Top 10 German Phrases to Get in the Mood for GermanFest 2010

Check out the New Post for GermanFest 2011

Nearly a quarter of the people from Shenandoah County claim German Ancestry, more than anywhere else in Virginia, and that number will no doubt swell on September 25, 2010 when folks gather for the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum’s 1st Annual GermanFest, an OktoberFest like event that will be held on their historic 390 acre homestead located at 11523 Back Road, Toms Brook, VA 22660.  To get you in the mood, I’ve compiled the top ten phrases you can use at GermanFest.

#10  “Good day” –  guten tag! (pronounced gooten tok).  Start your day of right by greeting everyone you see with a hearty guten tag!  If you prefer the Austrian version of hello you can say grüß Gott (pronounces groose got), which literally translates as “greet God”.

#9  “Please pass the mustard for my bratwurst” – bitte leiten sie den senf für meine bratwurst  (pronounced  bit-uh  light-en zee den zenf fer mine-uh brot-vurst).  Whew, that’s a toughie! While bratwurst certainly puts me in the mood for GermanFest, maybe we’d better move to something easier that more closely resembles English.

#8  “Enjoy your meal” –  guten appetit (pronounced gooten ap-pa-teet).  With Shaffer’s Barbecue and Catering cooking up German and American food, maybe I should give you the translation for “finger lickin’ good” instead, but there is no real German comparison to that.  The Germans say “tastes good” es schmeckt gut (pronounced  es schmeckt goot) or “yummy” lecker (pronounced lecker).  One of my Austrian friends combines the two phrases into lecker schmecker (pronounced lecker schmecker), but I’ve been told this is not widely used. At any rate, you’ll find a variety of food stands where you can pick up snacks and practice these phrases.

#7  “Where is the bathroom please?” –  wo ist die toilette, bitte? (pronounced: vo ist dee toy-let-tuh bit-uh). By the time you need one you’ll probably want to ask in English, but I’ve include it here to stay in the spirit of GermanFest!  We’ll have portable toilettes stationed throughout the festival grounds, simply look for the signs or ask a GermanFest volunteer where they are located.

#6  “How are you?” – wie geht`s? (pronounced vee gates). Start conversations with new friends with this traditional formal greeting.  For a more informal greeting or to catch up with old friends, ask “What’s up?” – was ist lost? (pronounced vas ist loast?).

#5  “Cheers” –  prost (pronounced proast) or prosit (pronounced pro-zit). An all occasion toast, use it to raise a fictional glass when meeting an old friend and most certainly while enjoying the music of The Original Elbe Musikanten German Band in the Beer Garden.

#4  “Very good” – sehr gut! (pronounced zair goot).  From the performances by the United States Army’s Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps and Liz Ruffner, our Patsy Cline Tribute Singer to the period craft demonstrators and historic speakers, you’ll find many occasions to clap your hands and shout sehr gut! throughout GermanFest.

The United States Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps

#3  “Another beer please” –  noch ein bier bitte (pronounced nock eyn bee-uh bit-uh).  If you want to add “fast”, say schnell (pronounced just as it looks), if you want to add “because I’ve got a thirst the size of the Shenandoah River”, you’re on your own because while the good folks from Dixe Beverage may get a kick out of your attempts to order in German, just remember, everyone wants their bier schnell, and you are probably holding up the line with your fumbling attempts to order in German.

#2  “Thank you very much” –  danke schön  (pronounced dahnk-eh schun).  Use this on all occasions, even if you forget every other German word you’ve just learned.  You can even shorten it to danke.  And don’t worry if you slaughter the pronunciation like Wayne Newton does in his song because everyone knows, when saying thank you, it is the thought that counts.

#1  “Good bye” – auf wiedersehen (pronounced  owf vee-der-zane ).  After such a great day at GermanFest, we know you won’t really want to say good bye because you’ll want to come back next year, so instead, just say “until later” bis später (pronounced bis spay-der).

