The usual: German class, meeting with tandem partners 1 and 2, being tired, etc.
I do have to say that I had a tough patch in my C1.2 German class. I just couldn't get it together; I didn't remember the vocabulary and made the mistake of sitting next to the other weakest student in class. He's a pleasant person but very difficult to understand. Neither one of us really were able to complete the assignment and it was a hot mess. I felt as if my brain just wouldn't cooperate with me. Even the other students just weren't getting a lot of it, or were wandering off on unrelated tangents. Our teacher is extremely nice and patient but I think he felt a little bit frustrated. Have you ever had one of those class sessions where everyone, including the teacher, is relieved when it ends? I don't know what our funk was but was grateful when it was over.
-My friend had a party to celebrate her birthday. It was on a Friday night, which I usually reserve for sitting home and breathing a sigh of relief after a busy week. I picked up a carload of friends and drove to Landstuhl. We cooked dinner, ate cake, and played table games, enjoying ourselves mightily. I made the birthday girl laugh/cry, which we both find funny. At midnight we almost turned into pumpkins (or people worn out after a long week of work and tons of activity) and went home.
-On Saturday, A and I had planned to take a trip to Schwetzigen to see the palace gardens and to include a side trip to Speyer to visit the Elwetritsch museum. Apparently my brain only registered the second part of the trip and I surprised myself when the GPS deposited us in Speyer first. D'oh. We scrapped the trip to Schwetzigen and rambled around Speyer for several hours.
This was my second visit so I showed A. the metal bar affixed to the wall of the city gate. It was the unit of measurement (a foot) for trade in the city. Measurement was standardized in trading regions but not throughout Germany for quite some time.
We also visited the Dom (cathedral) and ate lunch. A and I both seem to fall into awkward situations in speaking German on our own and together it seems worse. She meant to give the waiter a tip but he didn't hear her and gave back the complete change. I tracked him down afterward and intended to hand him the tip but he turned around with his hands full. Trying to find a solution, he motioned to drop the coin in his trouser pocket. Well, I'm not going into the trousers of a waiter so I dropped it into the pocket on his vest and we both laughed. Awkward though!
This particular trip to Speyer afforded us an opportunity to visit the Elwedritsche-Museum. I had wanted to visit it before but it wasn't open. For three euros per person, we visited the three-room museum. Is it worth a visit? If you're interested in kitschy Pfälzisch folklore, take a visit. Otherwise, it might not be of interest. I'm a bit obsessed with 'Tritsche so I didn't mind visiting the small museum. The ground floor is a tiny bar/restaurant (two tables) where one can drink wine and eat platters of meat, cheese, and fruit. One can even book an Elwedritsche hunt through the city.
We ended our trip with some more wandering through the city. On the outskirts, a spring carnival occurred so we went shopping for tea, of course. I'm not sure why, but German city carnivals often have tea, herbs, and even nail clippers and brooms for sale.
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