How it feels to learn German

BK and I are headed to Zermatt today with some friends, but first I went to German class this morning. I figured since I only have it two times a week, we could wait and take the noon train so that I wouldn't miss part of the class this week.

In class today we all had a good laugh about what it's like to speak German, as compared to other languages. One of my fellow students shared the video below with us, which we of course, thought was hilarious. We have one person who does not speak any English, but she does speak French, so she got the gist.

You probably won't find this nearly as funny if you're not learning German or around German that much. Here's the link in case the video doesn't show up for some reason (it shows up in my draft, but not in my preview).

The guy in the video is totally over exaggerating, but you get the point.

We're on the train to Zermatt for our last pre-baby getaway! We'll head back Saturday night so that we can make our Planning for Parenthood classes. I'll make sure to fill you in on all happenings from our full weekend!

*Note: I actually finished and posted this blog at the top of one of the mountains in Zermatt. BK and our friends are skiing; I went ahead and rode up with them so that I could take pictures and explore around some up here. I'll head down to meet them for lunch in just a bit. More to come later!

Let the learning begin!

Ah yes, it's time once again to get going with German. I took an intensive course (three hours a day, five days a week) during the summer which got me started with things, but couldn't continue until now due to all of the traveling we were doing. Yes, I know, it's a hard life I lead.

Through the intensive course I completed levels A1 and A2, and now I have moved on to a semi-intensive course, which is a little bit of review from level A2 and then moves into B1. They say after you finish B1 you should pretty much be able to carry on any conversation in German. The only downside for me is that in Switzerland they speak Swiss-German, so they're going to have to slow it down a bit and switch into high German.

This morning was the first morning of class, and of course, I loved it. If I'm not involved in some kind of learning or structured personal/professional development of some kind, I sort of forget how much I like it. I was also very happy with how much I knew, especially considering how much I doubt myself when people are firing off an entire conversation in Swiss-German.

I will say, the pups and I are back to early morning walks- we're up and out by around 6:30 so that we can walk for an hour. As I've mentioned before, the fact that it doesn't get light until around 8:00, and add to it that it's cold and rainy right now makes it a little difficult to get out of bed. When outside looks like this, it's hard to get excited about going outside.

Ultimately though, it results in this:

Meaning that I can go to school, to the store and pretty much do anything I want or need to without having to worry about two wild weenie dogs terrorizing the neighbors with their barks. They don't so much appreciate the raincoats right now, but they'll live. Hopefully it won't be such gross weather for too long and we can get out without all of our gear.

That's all for now. I'm off into to the kitchen to make some sweet treats for our friends who watched the boys this weekend while BK and I went to Zurich. I'll update you on my adventures in baking soon!

Deutsch Schule ist fertig

As of this past Friday, I have officially completed levels A1 and A2 of German. I am no where near fluent, but I can do things like read signs throughout the city, read the menu to BK at restaurants, order in German, tell them what I need in grocery and department stores and have basic conversation with people. As I've mentioned before though, my biggest problem in Basel is that they speak Swiss-German and would rather speak English to me than speak high German.

The class was great. I really enjoyed getting to know my classmates (who are all in the same situation as me) and hearing about their experiences here. I think the intensive class worked well for me, as I needed some serious structure to force me to learn the language, and three hours a day, five days a week will do that. The teachers in our class say we need to practice now and let it all sink in a bit. I do want to continue on to the B level, but with our travel schedule through the end of the year, right now my only option is to join a conversation group to practice with so that I don't fall behind while being gone for two weeks at a time.

My other big question is...what am I going to do with myself now that I don't have German class that takes up four to five hours per day?? Of course I still have my four-legged friends who need my time and attention three hours per day, but other than that, I must get involved in something. I've saved up a list of things to complete this week before we come back to the US, then hopefully in September can come back and hit the ground running.

Bis Morgan! (Until Tomorrow!)

German class, you sure are a lot of work

Today was a somewhat lazy Sunday, with the exception of the fact that BK and I got up around 5am so that he could make a 7am flight to London, then back to the US. We left the house around 5:15, with dogs in tow of course, and walked to the bus stop to go to the airport. The boys and I then walked more in Basel to get our hour walk in for the morning. We returned home, I fed them, then we all went back to bed for a while. I also FaceTimed with TR before going to bed, as it was only 11pm Texas time.

It's surprisingly bright here at 5am

The rest of my day was spent picking up the house, walking the dogs, studying German and finalizing travel plans. Work on my German class has dominated my evening. The class found out last week that we will have a test on Tuesday over the first part of class. So, I've now gone into study mode, including flashcards and everything. I understand the sentence structure, so hopefully if I make sure I'm refreshed on verbs, and their conjugation, and nouns, including their gender, I'll be ok. The one thing I know we will have to do will be to write a postcard about visiting somewhere. The thing I need the most work on is the words for who, where, when, how, how much, whose, what and where from.

A number of people have asked what happens if I don't do well on the test. I'm really not sure, but I'm thinking positive and know that I'll do ok and be able to proceed.

I rewarded myself today by doing, what else, but planning travel and researching destinations. I finalized a couple of things for our trip with K&B (BK's sister and brother-in-law) to Venice, Vienna and Salzburg. I also researched a little bit more for our trip in September and made myself quite a hefty to-do list for this week. I like to keep busy and feel productive.

We'll be up early again tomorrow, so it's off to bed for now. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

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.