Last day of BI.1 and it was truly a bitter sweet moment. For me learning German has been a roller coaster ride. Sometimes it peaks really up and sometimes it goes real low but the point is it keeps moving and it does get over which is also how we should be looking at German. It’s scary and it does make you want to backtrack but it’s worth the ride and the exhilaration of being able to speak even if a little of a new language.

I personally have been looking forward to completing b1 so b1.1 is the first half of it. I just have the other half to tread forward to. For now, I’m going to be heading back home for a short break. To celebrate my personal milestone of completing b1.1. I got back home and sat done and crafted some cards. For those who don’t know me, I’m into food(big time =D) and into crafts especially handmade cards for nothing beats the beauty of seeing a handmade and crafted card gifted to you . To me it personally speaks volumes about how much you mean to the person that they’re willing to spend hours creating something for you to cherish.  Learning a new language can be quite similar to crafting a card. The finished product when I get done crafting a card is genuine happiness and satisfaction and the same applies when I complete each level of German language. It’s a step but worth your time and energy. I hope each and every one of you on this ‘learning German ‘journey remembers that when the going gets tough.

Wishing you all tonnes of luck to master this language.

Bis Bald,

Elza

Today is the second last day of B1.1. We all got talking over how fast time flies. I remember moving to Munich and it’s already been 6 months. Starting from A1.1 and wondering what’s happening in class to still wondering it =D but with bouts of clarity, it’s a huge mountain that I’ve been scaling. Now I’m  always looking up advertisements and billboards trying my best to see if I can figure it out and when I do, I do my own little victory dance =D. Let’s say it’s quite the sight. At least it’ll have you laughing and remember people who laugh more, live longer. I’m doing y’all a favor =D.

Moving on from all that musing. Today we happened to look into nachdem. Now nachdem is one of the many temporal conjugations. What they do is they let us know about the beginning, end or rather the length of a particular action. Nachdem helps us to know and understand that two events did not happen at the same time. Rather they happen one after the other where the event in the Hauptsatz happens after the event in the Nebensatz.

Zum beispeil- Nachdem Thomas sich die Zähne geputzt hat, geht er ins Bett.

So here we can see that Thomas went to bed after brushing his teeth and that the two actions happened one after the other. He went to bed AFTER he brushed his teeth. Quite easy peasy, isn’t it =D.

Bis bald.

Elza

Food is something that connects people from all over the world. I have never met someone who I can’t connect over food. The day just gets so much easier with a tummy full of good yummylicious food devoured. That got us talking and in our class we all took an informal poll over must try foods/delicacies of Germany. The first thing that every spoke about was the warm buttery pretzels or butter pretzels as they’re called here. And I have to admit, nothing beats it if you ask me. I could eat it all day long =D. Another much spoken about specialty of Munich was beers. I was told it would be a shame if I didn’t take advantage of something of the beautiful golden cold drink to wash down a day. We all knew where you’ll be seeing at =D. And let’s not forget the Currywurst, a much popular delicacy of Germany. So Currywurst is just a simple and yet mind-blowing dish consisting of Wurst (sausages), smothered in gravy along with potatoes. I’m pretty sure a lot of people are going to be hungry after reading this blog post =D. And to top it all up, the desserts have to be spoken up. For that we all unanimously voted for the Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte or popularly known as Black Forest Cake.  A trip to Germany is not complete without digging into some scrumptious layers of soft chocolate cake and whipped cream. Let’s just say, I know where everyone is heading off to today…to eat all of this goodness =D.

Bis Bald!

Elza

This is something I ask around the class after every weekend. And I love hearing the different responses. It ranges from „gut“ to „nicht so gut“ and „wunderschön“. It makes you realize we all shared the same weekend and yet came out with different experiences and memories.

Today in class we happened to learn about Plusquamperfekt. Remember Past Perfect tense in English? Well that’s your Plusquamperfekt in German. You use this type of tense to talk about an event that already happened before another event that ALSO took place in the past. For instance, when I arrived at the bus stop, the bus had already departed. As you can see, the bus departing had already happened before I arrived at the bus stop. That ladies and gentlemen is your Plusquamperfekt. It’s quite simple if you ask me. It also comes along with a mini rule to make it easier to follow. The Plusquamperfekt is written by using the auxiliary verb “haben” and “sein” in Präteritum along with the Partizip 2.

Zum Beispiel-  Ich hatte den ganzen Tag gearbeitet. Danach habe ich eingekauft. So here you can see, we are talking about two events that happened in the past where one happened before the other and we are also following the rule of using haben in Präteritum form along with partizip 2. And it’s as simple as that =)

Elza

So a funny thing happened in class today. It’s quite the anomaly. I happened to notice how we all sat in the same places every single day. No matter who turned up late or early, we all sat in our very own designated places. We all got talking about this in class today and it was quite the fun discussion.

