These are the textbooks we got today. They’re entitled: “Certainly!!!” and this slightly random title, together with the Californian hunk on the cover momentarily distracted me from my learning this morning.
I’m in a class of twelve, and among us are three Mexicans, a Serbian, three Americans, two Swiss, a Japanese, a Chinese and me. There is an unspoken rule that we must always only speak in German to each other– even when we walk down the street, or eat lunch, or talk about the colour of Wurst. We’re all pretty beginner/ intermediate, and we all have very different German accents because of where we’re all from. This makes communicating pretty interesting.
For example, Jeremy from Switzerland spends his whole time going “What?!” at me because he can’t understand my Aussie-German accent. I’ll repeat it again and again and he’ll just rub his temples and say that he’s just not sure about what I’m saying. I’ll say it again– slower and longer in the hope that he’ll comprehendo, but he’ll just turn to Jose from Mexico who, for whatever reason, will have no problem understanding me, and will translate for Jeremy. Jeremy will then lean back and bellow: “Ohhh, you mean Everyone in the class is totally sweet and lovely and our teacher Lydia, is a smiling, softly spoken lady who gently corrects and helps us. I reckon I’m gonna learn heaps and leave you today with my word of the day: “Gewürze”, which means “spices”: Yummy, aromatic!! By the time I get back, I expect to have taught you 25 of the most random and unpractical new words for your German Word Bank. You’ll thank me for it one day– you know it!!