Hallo. Today was a lovely, calm day. We went to church, played games, ate meals together, and went to see a coal mine from afar. Church was fascinating. Of course it was all in German- I understood nothing. But as I listened during sacrament meeting, (before I almost fell asleep) I was able to finally figure out what sets a native speaker apart from one whose first language is not German. It’s the way the sh sound is said, and how the s is said. Native speakers also utilize their throat for certain syllables more so than those who are not native speakers. This really felt like a breakthrough for me. Not that I’ve met many non-native German speaker, but discovering this distinction for myself was remarkable and very cool. I’m so excited to visit other countries and see what a native and non-native speaker sounds like. In the branch that our friends attend, there is a Venezuelan family. Sadly, they were not there today. I think it would’ve been lovely to talk to someone in a language other than English and actually understand! One other fascinating note- it’s been so interesting talking our friends and discovering what things they don’t understand about the English language. It’s hilarious hearing them speak and saying things that sometimes make no sense but they’re so serious about it. One of our friends, Noah, is hilarious. Part of this is due to being a teenage boy, but also he speaks just enough English for us to understand him, and for him to make jokes we would find funny, but also not enough where it isn’t funny for us. Both us German and English speakers can find it funny. Even though some jokes don’t translate or make sense, the laughter does. We can all understand when some is being funny by the response. Laughter -> funny person. I love that we all laugh (essentially) the same. It’s not like I laugh in English and our friends laugh in German. We all just laugh. Berlin tomorrow. Last day! 🥲