Tea and cake and a foreign language

I had just dragged my laundry up the stairs and into my room, when my landlord met me at the door last night to ask me if I wanted a piece of plum cake. It sounds strange, I know, but it was amazing. She had made a crust, layered it with some sort of cream cheese mixture, stood pieces of plums over the top and baked it. Her daughter, Miriam, and daughter's cousin were visiting and sat in the dimly lit kitchen with tea and cake.

I joined them, and we talked about global warming, music composition and Miriam’s cousin's job search. She is in Berlin after living in Sweden for the past 12 years, and wanted to come back to Germany to improve her German, particularly writing. If a German has to come back to their homeland to improve their own mother tongue, that shows you how hard this language is.

Anyway, I was in one of those phases where my German was coming easier, so it was fun to actually be part of the discussion. Sometimes in group settings, as soon as I've decided how best to say something, the converstation is on to something else.

Lessons learned: Like a glass of wine, cake does wonders for my German.