Meeting Helga

My German has reached the point where there are a lot of words that I understand. I can, believe it or not, even say some of them. But speaking is harder. Sometimes I know exactly what I want to say and can think of the words in English and Spanish, but all I can say in German is Ummm... uh... ja. And with 15 students in my German class, I get some practice but not as much as I'd like. Plus if I speak too much with my classmates, I might learn to speak German with a Vietnamese or Russian accent. That would be weird.

In order to keep it up and feel like I am proficient in a foreign language, even if it's not the one they speak in the country where I live, I belong to a Spanish group through the International Women's Association in Hannover. I joined IWAH primarily because of the Spanish group, but haven't participated in most of their other activities. All of the ladies I have met in IWAH are nice but they are mostly a lot older and do things like play bridge and have going out to lunch clubs. Of course, I have a few friends that like to go out to lunch too... but they are my age.

Anyway, Anne who is a German woman from the Spanish conversation group asked me last time if I would like to do a Tandem with a friend of hers named Helga. A tandem is when two people who are learning each other's languages get together to practice conversation. Anne explained to me that Helga was trying to improve her English and would be willing to help me learn German. I figured that someone with a name like Helga would definitely be able to teach me something.

I know it's a stereotype, but when I imagined someone named Helga, I thought she would look like this:

                                or maybe like this:








After we talked (in English, mostly) and made a plan to meet at her apartment, I discovered that Helga looks more like this:

 Ok, so she's not Diane Keaton. She is however, very classy and interesting and patient. She used to be a French teacher and speaks French, Spanish, German, and English. She claims that the English is not good because she's out of practice, and that's why she wanted to do the tandem. Her English is a lot better than my German, but I am happy to help her practice and she seems excited about making a project out of me.

When we met I showed her on the map where I lived in the US and told her about my job and my family and why I am here and what the international school is like... I had no idea I could converse in German for an hour. Then we talked for an hour in English about her. And I learned that she likes tennis and yoga and theater and movies and has a lot of friends, but her husband just likes to watch TV and putter around the house. For that reason he lives in his parents' old house about 40 minutes away and she lives in the city apartment. It got pretty personal for our first session, especially because I get the impression that Germans don't gush about their very personal issues much, but I didn't mind.  When neither of us knew the right word we would try it in Spanish.

So I am meeting again with Helga next week. I will bring some books and photos to talk about. Helga's motivation is that most of the IWAH meetings and activities happen in English and she wants to be able to participate more. My motivation is that I just moved to a foreign country where neither I nor my husband speak the language. Yikes. It sounds scary when you put it that way. But as long as I am trying I might as well get all the practice I can, and sip tea in Helga's beautiful apartment. It beats learning to pronounce German words as if I were from Vietnam.