Author Archives: Clare Dunkle
Black Forest Pantheon
The Dark Days
It’s late autumn in the Rheinland-Pfalz, and the days are foggy, frosty, and short. Even the kestrel, the little cinnamon-colored hawk who hunts in the fields next to my house, can’t seem to keep his eyes open, and the fiery …
Last week, while Joe was gone to the States, my friend Heidi called to check up on me. “Getting lots done?” she asked. “Not really,” I said. “I should, but…” “But it’s your innerer Schweinehund,” she finished. “Now, that’s a …
Migration
To our great delight and lasting enrichment, Joe and I are once again in Germany. We moved back to Rodenbach in July, but I had no time for the blog because I was working on two manuscripts at once. I’m …
Most German language courses teach their students to say, “Guten Morgen!” “Guten Tag!” or “Guten Abend!” Since these greetings are formal, they will always be appropriate. However, Germans passing on the street may simply say, “Tag!” or one of its …
Auf Wiedersehen in Rodenbach!
When I was a kid back in Texas, my brother Anthony used to call out, “Our feet are the same!” whenever he was leaving. This was, of course, a childish joke on the German phrase, “Auf Wiedersehen!” Being an ignorant …
What exactly does “Auf Wiedersehen!” mean? Auf means at, upon, or on. Sehen means to see, and wieder means again. So “Auf Wiedersehen!” means, “At our seeing each other again!” Or, in other words, “See you later!”
How Many People Live There?
Germany is not like the Texas suburbs I grew up in, with their obsessive-compulsive zoning laws separating business, homeowner, and apartment dweller. Many houses in Germany contain built-in apartments, and many regular homeowners are also landlords. Given their population/landmass ratio, …