Charlotte update

Here's the latest picture of Charlotte -- who is only a couple of months old and will eventually be about the size of a standard poodle.

And suddenly I'm seeing these dogs everywhere!

Jeanne calls it the new car syndrome. As soon as you get a new car, you start noticing the make and model everywhere you look.

And now I'm seeing golden doodles everywhere. Most of them seem to be lively and very friendly. I hope that's a good sign.

My pet project

In case you're curious, here's my reason for going to Germany next month. (The dog, not the woman.)

That's Charlotte a golden doodle (a cross between a golden retriever and a poodle) with Jeanne's brother Glen's wife Betina.

Glen wrote to remind me that he's training Charlotte in English, so I won't need to learn any German to work with her. Maybe, while I'm there, I'll try to teach her a little Italian too -- just in case she wants to travel some day.

Vorfreude

Anticipation is often more fun for me than the actual event.

I'm loving preparing for this German trip. I'm especially loving studying the German language.

This despite the fact that Glen and Betina tell me that I don't need to speak a word of German to survive there. Between the US military base in Wiesbaden and the fact that everyone learns English as a second language in school, most likely as soon as I try to speak German, someone will start speaking to me in English.

Doesn't matter. It's still kind of fun to learn.

Like many languages, German has a formal and an informal way of addressing people. So does Italian. And most language courses teach you the formal way of speaking because it's better to incorrectly address someone formally than it is to incorrectly address someone informally. Nicole, our exchange student from Italy used to make fun of me, though, when I'd address her formally. Using an expression like "Se vuole" (which means "If you want to") rather than "Se vuoi". She's scold me with "I am a child. You do not say "se vuole" to a child. I am not some old lady!" She was fun to learn Italian from.

So I'm focusing on learning the formal phrasing of sentences. Though I also wonder if any one is going to laugh at me if I call the dog with "Kommen Sie hier" rather than "Kommst du hier." I mean, if Nicole thought it was ridiculous that I spoke formally to her, how will it look if I speak formally to the dog?

Anyway, it's fun to learn and wonder.

One month out

A month from today, I'll be landing in Frankfurt -- which I guess is one of the largest and most complicate airports in the Europe. Talk about a baptism by fire! Fortunately Glen and Betina will meet me there and help me find my way through the maze.

I'm still confident my passport will arrive in time... but I'm also just a little nervous and what happens if it doesn't. If I didn't have stuff to stress over, I wouldn't be me, rigtht?

Meantime, I'm trying to learn some basic German language skills (even though Glen assures me I won't need them). I'm amazed at how many free language courses are available on podcast and online!

I now know how to ask for water, ask directions to the bathroom and to tell someone when I'm hungry. Oh, and of course I've learned how to say I don't speak German; Can you speak English?