Day 13: Short and Sweet

A Milestone

Driving home from work, I realized that it was later than I originally planned to leave. I have some shopping to do at Kaufland (need to stock up on breakfast items), but I wasn’t able to get around to it today. That is a task for tomorrow, as is planning this weekend’s adventure!

Coming up to an intersection and fighting with my car’s Apple CarPlay system to register my phone, I realized I had a big craving for pizza. Luckily, one of my favorite places in SiFi (Sindelfingen for short), Proper Pizza, is directly on my commute home. I quickly pulled into an open space and parked my car (it was uneventful, which was a change of pace), and walked into the restaurant.

What happened next was a surprise to me.

As I entered, I looked around, then I looked at the waitress, and all of a sudden, German came out of my mouth:

Me: “Für eins bitte,” (translation: “For one, please”)

Waitress: “Naturlich,” (translation: “Of course”)

Me, looking at the Speisekarte (translation: menu): “Ein Heinekin und die Prosciutto-Pizza,” (translation: One Heinekin and the Prosciutto Pizza)

Waitress: “Perfekt,” (translation: “Perfect”)

I didn’t plan to say this at all. It kind of just came out of my mouth faster than my brain could put the words together mentally. Fifteen minutes later, the pizza later. I vacuumed it down, along with the beer. I got up and went to pay.

Waitress: “Wie war es?” (translation: “How was it?”)

Me: “Super, zehr lecker!” (translation: “Super! Very delicious”)

I paid, left the restaurant, and got in the car. That’s when it hit me — I just ordered something in German successfully! I was not expecting this to have happened so soon. Granted, it was not a very long or complicated conversation, but it was a step in the direction of becoming more comfortable speaking German publicly. Clearly, my Duolingo practice has been paying off.

This is one of my big goals for this trip, which is to learn German as fluently as I possibly can and to immerse myself in the culture. It’s time to start making more progress. My next challenge is to start incorporating more German during work. I can’t wait to keep expanding and practicing my German skills day-to-day.

Frieden und Liebe ❤️ (translation: peace and love)