After GermanFest, check our Website and our Facebook Fan Page (launching soon) for post event photos.  If you attended the festival, you just may see your mug shot, or a shot of you with a mug in the beer garden.  In the meantime, pop into our Facebook Event Page and RSVP, or see who else is attending.

If you have another favorite German phrase, or other thoughts, please leave a comment.

Shelly A. Good-Cook is Director, Recording Secretary, and Marketing and PR Manager of the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum. She is one of five GermanFest  Planning Committee members.

Hunting Horn Summons More Than Hounds in Virginia Suburbs

As the long Summer days turned into crisp Autumn evenings, we found our children trying to prolong their play time.  One evening after dinner was on the table and there was still no sign of them, I asked my husband to find them. 

We didn’t know which house all the neighborhood kids were playing behind as freeze tag and other games took them to and fro and back again, similar to the zigs and zags of a pursued cottontail.  My husband decided that he would see if they would answer the call of the hunting horn.

Our children have been Beagling with us since they were babies, but we didn’t know if they would recognize, much less respond to a hunting horn in the suburbs of Washington, DC.  You just don’t hear that sound so close to the city. But, it beat the alternative of going door to door, so he decided to give it a try.

My husband blew four long blasts on his hunting horn.  Almost immediately my six year old trotted out from behind one of the houses, with my five year old close on her heels.   The pack of neighborhood children followed only a few feet behind and I heard what could be equated to a hounds opening cry of “aa-rooo-aa-rooo” as my oldest said “See, I told you that was my Dad blowing the hunting horn to call us home to dinner.” Seeing that the other children weren’t quite convinced, my husband blew a series of short notes on the horn, and the entire pack of children got excited, and followed her up the street! 

Even hunting lingo has become has become part of my children’s vernacular.  During a recent trip to the grocery store, they were scattered and blocking other customers.  Without thinking I said “pack-up” and they immediately came right back to me.  Yesterday I heard my youngest order my oldest to “get to her” when I was calling for her.  I couldn’t help but laugh.

So for now, my family has a new version of the “dinner bell” that carries over the suburban rooftops and calls wayward children home, that is as long as the neighbors don’t complain.

More German Phrases to get in the Mood for the GermanFest at the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum

For the First Annual GermanFest in 2010 I wrote a blog of what I thought were the “Top 10 German Phrases to Get in the Mood for GermanFest”.  With the Second Annual GermanFest less than a month away, I thought I should pass those back around and add a few more to the list.  GermanFest will be held on September 24, 2011 at the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum (SGHM), located at 11523 Back Road, Toms Brook, VA 22660. 

 

#1 “Learning, Eating, Drinking, and Feeling Content” – Lernen, Essen, Trinken, und Gemütlichkeit (pronounced ler-nin, ess-in, trink-in, oond geh-mute-lih-kite).  The Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum’s GermanFest is a place for “Learning, Eating, Drinking, and Feeling Content”. The word “Gemütlichkeit” is a perfect description for SGHM’s GermanFest because of its broad connotation. It can be used to describe that content feeling you have after eating a good meal, the absence of anything hectic, cheerfulness, social acceptance, or an opportunity to spend quality time with friends.

#2 “If I eat another Bratwurst I may bust out of my lederhosen!” – Wenn ich eine andere Bratwurst essen kann ich Büste aus meiner Lederhose! (pronounced  ven ik eyen-uh ahn-dra Brat-vurst ess-in kahn ik boost-uh ow-s mine-ah lay-der-ho-zen!).  Shaffer’s BBQ will be back at GermanFest with their fabulous bratwurst, and much more.  Because of our fantastic turnout last year we are bringing in additional food vendors this year including Crossroads Catering who will offer sauerbraten, roasted pork with Bavarian mustard gravy, German side dishes such as braised red cabbage, warm German potato salad, sauerkraut and more!  Follow your nose through the festival grounds and you’ll find roasted nuts and soft pretzels.  If American food tickles your taste buds, you can feast on hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, French fries, homemade hand-dipped ice cream, smoothies, and Dutch oven prepared apple, peach, and cherry cobblers among a host of other vendors.

