English Thread

[Elmo]

The guest was me. I don´t get it. I should have been logged in because I switched on (is that right?) the button "automatically log in".

[ratlady]

@ratlady: Do you live in the States, too? Your English seems pretty fluent.

As for the wooden houses: Maybe they are just easier to rebuild after a hurricane hit the land? But those are just assumptions, what we need is an expert at this subject.
Stable or not - those houses are highly combustible (forest fire..).

And yes, there are advantages and disadvantages to travelling alone. As you said, you are out there alone, forced to do all the communication with natives alone. I guess it´s after all a good life experience when you coped all the little problems facing you in a foreign country. And of course, you are never going to forget all these impressions of a wonderful country.
When travelling in a group, you don´t need to do all the communication (unless you´re the only English speaking person) and your skills will not be improved that much. BUT, a really important point to me, you have another person you can share your experiences and memories with.

Hi Elmo,

yes, I live in the US (for several years now) - actually, in Alabama, just as Crimson Tide! We're down at the coast though, which sometimes seems almost like "a world away" *lol*...

"Asking an expert" - well, I don't really know about "expert" but I just asked my hubby   ... he says, it's basically the "most economically viable way" to build. Materials are cheap and plentiful ("millions of acres of planted pine"), and building is easy and fast. So, I guess, we were about right with our "speculations"...   By the way, I don't think that the danger of fire is that much higher with a wooden house around here... even if you have a "non-flammable" house you'd still have plenty that could catch fire inside once the windows melt, or burst. I don't know about people living in areas prone to wildfires and close to forests - they may take certain "precautions", just as we do against hurricanes, when building a house...

The travelling - yes, you're absolutely right, having someone to "share" can be really important... I just never missed it b/c I never really had that "experience" before. I've always loved to be "my own woman"    and as independent as possible... The only "group travel" I've ever known is school trips for a week or two... well, mostly fun, but after about a week or little more, I found I was rather "ready for a break", so to speak. Of course, that's different than travelling with only a small group of close friends - unfortunately (or fortunately), my travel plans could never "accommodate" anyone else's "schedule"... Now - if I get to travel at all - I travel with my husband (and sometimes other friends too)... which means, I don't always get to do all that I'd do if I were on my own, but there's other things that kind of "make up" for it. The "sharing it" is a major one!!  

By the way, I think there was a thread somewhere (in the "technical" section?) discussing the "automatically login" issue... you're not alone in that, at least.  

...edit: that's the one I was referring to - maybe it'll help you:
http://www.usa-reise.net/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9374

[galah]

hey you guys!

just to let you know - I'm off for two weeks - but I will come back and continue chatting with you guys in English once I'm better (off sick with tendonitis, not allowed near a computer...)

Take care!
galah

[Elmo]

yes, I live in the US (for several years now) - actually, in Alabama, just as Crimson Tide! We're down at the coast though, which sometimes seems almost like "a world away" *lol*...

And have the two of you been affected by one of the many hurricanes last year?

I don't know about people living in areas prone to wildfires and close to forests

I guess California is rather prone to these fires and maybe Texas (don´t know?!).


The worst disadvantage about a group travel is the compromises. My plan for the route is practically finished, leaving hardly room for changes. The more people you travel with the more opinions screwing up your plan.   That´s what I don´t want to do.
Most of the people that I know just go on vacation around Europe or have their partner or family to travel with. It´s really bad luck when you don´t have a girlfriend who you can force to come along.  

[Elmo]

Unfortunately, this topic seems to be sleeping tightly again.
I thought I´d give it a try and wake it up.

I know it´s a problem here to find a good subject to talk about. I mean, you could tell anything or you just make a few suggestions and then we would discuss this subject?!

However, let´s get it started again!

[ratlady]

Unfortunately, this topic seems to be sleeping tightly again.
I thought I´d give it a try and wake it up.

I know it´s a problem here to find a good subject to talk about. I mean, you could tell anything or you just make a few suggestions and then we would discuss this subject?!

