Language

May I begin by posting the letter my host's son sent to him while away on a week-long field trip 9-year-olds do in school here:

Lieber Papa
Geht es dir gut? Mir geht es nicht besonders gut. Hier ist es doof.
Dein Paul

which means, "Dear Papa- Is it going well for you? It's not going particularly well for me. It's dumb here. Yours, Paul." He's back from the apparently terrible trip now, and I got to meet him yesterday. So far, I've only said "ich bin Kevin" to him, because he was in his room playing all day.

We finished reading "Minna von Barnhelm" and went to see it performed in the Deutsche Theater two days ago, only to find out when we got there that Major von Tellheim, the main character, was sick and couldn't act. Thus, we saw "Tartuffe", an originally French comedy from the late 1600s, instead. It was an interesting exercise in seeing if your German is good enough to get the jokes (no). I'm proud that I could at least hang onto the plot. It would've been really nice to see something we just read. Still, it was a fun play, even if a little confusing.

In general, there are some days when I feel like I'm an ace German speaker, and others when I feel like I speak at a four-year-old level (which is probably closer to the truth). There are times when I say something to someone, and feel proud because it was a well-said statement, only to realize the errors five minutes later (for example, asking a guy where the S-bahn is, but calling him du instead of Sie, a hard to remember but elementary and disrespectful no-no. There's nothing like it in English). I'm definitely learning new stuff everyday, though, and speaking is far harder than writing or listening or reading, which surprised me. Speaking is much faster, and you have to control the content that falls out your mouth, and saying complex things is far harder than writing them.

Now we're reading "Die Leiden des jungen Werther" by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the giant of German lit. So far, so good! Later today, I'm going to the botanical gardens here with the group. Also, there's new photos. Word of the day is "schicki-micki", which is an negative adjective used to describe high-brow areas or functions, like, "I'm not going to the pretentious, snobby cocktail party at the mansion. It's a little too schicki-micki for me. I'll go to the pub instead to watch the game."

Bis später!