My daughter is leaving for Germany in less than two weeks, and she has blown off so much of her German lessons that I fear she's going to be swamped. For the record, she got lazy when she found out that my favorite cousin, Elke, is taking vacation to spend one on one time with DD. This cousin speaks English, so now DD feels that she needn't bother.
DD is less than thrilled with my solution: I have "forgotten" my English in her presence. Of course, I use a simplified German with words I know she's learned, but she's getting highly frustrated when she asks a question and I answer in German. And, her perpetual eavesdropping when I'm on the phone with various family members is much less satisfying when you have to translate the conversation, and only get about half of it, anyway.
DH speaks and understands a little German, so when all three of us are together, we speak "Germish," English with a lot of German words and phrases thrown in. Last night, we went out for seafood, and I told the following story to my family (entirely in German, because DH has heard the story a million times before, and can follow it in German, English or maybe even Chinese)
--------------------- The day before my sister's wedding, Daddy and I held a barbeque for all the relatives who had come from Germany, to keep them out of my mother's and sister's hair. It was also a sort-of birthday party for me, because it was my birthday. My Mom, in total pre-wedding insanity had told me "We're not celebrating your birthday this year -- the wedding is far too important." (BTW, she wasn't kidding. None of my birth family even wished me a good day
- my German relatives were unaware that it was my birthday, so I can't blame them, but my mom never said a word about it)
So Daddy and I had this huge party. Because beef and seafood are so expensive in Germany, that's pretty much what we served. Daddy went down to the fish pier and bought clams and lobsters to serve to our guests. I won't ever cook either of those things indoors because they smell up your house something awful. So Daddy cooked everything on his gas grill, the one with the side burner.
The seafood was an enormous hit, especially with my favorite cousin (see above). Singlehandedly, she downed nearly 20 lbs of steamed clams. Of course, the weight of steamers is in the shells, so it's not nearly as bad as it sounds. When she was down to her last dozen or so, my brother, who feels that everyone appreciates his sense of humor, said, "So Elke, think you could save a few of those clams for someone else?"
Poor Elke nearly sunk through the lawn. She didn't eat another bite for the rest of the day, no matter how many times I gave my brother a punch so he'd apologize. However, all was not lost: the day _after_ the wedding, I had Elke and her parents over for homemade clam chowder and lobsters in Italian Red Sauce. They were very impressed, and I've never mentioned steamed clams in my cousin's presence again.
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Throughout the story, DD was getting angrier and more frustrated that she was only getting a little of the story, and that Daddy remembered and found it hilarious. So, I went through it again, slowly; and this time I let her stop me to translate a key word or two, so the story would make sense.
The next 13 days aren't going to be the most fun she's ever had, but oh well
- deal with it, kiddo.
Kathy N-V
P.S.: We were unable to figure out a German word for steamed clam. We call them "muscheln," or mussels, which are quite popular in Germany. And if some German offers you a hummer, take it! Hummer means lobster in German. (either way, you can't lose!) ;-)