The last day has come. We have been together for 16 days, learning German, talking, playing, laughing & sharing our stories.Though it was the last day in our class, we decided to pick up 1 more grammar to be learned (yeaah……, we’re so motivated & enthousiastic to learn German! :) ). That was: “Passiv”. Passiv in the present and past. It took about 2 hours to discuss this topic and of course some exercises were done “happily”. Some students & our teacher brought some food (cookies, chocolate, etc..) and wine! Without a break, we finished our class much earlier. We were enjoying the food and the wine & we were talking about a lot of things… We exchanged our email addresses so we can keep in touch & even arrange a meeting in the future.In general I’m satisfied with my German course in Munich. It’s definitely helpful & improve my German. I also realize though that I have to train myself to use my German knowledge as often as possible & avoid using English in daily conversation with my German friends. Hopefully I can register to the next course. I wish you abundant success & happiness, my dear friends !!!

We didn’t have any exam today and we’re not going to do any final exam tomorrow (the last day) :)The main grammatical topic was about “Vergangenheit”. So we reviewed the all 3 past forms: Praeteritum, Perfekt, and Plusquamperfekt. The interesting exercise was the irregular verbs. While we understood the rule for regular verbs, it’s quite often that we didn’t know the irregular verbs which have to be remembered by using them as often as possible.In spoken language we use Perfekt more often and that’s the easiest way (for me at least) to tell the past stories. In written language and formal uses, Praeteritum is preferably used. I think I can sense that for exaample on the TV news or radio. Newspapers & magazines are also good materials for learning Praeteritum. On the other side we have Plusquamperfekt, a tense that is very rare used in my daily life. Anyway, we’re happy because now the concept of those 3 tenses were clearer, especially after we did several exercises.

I made an interesting city trip today since I had 2 visitors from Berlin, they’re friends of mine.We decided to visit Schloss Nymphenburg. This castle was commissioned in 1664 & served for a long time as a summer residence for the Wittelsbachers (rulers of Bavaria). Some rooms still show their original baroque decoration while others were later redesigned in rococo or neoclassical style. The former small dining room in the south pavilion today houses the Galleries of Beauties of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. This pavilion houses also the birthroom of King Ludwig II of Bavaria. The 200-hectare park, once an Italian garden, which was enlarged and rearranged in French style. The extensive castle park, with its lake and the small park citadels, is a popular destination for day-trippers today. The entire grounds unite various building styles, and is one of the most popular castle grounds in Germany.

Today we learned the education system in Germany. It’s very interesting to know that “children” are already directed to a certain direction. It’s definitely not a decision that is made by children themself, rather it’s a decision that is made by their parents together with the teachers based on their marks/scores at school.For example, when they finish the “Grundschule” at about 10 years old, they’ll be divided into basically 3 groups: Realschule, Hauptschule, & Gymnasium. At a certain point, this classification might create a tight competition. The main decision is based on how good the performance of those children during their study in Grundschule. For many parents, Gymnasium seems to be the most interesting path since it leads to the university which eventually create a “better” future.However, the role of Hauptschule & Realschule can not be ignored because of their important contribution to the Berufsschule, a path that leads to a more practical skill for professional fields. The conclusion is: maybe it’s the time to review the effectiveness of German educational system. For example, by combining several factors to make a decision whether a child could go to a certain school (Gymnasium, Hauptschule, or Realschule), & not only based on a child’s scores/marks at school.

It’s true that the long street between Odeonsplatz and Karlplatz (Stachus) is always packed with a lot of people! However, there’s always something interesting on this street. I almost took a free historical & archaeological tour this afternoon. Yes, free guided tour, sounds wonderful, right? Unfortunately, it was cancelled because there was only me! :)A street “reality show” is also one of my favourites. This afternoon I really enjoyed a street actor who kept on “annoying” the people who were walking on the street. That was hilarious! :)) It was extremely funny; people who sit on the street Cafe were really entertained by his acting. Though it was just about 30 minutes, but it’s enough to cheer up everyone’s day I believe.

