2011

Right now, I'm sitting in an armchair, wrapped in a blanket at my host family's (with whom I've been staying for the Christmas break) looking at the University of Adelaide's course planner, trying to decide which subjects to do next year.

This year has seen me travel to more countries than I have fingers to count them on (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, Greece), plus see more of my beloved Germany. I've made friends from all over the world, and learned to live out of home and in a different country all at once. I've cried until I laughed and laughed until I cried. I've been so incredibly homesick that I wanted to up and leave, and I've toyed with the idea of staying over here longer. I've watched more tv shows and movies than I have ever before in one year, and dangerously started watching a few new shows. Skype and Facebook have been invaluable in keeping in contact with family and friends, old and new. I've (semi-) regularly attended church and home group, which improved my German, made me learn a whole new vocabulary (but should really learn the Vaterunser (Lord's Prayer)), and helped me make some of the few German friends I have. And you know, spiritual growth.

Although sometimes I've been so frustrated with its stupid grammar I've thrown my book across the room, I've learned a lot of German this year. A lot of new words, phrases, grammar, and slang. I've also improved the knowledge I already had, and occasionally use grammatical formations that I would never have dreamed of being able to use (decide mid-sentence to use passive? WELL SURE, no problem!).

When I stepped off the plane in London a year ago (really, it was a year ago today), I couldn't have dreamed of all the things I've done this year. 2011 has been a year of new experiences, friendships, travel, and I guess a bit of learning. It's the first year that I have not set foot in Australia, and it's been understandably one of the most challenging times for me. But all in all, I'm glad I'm here, because I've also had some of the funnest times over here.

Internet predators

In which Sarah shares her experience of a lying internet user.

As we all know, I spend a whole lot of time online. I'm not even going to pretend it's because I'm a Media student, it began way before that and I'm not going to deny it. It really began with my installing MSN back in 2004. I told my parents I was 'checking my email' because I didn't think they'd be too impressed that I was talking to people online. When the internet usage in our house went up, and they caught me at it, I convinced them that it was fine, because you only add people you know.

In 2005 I got MySpace, and although I'd had Bebo and possibly other previous social networking accounts, MySpace was new and exciting and there was music and you could write to people and they could write back, and it was all wonderful. There were occasions that I accepted random requests, but we all know that MySpace was a climb for the highest number of friends, and I didn't do it that often.

In 2006 I got Skype, and I did get a few random requests that I occasionally accepted for a while until they became creepy, then I deleted them. I thought I was pretty clever, and didn't really worry too much about my online safety. Nevertheless, I didn't give any personal details out, and never continued talking to someone if they had exceeded the creep factor.

In 2007 I was coerced into getting Facebook, and although I was not the biggest 'fan' to begin with, soon I began to 'like' it (see what I did there?), and just as my peers did, abandoned MySpace more and more.

In early 2007 Carly Ryan, a South Australian girl, was murdered by a 50-year-old pretending to be a 20-year-old.

And this brings me to the point of this blog: people pretending to be someone they're not on the internet.

In the midst of all the teenage angst, and the death of my boyfriend, and the drama that's associated with being sixteen, I joined a forum for Simple Plan (a Canadian band who I recently discovered are still making whiny music). I made some good friends on there - there were six of us: me, Alice (also from Australia), Annika (Germany), Allie & Bridget (USA - they were friends in real life before the forum (and still are haha)), and Paige (Canada). We all got on splendidly, and kept in contact long after the forum died and was eventually deleted.

In 2009, however, we discovered that Paige had been lying about... well, basically everything. Not forever, just for a little while - pretty much since we'd all abandoned MySpace, where her real photos were. She seemed to be pretending to be her friend, or perhaps just someone she admired, I'm not really sure. I don't know why she did it, and although we tried to be delicate about confronting her (difficult over Facebook), once she knew we knew, she deleted us all, and that profile. I don't know what's happened to her since.

The experience shook me. A lot. I thought I was smarter than to believe someone's lies, and it was really distressing to think about all the things I'd told her - we'd all told her. Thankfully nothing as terrible as what happened to Carly and countless others happened to us, but it was still a bit of a wake-up call, that actually, you can't trust everyone, there are liars out there. I don't think that Paige was lying to be malicious, probably just because she envied her friend's life and wanted to pretend to have a different life (because let's face it, who doesn't want that occasionally?).

