Confessions of a Bunko Virgin

Last week I attended my second bunko night with my German gal pals. I’m sad to report that I am still a bunko virgin, the only one among us. Thirty-six years old and I've never rolled three of a kind on that number round of the game. Sad, truly.

It has nothing to do with the fact that I am the only American in the group. I just don’t have luck with dice. Good thing I’m lucky in love.

I took a hula hoop that I’d made for a white elephant gift. They loved it! It was a big hit. The gals good-naturedly fought over it, which was flattering.

After bunko night my head is always swimming with new German words. I get a headache from trying to understand all of the conversation. I always leave bunko night feeling both elated at my progress and disheartened by how much I have left to learn.

The next day I went on a hospital tour with a group of Americans, most of whom had only recently arrived in the country. We visited four hospitals in the area, which is helpful since in Germany each emergency requires a different type of specialized emergency room. One hospital cares for cuts but not broken bones. Another handles kids but not adults. And so on. It's all very muddling.

One of the ERs had a television set in the corner, which the guide told us was inspired by the German doctors’ visit to the Patch Barracks clinic. One of the men in the group noted, “Wow, that kind of show ought to relax anyone with an emergency.” We all looked up in time to see naked people engaging in some serious...well, they were getting pretty friendly with each other. Oh, and did I mention we were in the ER for children? Wow. Toto, we are SO not in America anymore.

Anyway, on that tour I started to realize how much German I’ve really learned. I translated lots of signs and words for people. Here, let me give you a quick lesson:

Krankenhouse = “sick house” = hospital
Krankenschwester = “sick sister” = nurse
Kranken wagen = “sick wagon” or ambulance
Krankheit = sickness (sounds like Cronkite, as in Walter)
Gusundheit = health
Antibabypille = birth control pills (logical enough)
Notfall = emergency
Teufel = devil (not really relevant, except that it was the doctor’s last name and I thought it was funny)

Now I am really considering taking German classes at the VHS (volkshochschule) which are like our community education classes in the states. If I commit, it would mean 20 hours a week in a classroom. I would be in classes exactly the same time that Claire would be at the German elementary school. Man, I can’t wait to be able to put a sentence together. Jawohl!