However, let´s get it started again!

I agree!  

Sorry I didn't post in this thread earlier... but I'll try to do better in the future! *...oh well...*  

Lacking a "subject" to talk about right now, I guess I just get back to the "obligatory" weather-talk here...    We're currently experiencing a dry-spell down here, after the driest March on record so far and daytime high temperatures "missing" the 1908 record high for this time of year by just 1 degree Fahrenheit (which is basically nothing)... So, everybody is hoping for rain 'cause we desperately need it, yet at the same time it's quite clear that ANY decent amount of rain will just bring out mosquitoes (and other bugs) big time... can't have it all, as usual.  

We've also been seeing several wildfires around the area (meaning within about 50-70 miles or so) but luckily no "great" damage to human habitations so far... however, the threat is still there, especially since there's plenty of dead trees around after all the past hurricanes... we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed on that.

Well,   , that's my little bit of input for now... hope someone else will "pick it up" again...

[Josie]

My parents are visiting Alabama right now (Huntsville). My Aunt and Uncle live there. My mother wrote: "They are having tornado warnings, but IT'S WARM! She loves it.   " She is ALWAYS freezing.

She has also been able to visit her "favorite" uncle: "Uncle Wally"  

Just checked on their weather via internet: Looks like they are in for a little "severe weather" right now, but since it is midnight, they'll probably sleep right through it...  

[missy]

I have lived right in an area known as 'Tornado Alley',to be exact in Northern Texas  right on the border to Oklahoma.
http://www.tornadochaser.net/tornadoalley.jpg
During Spring we had a tornado warning almost every week and I can not count the times I have been locked in,no matter where I was...the grocery store,the mall,the hospital....
The storms I have experienced were the worst ones I had ever seen and I will never ever forget how powerful and destructive those winds were...we often had wind speeds around 120 mph....scary.
I can only emphasize not to take tornado warnings lightly.
I also had the 'pleasure' of living through hurricane 'Isabel" back in 2003,I lived in Washington DC during that time, it took well over 3 weeks to remove the uprooted big trees that crashed into the houses in my neighborhood.
I was without power and clean water for about a week.
Not funny.


Regards,
Missy

[Crimson Tide]

Hi, yall!
That's great! The English thread awakes!

And Ratlady is right,   !
Immediately we all are talking about severe weather!  

But I can understand why it always happens!
When you used to live with the "normal" weather in Germany, and then you are living suddenly with the extreme weather here in the US, then you are so fascinated, scared and thrilled from the experience you had never before!
Last night, for example, my husband and me suddenly got such a shock because of a very loud thunder, that we couldn't sleep a long time after that thunderstorm was already gone!

@ Josie, I can imagine how your parents are enjoying the hot weather in Huntsville, Alabama, although, they had again bad thunderstorms this morning in that region! We'll get our round of severe weather this aftenoon!  

My guests didn't want to fly back to Germany at Monday, after having spent three weeks in our "early Summer"!  . We all sat once together in our bathroom-shelter because of tornadoe warnings, but it is normal in April and May in this region and everyone should be aware of the weather channel, weather radio and, like Missy told us, always not forget to keep the respect. The nature is very powerful.

Have a nice day,

Monika

[Josie]

I have lived right in an area known as 'Tornado Alley',to be exact in Northern Texas  right on the border to Oklahoma.

My Dad is from northwest Missouri. My mother and I lived there for seven years. I remember having "tornado drills" (basically exactly like "fire drills" - only the complete opposite - if that makes any sense   )

I also remember spending time in the hallway of basement floor of the 8-appartment building we lived in during tornado warnings. One of my (many) embarassing moments that I remember (usually stories like this get told at various opportunities by parents...): The women and children were down in the hallway (I remember it being big); the guys were up at the door looking to see if there was anything to see. Well, I was purty young then - I convinced my mother to let me go up to the men. I went to the door looked out and saw the moon - it was bright red. I started yelling: "Get down stairs, get down stairs - there's the tomato       " It took the guys a little while to figure out what the heck I was saying, and then even longer to stop laughing...

