Since Thursday was a public holiday here in Munich, we haven’t been in class since last Wednesday.  We couldn’t have had better weather in our 4 day break though.  It was really hot every day, so I managed to spend a lot of time sitting in the Beer Gardens, and getting in lots of outdoor activities.  On both Thursday and Sunday, my boyfriend and I tried out some of Munich’s outdoor swimming pools.  On Thursday we cycled down the Isar to Maria Einsiedel, which has a lovely flow channel from the Isar that you can swim in.  Warning if you go there, the flow channel is frrrrrezing cold!  Then on Sunday, we went to Ungererbad in Schwabing – a lovely big complex with 4 pools and even a slide :)

More info on all the outdoor pools in Munich can be found here: http://www.inside-munich.com/outdoor-swimming-pool.htmlAnyway, back to Monday’s lesson.  We started with some speaking training.  Good news for me as my speaking is definitely my weakest area!  We learnt when vowels were produced long (lang) or short (kurz) – for example, the ‘e’s’ in Tee are extended when you say the word, whereas the ‘e’ in ‘denn’ is short, or pronounced quickly.  It’s complicated at first, but hopefully I’m getting the hang of it!We then talked about money (geld) and exchange rates, which was good practice for revising numbers.  Unfortunately this reminded me of the dire state of the pound at the moment – £1.13 for 1 Euro!Finally, towards the end of the lesson we studied ‘einkaufen’ (shopping).  This was good timing for me as it’s my birthday this week and I’m sure I’ll be buying something.  We combined this exercise with learning adjectives – great (toll), not bad (nicht schlecht), boring (langweilig), chic (schick) etc.  To do this we listening to a couple discussing whether to buy certain pieces of furniture in a furniture store.   Whereas 2 weeks ago I would’ve found this extremely difficult, it was great to be able to follow the dialogue and pick up more than a few words.  I’m definitely making some progress :)