Well, we are starting to feel like we are regular German "residents," now that we are driving all over town, going on trips to other places, and trying to translate German leases- nothing more exhilirating than signing your name to a 3-year, 10-page contract in another language, right? What could happen? Our car arrived last Friday and even thought we had been getting around just fine on public transport, it was nice to have our little car to zip around in. We bought a "TomTom" GPS navigation system, and it has been a SAVING GRACE, especially when travelling from one motorway to the other and trying to "merge right", "stay left" and "try to avoid being slammed by an 18 wheeler going 120 km per hour (well not really, but you do have to pay extra attention to driving on the roads here as cars travel so fast down the Autobahn!) Zev installed a New Zealand lady's accent (we are still trying to find an Australian lady to be our navigation guide). It's pretty cool.Other than that, we are still living in our little Gasthof (German Guest House) and the family is so nice here. Fi has tried to practice her very basic German with them, and they respond in English, so she may need some more practice. We have attended 2 German language classes so far (10 to go!)We can count to one hundred and say basic greetings in German. Our next plan is to put little stickers on things around the house with the German name- and of course just like French and Spanish, you have to memorize whether a noun is male, female or neutral (although our German language teacher says "neuter" which some people in the class find funny.....) Zev has done very well in picking up the German numbering system as well as odd phrases here and there such as "Tchuss!" which is pronounced like "choooose!" and is an informal way of saying "farewell" here, or "genau" which is like saying "ok" or "I get it." Zev likes to say "genau".....a lot......
We went on a bike ride acrss the countryside this past weekend- it was about an hour bike ride, but boy there were some hills in between! It was also sprinkling for the most part but we had a fun time, especially trying to follow the little (incognito!) signs for the bike trail. We are so impressed by how accessible the bike and walking trails are here in Germany. We also love how weather does not seem to stop the locals from getting out and about and going walking, running or bike riding.
Please keep in touch and send us the latest news from Sydney/ Melbourne/ Canandaigua/ Montgomery/ Shreveport, or wherever in the world you are currently reading this blog from.
Auf Wiedersehen!
Zev and Fi
xoxo
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