Bring those Babies over here...
I've been practically overwelming myself with German lessons these days. I found a pretty good course on the
Deustche Welle website. It's all really got me thinking about how differently we use English compared to what people probably learn in lessons. We don't think about talking slowly or anything and we say things like: (a quote from my housemate Alisa) "Bring those babies on over here." In reference to Cheez-its, and not, as it would seem, babies. It just leaves me knowing that I have alot to learn and I'm a bit nervous, because no matter how much I study I'll never retain all the knowledge and even if I did, there are still little things to learn. It all seems disconcerting, but it's also a challenge, which is kind of what I signed up for, so you know, it's also pretty dang exciting.
I guess I should explain. Starting in August this year, I'm moving to Germany for a year. No, not just randomly, I'm going over there with a program called
Intermenno. My goals are to learn German (I've started studying already as a preemptive strike), to work hard, to make new friends and to learn about German culture. So far all I know is that I'm going to Germany...or Switzerland. And that I have a training in Toronto Canada on August 2nd of this year. I'll have to leave my cool housemates and the LUC (Louisville Urban Corps) a little early, which is really sad. But I plan to stay in touch with them. I should be getting corespondance about it all soon. The title of my blog, which is subject to change if that's possible, roughly means In Germany and other thoughts, except i think Gedanken is a verb, so it might be a very rough translatation. But anyway, Soon this will be filled with German thoughts, when I feel more inspired I'll probably talk about thoughts I've had preparing for the trip. That's about the just of it. Enjoy.
I knocked on the leather colored oak door, and stood a moment in the cool breeze, taking in the fragrant German air. I had finally made it, and I couldn't wait to learn German. The door swung open. "Hallo," I said "Ich bin Keith." They were expecting me. "Guten Tag," they responded. "Wo ist mein Zimmer?" I asked, eager to put down my two suitcases. "Upstairs," they replied. I quickly exhausted the medicore German I'd learned before the trip, "That's all I know," I started. "That's okay," my German family reassured me. "I'm hopeing I learn quickly," I said. "Oh," they said "well, we only speak English."
It was the worst dream I've ever had. Well you know, in awhile, and you can't count the one where I broke my bass guitar because at the time that was too awful for words. But I was only a dream. In a way you have to like bad dreams, because there is always that moment when you realize that it was all just a dream. Relief is one of the best feelings.