 #3 “Take a Break” – Nim ein pause (pronounced nim eyen pow-zah).  “Take a Break”  from browsing through the demonstrations and art  and craft fair and put your chair or blanket in front of the stage to listen to The Original Elbe Musikanten    German Band or local Bluegrass sensations Five of a Kind.  While we will have some chairs set up in the food  area, we are expecting a large crowd so bring your own and sit a while.  By the way, when you see the folks  from Don Beyer Volkswagen, you should pronounce it the German way “Wolks-vah-gun”.  In fact, you should stop by their space and try to catch them saying it the English way just so you can rib them about it! 

#4 “Refresh yourself” – Erfrishe Dich – (pronounced air-frish-ah dick).  I’ve borrowed this old soda slogan that used to be seen on billboards all over Germany for a reason. Last year the weather was very hot and folks found what shady spots they could beneath the trees. This year we have tents set up in our beer garden where you can gather and “Refresh yourself” with a frosty brew or beverage of your choice.  The fine folks from Dixie Beverage are coming back to GermanFest and are bringing the NEW Yeungling Octoberfest. GermanFest will be one of the first places in the region to feature this new seasonal brew which is only available in kegs during the initial product launch! 

#5  “All things have an end except a sausage which has two” – Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei  (pronounced all-es hot eyn new-uh dee vurst hot zvy). We hope you will have a wonderful time at the 2^nd Annual GermanFest, and remember that we are always the 4^th Saturday in September.  How can you remember that?  Just like the traditional OktoberFest in Germany is celebrated in September, so is GermanFest.  As for the remembering GermanFest is on the 4^th Saturday, hmmm, let’s say it’s for the bratwurst….you can’t stop at one, so you have two (or you get one for you and one for your sweetie) and as stated above a sausage has two ends, so two of them have four ends. At any rate, we hope to see you EVERY 4^th Saturday of September at GermanFest!

 

BONUS

Last but not least, everyone should be able to sing the world beloved toasting song “Ein Prosit” (in German of course), so here are the lyrics in German and the English translation so you know what you are singing.

German Lyrics                                               English Translation         

” Ein Prosit”                                                   “A Toast”  

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit                                      A toast, a toast  

Der Gemütlichkeit                                         To the coziness of it all  

Ein Prosit, ein Prosit                                      A toast, a toast  

Der Gemütlichkeit.                                        To the coziness of it all

OANS ZWOA DREI! G’SUFFA!                      ONE TWO THREE! DRINK UP!

Check our Website for a full schedule, directions and more.  Our Facebook Fan Page has 2010 event photos uploaded by our wonderful attendees!  If you attended the festival, you just may see your mug shot, or a shot of you with a mug in the beer garden.  You can even pop into our Facebook Event Page and RSVP, or see who else is attending.

If you have another favorite German phrase, or other thoughts, please leave a comment.

Shelly A. Good-Cook is a Director and Corporate Secretary of the Shenandoah Germanic Heritage Museum, and Marketing and PR Manager of GermanFest. She is one of seven GermanFest Planning Committee members.

Live and “Under the Covers” with Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs

 

 

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, billed as “Sid ‘n Susie”, recently appeared at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Virginia touring for their Under the Covers II album, released by Shout! Factory in July 2009.  Playing to near full house capacity and accompanied by two largely unknown backup musicians, the duo belted out an impressive number of tunes from both volumes of cover albums, as well as a few duets that didn’t make it onto the records, some of which are available on iTunes.

Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, live at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, VA

During the show, Matthew and Susanna conversed with each other and the audience, sharing tidbits about working together and making each of the songs as they performed them. That, combined with the comfortable intimate setting of the Birchmere, at times made me forget I was at a rock concert and feel more like I was at a jam session at Matthew’s house, where he said much of the work on the albums was done.  Matthew repeatedly offered the audience chances to ask questions, so I stood up and asked one, increasing my one-on-one impression of the show. 

