Villager Post
Villager Post
Sending a Letter to your Villager
Letter writing to kids at camp has a long and wonderful tradition in America. Every afternoon we gather on the Marktplatz or in the Stadtpark to distribute Post to the villagers. For many, it is a highpoint in the day when they receive a letter from their family, friends, and relatives.
Because this is an immersion program and we try to simulate a visit to another country, parents, friends, and relatives are discouraged from making non-emergency calls. However, parents should feel free to call the Waldsee office (see the “contact us” section) with questions or concernts.
Here’s the address that you should give out to everyone who might want to send you a letter while you are at Waldsee:
Your Name (your cabin once you know what it is)
Waldsee – Session GB ##
9550 Ruppstrasse NE
Bemidji, MN 56601
Sending Packages
There are plenty of treats to be found at the village, so we encourage you not to send care packages with any consumables in them. If they can’t resist, please have them get in touch with the dean. Special arrangements may be made for unusual circumstances. Otherwise, for reasons related to allergies and the potential attraction of mice, consumables are highly discouraged.
If your friends and family still want to send something, here are some other suggestions: photos from home, letter-writing material (a cool new pen, stamps, self-addressed envelopes) or books from or about Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Tell them they can even try their hand at writing in German, too. Just give them a copy of the letter-writing basics.
Letter Writing Basics
Here are some common phrases that you can use when writing to Waldsee villagers during their stay.
Dates:
Most Germans still start a letter by putting the date at the top of the page in the following format:
Hamburg, den 30. Juni 2008
Minneapolis, den 4. Juli 2008
Chicago, den 1. August 2008
Greetings:
Lieber/Liebe _______________!
(Dear__________! – “Lieber” is masculine, and “Liebe” is feminine)
Lieber Hans,
Liebe Anna,
Liebe Anna, lieber Hans,
Common Phrases:
Wie geht es dir?
(How’s it going?)
Es geht mir/uns gut.
(I/we am/are good.)
Vielen Dank für den Brief.
(Many thanks for the letter.)
Hier sind die neuesten Nachrichten aus __________________.
(Here’s the latest news from ______________.)
Family members: (Note: all nouns in German are always capitalized)
der Bruder (brother)
die Schwester (sister)
die Mutter (mother)
der Vater (father)
die Grossmutter (grandmother)
der Grossvater (grandfather)
der Onkel (uncle)
die Tante (aunt)
der/die Freund/in (friend – masculine/feminine)
die Katze (cat)
der Hund (dog)
Build a sentence with the words from above:
Dein/e [fill in a family member (masculine/feminine) from above] ist …
(Your [blank] is…)
sehr (very)
ein bisschen (a little)
oft (often)
selten (seldom)
lustig (funny)
nett (nice)
rücksichtsvoll (thoughtful)
hungrig (hungry)
durstig (thirsty)
cool (cool)
You might end up with a sentence like: Dein Onkel ist sehr lustig! or Deine Tante ist sehr nett.
Other useful phrases:
Wie sagt man ____ auf Deutsch?
(How do you say ________ in German?)
Liebe Grüße aus __________!
(With heartfelt greetings from ______ [city/town/state]!)
Wir hoffen, dass es dir gut geht.
(We hope you are having a good time).
Signing off: (There is no punctuation following a signing off phrase)
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
(With friendly greetings)
Mit besten Grüßen
(With best greetings)
Alles Liebe
(Love)
Still looking for more?
If you would like to learn more German words, check out this online dictionary at the Technical University of Chemnitz.
