Other stories from the trip

[fbhjr]

There were other things from our trip I haven’t put down yet, but don’t want to forget.
So here they are:

I am not good at learning languages. It’s just not one of the things I’m good at.
I can learn a limited number of basic words, and try and make due with that.
But, I guess I learn those words well.

Friday night we went to a restaurant in the small town in Germany. When we sat down, we told the waiter that we didn’t speak German, and he was very helpful in English.
But, after we ordered, a different waiter started coming to our table.
He dropped things off and I know enough German to say "Danke" or "Vielen dank" when he brought us food or drinks.
But at the end he came to the table and said a few sentences in German.
My wife and I stared at him for a second.
"I’m sorry," I said. "That’s way more than the German I know. Do you know any English?"
He stared at me.
"You don’t speak German?" he asked.
"Very little," I said.
"No problem. I will speak English!"
He seemed very surprised. Perhaps we had been rudely silent to him before or something.

I had the same problem at the festival.
A man came up to me and asked in English if he could ask me a question. It was clear English was difficult for him.
"Ja bitte," I said.
"Sprichst du Deutsch?" he asked me.
"Nein," I said.
"Nein?"
"Ja, nein."
I felt bad as he seemed happy when he thought I did.
(His question was if he bought a bunch of sword making tools did I think there was a market for swords in the US. I told him it would depend on the swords and the price…)

When we stopped at a supermarket Saturday morning, the cashier talked with me a bit about it being a hot day and to have a nice one. It’s good the price was on the register.

Finally, something that has nothing to do with language.

At the hotel we stayed at on the beach, we came out of the room on the way down to the water. There was a couple dressed in nice clothes waiting by the elevator. We went and stood there too.
The elevator came and they got in. The man pushed the "door close" button as soon as he got in, so it closed in front of us.
I guess they knew we were Americans…

Comments

[threemeninaboat]

We got stuck in an elevator in a parking garage in Portugal. Like you needed a pass card to get out to the levels but we didin't have one. Eventually someone came in, said somethings in Portuguese, and when we looked really confused at him he said in English, "Oh, you're Americans." And let us out.