Despite that experience, I'm still good friends with the other girls (I've stayed with Annika twice now), and I still spend a whole lot of time online, talking to people I just do not know.

It's kind of embarrassing to write about this all, I'll be honest. Not just that I was on a Simple Plan forum (though that is definitely embarrassing), but that I was tricked by someone I trusted, after thinking myself so clever and internet-savvy for so long. I was about to say that I'd never do anything stupid like meet someone whom I didn't know, but I have done that, and I'm sure I'll do it again.

I'm writing this now because I just watched a video from Carly's mum, saying that now that it's summer holidays and children are going to be spending more time online, there need to be more warnings going on and so on. Also, it happened a couple of years ago now, so I'm more willing to talk about it. I would also like to say how thankful I am that my parents raised me the way that they did, and that nothing worse than a lying girl in a foreign country has happened to me.

I know that you're all smart, but just... be careful.

The new SACE

Reading about the new SACE (South Australian Certificate of Education; the qualification we work towards for the final two years of high school) makes me annoyed. It also makes me pity the people who have to do it. Not because it's hard, oh no, but because it's so easy. Let's face it, the five subjects that we had to do, while difficult and end-of-the-world-ish at the time, were really not that taxing. Granted, a lot of mine were bludge subjects, but I still did German and Religion which were not easy.

2006 (the year I finished school) was the final year of the Geography curriculum that we all knew and loved; weather, soils, mapping, tourism, coasts... I don't even remember what else we did... probably something about the Dutch polders... anyway, they dumbed that subject down.

And now, instead of the five subjects that we had to struggle through, year 12 students have to do four subjects and a research project. What a freaking joke! I DID THREE RESEARCH PROJECTS IN YEAR TWELVE - two of which were practically mini-theses - and they have to do ONE?! I had to do one for German (though that was really fairly simple), one for Religion ('Does music, with accompanying lyrics, have the power to influence a person's belief in, and understanding of God?'), and one for Geography (it was about earthquakes and earthquake preparedness in South Australia (FYI: we do have a fault-line going right through Adelaide, and LOOK AT THAT, we've had TWO earthquakes since I did my report :O). In fact, for English (Comms ;)) we had to do some sort of major assignmenty things which took a whole lot of time, on top of all the regular work we had to do. With the amount that they've reduced the work-load on year 12 students, I doubt they have to do these any more - they certainly don't for Geography.

The Advertiser's article on it (results come out today) begins; 'a record 92 per cent of students who started Year 12 this year have earned their South Australian Certificate of Education'. Yeah, it's great that more people can get it. An increase to 85.9% got a TER (Tertiary Entrance Rank - though it seems they've changed the name of that as well, to 'ATAR' - Australian Tertiary Admission Rank), and 57.2% of Aboriginal students who completed SACE got a TER.

Yes, those figures are good (despite fewer perfect scores this year). Over-working students doesn't teach anything but resentment and how real life is, but dumbing down an education system to make sure that the lowest common denominator can get their high school certificate and/or get into university doesn't make society better.

I (occasionally) worked hard for this piece of paper!

Awwww yeah; 19, 18, 18, 18, 17

This is one of those times I worked hard, because I know that that was only one lot of flash cards for German.

SCHNEE

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane, snow is glistening, a beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.

Well, there may not be any sleigh bells, but there sure is snow! It's so very exciting! And although it still doesn't feel like Christmas, it does feel like I'm in European winter. I know that that may sound ridiculous, because it's been winter for twenty days now, and cold for a lot more than that, but it's only been rainy and gloomy. It's rainy (well, occasionally..) and gloomy in Adelaide in winter too, and because I'm so used to living here, it just hasn't felt... different.


But since I woke up this morning and it was SNOWING, it's felt as though it's actually winter. And it feels different again, and not exactly what I'm used to. Hooray!

Why are pine cones being sold at the supermarket? Just...why?

Thanks, Qantas. It means so much to me that you made me a personalised e-card! So thoughtful.

those were the days...

I miss last semester so much. My friends, my classes, my travels, the weather, everything. This semester is just really not as good. I don't have a group of which I feel a part, my classes suck, and it's just cold and miserable while everyone at home is enjoying the beach. My travels are good, but with no income I'm starting to feel guilty about travelling at all, knowing I'll have zero money when I get home. There have been some really good moments this semester, but I just miss my little gang from last semester so, so much.

