"Victor Sack" <wrote

> Wieviele seid Ihr eigentlich? Mehrere deutsche Mädchen oder nur ein
> einziges deutsches Mädchen? Willst Du/wollt Ihr wissen, was ich am
> Weihnachten kochen werde? Am Heiligabend bin ich bei Freunden
> eingeladen und koche nichts. Für die zwei Weihnachtstage werde ich wohl
> mal wieder meine Pansensuppe, Sopa de mondongo a mi manera sin maíz
> asqueroso, zubereiten.

I can just follow most of that. Took 1 year german in HS (1974) then had a
friend Elise who was a neighbor in Japan who arrived barely able to say
'hello' in english. Married a sailor who got sudden orders and they'd had
no time to prepare. We got by with a patois of german, spanish, Japanese,
and growing bits of english.

As long as we knew communally a word in one of those languages, it got used.
Took her shopping her first trip to the commisary, then later out in town.

Hey, is there a german word for Daikon? We used 'Daikon' as it was Japanese
for it. When I told her it was a radish-horseradish varient she tried to
make a horseradish dish and was not amused ;-) She later used it much like
a parsnip to great effect. (Never did see parsnips in Sasebo that i can
recall).