Glad to be here

MagistraArtium11

Hello! I have been lurking for a few weeks, and now I just posted on the introduction post. 

I'm from Cologne-Germany and enjoy the knot for we don't have such huge wedding-related websites. That probably has to do with the fact, that weddings are not as big over here as in the US. 

If you read my intro, you will see that I have lived in Texas for a year and have adopted my host parents. My bf and I have just returned from a visit and he adores TX and my parents, of course. He have discussed marriage, agreed that we want to wait until I have found a job. But I can definitely see a German wedding with some nice Old South elements... Like two steppin' with my Daddy for a father-daughter dance...

Anyway, I'm really glad there's a board for the NEY on this fabulous website and I'm looking forward to do some posting. 

Greetings from Cologne,

MA11

peekaboo2011

Hallo!!!

(Apologies to the rest of the girls who don't speak German around here, I'm excited!)

Ich war ein Jahr in Schwerte als Austauschschülerin und werde in 2 Wochen Abschluss von meinem Bachelors machen mit Deutsch als Nebenfach.  Also, ich finde es immer toll, jemandem aus NRW zu finden.  Meine Gastschwester war auch ein Jahr in Texas, und es hat ihr wirklich gefallen.  Mein Verlobter und ich wollen bald Deutschland besuchen, geht aber wahrscheinlich nicht wegen Geld und so.  Es ist soooo teuer geworden.

Also, herzlich willkommen!

Now, back to English.  I always get really excited to actually use German not in class.  It happens rather rarely.

Thoughts on Harry Potter and potatoes?  And, do you have a potato salad recipe?  My professor last semester promised me hers, and then didn't deliver.  And I am craving some delicious German potato salad.

sparkles88

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_glad-here?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:fe700ea3-8369-4895-99b7-b016ed4b7223Post:8e34be4d-c958-4306-9944-0cb25947a355">Re: Glad to be here</a>:
[QUOTE] I always get really excited to actually use German not in class.  It happens rather rarely.
Posted by peekaboo2011[/QUOTE]


True story! One time I ran into some German travelers at an ER. I was really excited.

Hallo! Ich habe nach Deutschland im Herbst 2009 gefahren. Ich habe in Lüneburg bei der Leuphana Universität studiert. Ich mag Texas auch! Im Juli werde ich und BF nach Texas umziehen, weil er eine Uni besuchen wird. Er studiert Ernährung. Ich hoffe, dass ich eines Tages wieder nach Deutschland fahren kann. Ich habe noch nicht Köln besucht. Und willkommen!

desertsun

Can I just say that I'm impressed with myself that I understood all the German above? It's been 10 years since I had a German class!

Anyway.

Willkommen!

AJesteram

I feel as if I am failing my German heritage.


ETA: Welcome to the board OP!

AudgiePodge

Hi, welcome.

MagistraArtium11

Wow! I'm impressed with the impeccable German I just read. Thank y'all very much for the warm welcome. 

@peekaboo: Schwerte? Dann bist du ja ein echter Ruhrpottler ;o) Vielleicht fahren mein Freund und ich morgen nach Duisburg um Freunde zu besuchen. Liegt ja um die Ecke.

I'm afraid I can't offer any potato salad recipes, but my (German) parents are just about to come to our place and I made a typical German apple cake (gedeckter Apfelkuchen), a chocolate nut cake (Nussiger Schokoladenkranz) and later I'll serve Pfeffersteak (steak with a pepper sauce, I guess there is no need for this translation...), fries and a fresh salad.  Not a traditional German Easter meal, but my parents' favorites. If anybody is interested in any of these, I am more than happy to supply you with recipe translations.

Thanks again for welcoming me and happy Easter/ frohe Ostern!

[Deleted User]

Welcome to the boards!

While I can understand German, I cannot formulate sentences, let alone type it.  I should be a lot better at it since the BF is fluent (he is CONSTANTLY correcting my German)! Cologne is a beautiful place, we stayed with BF's friends from Leverkusen and visited Cologne one day to see fireworks.

We both love some of the German wedding traditions.  We both want our friends to come over and break all our dishes before our wedding.  We also are going to get German wedding bands, my BF actually wants to fly out to Germany to buy them (crazy boy).  That's awesome that you want to incorporate American traditions into your wedding.  If you ever have questions about American weddings, we are here to help!