I always knew it was going to be different this semester. No Laura, no Ragne, no Grant, no Devin. No afternoons on the Neckarwiese (even if it was raining that one time ;), no midnight trips to 683 because we felt like watching a movie, and a lot fewer spontaneous travels. I feel like I wasted last semester a bit, took for granted that I had people to do things with, and spent too much time out here, instead of in the town, or even just outside.

This is not meant to be a pity party. I am still grateful that I have the opportunity to be over here, and as I said, I have had some fun times. From now on, all but two weekends are booked (with a tentative idea for one of them), and I will have an almost constant stream of visitors from NYE until February 14th. I just wish this semester could've been as fun-filled as last. But soon I will be home, and then ALL the semesters will be fun :D

It's not beginning to look a lot like Christmas

No, you know what? This cold at Christmas thing is messing with me after all. It does not feel like it's Christmas in less than a week, I think partly because it's cold, partly because I don't listen to the radio and hear all the ads for buying the perfect gift etc, nor TV ads, but also partly because I'm still at uni all this week.

By now, everyone in Australia (haha, everyone. Clearly I mean Adelaide Uni students) has been on holidays for ages (it feels like ages, anyway. I guess it would be about a month since exams finished? Maybe more?), and I don't get holidays until Friday. Granted, it's not like I do a lot of work anyway, but I think about it occasionally and know it's always hanging over my head and that I should do it. And even then, it's only a couple of weeks' holiday, instead of up to four months (if you're an arts student with no exams and early assignment due dates :P)

I do have a small Christmas tree on my desk, but it just doesn't feel like Christmas.

Ben came to Heidelberg for a few hours today, and I gave him the Grand Heidelberg Tour. When we got to the bridge, and looked up at the castle, THERE WAS SNOW ON THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS! ACTUAL SNOW! So very, very exciting. As Ben is a fellow fast walker, however, the tour was over a lot quicker than it normally is, so we were at a bit of a loss as to what to do. But we got (not very good) coffee and just sat and chatted for a while, so that was nice too.

Now we own the night and it can't be undone, we'll never forget how it feels to be young.

There was a market
(with free cheese samples!)
next to the boat landing.

Happy Forever Day!*

Yesterday I went to Strasbourg (France) with a group of about 60 exchange/ Erasmus students. I set out at 07:45, and we arrived (a bus and three trains later) in Strasbourg at about 11:30. It was a lovely albeit cold day as we walked as a great big massive group around the town for a while. Not on a tour or anything, just to seemingly get to the landing where we were meant to go on some sort of city tour FROM A BOAT, but it turned out there were no boats there until 2:30 or something... so we were set free to roam about the city.

There were some lovely Christmas decorations put up all over restaurants/ other buildings. Further to my post about Christmas over here, the decorations just don't seem to be as tacky here. Sure, there are still some super tacky things, but they are balanced by the nice decorations.

There was a big church.

 After a pizza lunch, we had a look around the Christmas market (similar to German ones except that >Glühwein was called vin chaud and came in plastic cups instead of nice mugs) which was nice. We watched a band busk for a while - they were quite good and seemingly the opposite of self-important; they had their band name written on a tea towel, pegged to the keyboard music stand. Something that I've noticed over here is that buskers seem to form bands and play together, rather than sitting alone and playing the accordion, there'll be an accordion player, with a violinist, and perhaps some other instruments too. I think it's quite nice, actually. The band I saw yesterday seemed to be an actual band trying to make a name for themselves, rather than just busking, though. 

While we ate eclairs and toffee apples, we sat in a radio broadcasting... hut? I don't know, it was made of glass, and it was super warm inside which was rather nice. However I don't think we were meant to be in there... not that anyone said anything, but just had that feeling. So we left (taking free keyrings on our way out!) and had a bit of a look in some shops before making the three-hour trip home.

Once home, I was super tired after such a long day (and a very restless night's sleep the night before - I kept waking up for seemingly no reason), and did not feel like going out at all. However, I had received an invitation from a girl at Church to a real German Haus party, so thought I probably should go, really. I made it there (it took 40 mins to actually get there - it's times like these that I would like a car... (interestingly I wrote 'bike' instead of 'car' then...)) about 11pm, where I was described by the birthday girl's fiancé (upon being asked who it was) as 'the red-haired girl'. I accepted a Glühwein and awkwardly made some conversation before children's games became the focus of the evening.

