Just when you thought we had settled on going sub-con to Berlin, things suddenly pick up with RR. Stevie has been offered an interview in Berlin for a secondment. This would probably be the best option for us, but I am ever so tinyily irritated as I would just like to know what we are doing and how we are going there. I hate all the messing about.
I had a lovely weekend with 2 extraordinarily tired children who were determined to be utterly horrid. Hamish has developed a lovely scream which makes my ear drums vibrate, and he uses it every time things don't go his very own toddler way. And even when they do.
Anyway, I got into my NCT ticketing groove and I do believe it might be possible that I manage to get my entire house cleared of baby items by next weekend. I made over 100 tickets and got all my ironing done, and have nearly finished clearing Hamish's favourite drawer in the kitchen for emptying. How pleased am I?!
Last night Stevie got started on the Michel Thomas CD's (thanks Naids for those!). What a laugh. I sat at the table quietly giggling at Stevie moaning at how quickly the 2 students were picking it up compared to him. He is all confidence though - he says he will listen to it a couple of times and that'll be him (practically fluent). As he is struggling to say "Ich" I have my doubts.
Well, ok, I had my doubts before he even started. His pronounciation is appalling, but it should be hilarious in the shops! I am looking forward to some brilliant Stevie-isms. I had my doubts confirmed about his so-called excellent Spanish and Italian - I firmly believe that he may well be dreadful at those too. But at least he tries.
For those of you who haven't heard this story, we went to Barcelona for a weekend and needed to change some travellers cheques. 'What's the Spanish for "Can I change these travellers cheques?"' I ask him. Oh I'll do that, says the fluent Spanish speaker. So in we walk to the bank and up to the counter he goes. 'TRAVELLERS CHEQUES?' he shouts as though the guy is deaf. I quietly backed away muttering 'Even I could have managed that!'.
The universal language - if someone doesn't understand, shout louder. Happens all over the world.
ReplyDeleteHere is a tip: Believe me, this works. Buy a pack of post-it-notes - write the words of everyday objects and stick them up so that you see them all the time - ie On the Bread Box write 'Brot' then you will remember what it is in German. The other tip that helps is to watch something like Baywatch dubbed into German - the dialogue is so inane, that you will surprise yourself how fast you pick it up. Otherwise, Berlin is a multi-cultural city - most people speak a little English - especially if you use the Turkish or Asian grocery stores (where the products are better and cheaper anyway).
What are those tickets for????
The tickets are for the many hundreds of items I am selling this weekend at the local NCT (National Childbirth Trust) sale. They are a charity that do all sorts of stuff for mums-to-be and new mothers - they have excellent breast-feeding counsellors and things like that. Anyway, I thought i had given away most of my baby things, but wouldn't you know a move like this just shows you how much you have stashed away. Oh and thanks for the tip! i am off to label my Brot right now - have labels galore after all and a Sharpie pen permanently in my hand.
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