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Andreas

cooby Oct 19 2005 07:34 AM

This isn't really a personal achievement, but something I have been looking forward to for almost a year... We are getting a foreign exchange student from Germany for two weeks! We pick him up at the State College airport on Friday evening. I hope he speaks English, because I know not a word of German, not even "hello". Next summer, my son will go to Germany for two weeks and stay with Andreas' family, thus the "exchange". While the German group is here, they will visit Penns Cave (See It By Boat!); Lycoming Mall; Penn State University; Lock Haven University; a Chinese restaurant; Walmart; Hyner View (excellent this time of year) and the local Amish communities. They will also spend three days at school with their host students. I was hoping he would get to swim, but alas, our pool started filling up with leaves and acorns (and dead critters) so we had to close it. On Oct 29, they will take a tour of New York City, along with our kids so be on the lookout! I have been busy trying to think of American meals to serve, so if anybody has any suggestions, I'll take them! :)

Johnny Dickshot Oct 19 2005 07:45 AM

Neato. They already have Wal-Marts in Germany, so don't waste the kid's time (or deutschemarks).

ScarletKnight41 Oct 19 2005 07:52 AM

To me, these are pretty All-American meals - Franks and Beans Macaroni and Cheese Chicken & Dumplings Chicken Pot Pie Have fun with Andreas :)

Edgy DC Oct 19 2005 08:10 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Oct 19 2005 08:32 AM

Outfit him in Mets garb and regale him with tales of Ron Gardenhire, the great German-born Met. Other Mets possibly of the various Germanic ethnicities (Teutons, Bavarians, Swiss Germans, Hessians, Alsatiians, um... Luxemburgers): Rich Becker Orel Hershiser Bobby Klaus Jason Isringhausen Bret Saberhagen Rusty Staub The Paul Assenmacher Effect: A German with a name so long that it arches around the player's back and beneath his shoulder blades will tend to be a pitcher.

Frayed Knot Oct 19 2005 08:20 AM

Aren't you afraid of an earthquake while he's visiting? Because the way I understand it, all the ones out in Califormia occur due to his fault.

ScarletKnight41 Oct 19 2005 08:35 AM

Fried chicken and corn on the cob are also pretty American.

Willets Point Oct 19 2005 08:50 AM

Cooby, some greetings for you: "Guten tag" (GOOT-en tawg) = "Good day" If Andreas is from Bavaria (the southern part of Germany) you can also say "Grusse Gott" (Grews Got) which means something like God's blessings but is a common greeting in that region. Make sure you explain your Tim Teufel posters or he might think you worship the Devil.

SwitchHitter Oct 19 2005 09:39 AM

This sounds exciting. You said they're going to a Chinese restaurant. Does that mean ethnic American food is okay? If so, I've got a great recipe for chicken and sausage gumbo that I posted to another forum and can copy & paste over here.

cooby Oct 19 2005 11:44 AM

Thanks, those sound like good meals, Annie, of course I would like your recipe! Trust me, it's not my idea to go to Walmart, I'd take him to Kmart :) Tim Tuefel? He's a wuss! Edgy, I'll put all my Mets gear in that room and see if he catches on! And if we have an earthquake, I'll tell him we have them in America all the time... Guten Tag, guten tag, guten tag....

SwitchHitter Oct 19 2005 12:19 PM

Chicken and Sausage Gumbo 2 cups white rice, cooked 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken tenders, diced salt and freshly-ground black pepper to taste 2 teaspoons poultry seasoning 1 pound Andouille sausage, casings removed, diced 3 tablespoons butter 3 ribs celery, chopped 2 green bell peppers, seeded and diced 1 large onion, chopped 2 bay leaves, fresh or dried 2 tablespoons red pepper sauce 3 tablespoons flour 1 quart chicken stock or broth 2 cups chopped okra, fresh or frozen and defrosted 1 14 oz. can crushed tomatoes 1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes 2 - 3 fresh thyme sprigs, chopped 5 thinly sliced scallions, optional heat olive oil in large heavey-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add chicken and salt and pepper and poultry seasoning. Brown the chicken on all sides. Add the sausage and cook an additional minute or two. Transfer chicken and sausage to a dish. Melt the butter and add the celery, peppers, onion and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper and hot sauce. Cook 3-5 minutes to begin to soften veggies. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add okra to the boiling broth, then return the chicken and sausage to the pot and stir in tomatoes and half of the fresh thyme. When it's bubbling, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes to combine flavors, then adjust your seasoning. Serve in bowls with a scoop of rice on top and sprinkled with the rest of the thyme and the scallions. For a less spicy gumbo, you can use regular smoked sausage instead of the Andouille. That's the way I make it for my family because the younger ones don't like spicy food.

cooby Oct 19 2005 12:46 PM

Sounds good! :) I'm not a sausage lover, does it work without it?

