Recently I found myself trapped in Munich airport. Severe snows had delayed my first flight from Manchester, meaning I had missed my connection to Vienna. What’s worse was that my flight had landed in enough time for me to make a frantic run for it, foiled only by the legalities of passport control. I was tired, hot and dishevelled and not at all ready to be told by an airline busy body that I would have to pay for another ticket because I “could have caught that flight.”

It would be another two hundred and fifty euros for a new ticket, far outside of my projected holiday budget. Sorrowfully I told the woman so and went off to find my luggage, which had somehow vanished into thin air. I was not successful, but standing the lost luggage counter I did pick up the tip that may one day save you money too. Here it is, in all its glory:

“Erm… fluege Manchester, Munchen, Wien. Nichts Wien, keine fluege. Mein gerpacken…*shrug* Ich mochte wo ist mein gerpacken?.”

Possibly the worst formed, completely incomprehensible German string of sentences in the history of the world. But then, I never claimed to speak the language! The words fluege and gerpacken were picked up off hearing others, the others a remnant from a few short weeks of German lessons over ten years ago. It was awful and grammatically incorrect but gained a grateful smile off the harried baggage desk adviser.

“You can speak English to me, you know. Although it is nice to see someone attempt to speak German.”

It hit me like a thunderbolt and, although I did not find my luggage until three days later, I did now have an idea. Targeting a different counter for the same airline I recounted my tale of woe in halting German and bizarre sign language. Five minutes later I had a ticket, with no euro charge levied and phrases drawn straight from my pocket sized phrase book.

We English speakers are renowned for our lack of skills in other languages. Yet we are infinitely more receptive to those who are interested enough in our culture to have done their homework. Forget the raised voices, teary eyes, threats of legal action or demands to see someone’s manager when you are abroad: just buy a good phrase book, smile a lot and apologise for your own stupidity in being unable to speak their language. It can and will pay off.

Andrea is is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Fiction Writing. Her online portfolio can be found at http://astephenson.writing.com

She is barely fluent in English, let alone any other languages.

Having options and the ability to make choices can be exciting.
Whether you are ordering a specialty coffee or selecting a college
there are many different ways to have what we want done our way.
Unfortunately, for many people all the choices become overwhelming
when it is time to choose just one.

That’s the reason why people go years without rebalancing their
retirement portfolio, buying a holiday greeting card, or eating at a
restaurant where the menu isn’t already memorized. Having too many
choices causes inaction. Humans freeze up when faced with what
appears to be too much information requiring too much thinking. To
make matters worse, when a decision is finally made we spend hours
suffering from buyers remorse feeling dissatisfied what our choice.

Here are five ways you can deal with choices in life and be sure you
making the best decision for you. This process of dealing with
choices is called “Filtering”.

Filter #1 - Know your objective.

Understand what factors are important to you before attempting to
make a decision. If you are shopping for auto insurance, you can help
narrow the field by understanding that you are looking for a 12 month
policy you can pay for in 12 payments from an A+ rated carrier.

Filter #2 - Use the Rule of Three

The best basis for comparison occurs when you have no more than
three things to compare. Trim your possible options to three by
throwing out the worst options. Of the choices that made it through
Filter #1, reject the ones that are not licensed in your state.

Filter #3 - Understand the Trade-Offs

Say you want to buy a used car and it costs $5000, but you know that
in three months the used cars will be reduced 20% for quick sale you
can see the trade-off of waiting. By waiting you save $1000, but you
lose the driving of the car for six months. If the money pales in
comparison to the product, buy it. If you cannot decide what to do,
wait a week and see if the money or the product has gained importance
to you. If not, continue to Filter #4.

Filter #4 - What is the cost of waiting

Procrastination can be costly, especially in financial matters.
Missing the open-enrollment of your company’s 401(k) plan could mean
you walk away from hundreds of dollars your employer would have
matched, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost compound interest
over the next 30 years. Focus on what you lose by not making a
decision and you might suddenly find it easier to pick between the
three options you narrowed the field to earlier.