Daisy125

Hi there! Finally somebody on my side of the planet! I'm American but living in Italy. Germany sounds lovely, BF and I hope to make it there soon. Yay for internationals!


Welcome to the board!

MagistraArtium11

@Daisy: Oh great, Italy! I have studied in Perugia (Università degli Studi) for a semester and have friends all over the country - well, Italian philology was my major, simply love it! What part are you living in? 

By the way, the cat in your photo looks just like my Simba.

@amsybot: don't be intimidated by your bf. Just try it and always think that not everybody speaks German, so you're already brave for learning this tricky language! I bet your boyfriend makes mistakes, too, you just don't notice them. 

But what is so special about German wedding bands? 

Funny how we both have a thing for each other's culture. My American "Mom" gave me her dress (1970) to do whatever I want to do with it for my wedding dress. She does not have a daughter, only sons, so she was more than happy to pass it on. My real mother never had a wedding dress and I am keen on using "something old" for my dress, so I happily slipped it into my suitcase...

PaigeMcC

Hi! *waves*

Daisy125

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_glad-here?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:fe700ea3-8369-4895-99b7-b016ed4b7223Post:0b081c7b-7005-404b-b40a-aa822e10a97b">Re: Glad to be here</a>:
[QUOTE]@Daisy: Oh great, Italy! I have studied in Perugia (Università degli Studi) for a semester and have friends all over the country - well, Italian philology was my major, simply love it! What part are you living in?  By the way, the cat in your photo looks just like my Simba. Posted by MagistraArtium11[/QUOTE]

I'm near Rome, and I love it! The area around Perugia is really pretty too.
The kitty is my Jinx, and I have another just like him named Daisy (hence my screen name). I have a soft spot for black kitties, you should post a pic of Simba :)

MagistraArtium11

That is Simba

and this is Rossini:

[Deleted User]

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_glad-here?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:fe700ea3-8369-4895-99b7-b016ed4b7223Post:0b081c7b-7005-404b-b40a-aa822e10a97b">Re: Glad to be here</a>:
[QUOTE]@Daisy: Oh great, Italy! I have studied in Perugia (Università degli Studi) for a semester and have friends all over the country - well, Italian philology was my major, simply love it! What part are you living in?  By the way, the cat in your photo looks just like my Simba. @amsybot: don't be intimidated by your bf. Just try it and always think that not everybody speaks German, so you're already brave for learning this tricky language! I bet your boyfriend makes mistakes, too, you just don't notice them.  <strong>But what is so special about German wedding bands?</strong>  Funny how we both have a thing for each other's culture. My American "Mom" gave me her dress (1970) to do whatever I want to do with it for my wedding dress. She does not have a daughter, only sons, so she was more than happy to pass it on. My real mother never had a wedding dress and I am keen on using "something old" for my dress, so I happily slipped it into my suitcase...
Posted by MagistraArtium11[/QUOTE]

BF actually pointed the wedding bands out to me, I really like how they will both be the same band and sometimes there will be little diamonds on the wife's band.  I like the idea that someone can look at both of our rings and know that we belong together. I absolutely love how a lot of married couples in Germany (and a lot of older Americans) will wear a very simple band instead of the most expensive bling they can afford.  While the bling rings can be beautiful, I feel as if a lot of Americans want to show off and show their worth with huge wedding sets (I know that this is not everyone, so don't be offended).

Once I graduate (two more weeks) and move in with BF, he is going to help me get my German up to his level.  I doubt I will ever be that good, we went to Germany together and everyone we interacted with thought he was German until he mentioned that we were just visiting.  Unlike him, I am awful at the German accent.

SassyFlats

I never knew matching wedding bands was a German thing... I always just assumed it made sense.

DH's ring doesn't match mine because he decided he liked something totally different. I was momentarily hurt. Then I got over it about 30 seconds later and realized we didn't need matching bands, they're just symbols. I wanted him to have a ring he loved and enjoyed wearing more than I wanted our rings to be perfect matches. To me, that symbolized our relationship better anyway.

