German Quiz?

I have now had 6 weeks of German Conversation I. That's the halfway point. We had a popquiz this week.... Can you translate? (I'll post the answers later, but I would love to see your best guesses in the comments. No cheating!). I knew almost all of them!

Translate the following:
(and note that number 9 says "man das" not "mandas")

German Composition

This is my German composition for this week (pre-grading/corrections)

Mein mann, Jacob, liebt zu lernen. Er liebt zu Sprachen lernen. Und er will Deutschland wohnen. Ich liebe mein Mann, damit ich lerne Deutsche. Meine Lehrerin sagt um Fasching. Deutschland hört sich gut!

The House is Done!

We finished it! The house is done!

Some of you may remember that we had some damage from the tornado last April.

The house has been *almost* done since before Thanksgiving. Jacob and our friends and family worked so hard to replace a roof, and one side siding, plus a lot of fence repairs.


But the last couple screws, an electrical box cover, and some shutter painting - we just kept putting it off. We finally got the last bit of work done this weekend and wow it is such a weight off my shoulders.

Oh dear friends and family, who worked, prayed, encouraged, loved and got us through these repairs. And still came and visited us when our house was in shambles.


But most especially to all the people who got out on a ladder in the sun. We are so loved and supported.

German I: Week 2

So, German class is still awesome! Starting this week, part of our homework is to write a short German composition. This is, unfortunately, the extent of what I know how to say in German... but after only 2 classes... yay!

Ich heisse Mary Beth. Mein Nachname ist -----. Ich wohne in NC und ich komme aus NC. Ich arbeite für IBM. Ich bin Programmierer (?). Mine Mann heisst Jacob. Tschau!

I can also spell. I got a "Very Good" this week after spelling my very long name and my very long city. I practiced the alphabet really hard. No one is going to catch me off guard with a "Buchstabieren Sie, bitte?"

German Breakthrough and Memory work

Today I had a major breakthrough. After halfheartedly trying to expose myself to German for about a year, I saw a German sentence that didn't look completely foreign. In fact, I thought I could translate it. And with a little help from google translate, I discovered I could! This is the first time that German hasn't looked completely unapproachable to me!

I've also been reading the German Way - a website for expats in German culture. Today I read a post of tips for suriviving the metric system (with a much more thorough explanation for each) I'm trying to memorize as much as possible before I go. The more I learn now, the easier the transition should be, right?

So things I'm trying to memorize this week:

1. Celsius * 2 + 30 = Fahrenheit
2. Kilometers * .6 = Miles
3. Meters * 3 + 10% of meters = feet
4. Liters / 4 = gallons
5. Liters = 1.05 quarts (A liter bit more)
6. Kilos * 2 + 10% of kilos = pounds
7. 5 cm = 2 inches
8. Liters /100 km -> mpg? You're just out of luck.

wohnen (to live)

ich	wohne	wir	wohnen
du	wohnst	ihr	wohnt
er/sie/es	wohnt	Sie	wohnen

heissen (to be named)

ich	heisse	wir	heissen
du	heisst	ihr	heisst
er/sie/es	heisst	Sie	heissen

sein (to be)

ich	bin	wir	sind
du	bist	ihr	seid
er/sie/es	ist	Sie	sind

Drinking from the Fire Hose

I have often wondered if I should carefully keep this blog about my domestic endeavors, or if it's okay for my personal life to trickle in? Well, I have hit a brick wall in my brain, so here comes the personal stuff.

Jacob and I never do change halfheartedly. 3 years ago, it was "Graduate, start a new job, move, get married, adopt a dog." And while I think that time of life will be hard to top, we are certainly coming close right now.

In the last month Jacob and I have changed churches (which was difficult, complicated, and emotional...) and I started a new job. So by day, I'm absorbing training materials and shadowing sessions until my brain is about to explode... and then at night we're learning -either in a Membership class at church, in our new German class, in our new small group at our new church...

Forget domestic diva - I'm never home to domestic ANYTHING! Right now it's a bit more of drowning diva. And as much as I am loving my new job and my new church, it will truly be a wonder if I survive the next few weeks.

German!

Jake and I took our very first German class last night. The professor is absolutely delightful and aside from learning a smattering of German culture - I can now say all the letters in the alphabet (for spelling outloud), pronounce their sounds, and I can say: Ich heisse Mary Beth. Ich wohne in die USA.

Whee!!