Last Friday was my last class in DeutschAkademie. The feeling is quite complicated to explain. It is like we are still all going to meet next Monday and we should say: schönes Wochenende instead of Mach’s gut. Anyway, it is a very nice experience to meet each other and learn German in Berlin!

We got our certificate which states that we have finished 48 hours German class at DeutschAkademie. We also took some group photos in our classroom. After our class, we went to a fancy restaurant to have some drinks at Savignyplatz. Although this restaurant is kind of expensive but the atmosphere is nice and around Savignyplatz is nicely illuminated. So our farewell was ended in a beautiful night!

There are free musical events going on in front of the Staatsoper unter den linden (Bebelplatz) on 29th and 30th of August. I went to „tristan und isode“ that is an opera written by Richard Wagner. There were already lots of people gathered in Bebelplatz one hour before the opera started. Some people prepared wine and sandwiches for a beautiful summer night with music. There were also stands selling bier, sausage and it is like a musical festival in the center of unter den linden.

We can barely see the full screen because some people were standing or sitting on a chair and we sat on the ground. We can not see the subtitles hence we do not really know how the story is going on. The music was really nice but the weather was bad. It rained heavier and heavier so we decided to leave earlier.  It is a pity that the weather was not nice, otherwise we could have finished this opera with an open and nice atomosphere!

One of my favorite parts of German class is „German song time“. My teacher has a very good voice and she introduced many interesting songs to us. Normally we listen to a new song several times without seeing the lyrics then we try to fill the blanks by ourselves. It is a interesting way to train our listening comprehension.

Among these songs, I like songs from „Die Prinzen“ a lot. For example, küssen verboten and mein Fahrrad were songs that we have learned from Die Prinzen. The singer has a good voice and also the lyrics are very funny. All of us enjoy German songs time a lot and we like to sing these songs along with the music.

Gestern hatten wir über Konjutiv I/II und indirekte Rede gesprochen.

間接語句通常只在新聞報導中出現，當報導者引述當事人的話所用的語句。我們在課堂上也改寫了一篇報導，把直接語句改成間接語句。舉例來說在direkte Rede(直接語句): Wir müssen den Text ausdrucken. 間接語句要引述某人的話就改成:Er meint, wir müssten den Text ausdrucken. 動詞是把一般動詞 müssen變成Konjutiv II müssten.

在課堂上，老師也交了一首歌，把一般動詞和Konjutiv I/II做了一個整理跟比對。我還是沒辦法十分靈活的運用。但當我常常練習的話這些都會慢慢熟練的。

I am very lucky that there was a big sport event going on during my stay in Berlin! It is the 12th IAAF World Championships!

I went to the Olympiastadion but I did not buy a ticket to go inside the stadium. I only made a small visit within stands which were set before the stadium. In this IAAF website, they also showed the marathon course in 3D video.

I went to the men marathon and saw the Taiwanese marathon athlete–Chia-Che, Zheng(張嘉哲). I went with some other Taiwanese students to give our athlete support. We brought national flags and shouted our country’s name – Taiwan – loudly. Other spectators smiled at us and also made some pictures of us.  In this picture, he was waving to us. Isn’t is nice? I caught this moment with my camera.

This church is kept for mermorializing the cruelty of War. Hence, it is not rebuilt but is remained as original way after war.The new church bedies Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis Kirche has beautiful church glass. Especially, when the blue light glitters in the night, the view is amazing.

I walk by this church when I go to DeutschAkademie every day. Kurfürstendamm is a famous place for shopping in Berlin, and this Church is located in the heart of Kurfürstendamm. So when you guys visit Berlin, do not miss this historical and beautiful church!

I never feel bored along the way to my German class, becuase I have gotten Ka De We and Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis Kirche around.

My classmates, teacher and me planned to go to the Freiluftkino in Friedrichshain

However, I do not know whether we were lucky or unlucky? It has not rained for weeks in Berlin but this Friday night not only did it rain, but it rained heavily. The movie should start at 8:30 pm. And before the movie started, we still had a lesson. At first, it did not rain hence we sat on the grass in the park. It is enjoyable to learn in the nature „but“ only when the weather is nice. Then it started raining heavier and heavier, so we moved to a Cafe in the park. Although the enviroment was cold and wet, the lesson kept on going, we are such good students!

We went to Freiluftkino and tried if we can change our tickets to another day. Because less than 40 people came to this movie, it was canceled. We could not get our money back but each of us got two tickets which are valid till next year. So, we had bad luck and good luck.

This restaurant is located just right next to S-Bahn station Tiergarten. When you get out of the S-Bahn, go to Sigmunds Hof direction then on your right hand side, you will see this restaurant.

They provide various meat dishes, and they also have English menu. The atmomsphere is quite student-style and relaxing. The waiter (who is also the owner, I think) is kind of cool but it does not mean that he is unfriendly. He explains about dishes quite well. If you want to have the experience that you are a VIP, go there in the afternoon. There were only my friend and me at one Sataurday afternoon.

The price for main dish is from 9 euro to 16 euro. The portion is quite a lot! One portion is like for two people. You can see from this picture!

open hours: Monday to Friday 18:00~Midnitght

Saturday and Sunday 12:00~Midnight

Without any doubt there are lots of places people can go for shopping. I just list some shopping spots that I have been to. First of all, Ka De We (Kaufhaus des Westens) is located just right next to U bahn Station: Wittenberg Platz. Every day I pass by Ka De We when I go to my German class in Berlin. There are always lots of people gathered in front of Ka De We. The gourmet section is specially famous which is at the 5th floor.

Alexa  is one of the biggest shopping centers in Berlin. In this red buildiing, there are more than 180 shops and a Food- Court. And next to S-Bahn station Alexenderplatz, you can also find another big department store: Galeria Kaufhof.

There are several Arcaden shopping centers in Berlin. For example, the one at U-Bahn station Rathaus Neukölln and the one at U-Bahn station Wilmersdorfer Straße. There are several cheap supermarkets inside and around Wilmersdorfer Arcaden: penny markt, Lidl, plus.

In a nutshell, Berlin is paradise for shopping! There are more shops that are waiting for me to explore!

The classroom that we use in DeutschAkademie is new. And there is a German dictionary on the desk when we need it.

After I finished my master in English, I want to find a job in Germany in order to have more experiences. Hence, I need to improve my German within a short period. I think, the intensive German course in Berlin at the DeutschAkademie will definitely help me.

Our teacher, Nora, she is always very patient and helpful. She always tries her best to help us. For example, when we were doing lesson about „job application“, she helped us to correct our CVs and cover letters. I find it very helpful that she always writes new words on the board then we can copy them. The next class, we will play a memorizing game. That is: Nora writes around 10 new words on the board which we learned yesterday. We use 2 minutes to keep them in our minds. We try to write as many words as we can without looking on the board in order to train our concentration and memorizing. It is a very good review for new vocabuary.

And now, I am looking forward to the Freiluftkino that we are going together! I will talk about it next time!