Lost in Laaber

Wee Laddie and I met Christina (from the Hotel Hirschen lunch back in March) in Laaber for lunch. The main road to Laaber was closed for a detour (Umleitung, as you may remember from an earlier post), but so was the regular detour that Christina was expecting so her directions were moot. I somehow got to Laaber, but not a part of it that she was familiar with. It’s like when I was in Schweinfurt and was close but not quite… and things kept fitting into the description of what I was looking for, while remaining entirely incorrect. So our lunch began very late, but Christina was very understanding about our delay (and multiple phone calls whilst en route). We had a nice lunch at a Gasthof there in Laaber, which is a very cute town.

The restaurant was quite kid-friendly… in fact, they had a whole toy box of stuff worthy of a good exploration. I ordered schnitzel (I’ve only had it a few times since we’ve been here), mostly because I thought Wee Laddie might like it, and would certainly enjoy the pommes (french fries). Oh, silly Mama. He ate all of the cucumbers & tomatoes from my salad, a few bites of schnitzel and about 3 fries. Not exactly a filling meal. Christina is due in July with her first baby, so I was sharing a few tips with her… not completely unsolicited. I swear. She maybe would have rather discussed something more grownup, but this is all I’ve got right now. I haven’t read a book that wasn’t parenting-oriented or a children’s book in… well, probably nearly 3 years. Yikes.

I muddled through with some very elementary interactions in German… If Christina was inwardly cringing, she at least didn’t let on. But I didn’t actually end up speaking English with the server this time, so I feel somewhat succesful. Okay, so “Schmeckt,” (the food was good) isn’t exactly a conversation, but whatever. At any rate, it was a nice lunch and I very much enjoyed her company. Again. We’re planning to go to a sporting event (with hubbies, this time) over the weekend.

Went grocery shopping after Deutsch class (just a few things, as the store was nearly closing). The woman from the metzgerei (butcher shop) had to call the cashier to come check me out, so then the cashier was telling me something. I chucked the confused look and told her that I’m sorry but I only understand a little German. So she, of course, told me in English. Then she gave me my total in English, too. I now need to learn to say, “In German please. I need the practice.” I think I’ve got everything but the “practice” part. I don’t want people to always cater to me and then I’ll never learn any additional German.