Looking for a penpal? ;-)

[Constance]

Hello to the English-speaking world,

My name is Melanie and I am from Cologne in the western part of Germany. I lived in America for a while but I moved back approximately three years ago and I miss speaking English (other than in my English class anyway).

I would very much like to get in touch with native speakers though of course I would be glad to speak English with Germans or people of any other nationality as well. Unfortuntately I cannot install icq or aim at the moment- I can offer gmail chat if that is any help - and suggest that we write mails. Don't hesitate to correct any mistakes I make! I'd be willing to help with your German (or French) in return.

To give you an inkling of my interests: I like to meet my friends, read (Ken Follett for one), write, do sports (karate, biking and jogging -whenever I get around to it-) and watch movies. Most of all I love to travel and meet people from other countries (favorites are California- I know, not a country but America is soo big- and France) and to get to know their cultures.

Well, if you are interested, just write to my email address. Hope to hear from you guys,

Melanie

[Gast]

Hi Melanie,

Would you mind telling me something about your nickname? I was kind of confused when I read it cause I thought Constance would be your name...

I'm very glad to hear that you are doing karate (- Im doing karate myself ). I already thought I would be the only one here doing karate . Which "kyu" do you have?

Hope you enjoy it here
Martin

[Constance]

Well...my nickname. Interesting story. I started to learn French when I still lived in California and we sort of 'adopted' French names in our class. We were only addressed by those names. I really liked Constance and still do and I somehow stuck to it.

I am a green belt with black stripe. I know that is somewhat unusual for Germany (in any case they do not have black stripes in the class I now go to): it is the level between the green and the blue belt, just for the record. How about you?

Melanie

[Gast]

I have the brown belt (3rd kyu). What kind of Karate are you practising then?

[Constance]

Well, well.. good for you. My new classes are in Shotokan karate but I started with Golden Eagle Martial Arts.

[Gast]

Well, I'm pratctising Shotokan-Karate, too. Are there any big differences between it and "Golden Eagle Martial Arts" ?

[Constance]

Lots of them. It is probably a little different from class to class. If you are really interested I might be able to send you some of my old schedules. The techniques and katas are slightly different though you have to do sparring etc. for every testing as well. We did throws and the higher belts learned aspects from other martial arts (judo and aikido)- Difficult to explain just now.

Melanie

[Gast]

We are much more traditional: We are (nearly) never practising throws or self-defense. In the summer holidays there will be the "Gasshuku" in Immenstadt; do you know it? are you going to come?

[Constance]

To be quite honest I have no idea what a Gasshuku is. I will be in Spain with my friend for the first two weeks. What is a Gasshuku? When is ist? Where is Immenstadt? Far from Cologne? Sorry, but sadly my geography skills are pretty lousy.

[Gast]

You don't have to worry because of not knowing where Immenstadt is; I think nobody here knows where to find Immenstadt; It is located near Kempten - (Bavaria) and I'm living there.

Gasshuku is a very big, international seminar and about 1000 karatekas are supposed to come and train there.

[Constance]

Good, I got away with it this time. The seminar sounds like a lot of fun, but if it is in Bavaria, it is probably a little too far. They always have work shops on offer around June, though they are definitely smaller than a thousand people. Have you ever seen "Crouching tiger, hidden Dragon?" -just because we are on the martial arts topic-?

Melanie

[Gast]

no, never heard about that one before. what is it about?

[Constance]

It is somewhat like a tale and set in ancient China. Hard to explain. I don't want to tell you how it turns out either, in case you might watch it. The girl is the one from Hero, though I didn't like that movie too much. Anyways, Crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon or in German "Tiger and Dragon" I can only recommend. Gorgeous.

[Gast]

Ah, sorry I couln'd connect any ideas with "Crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon", bust I've definetly seen "Tiger and Dragon"

I think this movie is quite good and it's a lot of fun to watch it, although it's not that realistic.

[Constance]

hey,

I'm so excited. A friend of mine wrote me an email that she has -well, more or less spontaneouly- decided to come to Europe, Germany and Switzerland that is- for two months.

They're all done with finals and SAT's over there now. Speaking of which, I think I read sth about being able to take the exams more than once. Does that mean you can take them as often as you'd like until you get a good test score??

Nicole is Swiss, by the way. But we speak English. That will give me a good boost, I hope. It was her who taught me English in the first place. (fifth grade by the way.) She's got family in Switzerland which is why she gets to come to Europe pretty often. Have you got any bright ideas on what there is to do in Germany? Go to Cologne.

We just had a one period review on tenses in English. Terrible. I don't know much about grammar and a lot less about terms and definitions. ah.

I think this movie is quite good and it's a lot of fun to watch it, although it's not that realistic.

'Tiger and Dragon' might not me realistic, but I love it. I love the soundtrack, the actors. etc.

General QUestion: What do you guys think about the movie about one of the planes of 9/11? I think it is the one that was aimed at the Pentagon. Would you go to see it?

Mel[/quote]