German is hard.

It really is a difficult language to learn - and it sounds 'hard' too, when you speak it. I remember laughing at this youtube video before we moved here, and I still have to giggle when I learn new German words that sound... well, harsh.

But all jokes aside, harsh or not, we live here, and we will be living here for a while, so we all need to learn this language. So - Wir lernen. (We are learning.)

Cooper and Addie attend a bilingual school where they have lessons in German and English, but most of their day they are instructed in German. Addie loves school, and has picked up the language quite naturally. She has actually surprised me a lot - she understands a lot and can speak more and more everyday. She can retain vocabulary way better than I can! And, quite honestly, when she speaks German, it sounds a lot cuter than the guy in the video that you just watched.

Cooper doesn't LOVE school. He has struggled at times, and doesn't always want to go. Afterall, learning German is HARD! He would much prefer to have a personal translator by his side all day. But we know we can do hard things - and I think he is improving every day. He is a smart kid. I also think that when his communication in German improves, he will like school a little bit more.

We hired a private tutor a few weeks ago to come to the house and help Cooper and Addie. She is a nice lady, and the kids like her. However, her experience in tutoring has been mainly with teenagers who speak German natively, and this is her first time working with young kids who are learning German as a second language. While she is nice, and I'm sure she has helped the kids somewhat - We're not sure she is the best fit for what the kids really need, so we are having another tutor/speech pathologist come to have an assesment tomorrow. I will keep you posted on how it goes.

As for Eric and I, we are both taking German courses. Eric takes German courses right at his workplace. How convenient, right? He signed up for two consecutive courses and is taking them at the same time (alternating days of the week) 4 days a week. He's a smart guy, and has a passion for languages. He is reading the Book of Mormon in Slovak and German everyday (because he doesn't want to lose his Slovak skills while learning German), listens to podcasts in both languages, and reads and listens to Harry Potter in German in his spare time. He simply devours it. He wishes he had more oppurtunities to speak to native German speakers more throughout the week, but he gets by. He's kind of a genius, I think.

I had my official first day of school on October 14th. I am attending a German course at the University of Vienna. I go on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. It felt weird at first, to go 'back to school' and be surrounded by students and professionals, but I am enjoying it now. My class is made up of people from all over the world. Only one other guy is from the U.S. I have made friends from Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, China, England, and Russia. So that part is fun. I am learning the ins and outs of the language, and I have gotten to the point where I can usually understand the jist of what people are saying to me - but responding in any coherent way in German, is usually beyond me. I feel toungue tied a lot of the time. Usually, after five or ten minutes after being removed from the stituation at hand, I can formulate a basic response - but I need more practice before those responses will come naturally. Little by little... I think I can! I think I can!

Tyler and Tucker even join in on the German learning at times. Tucker knows most of his colors, numbers, how to ask "What is that?" He also knows how to say "Exit right" and "Exit left" because he hears those phrases so often on the Ubahn. He loves to repeat what he knows, and is always curious to learn more. He's a funny kid.

Tyler is still learning English - and is actually saying more and more words everyday. He surprises me sometimes though, and says a word that is definitely more German than English. Altogether, I'm pretty sure he'll speak his own version of Germanglish soon enough.

All in all, we are trying to learn this language together as a family. We have set goals during Family Home Evening and we try to help each other out in accomplishing those goals. We try to speak German sometimes during mealtimes, we try to tell jokes in German, laugh when nobody gets it, and we laugh a lot at all of our mistakes. It is really cool that we are all pretty much in the same boat doing this together. Cooper's German homework today looked a lot like my own homework - learning the past tense of basic verbs, and we sat at the table together working on it. I'm pretty sure his assignment was more advanced than mine! It's a humbling experience to know that my kids are probably way better at German than I am - but it's super cool at the same time.

Here is a clip of Cooper and Addie singing "I am a child of God" in German with the stake primary at our Stake Conference a couple weeks ago. Cooper is on the far left. And if you are looking for Addie (like Tucker is - listen for his voice in the video) - just know that she really is there - she just happens to be standing behind somebody that is just a little too tall.

Isn't it nice to know that God will lead, guide and walk beside us nomatter where we are and nomatter what language we're speaking? I sure think so.