Ich bin so stolz!

Heute kam mein Zertifikat Deustch an!

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!

Ich bin fertig.

Today was the last day of my German language course. Whoo hoo! However,
now I have one week to study for the Zertifikat Deutsch, which will be the hardest and longest (8 hours) exam I have ever taken. And I really need a full week to go over all of the material. Crazy, I know.
But for now and this weekend, I think I'm going to concentrate on sleeping in, teaching Denzel to "speak", and spring shoe shopping:)

Wochenrückblick

What a week! I had my final Deutschprüfung (German Language Test) on Wednesday and I passed! I not only passed but I performed well above average. I'm proud of myself, because the last couple of weeks have been very difficult for me emotionally and I've been so preoccupied with Denzel. I haven't had the desire or time to study as much. I forgot how cool but still extremely time consuming it is to raise a puppy. And I've taken him to class every day! The third and final intensive course begins on Monday. I'm excited about the last course because this is where all of the hard work from the first two courses come together and when I complete it, I should be, dare I say, fluent. I'm serious...fluent! Hmmmm.... We shall see:)
And my girlfriend will continue in the course too. Learning German is so much easier when you can talk about girl/expat stuff during the breaks. Yup, she's also American and married to a German. And Denzel? He had a busy week. He had his first check up (he has a little cold), first day of school (he's already a Lady's Man), a ton of new toys and treats (he's afraid of the mini soccer ball), and his first experience walking on a leash (he's not a fan). We can only walk him for about 10 minutes at a time so I usually carry him in my shopping basket. I think he likes it because he's so warm. He just sleeps the entire time.

And he loves his new rope.

But paper towel rolls are fun too.

Der Spaß ist vorbei.

It's that time again. Back to school. German language school. I had a long break, almost 6 months. I'm surprised that so much information just sort of faded away from my memory - akkusativ, dativ, genitiv, ahhh! But on the upside, I can speak and read a million times better than before. I think that comes from daily life, not learning in a classroom setting. And yes, I'm already complaining about being tired and having homework every day but this time, I have someone to share my misery. My girlfriend, Eve, is taking the same course. We are both focused on being fluent.....
and having lunch at a different restaurant every day.

Ein deutsches Gespräch

G's Mom: Wie geht's? Bist du krank? (How are you? Are you sick?)
Me: Nicht so gut. Ich habe ein Schlumpf. (Not so good. I have a cold.)

My answer was followed by a lot of laughter. Because I meant to say:

Ich habe einen Schnupfen.







But I actually said:

Ich habe einen Schlumpf.

Mein erster Film auf Deutsch

Last night, instead of heading to our regular (original version) movie theater, I chose to watch Hostel 2, in German. G and I were fans of the first Hostel, and we talked about every gory detail for days. Actually, G never watched a horror film before I rented Saw. Isn't that crazy? He hadn't seen the classics like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare On Elmstreet, or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre...and the sequels and the prequels:) After Saw, he was hooked! So after a long wait, we were excited to see Hostel 2. Surprisingly, even with Quentin Tarantino involved, Hostel 2 was not as original or scary as the first. I still had to cover my eyes on some parts but we both were underwhelmed. But! For my first film in German, I could understand a lot more than I thought I would. I mean the story line is pretty simple - go to the hostel, get kidnapped, get killed - but overall, I wasn't playing catch up with every scene.