure I wanted a class. She said ok, stamped my paper and let me go on my merry way.