(Every day I learn more.)
I'm still plugging away at my German. It remains frustrating to communicate, at least as fully as I'd like to, but I think I am ever so slowly beginning to turn a corner in terms of not being so completely locked out of this world. In fact, in the past few days I've had a couple of mini-conversations entirely in German. In one, I went to a store to buy a tool for my bike. There were two tools for the same price, but one came with two other tools in the package and the other didn't. I asked, in German, why they were the same price and the clerk explained to me, in German, that one without the other pieces was made with better materials. Then I asked him (not leaving well enough alone) whether it would really matter for my needs. He seemed to really want to sell me the better one, and explained why, but I couldn't really understand what he was saying. But then, INSTEAD OF SWITCHING TO ENGLISH, like nearly everyone else does when I inevitably struggle, he kept speaking German and rephrased his answer. This time I heard him say that the lesser tool would become "schnell kaput" and immediately understood that he meant it would break more quickly. I still bought it anyway, but at least I knew what I was getting...
Also, people - German people - are beginning to randomly stop me on the street to ask me things. This used to happen to me a lot in France; I guess I look like someone who knows stuff... However, it may all be a facade. Last night, for instance, some men asked me, in German, where the train station was. I answered them, also in German, and gave them directions that they understood, without anyone having to resort to English.
I felt quite proud of myself until this morning, when I realized the directions I gave them were wrong...
9/26: Subject line edited. My teacher swears that the time expression "jeden Tag" requires the accusative case. It doesn't make sense to me, but I guess she would know....