Notes from Germany
I am an American expat living in Germany. It's a far away land on the other side of the ocean. It's interesting and often weird here. If you read this and want to comment then email me at nate(the at symbol)chillmost.com. If you find any spelling or grammar mistakes, you can keep them.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Bringing the Burrito to Berlin
Bringing the Burrito to Berlin: "Berlin may be famous for its currywurst and döner kebab, but those old fast food standards might soon give way for snacking California-style, as two entrepreneurs aim to show Germany what burritos are all about."
Must. Visit. Berlin.
Fo' Shizzle
I'm sure I've mentioned it here before but I tutor a friend's step-son with his English. Like many 13 year olds, he listens to hip hop and rap music. Most of it is in English so he doesn't really understand what is being said. Every once in a while he asks me what some some of the common hip hop vernacular means. This week we discussed "hood", "homey", "sucka" and "bling".
The first three were easy to explain, but bling was difficult. In order to explain it to someone who is just starting to learn English you have to break it down to the basic concepts and build up from there.
I'm not sure he got it. I was laughing because I thought it was surreal having to explain the concept of Bling Bling and blingin' to someone. Maybe I will give him the Hip Hoptionary for his birthday.
Fo' shizzle, mah nizzle.
Ton
A friend Uli is celebrating her birthday tomorrow and was having some trouble setting up the sound system. So, knowing that I am a sound guy, she called me up and asked me to help her out at about 10pm. After trying to sort it out over the phone I realized it was hopeless and after making sure there was beer there I told her I would swing by and check it out.
The system was in Ordnung but it was so old that it had the old 5-pin DIN audio connectors on the back. These basically look like MIDI cable connectors. I have heard that they were used earlier as audio connectors in Europe but until today I had never seen them in action. Luckily there were some adaptors hanging out of the back that went 5-pin to RCA and I saved the party. And the beer did flow.
Bush in Germany: With a Hush and a Whisper, Bush Drops Town Hall Meeting with Germans - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE
Bush in Germany: With a Hush and a Whisper, Bush Drops Town Hall Meeting with Germans - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE
Hmm, What's the German word for "Chachi"? Maybe "Heini" comes close. I saw an interview with Dubya on TV yesterday about how important Germany was blah blah blah heart of Europe blah blah blah. It was some of the most pretentious bullshit I've ever heard. It was pretty embarrassing. Zum Kotzen sag ich mal aber ganz ehrlich.
Update: An interesting discussion over at Metafilter