Matthew said his original idea was to produce Susanna’s music but it was his label’s desire for them to sing together. When the two artists compared their lists of songs for the first cover album, they both had “She May Call You Up Tonight”, an obscure song by The Left Banke. Matthew said they recorded a lot more songs that what eventually made the two cover albums.  Lindsey Buckingham played Lead Guitar on “Second Hand News”.  Susanna noted she and Lindsey have children in the same school, so she was able to ‘corner him’ at school one day and he agreed to the project.  Matthew and Susanna were also able to get Steve Howe of Yes to play lead guitar on “I’ve Seen All Good People”.  According to Matthew, their biggest concern on the song was working out the musical arrangement and having something decent to send to him.  As is often the case in these days of modern music, they were never in the studio together, but instead recorded their tracks separately and they were later put together to produce the final piece.  One of the most interesting tidbits Matthew and Susanna shared was that upon hearing the Sid ‘n Susie version of “You’re So Vain”, Carly Simon contacted them and told them she really liked it and she may start performing it again (that would be awesome–love ya Carly!).  Right before the duo performed their version of “Willin’”, which in my opinion, is better than either the Ronstadt or Little Feat version (and I saw Little Feat do it live back in the 80’s), we learned that Susanna taught herself to sing to Linda Ronstadt songs when she was a little girl.

The easy-going relationship of Matthew and Susanna was further evident when they flubbed “Here Comes the Sun”, stopped in the middle, discussed chords, who sang what part, and good-naturedly ribbed each other about it before they restarted the song again.  Even after that, it wasn’t a perfect rendition, but the audience, drawn in by the banter, loved it.

Matthew also mentioned that he has started throwing pottery as a hobby and some of it was on display and available for sale in the Birchmere lobby.  You can view and purchase it through his recently launched online store.  I missed the live display, but I checked out the online store and if anyone is trying to figure out what to buy me for Christmas, this is your hint!

Later in the show Matthew said “I’ve been a little nervous about doing this song tonight, but I’m not anymore,” at which point they performed “Hello It’s Me”. I was thrilled because it is my favorite song from Under the Covers II, as it highlights Matthew’s beautiful falsetto voice, which is often heard on his solo albums, but little the focus on the Sid ‘n Susie records. 

The Birchmere set list also included “Cinnamon Girl”, “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “Beware of Darkness”, “To Sir With Love”, and “I See the Rain”.  The only song I was waiting for but they didn’t play was “Go All the Way”.  The encore started with “Manic Monday”, followed by “Sick of Myself”, “I’ve Been Waiting”, and “In Your Room”, with additional songs from the cover albums following. When they left the stage, I expected that was the end of the show as the road manager came up and collected the set list, fake book and some other little items. When they came out for the second encore, everyone was thrilled and surprised as Susanna seemed to have some trouble with her voice, evident not by any quality issues, but by a few comments she made and the hot beverages she continually consumed.  Despite any issues she may have had, throughout the show she switched effortlessly between her velvety voice in songs like “Back of a Car”, and gravelly inflections that give Rod Stewart a run for his money in “Maggie May”. Among the songs they played in the second encore was “Second Hand News”, which Matthew said they had “planned NOT to play tonight”.

Backstage with Matthew Sweet

Shelly Good-Cook and Matthew Sweet, backstage at the Birchmere in Alexandria

After the show, I had the opportunity to go backstage and meet Matthew.  During the concert I had asked how he liked collaborating with Susanna since most of his work has been solo. He said that early in his career he “didn’t play nice with others and tried to hide out and work alone”, but that Susanna was like his sister and they work really well together.  Backstage I followed up by asking what it was like to work with Mike Meyers on Austin Powers.  Matthew said they did the work at Matthew’s house while Mike was still developing the Austin Powers character and that Mike often worked in character, wearing the Austin Powers teeth to help set the mood.  Matthew said he and Mike wanted to do an entire album as Ming Tea (the band fronted by Myers as Austin Powers that also included Matthew and Susanna), and that they wrote enough songs for it, but the studio wanted their own album so in the end only “Daddy Wasn’t There” made the Goldmember soundtrack.  Matthew and Susanna appear in the movie during the scene in which Austin’s band performs the song.

