Field trip - 2

The other field trip I went on last week was with my German class. After a debate on whether it was a good idea to go to the movies (voted down - we don't think we'd understand enough to make it worth the ticket price), we decided to have a stroll through the Altstadt, Hannover's old town. We stopped at a couple of the oldest churches, checked out the old town hall, and pointed out a theater and a museum.

I'd walked around the Altstadt and learned about the buildings there many times, but never in German before. I'd also never done it while talking to my classmate Mohammed from Afghanistan about his opinion on Germans and living in Germany. He doesn't think it's the greatest place ever, thinks that the streets are too quiet, and misses the bustling, busy cities back home. There is an American girl in my class who is an au pair here. She's frowns a lot and doesn't talk much. I'd rather talk to Mohammed, or Muhamed, the guy from Iran, or Valentina from Russia. Thi Ai from Vietnam is the smallest loudest person ever but she makes us all laugh.

After our little stroll we stopped at a cafe, as you do in Europe. Our teacher asked me about American politics and who the next president will be. Trying to talk about that in German was a little more than I can handle. I don't know what to say exactly, even if I could handle the vocabulary and not get lost in the word order. I can understand a good amount of German but when I speak I feel like a 3 year old.

Participating in a field trip was a lot easier than chaperoning one. It was also good practice for leading the same sort of tour for my sister Emily when she comes this week. Luckily I will be able to do it in English.