Learning the ins & outs of the language

The past couple of months have been spent filling my brain with German sounds, vocabulary, and grammar.  And even though I probably know several hundred words, I feel like I’m back at square one when someone talks to me.  However, several weeks ago I just heard several sounds stringed together; at least now I recognize words.  “Genau” (exactly) seems to be a Swiss favorite.  Learning/memorizing each nouns’ genders has been a challenge, but applying that knowledge to the verbs has been mind boggling.  Through this interesting, difficult, and definitely humorous task I was amazed to learned this following fact:  not everyone calls countries by the same name!  For example, the Swiss call Germany - “Deutschland.”  Americans would say I live in Switzerland - not the Swiss - I actually live in “Schweiz.”  Who knew?  Anyway, the learning German continues.... I look forward to the day when I can have a German conversation with a clerk or just a random person on the train.  

Live internet broadcast

http://www.mahler-2011.de/en/mahler-in-the-media

Bill has a concert tonight that will be posted live on the internet.  Follow the link above to watch - 1pm Central time for those back in the States.

CAST @ Tonhalle Zürich Teil 1

April Slideshow

http://gallery.me.com/jcs1274#100066/April-202011-Large&bgcolor=black

Amazing April - yeah, its corny - but true!  We have truly enjoyed the warm afternoons and exploring nature.  The wildflowers are beautiful and the trees on the mountains are filling in.  

Luke rode his first bike - tandem style.  He did an excellent job of hanging on and pedaling.  We rode bikes with friends on mountain trails and cooked on an open fire.  Luke also caught tadpoles.  We brought 67 tadpoles home and watched as they changed into frogs.  I was able to convince Luke to let them go in the lake by our house before we had 67 frogs (whew!).

We also found an English speaking Church not far from the house.  Luke really enjoys going to Bible class and spending time with other kids.  He is such a social butterfly - I have been impressed with how he will continually talk and interact with kids even if he does not understand them.  Through church we have met several Expat moms and their kids.  We enjoyed a picnic and egg hunt with an Expat playgroup.  

For Easter, we went to church and then enjoyed an afternoon with friends.  We discovered Luke loves salami and carrot cake.  Luke was quite a charmer and soaked in all the attention he could.  He even took a turn playing guitar  and singing with RockBand (a video game, for those not familiar).

Hope you enjoy the slideshow.  Luke selected the song - its his favorite.