First we played Topfschlagen (~hitting the saucepan). Topfschlagen is a children's game, and involved someone being blindfolded, span around a few times, then crawling on their hands and knees hitting things with a wooden spoon, trying to find an overturned saucepan while everyone else said 'warmer' and 'colder'. There was meant to be something sweet underneath... instead there was an onion. That game was abandoned after two rounds, after which we played musical chairs (which I joined in with, and came fourth or something. Yesssssss ;) [EDIT: musical chairs in German is Reise nach Jerusalem - journey to Jerusalem. What.]

German sparklers: exactly the same as Australian ones.

Just before midnight (Sophie's birthday was today), we all put our coats and shoes on, and went outside to sing 'happy birsday' (oh, Germans! <3) and light sparklers at midnight. Then, my favourite part of the evening, we went on a drunk walk! A German drunk walk with Germans through the fields! Well, it wasn't exactly drunk, but we did have two bottles of Sekt (sparkling wine) and some red wine... It was good. When we got back to the flat, I received an education in German music which was both hilarious and interesting, and I wish I'd had my phone with me (in the room) that I could've written down more of the songs (I did write some when waiting for the bus home, but couldn't remember everything...). Speaking of the bus home, talk about bad connections! I would've been waiting in town for over half an hour for my bus, so I decided to walk home, and got home before it even would've left town.

*Today (the 18th) is Forever Day! It's the day from which buying Alex Day's song Forever Yours will count towards the Christmas charts. He's one of the YouTubers I watch (he did the series of him reading Twilight, if any of you remember me writing about that), and is unsigned, and the profits of the song sales are going to World Vision. He's actually released 12 versions of the song, and the total cost of all the other songs are straight going to World Vision. Although I don't live in the UK, I bought six versions of it because good causes are good, and today was also the Project for Awesome. I do love the internet sometimes. Well, most times, really. The song already got to number four on the UK charts. IN LESS THAN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. I think it'd be amazing if an unsigned artist got the Christmas number one (well, any number one, really), especially if it were Alex, as I've been watching his videos for a while now. Anyway, if you're not in Germany you can watch the video below, or listen to the song here if you do live in this unfortunate country of censored music.



PS the forecast is for snow for the next few days, so I am crossing my fingers and druecking my Daumen as hard as I can that I get a white Christmas!!

Words that only Australians know

So as it stands, there are a lot of places about which I haven't blogged. I've visited a LOT of amazing places this last year, and would love to be able to write a post about them all. Unfortunately, I think I left it a bit late to do so (plus we all know I'm super lazy), and I think most of the posts would turn into 'and then we did x, and then we did y, and then we did z, and then we went home and went to sleep', and that is not a riveting read at all.

Instead, I will talk about a word that until yesterday, I didn't realise was just an Australian word: bludge.

Some of the more common uses are:
- a bludge subject: a subject not requiring much work to get a good mark. Deutsch in Filmen was such a bludge subject; I did hardly any work but got a 1,0! (true story, by the way ;) ; that class is such a bludge.
- dole bludger: a person who instead of looking for work, relies on government unemployment benefits. Many residents of the northern suburbs are dole bludgers.

Another word in this 'Australians (and sometimes New Zealanders) only' category is bogan. This is a lot harder to explain, and so I will take it from Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge:

'The term bogan is... for an individual who is recognised to be from a lower class background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude, and behaviour exemplifies such a background.'

'Certain types of clothing are stereotypically associated with bogans, including flannelette shirts, monkey hoodies (what on earth are monkey hoodies?!), Stubbies shorts, ugg boots, jeans, and black leggings. Vehicles such as Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon utes have similar associations.'

However, until you have encountered a one, or lived in Australia for a while, I don't think you can quite understand what a bogan is. Though this video will probably give you a bit more of an idea...


A third word that we commonly use is prank, meaning to call someone's mobile for a short amount of time (maximum is probably three rings?) without them picking up (and therefore costing you money) to let them know that you're outside their house to pick them up, or to get them to call you back because they have free minutes, or so that your horrible sounding German doorbell doesn't need to be rung. I'll prank you when I get there. I think it's sad that more English speakers don't know this term, because let me tell you, it is mighty handy, and super inconvenient to not be able to say it to people here without having to explain what it means.

