“die…”, “der…..” or “das…..”

So on our final day this week, we started to learn what things / items are called in German and needless to say the complication came fast. Apparently, everything comes with a “die…”, “der…..” or “das…..” like in French but they have an extra one that is neutral.

Despite this being a land of many rules and regulations, our teacher shared the news that there really isn’t strict ones that indicate whether a word is femine, masculine or neutral (see above). You just have to know!!! My stomach turns upside down at this point. Luckily she didn’t just leave us hanging – I think she saw the look of absolute panic on everyone’s faces. Apparently, there are little hints that we can take from the endings of the words and this will determine which one it is.
We got to go around the room and label everything with “Post-its” which was especially fun. I now know how my friends felt when they labelled lots of things in our flat, to “re-decorate” it as a “welcome” present for when we got back from our honeymoon. It has actually been very helpful so I’m very happy they had the idea too.

We actually looked at plurals next but I don’t want to cry right now so we’ll leave that for another day. Actually, we learned how to share what our hobbies were and this leads nicely onto what things there are to do in Munich. I personally love travelling and exploring new places by foot and so Munich is perfect for me as it is a very big, old and a lovely city. There are lots to do & see easily accessible by Public Transport very cheaply too. I love the old part of town – Marienplatz and Karlsplatz are cool although busy. I’ve also visited Nymphenburg Palace (Schloss) and the Chinesier Tuem (Chinese Tower) in Englisher Garten. A friend of mine came from England recently to take photos at a wedding but came a few days earlier so we could visit the city. It was great to be a tourist with him and learn a little about the city with someone so I didn’t look like such a loser. We both particularly like Chinesier Tuem because a traditional Bayrische band came to play just while we were finishing lunch there. In England we only have this on special occassions so it was was a really nice surprise.

Joy of the English at the sight of a Bayrische "Oom-Pah" band at Chinese Tower, English Garden

I have visited Munich before I moved here and was taken to the Alps which is really so easy to get to by train. I would love to go again as I love hiking but I do wonder what the next surprise of Munich will be then. I guess time will tell. Tchuss!!!

p.s. Ooohhh… almost forgot to say. Lybian guy came back again today….. 30 mins before end of lesson. I guess he had really good birthday celebrations but really, I think his heart has changed very much towards to the course. Talk about commitment.