es ist schwer, Deutsch zu sprechen, wenn man es für viele Jahre nicht versucht hat*

[edenfalling]

Things I was not expecting:

When I was seventeen, I spent a month in Nürnberg with a host family (less a week in Berlin) as part of an exchange program between an American association of high school German teachers and some part of the German government. It was an awesome experience, one of the two best things I have ever won in my life.

My host mother and I have kept in sporadic touch over the years; we began with semi-regular postcards and have now lapsed into nothing but Christmas cards. I briefly encountered my host brother on Facebook earlier this year; we exchanged greetings and that was about it.

So I was very surprised to get a phone call from Frau Martin this afternoon!

My German is quite rusty at this point, alas. I can more or less get my point across, but my grammar is shaky and I've lost a lot of vocabulary. It was also a bit tricky to understand what she was saying, since there was static on the connection, but it did get easier as the conversation went on and my brain went, "Oh, right, Deutsch! Um, where's the protocol for that... *rummage, rummage* This, maybe?" and things sharpened into better focus, as it were.

Frau Martin tried to give me her name on Skype, so we could talk again, but I have trouble with Skype and also am not at all sure I wrote down the right thing. But! I have agreed to write my email address and Skype handle and send them to her son via Facebook, so hopefully something will come of this.

She also told me that her son is now married (which I knew) and that he and his wife are expecting their first child in May. I did NOT know the latter news, so that was nice to learn. :-)

*Re the subject line: Like I said, my German grammar is shaky these days. Please feel free to correct my inevitable errors. :-)

ETA: Thank you to thady for the fix!

Comments

[thady]

For your title:

Es ist schwer, Deutsch zu sprechen, wenn (when) man es für viele Jahre nicht versucht hat.

Es ist schwer, Deutsch zu sprechen, da/weil (because) man es für viele Jahre nicht versucht hat.

I'd leave the "auf" (auf Deutsch) out, it sounds a little weird.

I've been to an exchange in Poland, but I've lost contact over the years. It's cool that she made contact with you again.

[edenfalling]

Argh, verbs and the als/wann/wenn thing. *hastily fixes*

[cherokee1.livejournal.com]

You have had such an interesting and varied life experience.
How were your college years?
C

[edenfalling]

Generally unpleasant. :-( This was not the fault of my roommates, my classes, or my professors. Though I didn't realize it at the time -- I had pretty good support networks in my hometown -- I was sliding toward mild clinical depression in my teens. I also do not make close friends easily. So when I was suddenly in a new place without any of the people and social structures I was used to relying on to yank me back out of the well at the center of my mind, I just fell straight down. It wasn't constant depression -- I was luckier than many people who have similar experiences -- but still. Worst years of my life, hands down, despite the many good patches.

I did enjoy my chemistry labs, the opportunity to learn about all kinds of random things, the ability to keep up my fluency in German (which I have, as you can see, since let slide), and Ithaca in general. And I had an awesome UU campus group, which is probably one of the things that kept me from completely going to pieces at a couple points.

Hmm. That was also the time when I spent two summers (and winter breaks) working food service at an assisted living center in New Jersey, which was an interesting and character-building experience that I have no desire to repeat. I really liked the residents, but it was upsetting to watch them deteriorate and sometimes die. And occasional thirteen-hour shifts are nobody's friend, even when you're 19 years old and can do things like stay up 24 hours in a row just for the hell of it without suffering consequences.

During the year I took a psychiatric medical leave and attempted to rearrange the inside of my head, I had a job teaching home school for two local kids. I got that via the wife of the then-minister of my church, and that was also an interesting and character-building life experience. This one is something I would be willing to repeat, should opportunity arise. :-) That helped me realize that work is something that grounds me and helps me shoulder through my blue funks, whereas being in college with no job left me without an anchor and vulnerable to the gray fog that always lurks around the edges of my blue funks, just waiting to turn back into full-fledged depression if I give it an opening.

And that is undoubtedly more than you wanted to know, so I will shut up now. :-)