If we told you it was easy moving to Germany without speaking German, we’d be lying to you. It’s even difficult to sign up for language school. Reading body language and communicating with gestures comes in handy when ordering food, however, trying to explain how and why you need language lessons is difficult.
We have a private language teacher who comes a few times a week to our flat and gives us lessons, but she suggested we go to language school in order to learn more quickly. Luckily, she was at the language school and translated what we needed when we went there. We’d like to pass the A1.1 certification, then continue on through the levels in order to obtain fluency.
It costs dreihundert euros (about $322) per person for the A1.1 certification. We had to send a document to Munich showing we are European citizens and once they send us back another document, we can go to the language school for only zweihundert euros (about $215). They provide you a discount if you are a citizen of the European Union.
It’s amazing how many papers and hand written documents you need to live in Germany. They go by “old school” techniques and want to see your paperwork for everything. We were told to save everything that comes in the mail because we will need it. They don’t email you receipts or documents because you need the hard copies. The funniest part is we have to take pictures of our mail and text it to our friends for translation! Learning the language can’t come soon enough…
After getting our papers in order for the language course, we picked up our bikes from the shop (they were getting mirrors put on) and went exploring. I don’t think we’ll ever tire of the landscapes and history that is all around us. Here are a few shots from our outing!
An interesting observation regarding the culture here–all of the benches and places to sit and look at nature. It’s like every perfect resting spot in the middle of nowhere has a bench. A person can sit and reflect on the scenery or just be alone and reflect on their day. The following picture is literally in the middle of crop fields. It’s breathtaking!
There is a nice shot below of the S Bahn train and a Regional train as they head out of the village. We’ll leave you with this as another wonderful day comes to a close. We hope you’re enjoying our blog Learning to Live in Germany.
Learning to Live in Germany 
Is the white object in the two bench photo’s a trash can?
I can’t imagine how hard a language barrier would be! Keep us (or me) posted on how the lessons are going. Aleesha has some French and Spanish skills, but is focusing on Italian now, but would love to learn German too. Since she is interested in international law, she wants to be fluent in at least two other languages.
LikeLike
Hallo Sharelene,
My apologies regarding the white object in the picture and not providing more clarification.That is actually a great religious statute carved out of wood. I’ll add a picture to the post for clarification.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great pictures.—-If you will send some pictures of your apartment.Love, Dad
—————————————–From: “Learning to Live in Germany” To: Cc: Sent: 16-Mar-2017 16:59:58 +0000 Subject: [New post] Donnerstag (Thursday)
WordPress.com
learningtoliveingermany posted: “If we told you it was easy moving to Germany without speaking German, we’d be lying to you. It’s even difficult to sign up for language school. Reading body language and communicating with gestures comes in handy when ordering food, however, trying to exp”
LikeLike
Thanks so much, dad! We’ll get some pictures of the flat to you real soon! We love you!
LikeLike