Not punctual!

I think I am not very lucky with time. Today is my 3rd time  of being late in class despite that I did not miss anything when I arrived 'cuz the Instructor have not started yet. But I have been meaning to be punctual today. I left the house at 8am, together with my Sweetie. And waited for 15 minutes at the Bus station for the Bus. Unfortunately, I am as always confused with number 3 and number 4 Buses. I should ride Bus number 3. Yet, I rode Bus number 4! And it does not go to Steingrube. So what I did was, I stopped at the Dammtor Station. And rode Bus number 3 there. But I needed to wait another 15 minutes for the next Bus. And so, I was late for 5 minutes. Tomorrow, our class will start at 9am. Hopefully I won't be late anymore. 

At this moment, the sun is shining and I can see clearly the blue sky. Thank God! Yet, this morning, it was cloudy and very very cold. I checked the temperature short before 8am this morning. And I thought my Sweetie has changed it to a Farenheit scale. But when I looked at it again, it was not 67 but 6.7! And the coldest temperature it recorded since 12 am today was 4.7°c! The morning cold air makes me sneeze. I am still not used to this cold weather here in Germany. My sneezing is on and off. This last few days, my sneezings was lesser compared to last week. Fortunately today, it seems like it won't rain.

Our lessons today was just like yesterday. Nothing really special. It was again about using the verb heißen (are called or named), sprechen (speaking), kommen (coming), wohnen (living), and sentences or phrases like Tut mir leid (I am sorry) and Entschuldigung (Apology), pronouncing correctly the letters in the Deutsch Alphabet, using Sie and du in the sentence and sorting out the sentences.

Then during our 15 minutes pause, I went to Herr Jüngerkes to give him a copy of the permission letter from Ausländeramt that I could take the Integration Course, and show him my Residence Visa in my passport. Yes, now I have my RV. Just had it yesterday. It was fast. Herr Seyler was not in the office yesterday. And I guess he advised his colleague to process my papers as he knew that we are coming to his office. We just waited for 5 to 10 minutes, filled up a form and immediately the RV is in my passport. It is valid for 3 years. So on 2013, I will be renewing it. These two requirements for my Integration Course are very important. It may allow me to take the Integration Course absolutely for FREE or we may have to pay 1 Euro per Unit. And for this first course which contains Modules 1 and 2 (A1 Level of the Language Course), has 200 units. So it costs 200 Euros. Actually, it costs more. Bundesamt will pay more for me. The City will pay 1.35 Euros per Unit. There are 6 Modules. The next course will be Modules 3 and 4 (A2 Level). And then next Modules 5 and 6 (B1 Level). And 200 Euros per level. A total of 600 Euros or 600 Units to complete the Integration Course.

This condition is valid only when they check that my Sweetie's monthly earning is enough to pay. But if they found out that we don't earn that much, then Bundesamt will pay for my whole course and thus, I get the whole course for FREE! I really hope that I will get the course for free. 600 Euros is too much. I think, we will know  it  by next week. We still need to submit some papers for the assessment by Bundesamt.

Oh there are few things that amaze me here in Germany. 

1. One-ride Bus ticket is 2 Euros = It is estimated to be almost Php 120. Yet, 2 Euros is from end to end. So if I ride the bus at the first end station, and stops at the last end station, I will pay only 2 Euros. Or if I ride the bus at the first end station and stops at the next station, it is the same, 2 Euros. It is in favor with passengers having to ride the bus from end to end than passengers needing to go only to the next station.

2. Daily Bus Ticket or Weekly or  Monthly or Yearly Bus Ticket = Daily, weekly and yearly Bus tickets are much much way better. Daily bus ticket costs 4,20 Euros, weekly costs 14,20 Euros, monthly costs 50,50 Euros, and yearly is 517 Euros.

Daily bus ticket can be used the whole day. And it is really cheap when I want to tour around Hildesheim with only 4,20 Euros as mine transportation expenses.

Mine is a weekly ticket which I bought on Monday and valid until next Monday.

3. Bus schedule = Bus arrives at the bus station every 15 minutes. From Monday to Saturday it is always at the  13th minute, 28th minute, 43th minute and 58th minute of the hour. During Sundays, it has a different schedule.

4. Bicycles = I see children as young as 3 years old biking with their Mom or parents. They have their own bicycles! This amaze me so much because as early as 3 years old, children are growing to be independent.