At any Matthew Sweet concert there will always be someone in the audience who yells “Girlfriend”, but equipped only with acoustic guitars, I’m glad they didn’t play it, although I admit I was left craving some edgy electric guitar. Matthew said he would like to come back to the Birchmere sometime and do his solo stuff.  I told Matthew I thought Sunshine Lies is his best album ever and he said “Don’t say that because I’m going back into the studio to work on a new one”. If you are yearning for more Matthew Sweet, check out Sunshine Lies where you will find the same astonishing vocal range, bewitching lyrics and gamut of musical styles he is known for including rock, pop, folk, acoustic, and his signature power guitar riffs.  With this album you really do get a little of everything from sweet ballads to flat out rock.  The songs that made the “Sweet Faves” playlist on my IPOD include “Pleasure is Mine” which features Matthew’s voice in its purest form, “Let’s Love”, with a memorable line of “cause were already good and we’re already evil”, “Byrdgirl” with its catchy tune and the sweet but rockin’ tune “Daisychain”. 

I asked “now that there is a 60’s and 70’s volume of Under the Covers, will there be an 80’s volume”?  Matthew said he would love to do one, but it depends on what the label wants.  That of course translates into what the label thinks will sell, so here is your chance to tell them what you want.  Leave your comments below and let Matthew and Shout! Factory know what you’d buy.  Personally, I think an 80’s album would outsell the first two volumes combined. Have you been to the mall lately?  The 80’s are back, and musically, that was probably rocks’ greatest decade.  I’m giddy just thinking about the spin Sid ‘n Susie would put on the likes of Duran Duran, Bon Jovi, and The Talking Heads.  Here’s an idea, Susanna backing Matthew’s falsetto lead on Madonna’s “Like A Prayer”, complete with mellotron.  Okay, so you may be thinking “Wow, that is a little out there”, but the point is that every collaboration from Sid ‘n Susie is more than a cover, it is a recreation of the original, breathing new life into an already great song.  So go ahead, leave a comment and just maybe you’ll see you suggestion on their next volume of covers.

When Trojan’s Attack Through Facebook—How I Cleared Up The Virus

I want to apologize to anyone who was infected with a Trojan when my Facebook account sent out bogus messages, purportedly from me.  My PC got infected when I clicked on what I believed to be a video sent by one of my Facebook friends, but I now know was a message generated by the Trojan program.  Although I wasn’t able to stop the spread of the virus, I wanted to document how I got rid of it in case my experience is able to help save you, my friends who I’ve unwittingly infected, the time and frustration it took me in figuring out how to fix it.  Maybe a few strangers will happen onto my blog and find it useful too.

Although I have a current subscription to McAfee, my PC got infected anyway.  After this entire experience, I consider my McAfee subscription practically worthless and I’ll be replacing it with something else soon, but more on that later.  I first became aware that I had a problem when I kept getting a pop-up that said something like “your computer is highly infected”.  The poor grammar made me suspicious, so I clicked “ignore”, and the pop-up box kept trying to force me to “install anti-virus software now”.  I found out that if I had actually installed it, I would have really been in trouble because the so-called Anti-Virus program would have installed spyware and additional stuff that is really hard to remove.

Although I was able to exit the pesky pop-up windows through the task manager, I still ended up with several Trojans, which luckily were not too malicious, and after multiple days of research were fairly easy to get rid of.  I’m sure a tech geek could have done it in 5 minutes or less, but I had no clue what I was doing so it took me longer to figure out what I had and how to get rid of them.  I was also very leery of clicking on ads versus organic search results at that point as I was afraid to make my problem worse. 

