Wir sind Kevin und Ruth

We are Kevin and Ruth.. in German!

We have several regular readers here that have German backgrounds. And in fact, Ruth and I both have some German background, but it goes back a couple of generations and unfortunately the language was never passed down.

My paternal grandmother was from northern Czech Republic, but in a predominantly German area, and she spoke German. She moved to Canada and although some of the German language was passed on to my father who was her first born (and in Canada), by the time the other siblings were born she spoke mostly English to the family. 

I remember my father calling me "Dummkopf" (Dumbhead) occasionally!

My father went back to Germany several times as a young man in the 1950's, and I think he probably did okay with the language at the time, but never kept it up and by the time my sisters and I were born in the 1960's, none of it was passed on to us.

Ruth's great grandfather was originally from Germany, but he moved to England in the late 1800's. In fact, had it not been for the first world war, and a later adoption, her last name would have been Duchscherer when I met her!

It's a little odd that despite this background neither one of us has ever been to Germany. We don't count the airport connection we had in Munich back in December of 2016!

And so, most of our knowledge of the German language comes from the old television show Hogan's Heroes! Until a couple of weeks ago, I think we knew maybe five words.

We have been spending ten minutes a day doing our lessons online using the free Duolingo app. It starts with the basics, and works you up from there. And, it's only ten minutes a day! 

And we don't have unrealistic expectations. We know from learning Spanish that it's a very difficult process for older people to learn a new language. After all, our brains are already full!

But we are getting better. Our intention is to have at least the basic words and phrases and numbers available to us when we plan to arrive in Berlin next month. We feel that it's only common courtesy to at least make the effort to speak the language of the locals, even though in Germany apparently 50% of the people can speak English.

I've been in touch with my uncle who gave me the information about some distant relatives of my grandmother who live in Germany. The daughter of my grandmother's sister lives in Hannover, but she is in her mid 80's now and apparently a bit frail. Apparently I met her once, but I was a child and don't remember. And the other distant cousin is in Munich. Her grandfather is my great grandfather and yet she is a couple of years younger than I am! Apparently she and her American born husband are very welcoming to extended family, so we will have to look them up when we make it to Munich, likely not until next year.

So, we continue to prepare for the experience.

In the meantime, we have nine and a half year old grandson Cameron with us for a couple of days! He's at a fun age now, and no longer a little kid. 

Helping Grandpa cut the grass.

It'll be another year or two before he has enough muscle to do it himself! But he's fun to have around for a couple of days. Next time we'll bring granddaughter Sadie up here on her own. 

This morning, we're taking him over to the remote control airplane flying club. It's a sunny calm morning, so there should be a few people out playing with their expensive toys. He'll get a kick out of that!

Auf Wiedersehen! (Goodbye!)

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