Storydale

  I never said what was okay and what wasn't okay.  I said I wasn't sure that I myself could give an honest vote to Germany because I love my native country more than Germany.  I lived there for 50 years and here for only 10.  I am still here because I married a German.  Otherwise, I would probably have gone back to the US after working in an international school for a few years.  However, the fact remains that the uneducated, German bum has the right to vote in his native country while I do not.  Because I do not, Germany should have the right to question my loyalty if they wanted to if I ever applied for citizenship.  Of course, we could change voting rights to include things like education levels, holding a job, and while we're at it, land ownership and other requirements.  Couldn't we?

I’ve taken all kinds of lessons. Groups lessons, work with tandems, YouTube, private lessons (had a truly great teacher in München who got me further along than anyone else in less time), and now I meet weekly with a group of women, half of us Ausländer, half German, that’s for language learning. I just can’t hear it right.  Well enough to get by most of the time but I couldn’t pass the B1 test. 

Going back to dual nationality, I left the US when I was almost 50.  I don't want dual nationality.  To be honest, I'm not sure I could vote in German elections honestly.  By that, I mean that I'm not sure I could vote for what is best for Germany without thinking about what is also best for the US at the same time. Having married a German at the advanced old age of almost 51, I would like to have a permanent Aufenthaltstitel without having to renew every 5 years.  Sadly, I will never be able to pass a B1 test.  Between my age and what was a minor, insignificant problem back home*, I can't get beyond A2 German.  I probably couldn't even pass the A2 test, even though my practical German is A2.  So there I'll be in another 20 years, 81 years old, having been in Germany for 30 years, going in to renew my stupid temporary Aufenthaltstitel. *some kind of processing disorder, the kind that makes me hear song lyrics all wrong, like "I can see clearly now the rain is gone.  I can see all popsicles in my way."  Or when a song called "Perfect Heartbreak" was on the radio, I swear, I heard "tangerine heartbreak."  Loud places are awful for me, because I can't pick out a single voice, but it was never a problem in school.  Trying to pick out words when people are speaking to me in German?  Almost impossible, even after 10 years.  I'm not stupid.  And I work at it.  It's like asking a person with no legs to do the high jump.  I can only sort of bounce.