The Cow is Leaving the Building

Vacation! Finally! You’d think as a teacher that I would just loaf around in the summer, but no. I went to school myself. (Idiot. Note to self: don’t do that again…except maybe that yoga seminar next summer?)

I put myself through German lessons, and I learned a lot about Germans.

I should say, as an intro, that I dated a German guy for about a year, and had a German friend that I can no longer see.

First the German guy: we fought ALL the time. He was interesting but his way of having a conversation was to just say “no” or “you’re wrong” and then see what happened next. Unsurprisingly, this often turned into week long spats.

Second the German woman: I’ll admit that she wasn’t a typical German for many things, which is also why I liked her. However, she had several fixed ideas that were really quite awful. One in particular? A friend of ours lived through a horrible tragedy. His adopted daughter committed suicide. Her response? “Well, adoptions never work anyway.”

So what, every child who’s lost their parents should grow up in an institution? Or we should kill them? Because adoptions never work anyway? What is the solution that she is offering there?

I know what she meant; adoptions can be really difficult, but so can raising your own children. There’s no magic wand for child rearing. (Since my mother basically opted out of my life when I was 11 or so, I don’t have a strong belief in the mother-daughter bond.)

This was typical of her, to not to go to the end of the logic of her way of thinking.

So I feel like I should have been better prepared to deal with Germans at this school, but it was still surprising (and will never be repeated.) I spent 3 weeks doing grammar exercises and still can’t really speak or write. My listening skills are better because that’s all I did. And they are SO VERY SURE that their method is the best, and the only one that counts.

But it is over! I’m done! Fertig! Basta! Out of here! And Foro is already in relax mode. I feel like I should be making the two of us margaritas.