I suspect if our film and television exports were bigger than Crocodile Dundee and Neighbours, these terms would be more widespread.

I'm just going to leave this here...
(taken on my way to church sometime earlier this year)

The reason I did German through to year 12...

...is that I was good at it, and I enjoyed it. And I was good at it without really having to put any effort in. Sure, occasionally I had to learn some verbs, but other than that I just sort of absorbed the information, and if I didn't get it (eg case chart/ adjective endings), I didn't really bother too much and just guessed, and the rest of my German made up for my atrocious disregard for the fact that German has four cases.

Once I got to uni, that kept going, to an extent. Especially first semester of first year, which was basically a repeat of year 12, with some new verbs thrown in.

And so I settled into the nice little German rut that I'd been making for myself since year 8, and didn't really absorb much new information, except when I had to. And when I had to, boy was it difficult. I looked at my grammar book last night and all my problem areas are the ones that I didn't learn at school. They're the ones that the teachers went over in a lesson or two and expected us to understand. And I should've gone home and learnt it, and actually studied, but too used by that point to being an Arts student who did nothing, I did not. And now it's a real problem, because I've forgotten how to study, if in fact I knew at all, because the teachers at school spoon fed us everything.

I never thought I was one of those people who would struggle at uni because everything at school was so easy for us... but you know what, five years out, maybe I am.

Thankfully, I have wonderful friends who are much better German speakers than I am to help me. And I don't mean Germans (who, although much better German speakers, do not usually know the first thing about how to explain their language, just as we don't know how to explain why we use the tenses we do, we just do it).

This semester is very different from last semester in a lot of ways. Last semester I had one subject I had to do work for. This semester I have four (though realistically, I only do work for two of them, and just think about doing work for the other two...)

Ok time for breakfast/ lunch (not brunch, because brunch has connotations of excellent food... I'll be having porridge or toast).

Were you raised by wolves?

I am increasingly understanding every single note on PassiveAgressiveNotes.com. Well, the ones between housemates, anyway. I grow more and more frustrated every day that I live in this hovel of a flat, because there seems to be very little evidence of a standard of cleanliness, particularly in the kitchen. Only some of us actually wash up. Granted, I just left a frying pan in the sink, but that was because I didn't want to wash it while someone was in the shower lest their water run cold.

Honestly, it's probably good that my level of German is at the point that I almost cry in class at how poor it is, else I think I would be writing a whole lot of passive aggressive notes all over the flat.

A few weeks ago, I opened a communal drawer that used to house plastic plates/ cutlery/ paper serviettes/ general whatever, to find a HORRIBLE smell. It came from two eggplants in a bag, one of which had started ...melting. I don't know what the actual term for that is, I assume some sort of rotting, but seriously, who buys two eggplants and leaves them for so long that they turn to liquid?! And then puts more and more bags of potatoes in there (I looked the other day and there were three) and leaves them long enough that they sprout sprouts? I would've thrown them out as I did the leaking eggplant bag, but who knows, maybe someone ACTUALLY wants them.

The kitchen table always has stuff on it, the stove is filthy, despite getting cleaned at least once a week, and don't even get me started on all the food that is left lying around on the stove/ on the kitchen table. Sixty-three days, Sarah, only sixty-three more days.

At this point I broke and wrote a note (in German) that said 'NOT OK. I don't know who these belong to, but please clean them. You don't live alone; there are others who need water'. This was on Thursday. Some of those dishes are still in the sink (but I did take the note down after most of the dishes were washed).

Ploeck is a street in Heidelberg. This poster is pinned up on the notice board by the front door of the building. I found it amusing.

On a nicer note, this morning I woke to a picture message from Laura of a rainbow over North Tce. Later, when I left for my second class of the day, there was a great big rainbow all the way (only one, though :( ) across the sky. So I took a photo on my phone and sent it to her. While I was on the bus, I wanted to look at the photo again, and it turned out that the photos were saved next to each other...

This Regenbogen stretches from Adelaide to Heidelberg :)

Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere

Lately, a lot of conversations with various people have revolved around Christmas. To pretty much everyone I know here, the concept of going swimming and having a barbeque on Christmas day is just so foreign. Somebody told me last week that it was just not right. Interestingly, I don’t feel the same way about it being cold at Christmas time – to me, it seems just as normal as it being 35 degrees and perfect weather for going to the beach or for a swim.

