Some studies have shown that continually taking classes throughout one's life can stave off Alzheimer's disease. Well, I certainly think I deserve a free pass to a nimble mind in my elder years, considering the brain power I will expel attending a German class five times a week.
It's not official yet but I have picked up a class schedule already and it is daunting. Three hours a day, five days a week? Yikes! However, the nerd in me is very excited. Although I hated most of my school years (I can safely blame the social forces at hand at the time), I loved college. Not only did I get to redefine myself amongst a new group of peers, I loved the freedom to study as I wished. I adored scheduling classes when I wanted them to be and then rolling out of bed and running to a lecture hall where I would sip coffee and take notes. Or not take them. It was all up to me how I wanted to learn and for the most part, what I wanted to learn.
So now it's even better. No math requirement to fulfill, no minimum credit load to carry, I just get to study a subject I really want to learn. However, rest assured that part of me is still terrified. I've had flashbacks of my intensive Spanish class back in Madrid where the teacher spoke not a lick of English and instead just kept repeating the same phrase to me while I contemplated staging a fainting spell just to get the hell outta there.
But the good thing about having a few foreign language experiences under my belt is that I sort of know how to tune my brain for this kind of information. Unlike last fall when I wasn't invested in Berlin, I am now making a concerted effort to understand the signs on the street, phrases from store clerks, and anything else that comes my way. This afternoon, I strolled into the local bookstore to buy a map and got immersed in children's books. I now know that a sheep is a Schaf and that a Katze (meow, meow) likes milch. Of course, I aspire to ingest reading material suited for someone beyond toddler hood but it's a start.
The local Turkish market was strangely useful today, too. Usually, these people scare the crap out of me. I've been laughed at, I've overpaid, I've come home with eight measly apricots because I don't understand what 100 grams looks like, you get the idea. But today, I found some merit to walking through the crowded stalls as I heard a vendor bellow, "Zwei für eine! Zwei für eine! Zwei für eine! Zwei für eine!" all in a whole 0.5 seconds. His rapid fire was loud and startling and the New Yorker in me initially wanted to tell him to chill the **** out. But a moment later, I was grateful for this nearly hyperventilating dude because his repetition enabled my mind to compute, "Two for one!"
Granted, I hope my German teacher doesn't employ this technique. I'd like to enjoy my coffee during class, not spill it over the table for goodness sake. However, I am glad to remember that there are all sorts of way for me to learn this language. I mean, I really don't want to be that American who comes back to the states only knowing how to say, "Ein Bier, bitte." If anything, I should at least be able to tell you that the sheep and cat want that zwei für ein happy hour special.
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