Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken, Drei Ecken, hat mein Hut, Und hat er nicht drei Ecken, Dann ist es nicht mein Hut!

I took German in high school, which was a military school, so German was fitting.  Our instructor was an Army Captain, that served in Berlin just after WWII, working as a military attaché in the embassy.  He told us very interesting stories, but most of all he taught us a few "dirty" words.  Just enough to keep our attention focused.  At that time I really did not know, if my ancestors were from Germany or not.  Some of the relatives had me confused with stories that our name came from "Ulf" and Anglo-Saxon name and was found in Great Britain.  Later I found out that indeed the family was "Pennsylvania Deutsch" and came over to North American in 1732.  After getting the family genealogy in order, it only seemed fitting to continue Deutsch as a second language.  After all my Great Grandfather still used the language around the home in the late 1800s, so who am I not to learn this language?

Well, learning a foreign language is not so easy, if you don't have the opportunity to use it.  You need a reason to study.  I found that in beer.  After getting involved with beer making as a hobby, taking German conversation night classes made sense.  "I'll learn Deutsch so I can travel to Germany to taste their great beers!"  That I did, but now I have no motivation again and I sit here longing to spechen Deutsch.  If you are a student of Deutsch, let me know, and maybe we can exchange some messages.  If nothing else, we can exchange slogans for beer labels, ja?