Beeindruckt...

When you learn a foreign language, there are specific moments when you learn a new word and that moment is stuck in your head, for whatever reason.

I lived in Germany in the summer of 1994, I had the good fortune of a host family in Munich, the Daunderers.

One day, I was sitting in their kitchen and I was stuck in communicating. I needed the word "impression" as in "I am impressed."

Tine, one of the children of the family (she was about 24 or so at the time) taught me the word, "beeindrucken."

A few days later, I was crossing a bridge in Regensburg, Germany (the site of my summer program) and I managed to seriously impress my two friends, Laura and Anuj by pulling this word out in a conversation. [How I remember this, I don't know.]

I had a flashback to those two moments today because after my run with Paco, I stopped off at a playground and overheard a woman speaking to her son in German. I asked "Kommen Sie aus Deutschland?" [are you from Germany?]

That began a 30 minute conversation in German [I was ecstatic about a chance to practice] about what led me to Germany, etc.  At one point, I was stalled and, then the word "beeindrucken" popped into my head. I pumped my fist in celebration and continued the conversation.

When I got home, I called the my 'host mother' Daunderer to remind her and thank Tine for the education 13 years ago.

Funny how some moments are 'impressed' upon your brain.