We have been experiencing ´´high´´ temperatures the last week although it is not officially summer. Anyway, 25°C is worth celebrating, isn’t it? I cannot help but to think about all the things I want to do in summer.

I enjoy doing a lot of outdoor activities during the summer. There are many plans to do: Barbecues, hiking, trail running or camping. One of the things I enjoy the most is eating in terraces. It is quite relaxing, and you can take advantage of the nice temperature.  However, warm weather is better handled when there is water around. That is why the Isar is my favorite place to go. I like more the beach than the river. But since we do not have beaches close to Munich, the Isar is a great alternative. The Isar is crossing Bavaria and Tyrol in Austria. It is not very clear the meaning of its name. There are plenty of theories about possible explanations.

However, most of them summarized one idea in particular: flowing water. The Isar water is fed by the Alps. Therefore, its water is cold most of the time. The river represents a major attraction for tourists the whole year because of the broad amount of activities that can be done. It offers fishing, rafting, sunbathing and plenty of shorelines. The Eisbach is the most known stretch of the Isar. It is a two-kilometer journey that passes through the famous Englisch Garten.  This path of the river forms small waves that surfers use to practice their skills -all year long. The best thing is that people get in there and swim, allowing themselves to be guided by the river´s strength. I had the experience of doing it last year. I thought it was going to be easy. Unfortunately, it was harsher than I expected it. The whole point is to allow your body to float on the river´s surface until you can get out. Otherwise, you get stressed and you are afraid of getting drowned like I did -but without need. There is plenty of people doing it with you, and everybody seems to enjoy it. Summer is a really good time to experience new things and enjoy Munich. If you are new in town, I recommend you check out the Isar and get the best out of it in this great time of the year.

It has become very common online -everything, in the last couple of weeks. From Webinars, meetings, yoga sessions to a meditation retreat, this pandemic crisis has affected every single one of us. Unfortunately, it was very hard to predict this unprecedented scenario. However, it has been a wonderful relief to explore the unlimited sources that exist online nowadays.

Although the first week of my online course was face to face, I was not able to attend. Therefore, every single one of my classes has been online. It has been three or four so far – and I am loving it. I must admit, I was a little bit skeptical about the whole process at the beginning. I had so many questions as: How are we going to practice pronunciation? Am I going to have direct conversations with other students? Is my Wi-Fi going to be efficient enough for three hours?

I was unaware of how the application ´´Zoom´´ works. It has so many tools I never thought about and that I have been learning through the course. My favorite three tools you can use are:

The professor can share her screen, and she can make corrections or add texts to it. Therefore, she can correct grammar exercises that way. Moreover, she can also add a ´´white page´´ she can use as a board.

The students can be separated by the host into ´´break out groups´´ to practice speaking exercises (I found this very cool). The professor can jump in and out to answer questions.

Lastly, we can even have reactions and virtually raise our hands to answer specific questions! It often happens that we are all in mute while listening to some explanation. If you have any questions, you can click the raise-hand button, and the professor will call you out to speak. Isn’t it great?

The more classes we have, the easier it gets. Fortunately, I have not had any problems with my Wi-Fi neither.  

If you are in an online course and you did not know about any of these tools, feel free to explore it or discuss it with your professor!

😊

Vor zwei Wochen habe ich etwas gesehen, das ich in Indien nicht gesehen hätte.
Sag hallo zum Osterhasen!

Ich wusste nicht viel über den Osterhasen, bis ich dieses Jahr sah, dass Fenster fast aller Geschäfte mit Osterhasen oder Eiern gefüllt sind. Ich habe gewusst, dass der Osterhase jemand wie der Weihnachtsmann der Frühlingssaison ist, wen niemand gewesen ist und wer Kindern Geschenke bringt. Ich denke, es ist nur ein weiterer Grund, Kindern Geschenke, vor allem Schokolade, zu geben. Ich sah so viele Schokoladen in Form von Häschen. Es gab rosa Osterhase Pralinen für die Mädchen und blaue Osterhase Pralinen für die Jungen und eine Marke der Schokolade hatte verschiedene Größen von golden verpackten Osterhasen Pralinen. Ich sah Leute, die Dekorationen von Eiern und Osterhasen in ihren Häusern aufstellten. Meine Nichte und Neffe bemalten Eier (sowohl Plastik- als auch echte Eierschalen) und legten sie auf eine Pflanze, die wir in unserem Wohnzimmer haben.

Aber der Osterhase ist nicht in der Bibel! Wie kam es dann zu Ostern? Ein bisschen Internetsuche hat mir gezeigt, dass viele Deutsche in dieser Zeit gefastet haben und keine Eier gegessen haben. Gegen Ende des Fastens feiern sie, indem sie viele Eier essen. Und als Zeichen der Feierlichkeit färbten die Kinder die Eier. Natürlich wurde eine Legende eingefügt, um sicherzustellen, dass sich die Kinder benahmen, dass der Esserhase beurteilen würde, ob sie gute oder schlechte Kinder waren. Jetzt fasten die meisten nicht, aber der Osterhase und die Eier sind immer noch ein großer Teil von Ostern!

Nun, wie ist es wichtig, wenn Kinder glücklich sind? Meine 7-jährige Nichte weiß immer noch nicht, dass der Osterhase ein Mythos ist. Sie legte eine Liste für den Osterhasen an und als sie alle Gegenstände auf der Liste hatte, sagte sie zu ihren Eltern: “Ist es nicht gut, dass der Osterhase das alles hat? Sonst hättest du Geld für den Kauf ausgeben müssen. All das! Ich habe ihm die Liste gegeben, damit ich dir das Geld sparen kann! ”

Oh, lieber Gott!

Pragya

Hi, ich heiße Aleksandar. Ich bin 24 Jahre alt und komme aus Serbien. Ich bin Krankenpfleger von Beruf, zurzeit wohne ich in München und besuche intesiven Deutschkurs in Deutschakademie.

Every beginning is hard, because of that we should be with right people at this point. I choose DAK because of that. People who work here are young, also very professional, and aware how hard this beginning is for us. Our teacher is leading us step by step, on class we use only German language, first it was funny, but after some time you are getting more familiar with most of the words people are using every day. My opinion is that this is the best and the fastest way to learn German. I am now at A 1.1 level, this week we are finishing it up and starting next A 1.2 level.

Greetings!