[Elmo]

What´s going on here? I had already given up on this thread again, just to see it awakening again now.
I like it, can´t get enough of English.  

So, in order to stick with the weather topic, let me tell you a bit about the German spring. We had a long, not to say a very long period of bad weather - it was cold and rainy.
But now, the spring finally seems to be coming. Friday we had beautiful sunshine and 23°C. What´s that in Fahrenheit? I guess about 65°, might that be right?
Now I can tell you something about severe German weather. Yesterday I was sitting in my car and suddenly a very dark cloud was moving over me. It started thundering, then raining and then hailing. It sounded like my car was being shot by little lead pellets.
15 minutes later it was all over and the sun was shining again.

I love spring and summer, but this period is just too short. 1 month winter, one fall, 3 months spring and 5 summer. Wouldn´t that be nice?  

[missy]

Let's see...this is how my seasons here in KY look like:

2 months of winter
1 month of spring
6-8 months of summer
1 month of fall

....whatever is left over gets added on to whatever season....sometimes we have 'T-Shirt weather' for a while in December...sometimes spring starts a little late.
I know....once it is spring time you better get your summer clothes ready,because the temperature can easily jump 30 degrees up from one day to another.

Right now I am trying to be outdoors every day...because I have discovered a new hobby....fishing.
Even though I am still a beginner,I must be doing something right,because I catch lots of fish .
Usually I catch small fish like striped bass,crappies,blue gills etc...but the past couple of days I caught 3 huge catfish...with half a worm...so I am really proud of this.

And even though I have days where my fishies won't bite,I still enjoy sitting in the sun,watching the bald eagle pair, and trying to spot water turtles and water mocassins.

I love my country life


Regards,

Missy

[Elmo]

Missy, you´re making me jealous, you know that?  
Last week they said on AFN Radio that Texas experienced a record high temperature of 100°F...in April!

Let´s face the reality here: 3 months per season. It´s very balanced, but not very satisfying.

I often went fishing with a friend (I was just "spectating") in my teenage years.
The most adventurous and most thrilling experience was night fishing. 14-15 year old boys sitting by the river at midnight and made their first experiences with cigarettes and alcohol (but I´m still a non-smoker, though) . I remember us catching fishes like catfishes, perches or eels. The good old times..

My favorite spring/summer pastime is barbecueing   or cycling. I managed to ride barely over 1000km last year. We´ll see if an increase is possible this season. Unfortunately we just have a 8 month long cycling season. Anything below 15°C is too cold for me to cycle.

[missy]

Yeah...I actually just got back from Texas....I was in Fort Hood and they have a big lake right there...the Belton lake.....and there you can do some great night fishing at the fishing pier...at any time of the night you meet other fishermen and women...always ready to share their knowledge.
So I was sitting there on the dock at 2 am,T-shirt and shorts,nice gentle breeze,good conversations....it was just great.
Kentucky is a little colder and the fish are just not that big.
But ...well...I won't complain.


Regards,

Missy

[americanhero]

Wow, Iam astonished. That English Thread is getting back to live and I never thought it will be.
And hey, there are some newbies here around, really cool.

@Missy:

That sounds really great with your country live there in Kentucky. I sometimes miss it here in the city. I moved to Kiel some years ago and before that I lived in a really small backcountry village in the middle of nowhere.

@ all:

What´s up? I was very busy the last few weeks, that´s one reason I wasn´t writing something in this board. And actually, at the moment I´m planning a lot, `cause my vacation to the Southwest is coming very close. And I´m really looking forward to it, especially to the premature summer I will expecting there. Actually, our weather here in Kiel  really sucks, I´m totally fed up with the cold temperatures.
It´s the first time for years that I´m starting so late in the season with having BBQs. Unbelievable. I hope, in the next few days there will be a slight chance of having it at least a little bit warmer.


Greetz,

Yvonne