[No actual words here... only flails and gestures]

It takes quite a bit for me to realize how spoiled I am.  Most of the traveling I've done has been to countries where I either speak their language, or they speak mine.  It's a rare occassion when I find myself somewhere that I can't understand road signs.  Then again, most of my travels have been in Latin American and English/Spanish-speaking Europe.  

And then there's Germany.  Today's small victory involved a farmer's market and "ein kilo... um... apfel?"  I think everything I say for the next three weeks is going to come out in question form, complete with shoulder shrug and sheepish, wide-eyed "I'm-really-sorry-I-can't-speak-your-language" smile.  After politely asking for meine apfels, it became clear that the nice farmer required additional information from me to fulfill my request.  It seemed like he was asking which type (or color?) of apfel I wanted, which promptly ended with me elbowing past a few fraus to actually point at the appropriate bushel.  One minute and 1.50€ later, my kilo of apples and I scurried back to Annie's apartment, lest I find something else I needed to buy that falls outside of the boundaries of my vocabulary.