Not trying to preach or anything. I was just kind of baffled that "German" wedding bands is apparently synonymous with "matching" wedding bands (or I'm misunderstanding). I never knew that. And I changed my mind when it came down to choosing our bands.

Oh, and welcome new person! I don't speak a bit of German and have never been to Germany... but I hear it's beautiful and hope you find this forum welcoming and supportive.

heyimbren

Eek, I love Simba! I want to catnap him

I'm going to be a crazy cat lady one day.

I tried to see if I could understand some German today. A new guy started coming out to my Bible study and he's from Switzerland, so he has a German Bible. It just looks like gibberish to me I'm envious of you ladies speaking and reading German on here.

peekaboo2011

Funny story - my host parents never wore their rings unless we were going somewhere "nice" for a holiday or whatever.  And I don't think their rings matched.  I wasn't super-attentive to those things like I am now.  

Magistra, can we talk at some point?  I have to somehow manage to incorporate *some* German traditions for our wedding since my host mom will sit with my mom and my host sister is going to be one of my bridesmaids, as is one of my friends from when I was over there.  Basically, I'm having a hard time understanding the wedding culture over there.  I made it to a Communion (maybe?) while I was there, but I didn't have a chance to go to a wedding.

[Deleted User]

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_glad-here?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:fe700ea3-8369-4895-99b7-b016ed4b7223Post:08b0f83b-e602-4378-902a-0496348ba0fb">Re: Glad to be here</a>:
[QUOTE]I never knew matching wedding bands was a German thing... I always just assumed it made sense. DH's ring doesn't match mine because he decided he liked something totally different. I was momentarily hurt. Then I got over it about 30 seconds later and realized we didn't need matching bands, they're just symbols. I wanted him to have a ring he loved and enjoyed wearing more than I wanted our rings to be perfect matches. To me, that symbolized our relationship better anyway. Not trying to preach or anything. <strong>I was just kind of baffled that "German" wedding bands is apparently synonymous with "matching" wedding bands</strong> (or I'm misunderstanding). I never knew that. And I changed my mind when it came down to choosing our bands. Oh, and welcome new person! I don't speak a bit of German and have never been to Germany... but I hear it's beautiful and hope you find this forum welcoming and supportive.
Posted by SassyFlats[/QUOTE]

I'm sure that other cultures and countries have matching wedding bands as well.  My BF studied in Germany for a year and became very familiar with the culture, the wedding rings were something that he picked up on and have since been something important to the both of us.  I have never seen matching wedding bands in America, but I am not assuming that there aren't any, we also have yet to go shopping for them.  BF bought me a German wedding magazine and all of the bands advertised are matching.  To us, German wedding bands are matching wedding bands, so we refer to them how we learned about them.

MagistraArtium11

That whole wedding band discussion is interesting. The only American wedding bands I actually ever payed attention to are my American parents' and they are simple golden ones that match. I always thought that this is how it's supposed to be, because yep, German bands usually match. A few years ago, wedding bands started to appear that match, but the women's band has a tiny diamond. Personally, I can live without that. I guess that variation on the women's band is a trend coming over from the States.

@peekaboo: Downsize an American wedding (amount of guests, venue, decoration, dress code) and you got a German wedding. What you'll often see over here is (silly) games at the reception, the part where the best man is "kidnapping" the bride and the groom has to ransom her (for a box of beer), and the veil-dance where the guests literally dance the bride's veil into tiny pieces as a symbol of her being a married women now. But don't worry, most brides use a cheap tulle or net lace for that.

What I like is the fact that people over here do not consider asking for money as a wedding present as rude. Maybe Germans are more pragmatic than romantic?

@heyimbren: Trust me, I AM a crazy cat lady already. My cats and I talk, the sleep under the covers and I feel guilty if I go on a weekend trip without them... My bf simply shakes his head ;o)

SassyFlats

My parents have matching bands, and they are Americans who met and were married in Japan. So I guess that's why I thought tossing in "German" as an adjective for "matching" bands was like whaaaa? Haha!

Elle1036

I don't speak a word of German, but welcome!  Where in Texas did you live?

MagistraArtium11

Hi Elle!

 

The town is called Liberty, TX.