Names

Oma has come to visit, and she's brought a pal, Frau Kaiser.

This introduces one of those bizarre name problems that Germans have. S and the boys call Frau Kaiser, Frau Kaiser. I'm not sure what Oma calls her. But the question is, what does she call S? She can't call her S, because that's too informal. But she can't call her Frau H, because that's Oma. And that's too formal, when Frau K is older. And S isn't Frau H. She is Frau Dr H.

The solution is that Frau Kaiser doesn't speak to S directly, she can only address her through Oma. As in "Does your daughter want sugar?"

Frau K has yet to address me, partly because she doesn't speak much English, but mostly because (I suspect) she has no idea what to call me.

We were in a shop today (The Pinata Store, but that's another blog entry), and after I paid, the woman serving had looked at my credit card and said "Thanks Jeremy". It's like another country. Oh, hang on, it is.