Benjamin Grimm Oct 19 2005 12:56 PM

It's not true gumbo without the sausage, but you could try smoked ham as a substitute, if you think you'd like that better.

cooby Oct 19 2005 12:59 PM

Whoops, that's true, I hope Annie doesn't notice my silly question...

silverdsl Oct 19 2005 01:03 PM Re: Andreas

cooby wrote: We are getting a foreign exchange student from Germany for two weeks! We pick him up at the State College airport on Friday evening. I hope he speaks English, because I know not a word of German, not even "hello". They don't tell you in advance? Yikes! I immediately think of apple pie when I think of an all-American food. I hope everything goes well with your exchange student!

metirish Oct 19 2005 02:18 PM

The Soccer World Cup will be held in Germany next summer, tell him you think Michael Ballack is like the best midfield player in the world, although you should find out what club side he likes, Ballack is captain of Bayern Munich......

cooby Oct 19 2005 03:00 PM

although you should find out what club side he likes, Ballack is captain of Bayern Munich That would probably be wise, it would be like if he came over and sung the praises of the Braves, thinking we MUST like them since they are America's Team, haha

Willets Point Oct 19 2005 03:57 PM

Oliver Kahn is a kickass goalie for the German national team and Bayern Munchen (last I checked) although I'm respectful yet better about how he pretty much single-handedly stopped the USA from advancing to the semifinals in the last World Cup. Maren Meinert was my favorite Boston Breakers player and helped Germany win the Womens World Cup in 2003. This is probably all irrelevant to Cooby.

cooby Oct 19 2005 05:27 PM

Apple pie, great idea! Au contraire, Willets (I wonder how you say that in German), I have to live with this kid for 12 days, I will need stuff to talk about...

Benjamin Grimm Oct 19 2005 05:40 PM

Keep in mind, cooby, that he's not coming to the US to have you talk to him about Germany. He wants to learn about the US. You talk to him about what you know, and ask him about Germany so that you can learn from him. Imagine going to visit a family in Germany and having them tell you that they've heard all about the big breakup of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Seed, and that they love Slurpees, and can't wait to find out who shot J.R. Him coming here and having you name drop the names of German soccer stars would probably be pretty tedious for him.

cooby Oct 19 2005 05:58 PM

Very true, and since I have never heard of them before, I'll bet he'll know I've been coached (Brad Seed, that's very funny!)

SwitchHitter Oct 20 2005 01:11 AM

Actually, it's the okra that makes it gumbo. You can substitute the meats out. For seafood gumbo, get some peeled, deveined shrimp and season them with Old Bay or whatever it's called. Ham should be fine and, like sausage, you don't have to season it before you put it in. Also, be careful what hot sauce you use. Some are spicier than others. We use Tabasco or Emeril's Kick It Up sauce

cooby Oct 20 2005 07:40 AM

I'm not sure I've ever seen okra in our supermarket... :o)

Benjamin Grimm Oct 20 2005 07:44 AM

Fresh okra is hard to find in the north, but I've never had trouble getting finding it in the frozen vegetable section.

Willets Point Oct 20 2005 08:48 AM

Mmm...Okra. I had some excellent pickled okra courtesy of my Virginia step-relatives.

cooby Oct 22 2005 11:37 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Nov 11 2005 08:02 PM

Sweet kid, very friendly, polite, always smiling. No language barrier at all, he speaks perfect English. Have not had an opportunity to cook for him yet; they ate in Washington during a layover. They are presently at a pizza party, the trip to Hyner Lookout having been rained out. Brought us gifts -- for my husband, a very nice ceramic beer stein; for me, a pretty tapestry St. Nicholas pillow; and for Tony, a beer glass filled with beer colored gummi candy nuggets**, topped with foamy gummi candy! I know that the beer drinking youth of Germany is one of the intriguing things to our American kids, who constantly (and correctly, I suppose) have abstinence crammed down their throats, so the reality of these perfectly normal, beer drinking 16 and 17 year olds is, I'm sure a highlight to them (yes, next year in Germany, our kids are allowed to drink beer, if we sign a permission form) Sitting at the airport last night at 5:50, no plane from Philadelphia was scheduled for six, nobody there that we knew , and I was starting to worry that maybe we were supposed to be sitting at the airport in Montoursville, but then people started to arrive from Lock Haven and we found out there was a slight change in flight schedule that we had not heard about. At 6:40 a group of smiling, tired European youth and their teacher arrived, along with a few crabby central Pennsylvanians. It was neat. **They are also beer flavored

ScarletKnight41 Oct 22 2005 12:17 PM

Glad to hear that Andreas is a nice kid. I hope he has a good visit. And remember, Don't Mention the War! (It's a reference from Fawlty Towers, fyi)

Willets Point Oct 22 2005 12:49 PM

ScarletKnight41 wrote: And remember, Don't Mention the War! I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it all right.

