My German is still pretty bad after all these years. I make an effort to watch German tv, listen to German radio and do everything myself. I make doctors appoints, go shopping, read and answer letters in German. I take sick Redgie to the vet in German. I have taught kindergarten in German because even though I'm trying to teach five year olds English, unless I can give them instructions and ask them to stop hitting each other in German they aren't going to learn anything. I ask for directions in German, go to the post office in German and talk to my in-laws in German. I got my wrecked car towed in German, called the police in German and explained to the car dealership that I needed a rental car in German. I chit chat with the nurses at the doctors office and go to the dentist in German. I tell people I have no freaking idea what they're saying to me because my German is bad in German.
There are some things that I can't do in German.
Like I can not be pregnant in German. It's just too complicated and scary. I mean the word 'placenta' is 'mother's cake' in German which is... ten times grosser? Easy to remember? One more of hundreds of new words I would have to learn to be pregnant in German?
So I decided that even though I need to learn more German, better German and all that, I absolutely refuse to have this pregnancy in German. I have no idea what I'm doing anyway and why make it harder by throwing in a complicated language when I'm already tired and irritable most of the time?
One of my biggest problems was that I moved outside of Hamburg and I don't want to drive an hour to the big city to see a doctor. I was so lucky to find both a doctor and a midwife within 10 minutes of my house who are willing to speak English.
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