Dienstag, Oktober 11, 2005
Sprichst du Englisch?
This morning I woke up, read the NYTimes, and made my lecker kaffe (delicious coffee) to bring with me on the UBahn. I had to be at the Universität at 9.30 for a meeting with my boss to go over my syllabus. Haha... Apparently, it was a leetle too tough, but easy to fix. It was the first time I had been to the Uni with students there (it's the first week of classes) and I felt a little intimidated. AHH! I will be teaching these people--and they are so European and seem so confident and old. All the guys are all trendy... it's just strange. But, on the wait for the elevator I talked to this random girl... she turned to me and asked me something auf Deutsch.
H: Entschuldigen, ich spreche ein bißchen Deutsch. (Sorry, I only speak a little bit of German...)
Mädchen (girl): Ooohhh.... ein bißschen. Woher kommen Sie? (Oh, a little... Where do you come from? Heather gets excited because this is from German Lesson 1.)
H: Ich komme aus den USA. (I come from the USA.)
Mädchen: Bist du ein Studentin? (Are you a student?)
H: Oh, nein. Ich arbeite als Au Pair Mädchen. (No, I work as an Au Pair Girl. Even more exciting because this is German Lesson 2.)
Then she said tschüss, but I was pumped because my German Lessons had translated to real life!!
Earlier, on the UBahn, I had tried to speak German with some kinder. They were all going on some kind of school trip--isn't it neat that they take public transport for school trips! They saw me & my German book and wondered what it was, and had a good laugh at the easy things I am learning. I tried to talk to them, but we mostly just gestured and smiled. I tried to ask if they spoke English, but all I know is 'Sprechen Sie Englisch?' which is the formal way to ask an adult you don't know if they speak English (Sie is like the Spanish Ud.). I knew 'sprechen' is an irregular verb, and I kept trying to spit it out and finally some random UBahn-passenger interjected, 'Sprichst du Englisch?' Ahh, yes, sprichst!
I realized, talking to these kids, that I am crazy foreign lady. You know the one... She speaks in a heavily-accented voice and mutters to herself in her own language under her breath. In America, it would probably be a Hispanic person. I am the equivalent of the Hispanic woman on the bus who says (in heavily heavily accented English), 'I from Ecuador. I English learn. Speak you Spanish?' and then mutters 'Aye carumba' or 'Jesus Cristo y su madre Maria' to herself between sentences. It was fun to talk to the kids but kind of a shit feeling when the one obnoxious one kept laughing at me. :( I am just crazy foreign lady--leave me alone! ;-) [The other kids were nice though.]
After the meeting, I decided to go to the local bookstore & read ein buch auf Englisch. Before that I stopped at Kaufhof (the big department store downtown) to explore the basement supermarket I had heard about---I had been informed there was an American section. I get so excited about the most random things lately and I almost cried when I went down to the supermarket (wtf?)--it was just really nice, kind of Ukrops-Wegman's-Sainsburys (British) kind of place--and it's good to be happy about the little things, right? I found the Amerikan section... I have to go back and take a picture---Hershey's syrup, Campbell's tomato soup, Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate, Pop-tarts (Apple Cinnamon & Blueberry), Kraft Mac'n'Cheese, und Fluff (both kinds--but I have honestly never even tried the strawberry in the US, so I am not about to pay €4,49 to try it here). This worker was watching me marvel at the American stuff, and made some comment. I got to tell her (yay lesson 1!!), 'Ich komme aus den USA.' She then said how it's funny that you can buy things from Germany in the US and then come here and find things from the US... It always cracks me up when the least nutritious things on the shelves in the grocery store have an American flag design on them---white bread, hot dogs in jars, ketchup... Oh America.
The afternoon was easy--I just had to pick up Kathi and play with her for awhile and then the grandparents took the kids for the afternoon. I straightened up the kitchen, folded laundry, etc. Then I got to go to die Bibliothek, went on an amazing 5mile run, and went to the big local grocery store to get school supplies. Now I will conclude cause I gotta go get my classes in order (those I am teaching and those I am taking.)