5. Security Guards = The hotels, big and small shops, malls, offices don't have security guards. Oh and I have to open the door by myself when entering the building, or most of the time, the door opens automatically. =)

6. No free toilets = I have to pay or donate atleast 50 cents when entering the toilet. 50 cents is around Php 29.

7. Guten Tag  or Danke or Tschüss = I like it when somebody greets me Guten Morgen, Guten Tag, Hallo or Guten Abend. And Germans do that most of the time even though they don't know you. Same with Danke and Tschüss.

Wednesday is day off from class

I have to clean the house today. Sweep the floor, polish it, keep and fold the dry clothes and then take a nap for a while and then heading to my Sweetie's workplace. And then we will drive together to Ausländeramt for my Residence Visa. I have been here in Germany for 1 month and 5 days already. And I still don't have my Residence Visa in my passport. Well there is actually a reason to this delay. The people incharge for this specific task of processing immigrants for their Residence Visa are in vacation mode. They are not in the office! So no people, no transaction. I worked in a government too when I was in the Philippines. But whenever one of my colleagues or whenever my Boss is in vacation mode or out of town, there is always an Officer-In-Charge. There is always someone who will do the work of the absent colleague. I could not believe that here in Germany, it is not the same way...

Yesterday in my class, we had a bit of introduction again because our Instructor was the 2nd Instructor for our course. So we needed to introduce ourselves again. I found out that most of my classmates have been here in Germany for more than 1 year, 8 years, 10 years, 30 years...and the newest was the 16 year old lady from Peru who has very little knowledge or zero knowledge of the Deutsch language and can only speak her native language. She has been here for 3 weeks now. Why did it take a very long time for them to enroll in the Integration Course? It could be because they could not find a job, or a better job due to their lack of knowledge of the Deutsch language. 

I think I have to log off now. Will start my chores soon. 

Ich wünsche euch einen schönen Tag!

My second day of class

Today, I was late again in class. Phew...but only 3 minutes late. I took the 8:28am Bus and it took more than 15 minutes to Steingrube. Anyway, I did not miss anything. As I arrived in the classroom, our Instructor was still outside. So lucky me! =)

This is the text book + workbook + Audio CD (not shown in the photo) which we are using. We bought this book at the bookstore at Schuhstraße. It costs 13,50 Euros.

Our lesson today started at the Page 14 of this book. It is about listening, pronouncing the Deutsch Alphabet and spelling your surname with the correct pronounciation of the letters. Below is the German Alphabet and its pronounciations and examples.

We listened to an audio CD for the pronounciations. And then we were given a seatwork wherein we wrote down the spelling of the names as pronounced in the audio CD. I had a problem with the letters E, I, O, U, R, L.

E is pronounced as E in egg, however, in the audio CD it was pronounced as Eee like how we pronounced Ea in Eagle. But the letter I is pronounced as long Eeeeeee. And not like Eye. So there is a very slim difference in the pronounciation of E and I. Although E must be pronounced as E in egg.

And O is pronounced similar to U. But U is long Uuuuu.

R is pronounced as Er. And L as El. However again, in the audio CD, the letters R and L has slim difference in pronounciation too. And O and U also. So I must listen attentively to get the correct answer.

We've also learned on how to pronounce the letters with the UMLAUT sign- ä, ö und ü. Umlaut is the 2 points above the letters a, o and u. And as well as ei, eu and au. Ei is pronounced in English as ey like in Play. In Deutsch, it is pronounced as ay like in Fry. Eu is pronounced in Deutsch as oy like in Soy. And au as au in English.

Then we proceeded to learning a few common verbs such as heißen, kommen and sprechen.

Wie heißen Sie?  = How are you called?

Heißen and are called are the verbs.

Sie is you in English. But in Nominative case. Sie is used to address a person in formal. Person or individual which you met for the first time. And Sie must be with capital letter S. Du is also you in English and in Nominative case too, however it is used to address a person with whom you are familiar like your friends, your family or your colleagues. There is another sie with a small s in the German language. And it is she and they in English. So sie with small s means she and they in German language. The only way to know whether a person is referring to a she or they is by the verb following the word sie. For example,

1. Sie ist noch hier. = She is still here. Ist is the verb for sie(she).

2. Sie sind noch hier. = They are still here. Sind is the verb for sie(they).

Let us tackle more on the forms of the verb heißen for Sie (you as formal), Du (you as familiar), Er/Sie (Er means He, Sie means She), Sie (they).  Ah wait, another important thing to remember when using Sie, is that when we are referring to a stranger or being formal, we must use always the capital letter S for Sie. S is always in big letter even when it is not the first word in the sentence. And when referring to she and they, Sie is written with a capital letter S only when it is in the beginning of the sentence. Use small S when it is inside the sentence. For example:


1. Wer sind Sie? = Who are you? I am asking this question to a person with whom I have just met today. Or when we are being formal. Notice the capital S.


