Our 10th grade son will be leaving for a three-week summer course at St. Andrews University next week. We are doing our last bit of shopping from a seemingly never-ending list of things he needed. As he had signed up for the courses debate and golfing, we realized he needed a dinner jacket, dress shirts, pants (other than jeans), ties, a laptop (all for debate) as well as golfing shoes and chinos for the latter one.

Well, he needed clothing anyway and we hope to send him off in two years’ time (class of 2012) to embark on his career to become a future man of business. I will see this extra expense as an investment. Not to mention the tuition fee and flight expense. Should I include the new glasses he had to get and his allowance while being there? I think, not.

His choice of debate and golfing as subjects has left him with remarks from friends such as  Thinking about becoming a lawyer? His classes do sound like the prerequisite for law.

Nevertheless, St. Andrews would probably be only a little university town without its much acclaimed golfing capital. For more about St. Andrews and its (golf) history, read The New York Times recent article Storied Past Lives On at St. Andrews.

Visit The International Summer School of Scotland St. Andrews for more information about its summer programmes.

And yes, I plan on reporting about his educational experience.

I usually do not blog about a customer service experience, but this one is too unusual to pass up.

For the past five years or so, we have used the Brillenhaus in our neighborhood and were quite satisfied with the service. But with this new and young team, obviously lacking in soft skills, customer service has changed.

My experience there went as following:

* 07  Juni – ordered our son’s contact lenses at the shop, which were supposed to be in two days later.

* 10. Juni – another trip to the shop to pick up the promised merchandise. The lenses were not in, but the sales associate promised to call once the shipment had arrived.

* 15. June – sent an e-mail to inquire about my order.

* 15 June – got a phone-call to inform me the lenses had arrived.

* 16 June – another trip to the Brillenhaus to pick them up.

* 20 June -  our son noticed that I had been handed one wrong packet in terms of  prescription.

* 21 June – sent in my claim by e-mail, and inquired whether the right prescription lenses were available. Also pointed out the urgency of this matter, as our son needed them before his upcoming trip.

* 22 June – sent a friendly reminder in regards to my previous mail.

* 23 June – another trip to the shop, where I inquired if they had gotten my mail. Yes, was the answer. Once again I had to ask if they had the right lenses available and after a quick fumble under the counter, the right packet was produced and handed over.

Nothing else was said. No apology either.

I have been told Fielmann in Oberursel has a good and reliable staff – with excellent customer service.

My goodness, this was a surprise to see Troy Blacklaws show up at the English department year-end get-together. I was so surprised I could not even remember his name and out came only: “…. Karoo Boy”, the title of the book Troy had just gotten published before we met. Forgetting authors’ names is typical of me as I tend to remember book titles only. Call me an undeserving reader, if you like.

Troy, as a former member of the English department at Frankfurt International School,  likes to pop into the year-end get-together whenever he is in town.

The author, Troy Blacklaws (left), on a visit to Kronberg/Ts.

He is also the author of Blood Orange (Fiction Africa). I have read Karoo Boy and told Troy back then that his story had me hooked from page 12 (or was it page 20?). Nevertheless, plans are being made for turning the book into a film. Cheers, Troy!

Karoo Boy from Amazon.de   Karoo Boy from Amazon.com

Just when I thought our sixth grade daughter needed to brush up on her geography knowledge, I decided to send her a quiz on European Geography, a fun activity for testing one’s own knowledge.

Well, the very same day,  I was reminded to refresh my own humble knowledge. Strato listed that 70 visitors from Niue had visited my blog. Interesting, but where is Niue?

View this map for a quick location finder or the World Factbook for more information.

On Saturday, 05 June 2010, I attended the Frankfurt International School graduation ceremony in downtown Oberursel.

FIS: The class of 2010 graduation ceremony Oberursel

I have been going there every year and would not miss it for the world. There is always an interesting guest speaker. This year we had Ruth E. Van Reken give a speech about Third Culture Kids. She had also been a guest lecturer at the school back in October 2009.

This two-hour program includes musical performances, scholarship awards, diplomas being handed out, speeches from students and faculty, and finalized with caps flying in the air. This adulthood rite is always the jubilant moment! School is out and over!

Living in this international bubble community, we have become very familiar with many parents and students over the years. Some students have attended FIS all their life, while others live here temporarily.

I have attended this ceremony for over 10 years now and consider them dry runs for the time when my own children will graduate (class of 2012 and 2016). Up until now I have watched my former private students graduate and venture off into the world. Through facebook we keep in touch. They have gone off to become doctors, lawyers, and heaven knows what else.

I’d like to think  the reason for my staying here is to help them get there. Otherwise, I might be tempted into dreaming of packing up and marching down the aisle with them.

In the 55th year of the Eurovision Song Contest, Germany has claimed the prize for the second time. The last time Germany had won was 28 years ago with Nicole contributing her song Ein bisschen Frieden.

Back then it was still called the Grand Prix d’Eurovision de la Chanson. We just used to call it the Grand Prix for short.

Lena, the 19-year-old artist, had gotten herself well prepared with an English tutor. A bit of credit should also go to him/her as I found her pronunciation to be excellent, at least to my ears.

On a slightly different note, Lena’s hometown of Hannover, is supposed to be the home of the High German language (but often disputed).

Click here to see the list of participating countries and their ranking along with a series of photos on web.de

I have no idea how much soccer fans are interested in picking up a bit of Afrikaans before heading down to watch the games, but just in case…

Interested in foreign languages, I had picked up this book a long time ago and had not opened it for a few years, until today.

Afrikaans, the youngest Germanic Language, derives from 17th century Dutch and continued its development for three more centuries on the African continent. Nowadays, it is an independent language, and while it is no longer tied to Dutch, it kept its German character. In many ways, it is also related to English, when comparing vocabulary, grammar, and idioms.

