At this point of my life I am starting to feel ashamed when someone asks me whether if I am able to speak German and for how long I have been here. Those two questions together create and answer that has no COHERENCE at all. That’s when the shame starts sweating from my skin pores.

The truth is that no one better than me knows how difficult is to learn German when everyone around you can easily speak English, and when -furthermore!- expressing in English is a challenge by itself. So today I would like to share my story (taught in my head infinite times as an excuse for every time I got the two questions mentioned).

I came to Germany without knowing a word of German. I could barely say „Hallo“. Since the very beginning I realize how hard it was going to really introduce myself into the city’s life without speaking the language. In spite of all my wishes, the first semester I couldn’t take a German course, and so the English kept developing and the German stayed straggler in a corner of my learning brain circuitry. After 6 months (much more than should have been), I had just learned some words from the daily life, but since I didn’t even get how the sentences were supposed to be built I was terrified of trying. I didn’t feel confident at all, so I didn’t try (HUGE MISTAKE). My very first class of German started in April, after seven months living in Germany were already gone.

My very first day in Germany and the big surprise
of finding what is called: „Ein Hochbett„

My enthusiasm have not diminished since that point. Actually, every day I feel like I am more motivated. And, although my pace has been really slow, like a turtle, I can always reach the finish line with a surprise (like in the kids‘ story: http://childhoodreading.com/?p=3). I maintain my motivation really looking forward to it.