2. Sie sind schön.= You are beautiful. Again, I am saying this to a person with whom I have just met. Or when we are being formal.


3. Sie ist schön. = She is beautiful. With a capital letter s because it is in the beginning of the sentence. But I am referring to a third person.


4. Wer ist sie? = Who is she? Notice the small letter s.


5. Wer sind sie? = Who are they? Same with number 1 but with a small letter s.


6. Sie sind hier. = They are here. With a capital letter s because it is in the beginning of the sentence.


Okay now back to the verbs.

 Class dismissed.

Tschüss

First day of class in Integration Course

Weather hasn't been good since last weekend. The lowest temperature since  last weekend is 9°c. in the morning. And the sky has been very cloudy too, just like this morning.

Today is my first day of class in the Integration Course which I must take part as an immigrant here in Germany. My class starts at 8:45am during Mondays. Unfortunately I missed the bus at 8:28am. And so I was late 15 minutes. Phew.... 

When I arrived in the classroom, my classmates and our woman Instructor have already started introducing themselves in Deutsch language. We are 12 students. I have the basic knowledge of Deutsch and so it was good for me to listen and understand them when they speak Deutsch. Most of my classmates are from Turkey, one from China, one from Peru, one from Netherland, from Afghanistan, from Ghana, from Portugal and Africa (Burundi). From my opinion, they have been here in Deutschland for a longer time than me. And I could see that a few are used to speaking Deutsch however, during the lesson they could not really pronounce the Deutsch words correctly or compose a correct sentence. This makes me wonder why...

Anyway, when it was my turn to introduce myself, this is what I've said...

Ich bin (name here) ..... Ich bin zweiunddreissig (32) Jahre alt. Ich bin verheiratet. Ich komme aus den Philippinen. (I am (name here) ..... I am Thirty-two (32) years old. I am married. I come from the Philippines.)

And our Instructor asked me some questions like:

Haben Sie Kinder? (Do you have children?)  and I answered, Nein. Which means No. However, a better and correct answer would be, Nein, Ich habe keine Kinder.

Was sind Sie von Beruf? (What do you do for a living? or What is your job? or What is your occupation?) and I answered, Nein. Which means No. Or a correct and better answer would be like, Ich bin Hausfrau.(I am a housewife.)

...and she asked, Ah, eine Hausfrau? (Ah, a Housewife?) and I answered, Ja. Which means Yes.

And when the Introduction part was done, our Instructor started the lesson by teaching us the correct words, sentences and grammar of questions and answers when introducing ourselves.

Questions:                             Answers:

1. Wie heißen Sie?                 Ich heiße.....

(How are you called?)            (I am called ....)

2. Wie ist Ihr Name?               Mein Name ist ....

(What is your Name?)           (My name is...)

3. Wer sind Sie?                   Ich bin....

(Who are you?)                    (I am....)

These  questions and answers above can be used interchangeably with one another.

 

Questions:                                  Answers:

4. Wo wohnen Sie?                     Ich wohne in.....

(Where do you live?)                  (I live in ....)

5. Woher kommen Sie?              Ich komme aus ....

(Where do you come from?)       (I come from...)

Answer #5 is a complicated one since deutsch Nouns has genders (i.e. Masculine, Feminine or Neutral or Plural). And so country names like China, Philippines, Deutschland or Germany, USA, Turkey or Netherland has its own gender.

Now for a country name like Deutschland (Germany), this is a Neutral noun. And so, Ich komme aus Deutschland is the correct sentence. Which means I come from Germany. 

With male countries like Irak  (Iraq) or Iran (Iran). The correct grammar is Ich komme aus dem Irak. (I come from Iraq.) Ich komme aus dem Iran. (I come from Iran)

Türkei is Turkey in English. And it has a feminine gender in Deutsch language. Therefore, Ich komme aus der Türkei (I come from Turkey) is correct.

A country name like Philippinen (Philippines) is a plural noun in Deutsch language. The correct way to use it in a sentence like in #5 is Ich komme von den Philippinen. (I come from the Philippines.) This confirms that my sentence during our Introduction part was wrong.