ScarletKnight41 Oct 24 2005 06:25 PM

So, how is Andreas doing? Is he enjoying his visit? Are you and your family enjoying having him around?

cooby Oct 25 2005 08:35 AM

Well, I lost one of his socks in the laundry, I guess that makes him one of the family...

Benjamin Grimm Oct 25 2005 08:42 AM

I hope this doesn't spark an international incident.

cooby Oct 25 2005 08:52 AM

Me too :( He just said "it doesn't matter..." He was smiling, at least

Benjamin Grimm Oct 25 2005 09:15 AM

You'd better alert the State Department, just in case.

cooby Oct 26 2005 07:28 AM

My son may have finally met his match in Pepsi consumption... My cat keeps wistfully looking into her big sister's bedroom, wondering why it has boy stuff in it . Yesterday they went to Penn State, where they got three inches of snow. Welcome to PA, swimming and shoveling all in one month! Today is Amish market day. The Walmart trip and Chinese restaurant seem to have been eliminated from the itinerary

ScarletKnight41 Nov 01 2005 06:56 AM

So, how's the visit going? How much longer is Andreas staying? What did he think about Halloween?

cooby Nov 01 2005 07:00 AM

Well, he was going to go to the Halloween parade in town but Mrs Parks never showed up for him. So then he went with Tony to do whatever he was doing, and five minutes later he was back because he had a big project to work on. So he was home with us while trick or treaters came, but was busy. Eh, he's 17, I doubt that it was a big thrill. Have not lost any more socks, but am a little befuddled by German washing instructions. He leaves Thursday morning for another day in NYC and then home Friday.

ScarletKnight41 Nov 01 2005 07:34 AM

Please describe German washing instructions? How do they differ from ours?

cooby Nov 01 2005 08:04 AM

I guess I would have to say the main difference is that I can't read them

ScarletKnight41 Nov 01 2005 08:37 AM

Oh. I thought that perhaps they gave you very, very specific orders as to how to wash them.

Edgy DC Nov 01 2005 08:41 AM

I used to be in the garment industry. Specifically, I was label manager for J. Crew. (I know. Don't ask.) While there, I learned the wonderful heiroglyphic language of international wash instructions. Hopefully there are few of these on Karl-Heinz's labels.

Willets Point Nov 01 2005 08:48 AM

Are those temperatures Fareinheit or Centigrade? Not too international either way.

cooby Nov 01 2005 12:48 PM

heh, I thought this one meant don't put in the dryer:

cooby Nov 03 2005 08:41 AM

He's gone :( The bus left promptly this morning at 6:05 am. They'll be spending Thursday and Friday touring in NYC, so if you're there and see a bunch German youths, maybe he'll be one of them. He's there by now, in fact. Some things we learned from him: You can drink beer at 16, but you may not drive until you are 18. By the time you earn your license, you have spent close to $1000! That will pay for your permit, lessons, and your driving test (which if you fail, you of course pay to take it again) He is very impressed with the highway system here, you just pop on a four or six lane and be where you want to be in next to no time. McDonald's here is better because they cook the hamburgers fresh and don't let them sit all day! A very nice kid, we will miss him.

Willets Point Nov 03 2005 09:26 AM

] You can drink beer at 16, but you may not drive until you are 18. This makes a lot of sense actually.

cooby Nov 03 2005 10:30 AM

That’s what I said… He told us about their youth group – it meets after school on Fridays, because they only have a half day of school on Fridays. They took an area of their building and fixed it up to make a pub! So that’s what they do after school on Fridays, meet in this pub. He said the police keep an eye on it though, because the 14 year olds were sneaking vodka in, and they are too young to drink, you know.

cooby Mar 01 2006 08:27 AM

Today in the mail we got a letter from my son's German teacher regarding their trip to Europe in June. I was laughing to myself about the childish way she addressed the envelope until I realized it was my son's handwriting

cooby Jun 07 2006 09:21 PM

Next Thursday is the long awaited day. The kids will be in Germany for a great deal of the World Cup. http://english.buchen.de/touristik/worldcup2006.php They'll be staying with their host families (Tony with Andreas' family) in Buchen and also touring other areas of Germany and spending a couple of nights in Munich. http://english.buchen.de/aktuelles/pictures/ Pretty town They'll be going to Austria, as well. I will miss him.

ScarletKnight41 Jun 07 2006 09:28 PM

Very cool - I'm sure he'll have a great time :)

cooby Jun 10 2006 07:48 AM

I just hope that whoever is in charge of making hotels reservations in Munich has already done so, because it sounds as though the country will be teeming with soccor fans!

cooby Aug 03 2006 11:12 AM

Not sure how long this link will last http://www.lockhaven.com/express/News/articles.asp?articleID=3553

Johnny Dickshot Aug 03 2006 11:55 AM

Dig that rock-star 'do.

cooby Aug 03 2006 12:28 PM

Thanks, it's really pretty; even my parents don't want him to cut it