Last weekend (March 19th) I took the B1 language exam.  This is the final language test for my current German course.  I wish I was confident about the test results, but unfortunately I must wait five weeks to receive the score.  I have put a lot of time into learning German and my fear is that it might not pay off, which is very silly of me.  I know it has helped dramatically even if I do not pass the B1 exam.  When I started the course in July 2010 I hardly understood any German, let alone spoke German.  Yet today I am surprised just how much I understand.  This week I had three separate conversations (almost) entirely in German.

Wednesday, when I returned from class, there were two men putting up scaffolding around our apartment building.  Since they were in the middle of their lunch break I started up a conversation with them.  The older man (40′s) was very interested in talking with people walking past on the sidewalk.  Mostly shouting out things I did not understand.  While the younger man (20′s), was more interested by an American living in town.  We talked about the similarities between Germany and the United States.  Nothing in depth, just a normal everyday conversation between two people meeting on the street.

Then, on Friday, I visited several driving schools in town.  This was another perfect opportunity to speak with people in German.  I knew what I wanted and where five different downtown driving schools should have been.  Of the five googled addresses, two were no longer located there and one is only a classroom location.  Fortunately the other two schools have not picked up and flown away.  In the first school, the entire conversation was held in German.  It was not the smoothest conversation I have ever had, but when you are discussing something that involves unfamiliar words that is probably to be expected.  The second conversation went a little better because I had a better idea of what I needed to say.  And, one of the receptionists spoke English to make sure I understood.  Everything we talked about I could have understood in German.  Perhaps next time I will leave the English at the door.  (more details on driving in Germany in another article)

Lastly, my final significant German conversation this week was with Anni’s father.  The news was discussing election results in two German states.  Most of what was being said I did not understand.  No surprise there, but that lead us into a conversation about American politics and some differences between German and American culture.  We talked about the electoral system, to social system and further on to the medical system.  Plus threw in a little about why some American’s have guns.

While not every conversation in German this week was at a B1 level, at the very least I can see improvement.  Even if I did not pass the exam, I can feel confident my German is improving and that is all that really matters.  Frankly, the possibility of having failed the exam was very depressing this week.  And should explain why there was not an article about Frankfurt last weekend.  Being sad makes it difficult to write about my life on a personal level.  Something I really want this BLOG to portray.  Who I am personally and what that means in everyday life.

I will try to get the Frankfurt article out this week.  Next Friday is the last exam for the course which covers German history and social system.  Wish me luck.