EDUGLOBAL

Karlsruhe is gorgeous. I might have mentioned in my previous posts that from where I come from, there really is no point of comparison since both are two different worlds. The moment I left Philippine territory, every minute detail that was different was palpable and felt in the air. I never really got around missing the place I spent 25 years in, only a few selected people, but there was no longing to visit this place or that (well, except for the beach, there is ALWAYS that). The reasons vary: 3 months is not that long a time, there is always the internet, there's Danie who occupies my time, and well, there's Karsten. But of course my entire day can't be all about baby-sitting and had it been that, I would have longed for the househelp that was always available at home.

During the afternoons, I took german lessons from Eduglobal. I guess the long and short of it would be that it's a lnguage school that teaches German to non-German nationals. So for 2 months, I got intimate with the German language. Well, for a while back there I can struggle with it and if the person I'd speak to in German was really patient, he would understand what I wanted to say. And there were even some "basic" conversation starters that I was comfortable with but now, sigh, all that I learned flew off my head.

On the learning of a whole new language: it is absolutely exciting! I find myself so amazed at the fact that I can totally follow the teacher and perfect my seat works but could never understand Karsten when he speaks with someone else. I think the reason why it was admittedly easy for me to understand the grammar is because I know English. So when we talk about verbs and conjugation, word order and syntax, pronouns, I can easily follow. But alas, sitting down and understanding a teacher who speaks to match our pace is a completely different thing when some total stranger asks you, "wie spät ist es?" or "wie viel Uhr ist es?" and you just clamp up and say the safest thing you know, "Ummm, English please" even though you know what he said and you know the answer, man, you just talked about it 2 hours ago!

And the German language is quite horrible. I mean really! One activity I remember was a "fill in the blanks" kind of thing. So there was a sentence and you complete it by providing the correct pronoun. Example:

Der apfel ist süß. (The apple is sweet.)
_____ ist süß. (So of course the answer here would be: IT is sweet)

So, I answered: ES ist süß.
BUT NO!!! WRONG!!!
The correct answer is: ER ist süß. (HE is sweet.)
WHY??? You scream in indignation?! Well, apple is a male noun so one should replace it with the male personal pronoun, ER.

SO see, all nouns have a gender: male, female, and neuter. And the articles of these nouns depend on the gender. And there is no rule book on what can be considered male and female and sexless! One just has to know! You can't put reason to it. Example, you can't say that "Hmmm, a ballpen must be a male noun since it's a bit like a phallic symbol or so." Not so!

And here is a very good essay by THE Mark Twain on The Awful German Language A fun must-read!

Those were fun memories. I mean, I had African, Turkish, Serbian, Russian, Moroccan (from Morocco?), Jamaican, Iraqi, Greek, Thai, Uzbek, and Kazah for my classmates. Some of them have been residing in Germany for 11 years and were just there for some certification or something. And language is such an amazing tool of man. Imagine all of us pooled together under a roof trying to learn a whole new language with not even English as a common denominator (only the Jamaican and I could speak it) and we could still understand a joke shared by a Russian classmate! Or wait, maybe it is humor that is universal and not language.

While struggling with the learning is on going, the babies are left next door for the baby-sitters to take care of. So for 5 hours (1:30 - 5:30) we more or less had uninterrupted learning. Here are pics of the place, the Kinderzimmer, etc.