The Traveler Alone

[merriehaskell]

I was going to write up a semi-serious post about how hard I've been ducking anxiety about this whole trip, including all last night on the plane and a large part of the day, but that's a serious post for another day. I'm in far better shape now, post nap, post learning the phrase "Ich spreche wenig Deutsche" (I speak LITTLE German), and post

Comments

[beth_bernobich]

I wish I were there with you! I could translate!

I lived a year in Heidelberg, which is about an hour's train ride south of Frankfurt. And yes, Americans are usually easy to spot. Mostly it's the clothing, but it's also how we walk and gesture and smile.

And for a more idiomatic way to say, "I speak a little German," use "Ich kann ein bisschen Deutsch." (I can a little German.)

[merriehaskell]

Thanks. I'm not so fond of my phrasebook, actually, but it's what I've got.

Wish you were here, too!

[asakiyume]

Good job with the lady in the parking garage (what happened to her once happened to me--I thought I had gone crazy).

And it's funny-odd-stressful when people ask you for information in a language you can't speak. My one and only time in France, I was asked to take a couple's picture. Fortunately it's clear what's being asked in a situation like that. (Interestingly, someone also *offered* to take a picture, with lots of miming so I could get the gist.)

[kelly_swails]

You are my hero! One of the reasons I'm intimated by visiting other countries is the language barrier. Another is inadvertently breaking a law and being thrown into a foreign prison, but let's not talk about that, shall we?

One of my college roommates had a boyfriend who was fluent in German. He'd get drunk and recite love poems to my roomie in German. Not as hot as Italian, maybe, but still really cool.

[a2macgeek]

When I spent a month in Wessiling, which is between Cologne and Bonn, people usually assumed I was British, because they saw far more Brits than Americans.

[merriehaskell]

I'm getting a bit of Brit-assumption, too--after I struggle through buying something, people usually top it off with a "cheers". :)

[redmomoko]

yay the Rhine! did you have wine on the Rhine?