It's a wrap!

And I'm back. I took the Zertifikat Deutsch on Saturday. Wow. The exam was much more difficult than I had expected. I mean, I knew the general format of the exam because we took a practice exam a couple of weeks ago but the material was really confusing. So confusing that I started panicking and second guessing every answer. I used the entire eraser on my pencil. Or maybe it wasn't confusing, just advanced. Nothing like the elementary exercises in our books. But, even with all of the worrying and last minute cramming -
I am the ultimate procrastinator - I just tried my best. And isn't that the most that you can ask of yourself? I won't receive my results until early May. Ahhh! Nerve wrecking. So now the question is, after almost a full year in intensive courses, 7 books, 5 teachers, hours of memorizing verbs, a ton of exercises and tests, so many nights of arguing with G over his criticism of my pronunciation, and countless daily conversations with neighbors, strangers, and the girls at the grocery store - can I speak German? Yes! Ich spreche gerne Deutsch. Don't get me wrong, I am not fluent. I still have a long way to go until I would feel confident enough to say I'm fluent, with a straight face. A loooong way. But I finally feel like I can at least, hold my own in most conversations. And that's saying a lot. But, what happens now, now that I'm not in school anymore? Honestly, we speak English at home, simply because it's easier and faster. Great for G. Bad for me. I don't want to forget everything, after all of the hard work. I would like to be fluent - I have to be able to teach my white chocolate babies, right? :) Again, all I can do is try my best to continue learning. This afternoon, G and I both agreed that we will speak German for at least 2 hours every evening. It's not a lot but at least it's an attempt at a commitment. Wir werden sehen!