So I go over to the Volkshochsshule this afternoon for my Integrations class, all set to learn something new. We had all just got seated when one of the instructors came in and said that the tests from yesterday had been graded and that the following people on her list needed to gather up their stuff  (including their  little name plaques) and gather outside the classroom in the hall if she called out their name.  I am thinking that we will be divided into groups according to the level of German each person knows and that I either did pretty good or I bombed miserably. She calls out a couple of names then mine, and I am thinking to myself “ what group am I going to be in now?” I noticed that the people that hardly spoke any German were not in the dozen or so people she called out so that was a good sign. At the very least I would not be stuck in the beginning German class; that would have sucked.

I watch the woman come out and pull 3 people to the side to talk to them. I could hear her say that they had very bad test scores and they needed to do a lot of extra work outside of the class to keep up. Then she sent them back in to the classroom and called me and two other guys over to talk to us. My jaw nearly hit the floor when she said that we had the highest test scores in the class! WHAT?!?!? Here I am thinking that I did okay, not great and here I got better scores that some of the people that had been in Germany over 10 years (they are doing the course as a requirement for their permanent visas)! So the three of us are going to go into the 2^nd level course, I am not sure where that starts off, probably at the B level of the language ladder. A is the basic level and if I am understanding this correctly, I only have to do 100 hours instead of 600 which translates into a 500 euro savings (100 euros per 100 hours). Wow, I can’t say much more than that now. I am by no means fluent, my speaking isn’t very great, but I understand a lot and I do good tests apparently.  The course starts in April so I have to wait (again) for another month. She also said to me that I need to work on my accent, I have an American accent and I will get points off on the exam if I am pronouncing words like a American. So I have to work on that and she mentioned that Susanne had a bit of an American accent too, which I guess was bad for me to learn from. I don’t know all that she said, I didn’t understand a bunch of it, which was really funny since I am there in the hall with one of the best test scores in the class. LOL!

After she sent us on our way, I walked back towards home with Joel, one of the other high scores. He is from Portugal and we talked about how we both were ready to be in class learning and not waiting around for April. But on the other hand, it is great to not have to do the whole 600 hours. We exchanged numbers and I think we will get together and work on our German from time to time until the class starts. Very cool, looks like I made a  newfriend and I find out that I am better at learning this language than I give myself credit for.