German Newspaper publishes an article about LVISMUN

The LVIS MUN was an astonish event and our German participants are still glad that they took the chance to be a part of this fabulous simulation.

German MUN participants
Newspaper article featuring the German MUN participants (5/11/2017)

The Straubinger Tagblatt, a local newspaper of our hometown Straubing, recently published an article describing the MUN and featuring the German participants. The picture shows the eleven German MUN students after they received their MUN certificates from the principal of the school.

 

Ways of greeting in India – “Culture shock reloaded”

Some readers and especially some colleagues told me that they want to read more about my “culture shock” experiences. They want to know more about “Dos and don’ts in India” because my first three experiences weren’t enough.

So let me tell you more about another part of Indian culture which seems to vary significantly from my German habits. It is the way how you greet somebody in India you don’t know yet.

The German approach
German handshake
A firm handshake

In Germany it is easy. You offer your hand for a firm handshake, look your “new friend” straight into the eyes and greet him or her with a nice “Grüß Gott” (a formal greeting in the southern part of Germany). In India things can be different and a little bit tricky.

Being on an exchange nobody would be offended if you greet your host parents the same way. They know that a foreigner is coming and they are familiar with this western kind of greeting ritual. But for greeting your exchange partner’s grandma or the school’s principal another strategy is recommended.

The Indian way
Namaste
Namaste!

The Indian word to greet somebody respectfully is “Namaste“. This words derives from Sanskrit and can be translated to “I bow to you”.  The right pronouncation of this word can be learned by watching this video. “Namaste” combined with a humble smile is never the wrong choice. If you want to be more formal while being introduced to an important guest or family member Continue reading “Ways of greeting in India – “Culture shock reloaded””

Day 7 – Astonishing Interview of Mr Madan Lal

Madan Lal Interview
Mr. Madan Lal during his interview in LVIS

Everybody knows how to play cricket. Even we German students from Johannes-Turmair-Gymnasium tried to play a match with our Indian friends. But such matches are only for fun. We wanted to know what it is like to play on a professional level. What do you need to get better and how can you stay focused so long.

During our exchange we got the chance to interview the former national cricket player Mr Madan Lal. He visited our school and explained us what it is like to be a professional athlete. He also emphasized strongly the importance of school sports and reminded our students to stay focused if they want to be successful in live.

A short part of the interview with Mr Madan Lal can be seen in the following video:

Der Profispieler Mr Madan Lal beim Interview

Can we fix it? Yes, we can!

We can fix it

Dear visitor,

what a shock! When you tried to reach our blog yesterday you only got to see an ugly error code. Of course we noticed this problem immediately and switched to a homepage version which worked fine but didn’t display any galleries.

Our restless service team (of 1 person) didn’t sleep, tried its very best and now we can proudly present blog.indienaustausch.de as it should be.

We apologize for all inconveniences you had due to our downtime. If you still have a problem with certain articles feel free to drop a comment here.

Thanks for your patience

Your whole blog.indienaustausch.de team

Day 15 – Rope Skipping is faster than the eye

At the last day of our stay in India we examined our schedule a little closer. In between the announcements of the Farewell Dinner and the Farewell Assembly we found the word “rope skipping”.
Hmm. That shouldn’t be too difficult. And we were looking forward to showing what our exchange participants can do with a rope. But what we got to see was much more than we expected.
 
The show

When we entered the assembly hall 6 athletes of the Indian Rope Skipping Federation were already waiting there. They placed their skipping ropes in a certain pattern at the floor. All of the ropes were in different colours, at different lengths and were weighted with small plastic pieces.  Only because of these pieces we were able to see the fast motions later. 

Mandatory speeches were hold and after some time the breath taking show finally started:

Seilspringprofis
The after party

During lunch the athletes told us about their sport life: Daily training sessions, weekends filled with tournaments and always new ideas to  try and new moves to learn. There is also some rumor that the German teachers tried some of the tricks. But unfortunately there are no pictures or videos available to proof such a session 😉

Day 15 – A German interpretation of Indian sports

Three days before our departure our creativity was challenged once more. LVIS is applying for the International School award and therefore the German students of Johannes-Turmair-Gymnasium had to create and to perform a skit during the farewell assembly. We are still not sure how a German play about Indian sports is connected to a British award but of course we were glad to help.

After some research on the net we decided to interpret the poem “sports” by Rahul Travasso and of course all exchange participants had to take part. 

So enjoy our unique sport skit: