On the Road with Julie

Time to Read:

Yesterday, I arrived at the train station in Cologne and my teacher for the week, Ludwig, was there to greet me in a full-brimmed brown leather hat and a big warm German smile, of course accompanied by big warm German words, “Wilkommen, Julie!”

As we made our way through the train station and towards the car, I immediately felt that chasm that I’ve so often rejoiced in bridging these last weeks – the one created by language when there is a gap between them. Ludwig actually speaks English just fine, but he knows that I’m not here to speak English. So, he supported me to enjoy the awkward suffering that I came on this trip to experience. I find, if you keep filling in the disconcerting vacuum of connection with the easy bridge of English, your brain never feels the same necessity to learn the new language. As far as I can tell, brains operate according to the primary law of nature, the law of energy conservation. If it can see a pathway that is easier to take, it will take it. In the absence of the safety net of English, I could feel my brain getting the message – you better figure out this German thing, or we will be stuck in awkward silences (or worse) for a while.

So, I was very grateful that Ludwig stuck to German, despite the prolonged gaps in communication. I uttered my first words to him, after hello. “Mein Deutsch is nicht sehr gut.” I confessed. We had been communicating in written form and, with the aid of google translate, this is the first moment he would be encountering the reality of what I could throw in the ring. Ever the encouraging teacher and, what I quickly learned is a great sense of humor and fun-loving spirit, he said with a big smile, “Nein, es ist sehr gut, ich verstehe dich volkommen!” (No, it’s very good, I understand you perfectly!”) Fair enough. When it comes to saying that my German is not very good, my German is very good!

The car ride was intermittently quiet, and intermittently German. I understood enough to know that he was telling me about the Rhine River (his favorite river) and what happens when it reaches 9 meters (it floods and closes the tunnel we were driving through) and how expensive the real estate was just along it. I understood enough to know how to answer his question about which group was singing the song on the radio. “The Supremes”, I said. Even though my answer was in English, I was excited to be able to answer a question posed to me in German. So, I’m doing the necessary crawling one must do before learning to walk and then to run.

This is the first place on the trip that I’ve been that actually reminds me of home. I tried to grab a few pictures as the train rolled in and on the drive to Ludwig’s house, but, alas, they didn’t quite turn out. There is no doubt that I’m far from home, but, there is something in the layout, the colors, the infrastructure and the setting that reminds me of good ole’ Rochester, NY!

I was greeted at my new home for the week first by the familiar sight of a camper van in the driveway! Then by the warm greeting of Ludwig’s wife, Sylvie – a native French speaker that is also a German teacher. I don’t know how Sylvie knew that gluten free, dairy free crepes had become the talisman of my travels, but there were a freshly made pile of them sitting steaming on the kitchen table when I arrived! So, that makes 4 out of 4 countries, so far! Crepes everywhere! The warmth of the flat pancakes was only matched and surpassed by that of Ludwig and Sylvie as my cordial hosts. They have three daughters, one exactly my age, so I immediately found myself feeling a familial embrace. They are so warm, so welcoming. And, even better, they are an absolute blast and really funny!

I had brought a small box of praline chocolates as a house-warming, “thank you” gift. I handed them to Ludwig and his face lit up with glee. Sylvie reached across and grabbed them, “Die sind für mich. Du bist zu groß.” (These are for me, you ae too fat.) She said with a look of mischievous glee on her face and a sparkle in her eye as she grabbed a pinch of his belly. He smiled and smoothed out his shirt with a calm defense and that same glimmer in the eye, “Nein, mein Hemd ist zu groß.” (No, it’s my shirt that’s too big.) he insisted as he reached for the chocolates.

The playfulness and the various eye twinkling continued through the rest of the day.

And of course, one of the most exciting things about how fun and funny my temporary German parents are is the fact that, somehow, I seemed to be able to perceive that even though all of the expressions of their humor are in German! I don’t fully understand it, but as the rest of the day unfolded, with all of us sitting around the table with nothing but German sounds floating across the air to facilitate a transfer of information – I was following the conversation. I probably understood just north of 50% of the words, and with that, about 80% of what was being said. So neat! And, honestly, it’s a mystery to me. Of course, when the questions came to me and it was my turn to formulate sound vehicles for carrying information from my head to theirs, that bubbly pace of conversation hit the brick wall that is my spoken German. As the movement came to a palpable screeching halt, my new hosts listened patiently and supportively, waiting for me to do my best to make sounds out of my face that resembled words they could comprehend.

We were joined a few hours later by Nicole, a former student of theirs just passing through for two days that will be joining for the first few days of my time here. She is a native Italian speaker from Switzerland and her German flowed out of her like liquid chocolate, smooth and sweet, with a little flavor of Italian. And she fit in just perfectly with the fun and festive atmosphere, adding one more smiling face to the welcoming party. It was so fun to sit at the table as the hours ticked by doing as best I could to follow the bouncy conversation.

My hungry brain was in heaven. Those of you that know me know that my neurons are a bit like a puppy, jumping around with excitement, and they do best when taken outside and exercised to exhaustion. My brain has never been so happy as to sit at this table working every second trying to decode and understand the patterns of sound. Was it tiring? Yes. There is no happier puppy, though, than one that is laying on the ground, wiped out after hours of smells to smell, balls to catch, squirrels to chase after and wind to run through. So, my tired brain was loving every moment of straining to understand.

When I retired to my room at the end of the evening, it was so strange to me how much I felt like I just hung out with friends all evening – the fact that I understood enough for it to feel like and actually BE real connecting (even though the contributions coming FROM me were minimal at best) was thrilling.

I am very excited and hopeful to see the changes in me by the end of this week. I typically am trying to only speak, read and write in my target language Mondays through Saturdays, so I am breaking my own rule by writing this on Monday morning – but I’m considering this a temporary extension of Sunday with our official classes starting today at 9AM. My hope is, when you hear from me next at the end of this week, at least some of it will be in German!

Bis später!