Last weekend my friend and I went to the Deutsch-Französisches Volkfest (http://www.volksfest-berlin.de/), and we had such a wonderful time there. The weather was sunny but not too hot, and the place is not crowded either.

This is the biggest folk festival in Berlin, and it is divided into 2 sections, of course the German and the French. In the German section, it’s mostly the amusement rides, Ferris wheel, roller coaster, etc. Not too modern though, and hard to relate this with Germany except the sausages sold at the kiosks. On the French side, it is more “Frenchy”, at least there is a model of the Eiffel Towel. We also watched the performances and spent a long afternoon there.

Since my friend and I would like to take a look on the night view of the park with the lights on, we waited till it goes dark. Then to our surprise, there was a firework that night. We were so happy as it was out of our expectations. They were stunning and spectacular, and gave us a perfect ending of the day.

當一個人在異地時……

你會買自己喜歡吃的食物去烹調
卻因知道吃的只有自己, 買便宜些及隨便煮也便可

你會很自由的選擇進餐入睡的時間
卻更需要遷時差去skype和whats app遠方的親友

你會很隨心在途中哼著iPod的音樂
卻在聽到有共鳴的歌時感觸不已

你會把開心的事情用大聲公廣播
卻隱晦地將不快輕輕帶過

你會偶爾裝傻扮細待友善的人樂於主動幫你一把
卻要經常裝強扮惡以防被壞人欺負
更要無時無刻告訴自己要堅強去面對具體和無形的挑戰

你會少了親人在耳邊叮囑你要去幹些什麼
卻多了計劃自己每天應該做些什麼

你會很懶與人接觸, 因在陌生的環境由零開始建立關係不是易事
卻會很主動與人保持聯絡, 因你深明遠水不能救近火的道理

你會嘗試到很多你夢寐以求想去的地方和嚮往的遊歷
卻發現心中的烏托邦其實是自己一直身處的家鄉.

The „fast track“ to learn a language is undoubtedly to use it more often. There are tons of ways like reading the news in that language, watching Television and listening to radio and songs, reading children books… All these work well if I were a self-motivated person. But well, it always works better for me if there is a little pressure to a thing. And thus, in order to be able to communicate in German without much difficulties after a year, I choose to learn German in a language school, practise with my classmates after class, find some language partners, and even write emails in German. Apart from paying the school fee, all other ways involve another party and thus it gives me more motivation to use German.

I am so lucky that when I propose the idea of writing emails in German to my German friend, he replied me as follows (extracted from an email):

„no problem, you send your emails in German if you like (Kein Problem, du kannst deine Emails in deutsch schicken, wenn du möchtest.). Also no problem to tell you what is wrong (Es ist auch kein Problem dir zu sagen, was falsch ist.). Another idea I could write the mail in German and English (Eine andere Idee wäre, dir die Mail in deutsch und englisch zu schreiben..).“

I am so touched after I read the lines as I didn’t expect that he would write in both German and English, which would double the time he spends in writing the email. Truly thankful for his effort and I will definitely pay much more effort to learn German in every way I can!!

Last Thursday was my last lesson in level A1-2. It was actually the first month that I had classes in DeutschAkademie. A very nice experience I would say. Not only could I improve my language, it’s also a great chance to meet people from around the world. Nearly every student of my class comes from a different country, e.g. Chile, UK, Ireland, Canada, Italy, Greece, Spain, etc. So we get to know a bit about each other’s country, the local cuisine and some of the practices and cultures.

Our teacher, Tobias, is also super! He’s friendly and helpful, always introduces us with the highlight activities in Berlin. Our class all agrees that he is encouraging, keep saying „Guuuuuuut“ with a big smile after each group presents its ideas. And with the advantage of being in a class with maximum 10 students, the teacher can take care of each student’s progress and adjust the pace of teaching accordingly. We all feel so lucky to be in his class and think that he is an excellent teacher!

To add more fun to the lessons, there are many games to play which reinforce our learning. The Tic-tac-toe is definitely an unforgettable game competition. And so do the role plays, group discussions and presentations with our drawings. All these undoubtedly increase our involvement in the class and enhance our learning, and of course, bring joy and laughter for us all~

our class at the last lesson