Filter #5 - Accept “Good Enough”

Not every decision you make will be perfect. Content yourself with
making most choices be “good enough” and move on to the next
decision. Worrying about always making the perfect choice will result
in buyer’s remorse and cause unhappiness with your life.

Of course, sometimes you will need help in making decisions. For
example, seeking the advice of qualified financial advisors can help
you avoid making costly mistakes with your money. So go ahead, order
a tall skim amoretto cappuccino instead of your usual grande whole
latte. You just might decide it is good enough to enjoy.

Roger Sorensen

America’s Financial Guide can be found at ==>http://www.Slave2Work.com Subscribe to Money Basics via http://www.slave2work.com/ezine.html

Slave2Work.com - Are you ready for financial freedom?

My 6-year old son Sean constantly interrupts. I know this is a common complaint because I hear other mothers of young children complaining of the same thing. My husband and I have explained and discussed with Sean the importance of listening and waiting, but he still seems to need all of my attention by interrupting. Any Peaceful Parenting® suggestions?

Yes, it does feel like your son waits until he sees you on the telephone or deeply involved in a conversation as the time he most needs to tell you the most important thing of his life. As you point out you are not alone in this experience. Almost every parent I’ve ever talked to says the same thing. (Amazingly pet owners tell me of their similar experiences!)

Probably what is going on is that our children become lonely for our undivided attention. Based on their need for love and belonging our children start behaving in ways to seek our love, devotion, and reassurance.

You might be asking yourself, “I have just spent time with my son, paying attention and connecting with him. How can he be lonely for me, feel threatened or jealous when I am right here?” I know it may seem hard to believe and still I think this is what is happening.

PEACEFUL PARENTING® can not only help you better understand what is going on with your son; it can also provide you with a solution.

Remember that your child is born with five basic needs: the need for love & belonging, the need for power, the need for freedom, the need for safety and the need for fun. Your solution lies in this last genetic instruction, your child’s need for fun.

During a time when you, your husband and son are all feeling happy and well connected with one another, bring up the topic of your son interrupting. Repeat your previous explanation of manners and why it is important for your son to wait his turn. But here is the key. Tell your son that you want to create a special hand signal as a reminder. Tell him that this is going to be a secret code that only the three of you will know. Ask him to help. Really make a game of this trying out many different alternatives. Be sure to include silly and outrageous ideas, the sillier the better. This will help your son get into the spirit of the game. After spending time exploring and creating alternatives and hopefully laughing along the way, the three of you need to decide on only one. Unless it is too outrageous it might help if your son chooses the hand signal he likes best. Then the three of you need to practice making this signal. Next practice and role play. Pretend that you and your husband are involved in a conversation and have Sean pretend to interrupt. Then either you or your husband or both give Sean the hand signal.

Continue the practice and role playing with you and Sean talking and your husband interrupting; your husband and Sean talking and you interrupting. Now that all three of you have practiced and role-played begin to use this hand signal in real life situations.

Remember that this plan will probably fail the first several times that you try it. If Sean interrupts and forgets what the hand signal means, tell him verbally that you would appreciate his waiting and not interrupting. Then later, when the two of you are alone, remind him of your agreement to use the hand signal as the reminder. Practice the signal again. Try to keep this as light and playful as possible.

If you are consistent with: 1. using the hand signal, 2. during the times when the hand signal doesn’t work, discussing in private the plan again, and 3. repeating 1 & 2 as many times as it takes, I promise that eventually you, your husband and Sean will be having great success with this plan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nancy S. Buck, Ph.D. established Peaceful Parenting, Inc. in 2000 to bring her knowledge and experience with effective parenting to the greatest number of parents and other caretakers of children. She developed the Peaceful Parenting® program from her 25 years of experience as a developmental psychologist, trainer and educator with The William Glasser Institute and as the mother of twin sons. Her genuine, warm and authentic teaching style is clear and concise, helping learners move from the theoretical to real life situations.

http://www.peacefulparenting.com

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