We’re already 3 weeks in Munich, & we’ve learned quite a lot at my language school in Munich. All we did during our course is actually reviewing what we’ve learned in basic level (A1-A2). However, it’s still very useful to keep reviewing all the basic grammatical points. In addition, the active participation of each student in our class was very helpful in creating a good atmosphere.On the first week we learned about Konjungtiv II and Finalsaetze. We trained ourselves to make conversation with the topic of “Am Arbeitsplatz” and we also learned many new words about “Freizeit & Vergnuegen”. On the second week we reviewed Modalverben & Reflexive Verben. I believe those topics are used very often in daily situations. It’s very interesting to discuss the family life in Germany. Several cultural differences were also discussed by all students in our class.The topic of our grammar last week was Temporale Konnektoren & Temporale Praepositionen. They are my favourite topics actually :) That doesn’t mean I know everything about them, but that just simply means I don’t mind to put a lot of efforts to learn them.  It’s really a coincidence that one of the topics was about the Oktoberfest, which is still going on in Munich! Our teacher told us about “Teufelsrad” –> a very funny game that I still have to see on Oktoberfest. I’ll give you the complete report plus the picture when I visit it next week with some friends! :)

Open Air music performances are quite common in Munich. They’re so attractive for me. Sometimes the political parties (SPD, CSU, die Linke, etc) hold some concerts which usually attract a large number of people. Although normally there are a lot of foreign tourists at Marienplatz, but of course there are many German tourists as well.One time I really enjoyed an open air concert performed by musicians from Switzerland. It was a semi-classic music performance. The weather was great which made the atmosphere even much better. People were really glad with the show; they were clapping several times during the show, some were even shouting :) So, just keep your eyes & ears open to see & hear if there’s an open air show somewhere. I’m sure that’s worth it, especiaally when the weather is nice.

There are many things that can be done in Munich after my class in the afternoon. We’ll make a plan for a short trip at the end of our course: 2 weeks later. From forests to lakes, from museums to castles, there’s always something to explore in Munich. For example, the lakes Starnbergersee, Amersee, & Chiemsee, the mountains Brauneck & Zugspitze, romantic castles such as Neuschwanstein (constructed by legendary King Ludwig II) are just at Munich’s doorstep.With Bayern Ticket on the weekend, we can travel relatively cheap. That’s also one of the good reasons to do an excursion on the weekend. Since Oktoberfest is still going on, it’s wiser to enjoy this special event in the city instead of going to somewhere else :) While I study for improving my German, I believe that having a good social life is also an important part in learning German in a more practical way. By interacting with native people, I’m getting more confident in speaking & listening. Another advantage is I’m being motivated to speak more, an ability that’s very crucial in learning a language.

This time I want write my blog in English somehow, just as a variation :) On Saturday: 19th of September, the Oktoberfest in Munich has begun. I wasn’t there because I still had something else to do. Anyway, I passed by the location last night, and it was…… amazing! There was a lot of people with (of course) their traditional Bayern costumes. They look beautiful though :)For you who aren’t familiar with Oktoberfest, I’ll give here a brief introduction. It’s a traditional annual festival in Munich, takes place during the 16 days up to & including the first Sunday in October. It’s located on Theresienwiese.  Visitors also eat huge amounts of food, most of it traditional hearty fare such as Hendl (chicken), Schweinsbraten (roast pork), Haxn (knuckle of pork), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstel (sausages) along with Brez’n (Pretzel), Knödeln (potato or bread dumplings), Käsespätzle (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Rotkraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a fatty, spiced cheese-butter concoction) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).I’m planning to visit it either today or tomorrow actually, with a German friend of mine. But just be aware that everything is (again, of course) much more expensive! :)

Heute habe ich Modalverben im Sprachkurs in München gelernt. Das war eigentlich eine Wiederholung, weil ich Modalverben in der Grundstufe gelernt habe. Aber das ist gut. Eine grammatische Wiederholung ist immer nützlich. Das Thema, das wir diskutiert haben, war Frauen und Lebensziele:

• Frauen sollten auf keinen Fall auf eine berufliche Qualifikation verzichten.
• Junge Frauen sollten sich nach einigen Jahren Berufspraxis überlegen, ob sie Kinder wollen.
• Ehrgeizige Frauen müssen ihre Karriere zielstrebig planen.
• Frauen könnten sich auch für Beruf und Kinder entscheiden.

Am Ende haben wir mehrere Zettel für Familie Kornblume geschrieben. Das war unsere Aufgabe. Die Mutter, Sabine Kornblume, hat Terminkalender für Dienstag & Mittwoch, aber sie muss ihre Mutter pflegen. Ihre Mutter lebt 500 km entfernt, deshalb muss sie ihre Aufgabe mit anderen Familienglied teilen und wir helfen Sabine. Und natürlich haben wir viele Modalverben in den Zetteln benutzt.