Eis Hockey 2010

After watching Ice Hockey for the first time at the World Championships between Russia and Kazhakstan, the offer of watching the quarter final between Germany and Slovakia was irresistible. So much action and violence behind the safety of fibre glass!

The stadium was packed by German fans and they distributed german flags but none from Slovakia. As would in Germany, at 1.5 mins before the game and referees came skating about and then the players at 30 seconds to go and the game started on the dot. India....

The slovaks fought hard, but the Germans played systematically (yes, even in Ice Hockey!). I supported the Slovaks and was one of the few in the middle of 16000 attendees. When the Slovaks scored, I instinctively jumped up and cheered only to be stared at by my neighbors. The Germans won 2-1 but it was a good lesson on national pride. The memory of Saeed anwar scoring 180 or more in Chennai against India with a standing ovation from the crowd came to my mind.

Fremd Sprache - Alien Language!

It has been almost a month since I undertook this challenge - to learn German well enough to undergo my Masters Program in it.

People told me 'it seems difficult, but with time, it should be easy' , ' If those ill educated T***s can speak it, you for sure will'. Many would know that every noun has a gender in German; albeit without reason. Head is masculine, but nose is feminine! There is no way but to memorize all, failing which your adjective ending could be way off mark. There are tables and tables and more tables to learn where one has to map the gender - masculine, feminine, neuter and plural with the case - nominative, accusative, dative and genitive( i have no clue as to what the last one is!).

My favorite word is 'Ausnahme' which means exception. For every rule there are exceptions, and many a time there are more than the ones which follow the rule. So when one has to speak I have to decide the case and then map to the gender of the noun and then try ones luck.

I met a Korean girl who has been living here for 3 years and could speak German pretty good - as much as I could make out and she said that the best way to do it is to forget English and to try to fall in love with German. Should try! Anyways, have to prepare for the test to go to the next level!