German Lessons

Torrey and I have both started taking German classes through Berlitz.  Google pays for one year of lessons for both of us and we plan on taking advantage of this.  Torrey started in July, and has classes twice a week for one hour at the Google office.  I wanted to do intensive classes until my Masters program begins in September.  I began my class on August 5th, and have classes every day for 2 hours and 15 minutes.  We are both in Level 1 but yesterday I passed where Torrey was at in the book.  Torrey's class has three students, all Googlers.  My class is at the Berlitz office in Bellevue (I mention this only because we used to live in Bellevue).  There are 7 students in my class each one of us from a different country: South Africa, France, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Syria, and Canada (myself).

I am frequently reminded of how international this city and still find it fascinating to meet people from all different countries.  Another example, is I had lunch yesterday with some "Spooglers" (spouses [or significant others]) of Googlers, around the table were 2 Americans, an Austrilian, Russian, Swedish, and one women from the Netherlands (who was Asian).

Back to German class...we also have to do a fair bit of work on our own in order to not fall behind. The homework they assign doesn't usually take very long but reviewing and memorizing verb conjugation, and vocabulary (including if it is masculine, feminine, or neutral) takes a while.  I have generally been spending at least 2 hours a day outside of class.  It is a fair amount of work, but it is satisfying to be able to read and understand more.  Unfortunately, they speak Swiss German here, and not German. I think the second most commonly spoken language seems to be English, rather than German.

So I have learned to count (sort of), know how to ask how much something costs, I know if one building is beside, behind or across from another building and many other useful things.  I was doing fairly well but today I was lost at the end of the class. I am getting the masculine, feminine, neutral and when it changes what all mixed up. There are a couple people who seem to be doing fairly well, one girl is picking it up very quickly and the other 2 had some German background. I was determined to study this afternoon but my new friend Stephanie (who is from Seattle) invited me to go swimming in the lake. I have been wanting to do that since we got here so I weighed my options and went swimming.  It was at least 32 C and muggy today...not good for studying anyway. Very fun and now I am relaxed and ready to study German.