eins, zwei

Today marks the two year anniversary of my life in Deutschland.  Among my many thoughts at reaching this milestone, the most prominent is dismay at my weak German skills.  For so long, I have been stretching out the year/1.5 year measures and been heaped with praise for my limited vocabulary.  But I fear I have officially passed the point where my German can be considered impressive.  Clearly, it’s time to move on to a new life in France.

I am always skeptical when hearing of the latest buzz-worthy items.  Unfortunately, this means I am usually hugely late to the party, and not even in a fashionable manner.  JK Rowling did a reading at my high school once.  Unfortunately, that was about four years before I decided these “magic” books were worth a look.  Sometimes this works out, as it did this week when I managed to score the entire Twilight series for 10EUR in the bargain bin of my local bookstore.

And with hot series, it works out when I am able to go through the entire story in one sitting.  The German and I are finally getting into Lost, and have spent the better part of the day watching half of season 1 with season 2 waiting.  None of this waiting a year, or even a week for our next fix.

So, two years in the land of the krauts.  It’s not bad, but it is certainly still foreign.  The other day I met an Italian who has been living in London for 8 years, married to a Brit with kids, working for a British company, and visits Italy no more than once a year.  He said London still does not feel like home and he has made no true friends.  This is not really an inspirational tale.  More like a warning to prepare an exit strategy.  But rest assured my friends, my B&B will still be open through Oktoberfest 09.