Be Back Soon!

Hello, Blog.  Wie geht's?  

Sorry I have not been writing at all.  My life has been taken over by my intensive German lessons.  But I'm nearly finished for summer.  Two more days.

I started waaaaaaay back at the beginning of November and have not had a break since.  We have had breaks for the German bank holidays plus 2 weeks each at Christmas and Easter.  And now summer.  There's only about 7 or 8 of us left that started that November 2.  We have about 20 total Teilnehmer that come and go through each course.  These 8 of us are in our 5th course together now (A1.1, A1.2, A2.1, A2.2 and now B1.1).  4 hours a day, 4 days a week for 5 weeks per session. 

After the summer holidays I plan to take the last half of B1 and then take the exam.  I will stop there.  I do not plan to attend university here...for that I would need to pass C2.  I do not even plan to get a job here although for many jobs, my B1 would be enough.  This shocks me.

Anyway, can I speak German?  Eh, I can communicate with native speakers.  I make mistakes in just about every sentence that comes out of my mouth (or typed by my fingers) but people understand me and I understand large amounts of what they say.  A few people have stopped speaking English with me.  The other day I went to a doctor and, while she spoke English with me the first time I saw her, the second time she was all, "This is too much work!" and switched to German.  I continued to speak English in response (mostly) and she continued in German.  I left with my brain nearly fried from working so hard...a doctor visit with instructions and specific questions and special medical terminology?  It was overwhelming...but at the same time:  I did it!  (Not sure if I want to do it again, though.)

The boys need to get up to speed with their German now too.  They were given a "free pass" for the first two years here where they do not receive grades/marks in German while they learn the language.  Well, two years are up.  Starting with 6th grade in the fall, Easton will be graded in his "German Partner Tongue" class.  He was recently acknowledged (in front of the whole school!) for how well he has been doing in German, specifically with his near-daily vocabulary/spelling tests. 

Both boys understand and can speak loads of German, but you would never know it as they are both still so hesitant to attempt it much.  And they don't like it.  I was wanting to sign them up for some sort of summer day camp where they will have no choice but to switch to German while they're there, but so far I haven't found anything that interests them enough to make them willing to try in German.  :/

Anyway, was mostly wanting to say I know I have tons more to say and catch everyone up on, and once summer arrives, I'll be back.