Ich heisse Frau King

It's amazing how much faster the day, and week, goes by when you have something challenging to do. Specifically for me right now that challenge is intensive German lessons. Not that training the boys was not challenging, or that doing work for groups in the US was not challenging, but I appreciate the opportunity to get up, get out of the house and do something. Now when I come home from class, half my day is gone and I still have lots of stuff to do, including homework.

Monday I started intensive German classes. I am enrolled at a local school and am in class with three other women who are also expats. One is from the US, I'm guessing around my age, and moved here around the same time we did; one is from South Africa, is a little older than me and has been here for around nine months; and the other is from China, around the same age as me, and has been here for four-and-a-half years. I'm not quite sure how she's survived that long here without speaking the language, but she's been working on her PhD in Chemistry and they only use English in that environment. I've about had it with not knowing the language and we've only been here for 12 weeks.

In the time that I've spent getting us settled in, I underestimated how much I value being able to get out and meet new people. The first day I went to class was exhilarating- a new subject, new people to get to know and lots of new knowledge to soak in. BK is very excited that I'm meeting new people and has already suggested that we invite a couple to go to dinner. I need a little more than four days for that. I'm an extrovert, but he takes it to the extreme sometimes.

Being in class for just four days, I've also realized how much I love learning. I'm not sure that I would have described myself as such before, and it's not necessarily that I have a passion for the language, but I really enjoy learning new and different things. I think part of what makes learning German exciting as well, is that it opens up a whole new world for me here. After learning the language I will be able to volunteer and get involved in the social work community, which is where my heart really lies and what I'm eager to do. I'll also be able to communicate with neighbors and other community members at a basic level.

BK gets to learn too. Right now our apartment is labeled in German words to help me learn. There are various colors of stickies to remind me of their gender- pink for feminine items, yellow for masculine and orange for neutral. The German language is built on these articles, so let's hope I can get and keep them straight.

After this class is over I will have gone through levels A1 and A2, and hope to keep going for a couple more levels. We'll see when the time comes. BK and I are headed to Amsterdam tomorrow night. As always, there are more adventures waiting to be had.

In case you're wondering, the title of this post translated into English is My name is Mrs. King. And no, I don't go by that, it was just for effect.