One last thing, I got this awesome compliment via IM from my SBYMCA-friend Megan:
Meg: You are great
Meg: more people should be like you
Meg: i think that all the time, for real, if people took their lessons from Heather Debby the world would be a better place
how sweet<3
H: Entschuldigen, ich spreche ein bißchen Deutsch. (Sorry, I only speak a little bit of German...)
Mädchen (girl): Ooohhh.... ein bißschen. Woher kommen Sie? (Oh, a little... Where do you come from? Heather gets excited because this is from German Lesson 1.)
H: Ich komme aus den USA. (I come from the USA.)
Mädchen: Bist du ein Studentin? (Are you a student?)
H: Oh, nein. Ich arbeite als Au Pair Mädchen. (No, I work as an Au Pair Girl. Even more exciting because this is German Lesson 2.)
Then she said tschüss, but I was pumped because my German Lessons had translated to real life!!
Earlier, on the UBahn, I had tried to speak German with some kinder. They were all going on some kind of school trip--isn't it neat that they take public transport for school trips! They saw me & my German book and wondered what it was, and had a good laugh at the easy things I am learning. I tried to talk to them, but we mostly just gestured and smiled. I tried to ask if they spoke English, but all I know is 'Sprechen Sie Englisch?' which is the formal way to ask an adult you don't know if they speak English (Sie is like the Spanish Ud.). I knew 'sprechen' is an irregular verb, and I kept trying to spit it out and finally some random UBahn-passenger interjected, 'Sprichst du Englisch?' Ahh, yes, sprichst!
I realized, talking to these kids, that I am crazy foreign lady. You know the one... She speaks in a heavily-accented voice and mutters to herself in her own language under her breath. In America, it would probably be a Hispanic person. I am the equivalent of the Hispanic woman on the bus who says (in heavily heavily accented English), 'I from Ecuador. I English learn. Speak you Spanish?' and then mutters 'Aye carumba' or 'Jesus Cristo y su madre Maria' to herself between sentences. It was fun to talk to the kids but kind of a shit feeling when the one obnoxious one kept laughing at me. :( I am just crazy foreign lady--leave me alone! ;-) [The other kids were nice though.]
After the meeting, I decided to go to the local bookstore & read ein buch auf Englisch. Before that I stopped at Kaufhof (the big department store downtown) to explore the basement supermarket I had heard about---I had been informed there was an American section. I get so excited about the most random things lately and I almost cried when I went down to the supermarket (wtf?)--it was just really nice, kind of Ukrops-Wegman's-Sainsburys (British) kind of place--and it's good to be happy about the little things, right? I found the Amerikan section... I have to go back and take a picture---Hershey's syrup, Campbell's tomato soup, Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate, Pop-tarts (Apple Cinnamon & Blueberry), Kraft Mac'n'Cheese, und Fluff (both kinds--but I have honestly never even tried the strawberry in the US, so I am not about to pay €4,49 to try it here). This worker was watching me marvel at the American stuff, and made some comment. I got to tell her (yay lesson 1!!), 'Ich komme aus den USA.' She then said how it's funny that you can buy things from Germany in the US and then come here and find things from the US... It always cracks me up when the least nutritious things on the shelves in the grocery store have an American flag design on them---white bread, hot dogs in jars, ketchup... Oh America.
The afternoon was easy--I just had to pick up Kathi and play with her for awhile and then the grandparents took the kids for the afternoon. I straightened up the kitchen, folded laundry, etc. Then I got to go to die Bibliothek, went on an amazing 5mile run, and went to the big local grocery store to get school supplies. Now I will conclude cause I gotta go get my classes in order (those I am teaching and those I am taking.)
One last thing, I got this awesome compliment via IM from my SBYMCA-friend Megan:
Meg: You are great
Meg: more people should be like you
Meg: i think that all the time, for real, if people took their lessons from Heather Debby the world would be a better place
how sweet<3
# posted by Heather @ 9:32 PM 
