Activities Report for the 2009 Edelweiss Club Annual General Meeting

As you may know, I have been coordinating activities at the Club and have had challenges having my activities promoted by the club on the web site and in the newsletter. I'm happy to say that things are improving in these areas, and those who have been attending have had a good time, but I would like to see more people give the activities a try--they just might be surprised to learn what the activities really are about.

German Games Night

This activity has been successful in bringing a diverse group of people together three times a month throughout the winter and early spring, with German speakers both native and learners. Everybody who has come has made new friends!

A typical evening includes playing two games--usually a board game which takes 2-3 hours, and then a shorter game to wind things down.

I've been pleased that Germans visiting Victoria have discovered this activity. A little disappointing is that attendance by German learners has been low, meaning that there is indeed room for growth. I would like to see more German students from UVic and the German school give game playing a try as means of using the language they are learning and have fun doing it.

I plan to continue organizing this activity throughout the year, and I would like to see more people give the activity a try--there is more to German board games than "Mensch Ärgere Dich Nicht"!

Fußballfreunde Deutschland & Football Friends Germany

Participation in this event has been low and I've reduced the frequency to once per month, down from two. I am continuing presentations on the bar's screen from my significant library of football-related films and I've also recently been able to present current football programming from German television. Fußballfreunde Deutschland is a great opportunity to watch and discuss current and past events in German football!

TV German Aktuell

This program has seen little participation but I plan to continue it once a month on Wednesdays. I present entertaining and informative documentaries and news programs, and occasionally a short film, giving us a chance to hear German spoken and also to discuss the program during and afterwards. Something I have in mind for the future is to show movies which have been dubbed into German, with German subtitles, in order to give people more opportunities to practice their German in the company of other speakers.

Amazon.de Ordering Group

During the year, sometime in advance of Christmas, I will be placing an order from Amazon.de for books, CDs, DVDs, calendars, board games and other things Amazon.de sells, and anyone interested is welcome to take part in an order. This is not a business venture--the aim of making the order larger is to save money on shipping, and ordering via Amazon.de is quite economical once an order gets over 100 € or so. This is a great opportunity for people to get a nice item from Germany who aren't able to find it via other means. Amazon.de has a huge selection--have a look!

German Games Night Update

I'm glad to say that German Games Night is going strong, with 3-5 people attending regularly. We've recently played games of Zug um Zug Märklin, Ausgerechnet Buxtehude, Die Siedler von Catan-Deutschland, Anno Domini, and a couple very interesting sessions of Das Große GEO-Quiz.

I'd like to thank Larissa, Hermann, Ingrid, Ian, Tessa, Ronny, John, Stefan and Laura for their enthusiasm playing and helping me set up and clean up afterwards. I'm really enjoying teaching the games and having the chance to speak German, and I hope you're having as much fun playing the games as I am.

I've been busy obtaining more games via a friend in Germany, and I will be writing about them once they're on their way here.

Mit spielerischen Grüßen
Michael

Fußballfreunde Deutschland 10. März

Tonight's feature presentation was the documentary Im Westen ging die Sonne auf, featuring interviews and footage about football in the Ruhr region of Germany. At 84 minutes, I found it a little overlong, but it definitely described the passion that Germans and Ruhr residents in particular have for football.

Interesting, of course is the contrast between the pre-Bundesliga 1950s and today, with the 1950s being the glory days, and how the sport reflects social and economic conditions of the times. Interesting to learn was how the Währungsreform in the early days of the Bundesrepublik may have helped lead to the decline of football in the Ruhr region.

Im Westen ging die Sonne auf is part of a series of football films I'm presenting at Fußballfreunde Deutschland, I hope you'll make an effort to attend a film in the future.