No batteries in the camera!

We went to Graz on Sunday, but I'll do a post about that when I get some batteries so I can download the photos. Nina's little lego camera has an internal battery that recharges via my computer, why can't my camera do that? So much easier.

Well, instead I'll write about Saturday. We went to Sooß with a bunch of Nick's friends for a little hike in the vinyards and then dinner and drinks at a heurigen. Kind of like a little goodbye party for us. It was lots of fun! I was especially excited that Nina and Maggie got along with Elmer's two little boys and the four of them played outside. Elmer had asked me how Nina's German had come along, and I'd told him that I didn't get to hear it much, usually only when I eavesdropped on her playing with her little friends. So Elmer quietly listened in while the girls were playing with his boys and he was very impressed. He said when he listened very carefully he could just barely detect a faint American accent on some of her words, but only because he knew to listen for it. Go Nina!

Maggie spoke some too, and she responded in English to all of the questions Ushi asked in German. But even she's been voluntarily speaking more German around the house lately.

Everyone asks why I don't speak German to the girls too, but at this point I only get mocked for trying. Like, on the way to Graz there was a sign on the bathroom door, and I read it aloud and asked Nina what it meant. She said, "Well I might be able to tell if you could pronounce the words properly."

Well! I know when I've been insulted!

Then she said something about me being close enough on one word that she could tell what I was trying to say. At least that wasn't an outright insult.

But it's ok, I have a good attitude about it. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy reading aloud in German to her and listening to her crack up and correct my pronunciation. Eventually she gives up. "Close enough," she says.

The next challenge will be to keep it going! Remember Nate Gordon from high school? Well, he's married to a German woman and they have 3 kids, and they're moving from Germany to Boothbay soon. I'm hoping the kids can speak German to each other. But I told Nick that unless he speaks to them more, the girls are going to wind up with German accents, and he doesn't want that!