Crossed fingers

Mood: relaxed, contemplative
Stage notes: smell of tuna pizza being baked for dinner, children playing in the background

I had my first real conversations in German today. My language teacher treated me to lunch and a Kölsch. Through my limited vocabulary and lots of gestures we were able to communicate quite a bit. She seems to really enjoy teaching and interacting with her students and I am grateful to have her as a teacher.

On the train ride home I met Ani. She was about 60 and had never learned English in school. For about 20 min we exchanged names, origins, where we currently lived, and general family info. Beyond that I was mainly able to talk about school and the US. It is a very small start, but better than nothing (which is what I started the week with).

I went grocery shopping for the first time today at Lidl. This is a lot like Aldi's in Lansing. You pay for shopping carts and bags, pack your groceries yourself, and there is a somewhat limited selection but the prices are good. I purchased (I think :) hot salami, cheese with pepper, garlic bread, yogurt, and some fruit. I think that I will go to the grocery store often because it is a great place to learn new words and practice my German with people.

The Bonnets suggested asking people over for board games and dinner on Saturday. I asked a few people at school, and they seemed to be interested if not this weekend than perhaps next. Saturday evening there will be fireworks on the Rhine. Whether people come over to the Bonnet's or not, I will probably spend the evening by the river talking with people and watching the show.

PS- Sorry for the occassionally poor grammar and spelling. Spell check is only in German here and I have limited time to write so everything is being typed very quickly.

PPS-I'm babysitting for the first time tonight, cross your fingers that it goes well.