Niederlande or Netherlands is also a plural noun. However, it is not right to say Ich komme von den Niederlande. Like what we have used for Philippinen. Philippinen, according to my Instructor  is made of many islands surrounded by waters. And so, von should be used instead of aus. Actually, this is new to me. And I wonder if there is a new rule on  country names like Philippines. Because during my self-study and teachings from my Sweetie, and even through searchings and translatings on the Internet, Ich komme aus den Philippinen is always the correct sentence I have learned. Anyway, maybe I can discuss on this when I find the reason behind this new rule.

Notice the der and den articles in the sentences mentioned above. The grammar of the sentence Ich komme aus, is in Dative case. And for a Dative case, there are rules on which article we must use. For a male noun, the article dem must be used. For a female noun, the article der. For a neutral, the article dem is used. And for plural noun, the article den is used. The male and neutral articles for Dative case are the same. This is the same in the other type of grammar sentence which is the Genitive case. However, we will tackle on the different grammar cases later. Another thing we have observed is that, in this sentence Ich komme aus for  neutral noun, we did not use the article dem in the sentences...

Ich komme aus Deutschland.

 (Deutschland is a neutral Noun.)

I think there is a special rule for countries on the Dative case. Another subject for future discussion.

Questions:                                        Answers:

6. Was sind Sie von Beruf?               Ich bin.....

(What is your occupation?)               (I am ....)

7. Wie viele Kinder haben Sie?         Ich habe ....

(How many children do you have?)    (I have...)

Choices for answer #7 would be:

2 Kinder. (2 children)

1 Kind. (1 child.)

keine Kinder. (no children)

kein Kind. (no child)

Kind which means child in English, has a neutral gender. And the plural of Kind is Kinder, which means children in English.

Kein means none, no or not. But when it is used with nouns, it changes to Keine for plural nouns and for female nouns. Kein is maintained as is in spelling for male and neutral nouns.

Important Rules to learn and memorize for Articles such as the, none, no, and a (der, kein, und ein):

 

Gender of Nouns       Male        Female    Neutral     Plural

  

Grammar cases

Der (The)

Nominative case         der           die         das             die

Genitive case             des           der        des             der

Dative case                dem         der        dem            den

Accusative case         den          die        das              die

Kein(No, None or Not)

Nominative case       kein           keine     kein         keine

Genitive case           keines        keiner   keines      keiner

Dative case              keinem      keiner    keinem     keinen

Accusative case       keinen       keine      kein          keine

Ein(A)

Nominative case       ein           eine      ein             NONE 

Genitive case           eines       einer     eines         NONE

Dative case              einem      einer     einem        NONE

Accusative case       einen       eine      ein              NONE

Kein is just the negative of ein. And ein has no plural. (Obviously! Because ein means a in English. And the article a is only for singular nouns.)

Most of the time during our class, we have repeated the basic sentences/questions for introducing ourselves. Sorting it out, completing the sentences, speaking and pronouncing correctly the words and sentences.

Ich bin Lena. (I am Lena.)
Wie heißen Sie? (How are you called?)
Ich heiße Lukas. (I am called Lukas.)
Das ist Frau Hummel. (That is Miss/Mrs. Hummel.)
Ich bin Andreas Zilinski. (I am Andreas Zilinski.)
Enschuldigung, wie heißen Sie? (I am sorry, how are you called?)
Andreas Zilinski, und das ist Frau Kunz. (Andreas Zilinski, and that is Miss/Mrs. Kunz.)
Wer ist das? (Who is that?)
Das ist Felix. (That is Felix.)
Ich heiße Laura Weber. Und wer sind Sie? (I am called Laura Weber. And who are you?)



Tschüss  (Bye)

Last night dinner

Had a very wonderful time yesterday as it was the birthday of the father of my Husband. Papa treated us to a very nice dinner in a Chinese restaurant. And prior to that, we had a lovely time enjoying with their neighbors eating delicious cake baked by Mama with a nice warm coffee and sparkling wine.

Going 60

My collection of stockings and tights...a total of 59 pairs now. Most of the ones that are still packed are new and I still have not worn. A surprise welcome presents from my Sweetie when I arrived here in Deutschland.

My little black dress

 Today I went to my Sweetie's workplace to have lunch  together with him and his colleagues. And then went alone to the city to explore it more and window shop. 

I am wearing one of my favorite Forever21 little black lace dress with flowers net stockings and my new tan faux leather boots which my Sweetie bought for me yesterday.  

I love you Sweetieeeeee...