Liebster Blog Award!

A few of my blogger followers bestowed upon me this awesome blog award. Please take the time and stop on by Let go of the Past, live Today and create Tomorrow where you will find wonderful inspiration. You won’t be able to stop smiling after reading his blog. Also, please head on over to Mainely Mugups for soothing music and diverse blog posts that leave you feeling good.

What’s awesome about this blog award is that Liebster is a German word that means dearest/love. And since I refer to the love of my life as Mein Liebster, and lived and plan to go back to Germany, I can’t help but have a greater appreciation for this award.  

But there are responsibilities that go along with such an honor.

1)  I need to link back to the person(s) that gave me the award and thank them. WilyBCool and Belva’s blogs share positive insights, so please click on the above links and start following them.

2) List 5 of my favorite blogs with under 200 followers, and let them know you awarded them with the Liebster award. It’s not a popularity contest, it’s just a great opportunity for me to reach out to others and maybe receive a few more followers.

3) Post the award on my blog. I’m all about bragging.

4) Be thankful for your blogger friends.

Here are my picks:

1) Stop on by June Kramin’s aka Aunty Bug’s blog. She is a writer friend of mine with several books coming out. Find out when and what June is publishing and read some funny snippets of her life.

2) My next blog is attorney/writer, Melissa Sugar-Gold’s. Every time I stop on by, I laugh out loud reading about her writing escapades. Make it part of your daily reads.

3) I want to refer you to my writer friend, Barb, and her blog, Written Not With Ink. Barb’s posts are interesting and thought provoking. She provides a new and refreshing outlook on things.

4) I’ve recently had the privilege to connect with Ramblings of a Peacock. Head on over there and see what she’s rambling on about.

5) Another blog I’ve recently started to follow is The 20^th Century Man. I always love hearing about life from a man’s POV.

For wonderful reads, head on over to the above blogs and fill your days with laughter and inspiration.

Sharing and following,

Bea

Ich Lerne Deutsch! (I learn German)

Herzliche Gruesse,

Ich bin Bea Sempere und ich bin aus Chicago. Chicago ist nicht die Hauptstadt von Illinois. Wie heisst du?

Translation:

Heartfelt Greetings,

I am Bea Sempere and I am from Chicago. Chicago is not the capital city of Illinois. How are you called?

Since the beginning of September, I have been learning German from meinem Liebsten (my Love). We are working from a textbook and two workbooks, but it’s difficult not being in an environment where German is the primary language. I want to learn German so I can a) communicate with mein Liebster’s parents and brother, and b) in case we wind up living in Germany for a year or two. It will give me a head start before taking an extensive German course out there.

It’s tough learning a language at this stage in my life, and German isn’t an easy language to learn. English was derived from the Germanic language, yet much of what is utilized in German, isn’t in English. Unlike a Spanish translation, German doesn’t translate well into English—at least not word for word. There are many English words and phrases that don’t exist in German, and different grammatical rules.  

All nouns have an article: (die) feminine, (der) masculine and (das) neutral. Not only do I have to learn the nouns, I need to learn the article forms…and on top of that…the article changes with the noun depending on the object. Nouns are capitalized, too. Wie heisst die Biologielehrerin? How is the biology teacher called? The ending is “in”, which indicates that the biology teacher is female. That’s why the article is “die”. If the biology teacher is male, it would be der Biologielehrer. My brain does flips when I have to say and write out a number. Germans start with the second number first, such as 43 (my age). Ich bin dreiundvierzig Jahre alt. I am 43 years old.

I’m actually enjoying the challenge until mein Liebster starts talking fast. Like all languages, he blends his words together as opposed to annunciating each one, so I’ll be using Wie bitte? Excuse me? plenty of times.

Do you speak a second language?

Bratwurst and beer,

Bea