One of the interesting points of German culture is their love of board games. One of the Canadians in our group, has a passion for board games, even to the extent of visiting Board Game Expos. In any case, a game night is a great way to get people together for something friendly, innocent, and fun, and so that is what we did last night. Twelve of us or so, with wine glasses and munchies, gathered at our kitchen table or on the floor for Bohnanza and San Marco.
Which brings me to some interesting topics in International Drinking Theory:
1) If the wine bottle empties in your glass, you must make a wish, blow it into the bottle, and close it up in there with the cork [Russian/Ukranian]; and 2) If you are drinking Weißbier, not only does one chink their glass from the bottom (as opposed to the top rim with other beers), the men cheer the men first, then the woman [Bavarian]; 3) It’s bad luck luck to light a tea candle from another candle [French].
Memorable quotes from the evening:
A propos Apfelkirsche – “Did we buy church juice again? Church juice is so much better with mosque..”
UPDATE: Matthias took some great shots of the evening. You can see them here.
I never realized I should be culturally predisposed to board games, but thanks for clearing that up 😉 It’s amazing how many articles on German board games (and German-style board games) there are on the English Wikipedia! I thought only characters from Battlestar Galactica received such treatment.
It should be Matthias, dear ^^
Good to here, that you had a nice evening!
Uh, board games. 🙂 I love board games. And before you told me I hadn’t known it was a German thing, either…
And game expos? 😀 😀 😀 I think they make me very happy.. especially this one: http://www.merz-verlag.com/spiel/e070.php4 (well.. I admit it is the only one I’ve ever been to , but still.. 😉 ) Too bad we just missed it this year!
So here are some of my favorites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_encounter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RoboRally
http://www.io.com/~beckerdo/games/reviews/RicochetRobotReview.html
Sorry ’bout that, will change immediately 🙂
And my friends over in the US really liked your photos, btw.
Maybe I should also point out that I came to Germany with absolutely no preconceptions about Germans and German culture. Therefore, I am a sponge for all new and interesting stereotypes, whether true or not. I was certainly exposed to many of them in the German Sprachkurs. However, since none of them actually turn out to be true, I always post with a slightly ironic little laugh.
I should also mention that I first discovered this particular trait during that same Sprachkurs. Namely, they had a whole evening devoted to board games for all the foreign students, and it was almost stunning imagining all those young people getting together expressly for such an evening.