Saturday, June 02, 2007

Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand

Who would have thought, when I first heard The Beatles sing 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' in the winter of 1963, that my son's German class would be singing Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand, the German version of the song, in their year-end German School concert today, nearly 44 years later. My son had plunked himself up in the audience, hoping that no-one would notice his absence from the group, but his teacher did notice, corralled him, and having no way out he pretended to sing along. Good for her! Teenage boys worry too much about being 'cool.'

On the way out, after the concert, Zach and I bought some Torte to take home with us, then went to an A&W for lunch. I'm glad that A&W is back on the scene again. I have a lot of fond memories of eating Teen Burgers and onion rings, and drinking their famous root beer from back in my own teenage years.

And that was it. Another year of German School is over. Next fall, Zach will be entering grade eleven in German School and grade ten in his French Immersion school. What was I doing at that age? I don't remember much from those years. I was going to a high school in Port Colborne, Ontario, at the time, and hated it. I didn't really come alive until a couple of years later, after we all moved to St. Catharines. Different friends, more opportunities, more anonymity when I wanted it, all these factors co-operated to give me a much better life than I had had in Port Colborne.

I wonder what Zach will reflect back on when he is my age.

5 comments:

  1. I'd love to hear "I Wanna Hold YOur Hand" in German. Also "Do It In The Road" would really be something special.

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  2. Here it is, Hearts, sung by the Fab Four themselves: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_67gZrLH2Wo.

    And, "Do it in the Road," -- are you pulling my leg? I always enjoyed that little ditty myself, but imagined that I was the only one alive who did so.

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  3. "Do It In The Road" is definitely a good song to translate. I did it for my Russian class.

    Hm. Maybe I'll have to use that one to translate into Thai as well.

    :)


    Peace,


    ~Chani

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  4. My cousin said, over our Memorial Day weekend when I mentioned many toys I had as a kid are now in Antique Stores, that her children would say the following, "My mom had to hold HER cell phone."

    Don't you remember the phones with the long, spiral cords? My mother always had it stretched out across the stove as she cooked dinner, and that will always be an icon of my youth.

    I wish we still had A and W stands around here. I'd like a root beer and an order of onion rings right now!

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  5. The A&W is making a comeback in Canada. No more service to the car window, or anything like that, but there are outlets in malls and even a few free-standing buildings in various places.

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