People thought I was just a German more than once because of my fluency.
I was flustered when someone was pointing out who could speak what languages and our very gracious host, @ics said "Sie ist Taylor, sie spricht beides" (She's Taylor, she speaks both--as in both English and German ), I was really quite flustered.
I moved here with two suitcases and less than an A1 in German but a decent groundwork. Now just three years later and I am somewhere between a B2 and C1?!
I just picked up a German Translation of Dune. I struggle with it but I can read it, understand it and suck up vocabulary from it like a sponge.
At this point I've run out of reasons to explain . All my friends are German, my Girlishfriend is German, my boss speaks no English, I'm highly intelligent and highly educated. I'm stuck in a position of speak German or don't speak at all even if I speak mostly Denglisch at home. But even still these reasons fall short of my progress. I worked and I worked and I worked and for the first time the vast majority of my vacation I spoke German. I was understood in at least 4 states in several different dialects.
Now finally is my integration and humor and German catching up in ways that are conversational and mostly not too difficult. It's a huge relief. I've got a long way to go but so much behind me that I feel an extreme sense of relief and that fluency and full integration are a possibility for me. phew
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