Nasionale Braaidag

Even if you're not fasting for Lent, many people still enjoy the celebrations that precede it. Germany has Fetter Donnerstag, Mardi Gras is not limited to France, Rio goes crazy and Venice dons her masks for carnival. In Greece, they have Tsiknopempti. From tskino, the smell of barbecuing meat, and Pempti, Thursday. So literally - Barbecue Thursday. And everyone joins in.

It feels very similar to braais back home - everyone is keen, but only three people know how to do it ("Kom ons braai! Ja! Ja! Wie kan braai? hmmm..."). It starts very late and only ends when security asks us to go home. Even then we just move indoors and have more wine.

Vast quantities of meat (kreas) are consumed. Mostly pork with a bit of chicken. Everything is eaten directly from the fire, sprinkled with oregano and drizzled with lots of fresh lemon juice. Apparently every Greek keeps a couple of lemons available at all times.

I can get along with this culture.

Zimmervermietung

In preparation for my Christmas trip to the continent (does that mean I'm currently on the incontinent part of Europe?), I'm running around - deciding where to go, organising accommodation, how to get the most out of my rail pass and how to exploit my friends to the maximum, with them feeling exploited.

I am also trying to force myself to organise many of the rooms we'll be staying in in German. After all, I used to know something - at least that's what the university, specifically Herr Annas, believed.

So I've made the following strategic decisions:

1. Avoid difficult words (obvious, but useful)
2. Write short emails. This allows me to ignore the gaping void in my knowledge about the form an email should take. And fewer words mean fewer mistakes. I suspect my current form might however be regarded as hasty, too familiar, impersonal, or not suitably respectful.
3. If they offer an online form you can fill in - use it!
   
4. Use dictionaries. I have installed a German-English dictionary on my computer, a German spell checker for Firefox and have two online dictionaries for dealing with those difficult phrases. But is it enough?
   
5. Ignore questions I don't understand - if they really want the answer they will rephrase in the their next email.
6. Ignore questions I understand but don't know how to answer - if I keep ignoring a question, they have to eventually give me a list with 4 options. Then I'll pick the one with the longest word in it, because it shows I can handle words with more than 4 syllables.
   
7. Always refer to "us". Then I can use the infinitive form of the verb, without worrying about vowel changes (because they are the worst).
8. Avoid tenses. The present tense is manageable and simple future can be used to show off (werden + infitiv), but all others are really unnecessary.

Due to a small violation of Rule 8, I now find myself frantically searching for an example of the subjunctive. Specifically "If we were running late, I would let you know."

I still suspect that I will arrive at the station, negotiate with the bus driver using hand signals, get off at the right stop, then search around to find my hosts. They will greet me, invite me inside and wish me a Merry Christmas. I will just stare at them. Confused, uncomprehending.

Sprechen Sie Englisch?

isiZulu

As I buy my last affordable bottle of wine for a while, the girl at the till tries to teach me a couple of words of isiZulu.

"unJani?" she asks. How are you?

I ask how I should reply. "Ngisaphila." I'm well.

A couple more words, bright smiles on either side.

I did not have the heart to tell her that I'm leaving.

Confession: I had to refer to wikipedia to get it right.