A House in Germany

 
 
 

Vocabulary

loggia	Medieval	merchant
invite	overseas	as is often the case
case	patrician	seamless
seam	share (2)	distinguished
rectory	mixture	combination
desire	prepare	dream (2)
wish	carry on	combination
greet	wedding	work out (2)
tasteful	sausage	distinguish
angel	Baroque	come true
hover	welcome	in general
folk	common	continuity

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

Old Regensburg, 24 churches.

Hello. My name is Rita Grafta, and I live here in this medieval, patrician house.

And now I’d like to invite you to see my living room, so please come in.

Welcome.

So this is our living room. We have guests today, as is often the case. These are my dear friends.

This living room is more than 700 years old. Rich, patrician families lived here. Overseas merchants, and carrying on from that in seamless continuity, other distinguished people.

It’s still popular to relax in here in an old room like this.

It’s a combination of the historical with the modern, very tasteful. The moment you enter the room, you feel at home. And I like that.

You won’t believe this, but it’s true: as a young girl, I dreamed of moving into this house when I got married. It was always my wish and my desire.

It didn’t come true during my first marriage, but it worked out with the second one.

This is a photo of my second husband and me on our wedding day. We got married five years ago.

Sharing a home meant that we combined both our households and this mixture of styles was the result.

Rita: “So finally the sausages are ready and they’re prepared the French way.”

This is a beautiful Baroque angel from my uncle’s rectory. I’m Catholic, and I’ve loved this angel since I was a child. I think it sparked my love of angels in general. You see they’re all over the place, hovering everywhere.

They’re my guardian angels.

Angels couldn’t be lovelier.

This loggia was built in the Italian style. And here’s where the rich, patrician family presented itself, and greeted the common folk down the street.

I do that too sometimes . . . not greet the general populace, but my dear friends.

Goodbye. Until next time in lovely Regensburg. Take care.

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Questions

1. Is Rita a lonely person?

2. Her house is new. True or false?

3. Many different people have lived in Rita’s house. Is this right or wrong? Were they farmers and craftsmen?

4. Are the decorations and furniture new and modern or old and traditional, or a combination of both?

5. Did Rita buy her house? Did she inherit it from her parents?

6. What is her favorite motif? Why does she like them?

7. She speaks on her balcony. Is this correct or incorrect?

 
 

A. Have you visited a very old house? What is the oldest house in your city?

B. Do you live in Germany? Are you from Germany? Have you visited Germany?

C. Have you met anyone from Germany? Who were they? What were they doing?

D. Describe the geography and climate of Germany.

E. Describe the economy. What does it import and export?

F. What are some tourist attractions in Germany?

G. What is German food like?

H. Does Germany have any problems?

I. What comes to mind when you think of Germany? What do you associate with Germany?