To give you an idea how similar it is to German and English, I will post a few items from the book:

‘n koppie koffie              a cup of coffee

‘ne glas melk                  a glass of milk

‘n glasie sjerrie              a glass of sherry

‘n bord kos                      a plate of food

‘n bakkie nagereg         a bowl of dessert

‘n slukkie bier                a draught of beer (German: a Schluck Bier)

‘n sny brood                   a slice of bread

‘n happie kaas              a bite of cheese

‘n blikkie vis                 a tin of fish

If you are interested in learning more about the book, visit  Teach Yourself Afrikaans Complete Course Package (Book+ 2cds) (Teach Yourself Complete Language Courses) available from Amazon.de

Universal subtitles will bridge linguistic and physical barriers. Help create an open system that lets anyone make and watch video subtitles in various languages.

I have just signed the petition – so far they have collected  2518 signatures with a goal of 10,000.

Quoting  Care2 petitionsite:

Increasingly, the internet is becoming our global commons: more than a billion people use the web to learn, innovate, trade, befriend and play. With roughly 25 million videos uploaded to the internet, hundreds of different languages are spoken online. There’s one problem. Language barriers prevent people from sharing content across cultures.

Sign the petition urging all online video hosts to support Mozilla’s Universal Subtitles project

Imagine if there was technology that would make it possible for anyone, anywhere to subtitle any video they see online, regardless of it being hosted on YouTube, Vimeo or other hosts? Well, it’s being created right now, but Mozilla needs your help spreading the word. Help open the web for everyone

Subtitling internet video opens up the world for everyone, allowing us to explore otherwise inaccessible information, use our own language skills and enjoy the most creative content from anywhere in the world.

The Universal Subtitles project will improve online video by making it easy to subtitle online content and share video creations across languages and cultures. Tell online video hosts to support universal subtitling today.

More information about universal subtitles on drumbeat.

I am not into politics, only justice. This is why I support the health care reform in the U.S.A., even though I will never benefit from it myself. The change will be painful, I am sure of that. Our reunification in Germany was painful, too in respect to financing, cultural adjustments, and adjusting social benefits.

The people most fearful of the change are the ones with insurance. In the six years I had lived in the U.S.A. I had only worked with the underdogs. The only people I knew were uninsured co-workers and I listened to their stories of misery. The ones who had insurance never complained, so they had no voice in the America I experienced.

For those having gone unheard in the past, I publish Obama’s message, received 23 March 2010:

This morning, I gathered with members of Congress, my administration, and hardworking volunteers from every part of the country to sign comprehensive health care reform into law. Thanks to the immeasurable efforts of so many, the dream of reform is now a reality.

The bill I just signed puts Americans in charge of our own health care by enacting three key changes:

It establishes the toughest patient protections in history.

It guarantees all Americans affordable health insurance options, extending coverage to 32 million who are currently uninsured.

…

But for millions of Americans, many of the benefits of reform will begin this year — some even taking effect this afternoon. Here are just a few examples:

Small businesses will receive significant tax cuts, this year, to help them afford health coverage for all their employees.

Seniors will receive a rebate to reduce drug costs not yet covered under Medicare.

Young people will be allowed coverage under their parents’ plan until the age of 26.

Early retirees will receive help to reduce premium costs.

Children will be protected against discrimination on the basis of medical history.

Uninsured Americans with pre-existing conditions can join a special high-risk pool to get the coverage they need, starting in just 90 days.

Insured Americans will be protected from seeing their insurance revoked when they get sick, or facing restrictive annual limits on the care they receive.

All Americans will benefit from significant new investments to train primary care doctors, nurses, and public health professionals, and the creation of state-level consumer assistance programs to help all patients understand and defend our new rights.

…

So as we celebrate this great day, I want to invite you to add your name where it belongs: alongside mine as a co-signer of this historic legislation. Organizing for America will record the names of co-signers as a permanent commemoration of those who came together to make this moment possible — all of you who refused to give up until the dream of many generations for affordable, quality care for all Americans was finally fulfilled.

So, if you haven’t yet, please add your name as a proud health care reform co-signer today:

http://my.barackobama.com/cosigner

History, and I, are in your debt.

President Barack Obama

I had no way of helping all these poor uninsured Americans back then, but I have my chance now by promoting health care for all.

I spent six years living without health care in the United States. I was also twenty years younger and healthy, so it was almost feasible at that time. Once I had to have a root canal treatment which swallowed the amount of four weekly pay checks and left my cupboards empty. The USA has more transparency in its medical billing compared to Germany, but the fees are outrageous at times. My friend was charged over US Dollars 30,000 for a DNC. Good night, America.

I believe all Americans should be entitled to basic health care and therefore I spread the word in favor of reforming health care received from Organizing for America

Quoted from their e-mail:

Today, we can extend coverage to millions. We can end insurance-company abuses forever. We can finally give Americans control over their own health care.

But we can’t take anything for granted. The vote in the House is just hours from now and could still go either way. It’s up to every American who believes in reform to call our representatives and speak up — right now.

So, if you haven’t yet, please pick up the phone and call Rep. Hare’s office at (202) 225-5905. And afterward, or if you’ve called already, make it your mission today to get 5 friends or neighbors to call, too.

Forward this email widely. Save the Congressional switchboard number — (202) 224-3121 — in your cell phone, and then hand your phone to a friend, a co-worker, a family member. Capitol Hill offices are open and accepting calls.

Call the folks you know who share our vision for change, and let them know that today is their chance — our chance — to not just witness history, but to make it.

Thanks for being there for every step of this final march for reform. And thanks for making it possible.