Robbing the Robbers
This is an example story of the sort students use to tell their own stories in the Language Gym program that runs in Berlin. You can find out more about that by clicking on the link at the bottom of the story.
I am living in Mumbai with my wife. I am invited to a party in a fancy hotel in the centre of the city. My colleague and I are walking along the seaside from the hotel around midnight.
verbs: to live: wohnen, invite: einladen, walk: gehen/laufen
[wir laufen vom Hotel den Strand entlang]
Suddenly, we are surrounded by a group of children. The children laugh and dance around us, but I can feel their hands touching me. There is no doubt I am being robbed. After I check my pockets, I find that my money is gone. I try to grab the arm of one of the kids as the others run away.
verbs: to surround (passive): umgeben, laugh, dance, touch: sich berühren, anfassen, rob (passive): ausrauben, check: nachsehen, find: feststellen, try, grab: packen, run away: wegrennen
We follow them to a man who is sitting in the street. Calmly, I ask him to return my money. He looks at me wobbling his head and says something in Hindi. I tell him that if he does not return my money, I would snap his neck. There is the head wobble again and he acts like he does not understand me. I really do not expect him to understand me, so I repeat my words, point at him and demonstrate how I would snap (conditional) his neck.
verbs: to follow: folgen, sit: sitzen, to ask for: bitten, look at, return: zurückgeben, say: sagen, tell: sagen, snap: brechen, act/pretends: so tun, als ob, understand: verstehen, expect: erwarten, repeat: wiederholen, point: zeigen; deuten (auf), demonstrate: demonstrieren
Then money starts to fly out of his pockets falling onto the street. We both reach down to pick up the bills. I slap his hand away and stuff the money into my pocket.
verbs: to start: beginnen, anfangen, to fly (out of) herausfliegen, to fall down: hinfallen, to reach down greifen nach unten, slap: schlagen, stuff into: hineinstopfen
My friend Joan laughs and says it is the funniest thing she has seen in a long time as we walk away. I think to myself that when I went out, I did not have much money. I pull the money that I have now out of my pockets. I have made a large profit.
verbs: to walk away: weggehen, think (to myself) denken (mir), go out: rausgehen, pull: ziehen, make a profit : Gewinn machen
As we approach the next corner we meet a group of women who are out for the evening. I know one of them who I had met while hiking the previous week. She introduces us to the group and I tell them about what just happened. We have a good laugh and we join them to go to a bar around the corner.
verbs: to approach: sich nähern; näher kommen, meet: treffen, know: kennen, hike: wandern, introduce: vorstellen, happen: passieren, join: sich anschließen
What I do not know is, my future wife is in this group of women.
