Ach du Lieber!

Boy#2 is in the downhill slope of the long haul that will allow me to call him "My son the doctor," even if he can't tell me what this funny ache in my shoulder is. Being on the downhill rather than the uphill means he is finished with the required classes that have allowed him explain to me in great detail mathematical things that make my eyes glaze well before the first equals sign appears.

Instead, he is able to take a break from the lab and this semester he's taking German 101. This is a class that will come in handy if...well, I can't think of any reasons it would come in handy, but he's enjoying it.

This morning Husband and I received an email from him.

"For an assignment, we were supposed to write a postcard to a family member. I decided to write one to you guys! For the record, it's incredibly hard to write a postcard when you only know the simple present tense and about 10 verbs."

Then he wrote his message:

Liebe Mutti, lieber Vati,

Guten Tag von Durham! Wie geht es ihr? In diesem Semester, lerne ich Deutsch. Ich studiere oft, aber ich spreche gern Deutsch! Ich nicht mache Party. Mein Freund heißt John. Er trinkt viel Bier aber nicht mit mir. Heute, es ist sonnig und es ist schön. Ich jogge gern. Morgen, fahre ich Fahrrad. Ich vermisse (Boy#1, Boy#3, and Boy#4)!

Alles Liebe,

Now, I've never taken a German class in my life. I speak blathering non-stop English, fairly proficient Spanish, and Pig Latin like a son-of-a-gun, but German? 

You would think I wouldn't understand a word of Two's postcard, but you would be WRONG! I returned it to him with my translation:

Hello muddah, hello faddah,

Good morning, Von Trapp Family Singers!  Did you get this here? In this semester, I’m learning Dutch. I study it often, but ick! Dutch is gosh-derned. It is definitely not a party. My friend is John. He drank vile beer last night as he looked in the mirror. This morning, he is snoring and shiny. (He ran into some germs.) Morgan Fairchild was a fair actress. Ick! My brothers are vermin!

Always loving, 

 And to those people who say German is difficult I can only say: Pfffft. Nicht.