This evening I was heading home after my German language class.

It’s been four months of learning German, and while it’s not exactly a breeze, I’d still like to think that I’ve picked up quite a bit so far.

I practise my vocabulary when I’m out shopping by reading the product labels in German, I try to read and understand hoardings and signs around town, and sometimes I’ll even go a little crazy – while I’m watching Netflix, I’ll change the audio and subtitles to German!

This evening while I was walking across the train station (I have to change trains which are literally at opposite ends of the station), I was lost in thought. We had been studying the past tense in class and how to form nouns out of verbs this evening (yes, that’s quite advanced). I was imagining myself speaking fluent German in my head.

(Although at the time I was thinking about dinner. My husband was preparing his famous grilled chicken and my rumbling stomach and I could hardly wait to get home!)

A lady, looking quite lost, came up to me, said excuse me in German and asked, “Ooh acht?”

I stared at her looking equally lost.

Ooh acht, she repeated.

Ooh acht, I repeated absentmindedly.

Ja, she nodded emphatically.

Ooh acht? I asked, confused.

She then took a couple of steps towards a map of the U-bahn (the underground train service) and pointed to U8.

Facepalm moment.

We were taught alphabets and numbers in the first month of the German course.

Of course. Ooh acht. U8.

I quickly recovered and gave her directions.

She thanked me and began walking in the direction I was pointing to, looking at me with suspicion, probably wondering whether she should get a second opinion on the directions.

As I walked on towards my train, I couldn’t help but mentally facepalm.

After four months of classes, you’d think I’d at least be familiar with the German alphabet!

My brain was definitely out to lunch, or should I say dinner!