Hello! Please Understand me.

I saw my neighbor at the market this morning. He was right behind me in line, so I wanted to take the opportunity to talk to him. I figured I could talk about the World Cup. I thought I knew enough words to get it together, and I knew a bit about tonight's game. So I start (in German) with "Germany is playing today?" Blank stare. "World Cup, soccer, Germany and Ghana, today?"( I didn't say I could get it together in an elegant speech.) Now he gets it. "Yes! tonight. Germany is playing." Okay, so far so good. So I go further. "The brothers, yes?"(this is a big deal - 2 feuding brothers - one plays for Germany, one for Ghana.) Blank stare. So I try again. "The brothers. One is Germany, one is Ghana?" Nothing. So I try to laughingly say, "Oh, my German is so bad!" (except I actually say "bad" in English. I am flustered.) Luckily the cashier was ready to take my money, so I gave him a "Tchuss!" and left, defeated.

This is on the heels of going to a Greek restaurant last night with Eric's office where a grouchy waiter had no tolerance for imperfect pronounciation (of the German version of Greek dishes. Heaven help me!) . I asked for "ein Cola, klein." (a Coke, small). He brought me "ein Cola light." (a diet Coke). Someone else at the table volunteered that she wanted a Cola light, so she got it. But then he ignored me and wouldn't bring me another drink. It was a long night for everyone with this guy. The guy next to me spoke perfect German, but asked for Jager-schnitzel. They had schnitzel, but it didn't come with Jager sauce. So the waiter told him no and walked away. He didn't get to order until half the food was already out.

But, on the way home from the market, I saw the grouchiest guy in our neighborhood outside. He gave us the suspicious German stare for a year before I finally got him to just recently return a smile and wave. He was cutting his grass when we left for the market (we walked) but did return my smile and wave. So this time I said, in German, "Your yard is so beautiful - so, so beautiful!" (it really is), and he understood and responded with a couple of "Thanks!" and a reassurance that I got the word "beautiful" right. I appreciated that also. So that made me feel a little better.

It's just so frustrating sometimes that the people I really want to talk to, I can't communicate with. A big American smile can't always cut it. I need some content or I'm just a happy idiot.

(PS I just did "Spell Check," but this runs through my German internet, so it highlighted every word as incorrectly spelled - also known as "in English." Yeesh!)