So on our final day this week, we started to learn what things / items are called in German and needless to say the complication came fast. Apparently, everything comes with a “die…”, “der…..” or “das…..” like in French but they have an extra one that is neutral.

Despite this being a land of many rules and regulations, our teacher shared the news that there really isn’t strict ones that indicate whether a word is femine, masculine or neutral (see above). You just have to know!!! My stomach turns upside down at this point. Luckily she didn’t just leave us hanging – I think she saw the look of absolute panic on everyone’s faces. Apparently, there are little hints that we can take from the endings of the words and this will determine which one it is.
We got to go around the room and label everything with “Post-its” which was especially fun. I now know how my friends felt when they labelled lots of things in our flat, to “re-decorate” it as a “welcome” present for when we got back from our honeymoon. It has actually been very helpful so I’m very happy they had the idea too.

We actually looked at plurals next but I don’t want to cry right now so we’ll leave that for another day. Actually, we learned how to share what our hobbies were and this leads nicely onto what things there are to do in Munich. I personally love travelling and exploring new places by foot and so Munich is perfect for me as it is a very big, old and a lovely city. There are lots to do & see easily accessible by Public Transport very cheaply too. I love the old part of town – Marienplatz and Karlsplatz are cool although busy. I’ve also visited Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss) and the Chinesier Tuem (Chinese Tower) in Englisher Garten. A friend of mine came from England recently to take photos at a wedding but came a few days earlier so we could visit the city. It was great to be a tourist with him and learn a little about the city with someone so I didn’t look like such a loser. We both particularly like Chinesier Tuem because a traditional Bayrische band came to play just while we were finishing lunch there. In England we only have this on special occassions so it was was a really nice surprise.

Joy of the English at the sight of a Bayrische "Oom-Pah" band at Chinese Tower, English Garden

I have visited Munich before I moved here and was taken to the Alps which is really so easy to get to by train. I would love to go again as I love hiking but I do wonder what the next surprise of Munich will be then. I guess time will tell. Tchuss!!!

p.s. Ooohhh… almost forgot to say. Lybian guy came back again today….. 30 mins before end of lesson. I guess he had really good birthday celebrations but really, I think his heart has changed very much towards to the course. Talk about commitment.

So good news. The Lybian guy returned today. It was also his birthday and he brought us chocolate. They were “lecker”. I like him.

We also learned how to sing “Happy birthday!” in German and it was quite fun…”Zum Geburstag viel Glueck!”Even birthday boy sung it too (I guess he needs to know how to say it in the future). He’s the fourth one from the left in the photo below.

Smile!!!

Today, we focused on numbers. A week or so ago, my husband and I watched these hardcore Bud Spencer & Terrance Hill films from 1970s. They are really quite funny if you don’t take them too seriously. One of them was about how they stopped an evil guy causing an explosion that would make everyone forget numbers. Today, I think we all felt like that had actually happened. Our teacher certainly did.

We did a lot of speaking practice again today, which even though I had learnt them a while ago, I still really valued learning how to say “…-zig” properly. 1999 was the most fun – “neunzehn hundert, neunundneunzig” Phew. Really, life would be very tricky without knowing this. For the moment, let’s just say none of us have Mobile numbers because when a German reverses the last 2 digits when they say it,  it really throws you. Guess what I’ll be doing tonight?????

I must go now but just a final thought. Me thinks the Lybian guy might return tomorrow – I think the fact that our teacher taught him how to say the different positions on a football field really helped – especially with tonight’s game and possible birthday celebrations in hand.

Ciao for now….

oohhh…. Random question!!!! Does anyone know if they have the talking clock here?