I imagine it’s because you know, everything about Christmas ever (except that one version of Jingle Bells*, and Six White Boomers**) is about it being cold, and snow glistening on the ground, and Frosty the snowman, and dreaming of a white Christmas, and Father Christmas wears a FUR COAT, and a winter wonderland, and snow laying rrrrrround about, and all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth… oh wait. But all the films are all set in the Northern Hemisphere (that I can think of – if anyone can think of an Australian Christmas film, do tell me), and it just seems… right. Also, when in primary school we were in Nativity scenes at the end-of-year Worship Service, or at Church, the angels’ robes were long-sleeved, and the shepherds wore dressing gowns. Clearly not designed for a hot time of year! 

Heidelberg merry-go-round

(Sidenote: if I don’t have a white Christmas, I am going to be very, very disappointed. What is the point of it being so stupidly cold if there’s nothing to show for it?! By the way, if anyone is wondering, I’m going to stay with a host family for Christmas. They live pretty far north, so I am hopeful that it will be cold enough for snow? *crosses fingers* Actually, I’ve seen things on Facebook from people in different cities saying that it’s snowed where they are. Damn you for being warm, Heidelberg! (I take it back, it is so cold, I can’t even imagine (well, I really can) what it must be like in other places!))

I have to say… All the decorations make a lot more sense over here. Like Christmas lights, for example. It’s amazing – you don’t have to wait until 10pm to be able to see them! On the down side, it is winter and gets dark before 6pm, but LIGHTS! Another thing – Glühwein (mulled wine). I don’t know that it’s really such a big drink in Australia (the first time I ever had it was in Germany last year), but as a Christmas-time drink, it definitely makes more sense over here – you can use the mug as a very effective hand warmer, then once you drink it you’re all toasty on the inside too. It’s amazing and delicious.

I’ve been to a few Christmas markets now – Heidelberg (which has seven separate sections, including an ice-skating rink, and one up at the castle (though that one might have ended now)), Stuttgart (which was so gigantically huge and more what I expected a Christmas market to be like), Ludwigsburg (which is where my host parents from January and February live and was lovely), and Nürnberg (which is the most famous in Germany but I didn’t like it that much).

Stuttgart Weihnachtsmarkt

It is just lovely to walk through the town and smell crepes and Glühwein, and to see all the pretty greenery (Advent wreaths – other than at churches, are they a thing in Australia? I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many before). I feel like towns/ cities here go to more effort for Christmas decorating. I mean, we do have a giant Father Christmas on… oh gosh what building is it even on?? I want to say David Jones… is that right? Eek. And there’s the Christmas pageant, but there are lights EVERYWHERE here, and sure, there’s a Christmas market, but even without it I think there would be more decorations here. I think it’s really nice how much effort people go to, and how wonderful and shiny the town looks.

I am very sad to be missing out on Christmas at home, and also the traditional picnic at Carols by Candlelight  (especially as I think there’s only been one year that we haven’t gone since we started in 2004), and jealous of everyone who doesn’t live a $2000/ 48-hour return plane trip from their home.

Speaking of spending ages on planes for a short amount of time at destination, Mum’s visit was wonderful, and I want to do a few posts with some photos of what we got up to. I’m so happy that she was able to come over, and so blessed to have such a wonderful family :)


*


** 

Do you remember that email that went around a while ago that said

Gmäeß eneir Sutide eneir elgnihcesn Uvinisterät ist es nchit witihcg, in wlecehr Rneflogheie die Bstachuebn in eneim Wrot snid, das ezniige, was wcthiig ist, ist dsas der estre und der leztte Bstabchue an der ritihcegn Pstoiion sehten. Der Rset knan ttoaelr Bsinöldn sien, todzterm knan man ihn onhe Pemoblre lseen. Das legit daarn, dsas wir nihct jeedn Bstachuebn enzelin leesn, snderon das Wrot als Gnaezs.

No, me neither... but I could READ THAT, even though it's in German and the letters aren't in the right order. Clearly it's the same text as:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

But um, when did I get so good at German that I could read that sort of thing?!


LARGE GRIN ON FACE :D