11 German expressions you need for the summer

After months of hard work, you're more than ready for a vacation. In German, you would literally be "vacation ripe." Quick, get that bikini on before you start feeling like a plump tomato. And if you really need a break from the office, then it's probably best to leave that laptop at home.

Do you suffer from "distance pain"? That means you want to travel to a far-off land so badly it hurts. Germans are known for being world travel champs (though the Chinese surpassed them in 2012), but what happens when you're abroad and miss your mom's homemade sauerkraut? Then you have Heimweh: "home pain," or homesickness.

Vacation time is relaxing when you don't have to cook - and don't even have to go to the trouble of looking for a restaurant. When all your meals (and often drinks) are included in your one-price resort stay, it's called an All-In Urlaub, or all-inclusive vacation. While Germans otherwise love long words, they often shorten English terms. The German term Pauschalurlaub is also commonly used here.

In many ways, Germans like to play things safe and be prepared. If you want to book a vacation early, but there's a chance something might come up - like an illness or a political crisis in your destination country — it's a good idea to buy insurance that will guarantee a refund if you cancel. The German word for that is a real tongue twister that literally means "travel withdrawal insurance."

Germany's 16 states stagger their schools' six-week summer breaks so that the entire country isn't traveling all at once during the summer months. But traffic jams — Stau — still tend to break out on the first and last weekend of each state's school break. It's a good idea to travel mid-week. Since fewer people commute to work in the summer, the city roads are noticeably clearer then.

Meaning "summer freshness," Sommerfrische is a more or less outdated term from the 19th century. In their German dictionary, the Brothers Grimm defined it as the desire of urban dwellers to flee to the countryside for a refreshing break during the summer months. That was a common practice among the nobility of the time. Back then, sewage systems were lacking, making cities less fresh in the heat.

It's so hot outside that you're sweating like a pig. In that situation, Germans would put another animal into the mix: an ape. This Borneo orangutan in Indonesia seems to be dealing with the Affenhitze ("ape heat") quite well by finding a shady spot in the treetops.

If you can't find shelter in a tree like an ape, then you'd better find another shady spot. Otherwise you risk getting a "sun sting," or a Sonnenstich. Symptoms include dizziness, fatigue, dehydration and the inability to think straight. These chairs, which are typical for Germany's northern beaches, are intended to block the wind — but on particularly warm days, they'll also prevent a sunstroke.

There are some 7,000 public swimming pools in Germany and over half of them are so-called "free pool" — Freibäder. No, they're not free of charge; they're dubbed "free" because they located outdoors rather than in a hall (Hallenbad). While indoor pools are open all year, the Freibad is particularly popular during the summer months.

Summer is "pickle time" — or Sauregurkenzeit in Germany. No, people here don't eat more pickles this time of year. Instead, the term dates back to the 18th century when it referred to times when food was scarce and pickles were all that was left. Later it was adapted to refer to times with little work. With parliament out of session, journalists in particular often call summer Sauregurkenzeit.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if summer lasted forever? Some years early fall brings a stretch of sunny days, too. What we'd call Indian summer in English is Altweibersommer in German. At first glance, the term literally seems to mean "old hag summer," but "weiber" is more likely derived from the word for weave, refering to the spider webs that become more prevalent as summer merges into autumn.