TuNewsDay

I am indulging my lazy side this evening. Last night was the team Christmas party, and I am a bit 'tired' today. It was such a fun time and, I might add, well worth the sluggishness today. I haven't laughed that hard or much in a long while!

So, I thought for today's entry, that it might be interesting to share some Deutsch news tidbits with you. These are stories that most likely get little to no press coverage in North America and will hopefully be somewhat entertaining at the very least. It is just a glimpse of the news coverage over here in the Fatherland. Plus, it means I don't have to write as much, lol.

Just like the American Mid-West right now (and, well, Canada 364.5 days of the year), much of Europe and the UK has come to a standstill after an unseemly amount of snow engulfed the continent this past week. It hasn't hit us too bad where we are this year. The Bodensee - or Lake Constance - keeps the weather a bit more stable...or at least has done that so far. In fact, we even had temps in the low 40s last night, and I was estatic! Wow, I need to get out more often.

Snow 1, Travelers 0

And this was only the beginning! 

Triple the amount in this picture, and you have an idea of the snow chaos in Europe

Here is a piece for my fellow North Americans abroad. Germany just announced "Wurbürger" as the word of the year. Now what exactly does that mean? "Enraged Citizen", and it defines so many of us at those especially trying times living in a foreign country. I think it can sum up some of my German experiences in 2010 in, well, one word. 

Germany Picks Word of the Year

It's ok, there are times when I too feel like I am taking crazy pills over here

This article actually made the homepage of Yahoo! news (must be a slow news day so far). It is about a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog in Germany that had seventeen puppies, seventeen! Poor momma! And this is her second litter. The first was a measly eight puppies. Take that Octomom (outdated reference anyone?!)

German Dog Gives Birth to Seventeen Pups

Hey, you have it easy, dog. 

CC of robin.elaine on Flickr

Any one who has spent anytime in Germany knows that dogs pretty much run the show over here. They are welcomed in restaurants, hotels, departments stores, coffee shops, and just about anywhere else you can think of. Regulations do at least draw the line at grocery stores and some bakeries. But still, it is a little ridiculous. It's not that I don't love dogs, because i certainly am an animal lover (check out two posts previous and you will see that that is quite obvious). I think that it is just that I am not used to seeing dogs shed wads hair in the middle of a restaurant as I try not to imagine the fluff drifting over into my salad. Yuck!

Actually, it doesn't mention in the article where the puppies were born. But if I had to guess, I would say it was probably in the middle of fancy, 5-Star restaurant. NBD.