Okay, so a number of people have told me that I just need to get over my language hang-up and get out there and do the best I can. So I have a new resolve--to not be embarrassed in my interactions. I spent today laying around the house, petting the dog, and reading, so I thought I would go out for a hot chocolate at "Grab & Go," a coffee house about a block away. I felt all confident and ready with my "Grosse heiß schokolade, bitte" (large hot chocolate, please). And it went like this:
Me: Grosse heiß schokolade, bitte
Woman: [something in German, clearly a question]
Me: {a question? What question? What could she possibly be asking?? Oh my God, this is all going to hell!} (sheepish grin) I'm sorry?
Woman: for here or take-away
Me: {Curses, foiled again!} Take-away, bitte.
But it was okay. I felt a little embarrassed, but she seemed to think it was no big deal so that was good.
In my effort to expose myself to more spoken German, I've been watching tv. So far it seems that I turn on the tv at the same time every day, because the same program is on: Der Prinz von Bel-Air. Yes, that's The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Don't know why they left out "fresh" in the German title. Anyway, it's just about the only thing on that isn't news, home shopping, or skiing. I'm hoping some of this will sink in. I'm started to recognize commercials (there's a particularly funny Mentos commercial) and I think after watching them enough I'll probably figure out what they're saying. After Der Prinz is Der Konig von Queens (King of Queens), and then Kevin usually comes home. Although tonight he's going out in search of a small pocket dictionary I can carry around with me to look up words I encounter. That should help.