Ich spreche…what class is this again?

I absolutely love my Volkshochschule Deutsch Kurs. My instructors are top notch and my international classmates are wonderful. We have 23 students from 14 different countries, including India, Brazil, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Kyrgistan, Poland, America, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, Croatia, and Kosovo. I really think we ought to have a potluck.

My German is slowly improving. Helping Claire translate her homework for an hour or so each night really helps. But twenty hours a week in class is the real key. I love that we all speak different languages and have to use our halting German in order to understand each other. We don't hesitate together; we just jump in and try. Whereas I am all kinds of embarrassed trying to make a sentence in front of Steffi or Astrid, I feel comfortable stumbling through with my VHS classmates.

One of my favorite unexpected benefits of the class is that my Russian is improving too! I have had lots of opportunity to practice with the Eastern Europeans in my class. Sometimes I will have my American friend Sally on one side asking me questions in English and my Uzbeki friend Irina on the other side asking me questions in Russian and my instructor asking me questions in German. Sometimes I have to stop and think about what language I’m speaking. But it is so much fun.

I feel like I am breaking the code a little more each day. Every time I learn a new word, I see it everywhere, and it feels like a treasure hunt. It is exciting.

Uh oh.

Gotta go. Dave just came in from Oktoberfest, completely pickled. He went with guys from work and rode the train home. I was happy to stay home and steal a few minutes to myself. Poor thing. I haven’t seen him like this since his bachelor party thirteen years ago. Three liters of beer and three shots. Is he crazy? I’d better go hold his head so he doesn’t drown himself in the toilet.