A lot of us seemed to agree how we feel safe in our self-designated spots. It’s like our bubble. We get to feel safe while we dangle our legs quaveringly into German. It’s quite the food for thought isn’t it? How we all are humans at the end of the day and how we all are afraid and shy and want to feel safe and are afraid of changes? Made me realize no matter how different we all look and sound, at the end of the day we’re all the same. We each have the same amount of fears and worries that hold us back. Just remember everyone feels the same when they’re trying something new and tread forward.

Bis bald
Elza

A wise man once told me no trip to Munich is complete if you don’t go down to Marienplatz. Well for all my newbie readers: Marienplatz is the heart of Munich. One of the must see things is the Glockenspiel which is a famous clock which chimes every day at 11 in the morning and 5 in the evening. So run along quickly and make sure you’re there to see its 43 bells go ring-a-ding and a lot of figurines also move and dance around in their own whimsical way. And my favorite is when the little birdie comes out at the end of the show.

Another one of my personal favorites is the farmers market which you can see daily right outside Viktualienmarkt. I’ve been told this market has its history set from the early 19 Century and it still continues to be one of the biggest attractions.  For all my foodie lovers and chefs, this is your place to go and to be. And don’t forget to look out especially fresh baked pretzels and juicy strawberries and cherries you’ll see there.

There’s a lot more to be seeing and doing in Munich. I guess that’s the beauty of living here. You get too see it all if you just set out armed with some water and tons of sunscreen .

Elza

I just realized today it’s been 5 months since I’ve moved to Munich. “Herzlich Willkommen” is the first thing I read auf Deutsch in Germany. And I remember the first time I bumped into someone, he said “Entschuldigung” to me. To be fair, I thought he probably must have been muttering “can’t you see woman” in German, but later I realized that’s what you say for “sorry” und “excuse me”. And let’s not forget “tut mir leid”. Although every time I say “tut mir leid”, I feel like I need to do a mini curtsy while I say it! There’s something about it that makes me want to do so .

I later moved onto learning “Können Sie mir helfen” and let me tell you that this particular line has helped me galore. And oh, how could I forget “Ich weiss nicht”. To be fair, I did it pick that up while learning German and I use it a lot in class too. There you go mein liebe Leute, I’ve given you a list of words you should be knowing and using while in München.

Elza

It’s interesting how certain things in German are quite similar to English which I love. I get so excited when I hear a word that’s similar to English because I know that way I won’t end up forgetting it. I guess the key to German is to learn and not to forget which I do all the time. I guess remembering comes with practice and time. So keeping my fingers crossed.

So today we happened to learn about superlatives.  It’s just like English where you say pretty, prettier and the prettiest.  You’re comparing one against the other and the last is the final ground of comparison. For instance if you want to say the friendly man in Positiv (+), Komparativ (++) and Superlative (+++), it is freundlich, freundlicher and am freundlichsten. And if it comes along with an article. It becomes der freundlichste Mann.

It can go a little overboard at times but remember patience is the key .

Elza

If you ask me what I miss the most from back home. It’s the Arabisch food. I grew up on that cuisine and probably that’ll be what I ask for as my last bite when i hit the good o’l old ages of mine. That’s how much this food is a part of me. So when I moved here, a little birdie mentioned it to me how Germany had one of the best durum and kebabs ever tasted.  And I remember scoffing at them saying nothing beats what I’ve had back at home. Well, I moved here and got a taste of this durum right beside our DeutschAkademie and it made me realize that everything doesn’t need to be better than the other. You just need to open your mind to new flavors and new experiences and so I did and I got to taste this amazing explosion of nostalgic and yet new Arabisch cuisine flavors just because I decided to open myself up. The same applies to learning German. It is a difficult ride and often you just don’t want to cross that bumpy road of things your brains still is comprehending but hang on, take a bite and see how much it was worth that effort.

Elza

People often ask me what is the hardest thing when you move places. When I moved down to Munich, I was really apprehensive and it got a little accelerated when I swayed down to the nearest Edeka near my place to search for some all-purpose flour to bake some croissants. And to say I was overwhelmed is an understatement. I still remember walking down the aisles looking for anything remotely resembling flour. And to my surprise I came across a multitude of numbers and I stood there thinking-Whaaaat? I’m pretty sure I was quite a sight to see.

In Dubai, it is quite easy. You just walk into the grocery store, pick up that bag of All purpose flour and take it home and bake away whatever your hear desires.  However when you move to Germany and you go to find that bag of All purpose Flour, I wish you good luck because you’re going to be looking at a lot of numbers.  Now the good news is it’s not just you so you can relax there. I’m pretty sure everyone who moved to Germany thought the same when they went down the aisle to get themselves some All purpose flour =D. For all my newbies into the world of baking, Die Zahlen kennen ist sehr wichtig. So if you’re looking out to bake yourselves some cakes and pastries or a yummylicious pie crust, you need to be looking out for TYPE 405. Now if you’re dreaming about cookies and muffins, TYPE 550 is your go to. And for all my pretzel and chewy texture lovers, TYPE 812 is your boy =D.

It’s funny isn’t it? How different things are around different parts of the world. I guess life is really interesting when you travel =D.

Elza