What I Had:

1) FakeAlert-1K

2) HTML/FakeAV

3) JSDownloader.gen

4) Trojan.Packed.Hiloti.Gen.2

I ran several free programs as no one program cleaned all of the Trojans.  Luckily mine were just annoying pop-ups that prompted me to install further software and I didn’t have rootkits or other nasty stuff that I would have had to call a pro to clean up for me. Incidentally, I called McAfee as soon as I knew something was wrong since I do have a McAfee subscription and they told me it was my fault I got infected.  They offered to send me some additional information and links with instructions via email but said if I couldn’t figure it out, or if those links didn’t clear up the problem, they couldn’t offer any more help unless I paid for it.  I protested that I shouldn’t have to pay because if their program had worked in the first place I wouldn’t have this problem.  They said maybe someone else downloaded the Trojan to my PC or that I must have disabled the notifications or something.  They are 100% WRONG on both counts—I’m the only one who uses this PC and my notifications are working just fine, yet I still got infected! 

Here are the links to the free stuff I ran:

1)       McAfee.  Run this to find out what you may have, but don’t expect any removal tools because McAfee doesn’t offer them, even if you have a paid subscription.  They do have free removal tools for 3 specific things (Stinger, Klez, Bugbear) but I didn’t have any of those.  McAfee did not even find the 4^th Trojan which was lurking about on my PC. 

2)      BitDefender.  This free product was great!  It found and removed the first 3 Trojans identified above.  BitDefender did not identify the 4^th Trojan (Hiloti) which was found on my PC.

3)      F-Secure.  I also ran this product last after I had already removed the first 3 Trojans.  It identified and removed the 4^th Trojan (Hiloti) not found by the first two products.  If I had run it before BitDefender it may have removed all four, but I don’t plan to get the Trojans again in order to find out!

More about why I think McAfee Sucks!

I didn’t buy McAfee by choice—it was pre-installed by Dell when I bought my new PC, even though I had my PC “custom-built” to my specifications.  They put it on every PC whether or not you want it, and there was no way to opt-out (although you can remove the software after you receive your PC)!  Didn’t Microsoft get busted for shenanigans like that a few years back in a major antitrust lawsuit?  Needless to say I’m going to dump McAfee and I’m not going to wait another year for my subscription to expire!  In looking at this chart of independent research you can see McAfee isn’t exactly at the top of the heap when it comes to effectiveness in anti-virus software.  That coupled with their insulting offer to make me pay them even more money after their product failed to deliver is a stunning example how NOT to retain a customer and how to nudge a customer to write about their poor experience and post it on a blog for everyone to see.  The funny part is that my conversation with the CSR was not unpleasant and I’m certain he has no idea how annoyed I am with them.  I admit I was only mildly annoyed when I was on the phone and it wasn’t until I received the email from McAfee and found the instructions to be way too technical for a layperson such as myself that I reached the tipping point and decided to turn my efforts into finding a better product.  In the past I had AVG antivirus software and was quite satisfied with them until I bought a new PC from Dell (a different one-I’m a very loyal Dell customer) pre-installed with Windows Vista when it first came out.  I installed my AVG antivirus software on it and had all kinds of problems, so I contacted Dell and found out that AVG didn’t work with Vista (and it was quite a while before it did), so I was stuck with a worthless subscription, at which point I bought Norton.  What kind of company isn’t ready for a major Microsoft release for that long? Interestingly, the people at Dell were using AVG on their systems-they just didn’t upgrade to Vista although every new PC they sold was pushed out the door with it.  At this point I’m leaning toward F-Secure, although it looks like most of the providers they work with are in Europe.  Of course, I don’t know what would happen if I end up with another tech issue, so I still have more research to do.

I also ran a free Malware scanner and found and dumped a bunch of spyware I didn’t know was on my PC.  I found this program on a CNET editors list of free software.  While some of the others on list are also supposed to be free, they will SCAN for free, but if you want to remove the threats they find, you have to subscribe.  This one scans AND removes threats for free.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

As I stated above, I’m not a tech geek, although I can manage my home network and I’ve never mistaken my CDROM for a coffee mug holder.  You’d think with the power of social media, companies would better train their CSRs so they wouldn’t insult the customers and treat them like Granny low-tech.  I doubt if I’ll take the time to blog about every poor customer service experience I have, but in this case because it touched every one of my Facebook friends, I felt compelled to share my story.  Although if you are reading this it is probably because I infected your PC and it has cost you time and frustration, I hope these tips will save you the days of research it took me to get clean.