29 March: A New Friend

I met Frau W at the appointed time and we set out into the woods. We took a much longer route than I usually do and ended up walking for nearly an hour, speaking German all the while. Frau W talks pretty fast (at least for my slow-moving brain) but I could understand quite a bit of what she said. Among other things, we talked about our dogs and she explained that her dog Eiko is trained as a hunting dog and took second place in a recent competition. She also told me that her daughter, who is quite athletic, is having arthroscopic knee surgery in ten days; that’s why she was practicing with the crutches yesterday. We agreed to meet again for our walk at the same time tomorrow morning.

Thus it is with great fanfare that I formally announce that it has taken me a mere 19 months to make a German friend (outside of the women’s club or other “connections”) in Deutschland. I guess we can all agree that the “aloof German” stereotype holds up reasonably well, at least in Swabia.