Sure Everyone Speaks English

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Somehow, between Austria and Germany we developed new tattoos on our foreheads. Now you can look at us and see the "talk to me in German" tattoo clear as day. The German people are very friendly and quite chatty, but alas it’s only in German. We smile and laugh and shake our heads and Brian can say that we don't speak German in German, but it doesn't change anything. Last night at dinner we were sitting peacefully eating our supper and a couple plopped themselves down at our table and joined us. They didn't speak English, so we did a lot of smiling. The best part came when they ordered a drink that we didn't recognize. Brian managed to ask them what the name of the drink was and not only did they tell us that it was Beerschnaps, the fellow even held out his glass and offered me a taste. Now that's a little too friendly! We also had the bright idea yesterday to ride the city bus to the end of the line and back again, just to see what was out there. The problem came when we got to the end of the line and were the only people left on the bus. The driver started ordering us to do something. He was very loud and authoritarian and of course we had no clue what he was saying. We just thought maybe he was ordering us off the bus so we jumped up and left. The bus promptly departed and that is when we discovered that we were stuck for a half hour. I'll bet that if we had been able to tell him that we wanted to ride back, he would have let us. Anyway while we were waiting an elderly German woman sat down next to me on the bench and started telling me something. I shook my head and said in English that I don't speak German, but she just got mad and started shouting at me. You know the universal response to someone who doesn't speak your language is to talk louder and slower. I never did figure out what was bothering her. She finally stopped shouting at me and stomped off. Now we have the next two days to explore around the Garmisch area and see if we can make a few more friends!