One of my goals for this year was to plug myself into more authentic German situations to get myself more comfortable with the language. So yesterday, I jumped into cold water and joined in for my first practice with a women’s football (soccer) team. I played for about 7 years when I was younger, but it’s been awhile since I’ve properly been on the field for a practice. It felt amazing!
Obviously the language they used was quite specific, German that I haven’t been exposed to yet (Schienbeinschoner, anyone?), but luckily there are no language barriers when it comes to running or kicking or dribbling a ball.
Speaking with my team mates and coaches, on the other hand, was a different matter. Its one thing to be in a German class or with people who know that you’re not a native speaker, so they usually speak more slowly and try to use words or phrases that are clear (no dialect) but this wasn’t one of those situations, this was full-fledged Fränkisch exposure. So we'll see how things play out in the next couple of weeks, but as long as joining the Verein isn't too expensive (and as long as they can get enough players to make a team (yesterday we were only six) ) than I hope to keep it up.
