Back to school….back to school….

We are finally starting language training! I have been going to school, in one fashion or another, since kindergarten. However, there was something that felt very different about this particular first day of school. More nerves, more uncertainty, more at stake, I don’t know. I prepped “the yellow backpack”, which has been lying dormant for nearly seven years now. It was pretty pumped to be out and about town! Joe and I walked to school, early, and waited anxiously. We wandered around to try and find room numbers, without luck, so that is apparently not a part of German school-culture.

Most of the students at the Goethe are staying in Germany only for a short time to attend class, so they live in the Guesthouse, which is like a dormitory. The Institute has an amazing culture and travel program to help everyone get to know each other, as well as experience southwest Germany. There is a cultural or social activity planned every day of the week. Seven days a week for the entirety of the class! It is like a cruise boat – I love it! Sadly, we have not been able to participate yet and will not for a little bit, because this cruise-boat director already has the family booked on other adventures!

There is almost no English spoken in class, because not all the students speak English. The directions, explanations, etc. are all in German. Overwhelming for sure. I understand more Spanish from my Valencian classmates, than German from the teacher. There is one other American in my class. She hasn’t made the best impression thus far: she missed class today, our second day, due to a hangover! She is only twenty.

The Walls made a marital decision to be in different classes at the same level. However, Joe got assigned to the afternoon class. This will put a crimp on our social and travel plans a bit, as well as the speed of unpacking, but we will manage. The goal is to share information and friends. I already have my eye on one of his friends – a soon-to-be Austrian ski instructor! My friends are not yet worth sharing. The American is too young, pessimistic, and can’t control her liquor. My Spanish is not fluent enough for the Valencians. I am working on a Canadian.

Since I have already thoroughly covered “potty talk” (sorry MOM), I must be completely honest about the content of my class. There is a lot of dick-talk. Mid-way through Day One, we are tasked with looking up opposite adjectives. I scan the room for inspiration and decide to focus on fat and skinny. Well, in Deutsch, fat/thick is “dick”. Surprised, I consult my group members, who agree with their own resources that the translation is correct. Ok, dick it is. Well, guess who gets picked to write the group’s adjectives on the board? Yup…me! As I work my way down our list, I feel the anxiety grow as I get closer and closer to “dick” and “mager”. I keep thinking, what if I am wrong? I am going to be the ridiculous American who wrote “dick” on the board. Ahhhhhhhh!!!

I did it though, I wrote “dick” for everyone to see. D-I-C-K, in perfect cursive. Any more brain busters?

I then tried to turn around and act as if I wasn’t totally mortified inside. The teacher talked his way through all of the adjectives, and used a thick dictionary to make the difference between “dick” and “mager” clear for everyone. Das Wörterbuch ist dick.

Day Two. By now, I have forgotten the names of my classmates that I could understand, and didn’t concern myself with the names of those I couldn’t understand. The task for this morning is to introduce each other. We are practicing how to say “Wie bitte? (What?), and Noch einmal, bitte (Once more, please) and then asking each person to spell their name. One classmate spells out his name and I write it letter by letter on my paper. D-I-K-D-I-K. It is pronounced “Dickdick.” Oh geez. With only nine people in the class, there are plenty of opportunities to be called on and lots of practicing. So, Dikdik here….Dikdik there….das ist dick…..das ist dick…..on and on. I have not used the word dick, without repercussion, so many times in my life!

The good news is that I will never forget what the German word for “fat/thick” is…and neither will you!