Ohhhh, I don't like garlic!

Class started yesterday and most of the folks seem pretty alright, a motley mix of people who want to try living abroad for no particular reason, recent graduates and people looking for a career change. Today a bunch of folks decided to go to lunch together and invited me along. I was initially suspicious of traipsing around the streets of Prague with 7 other loud Americans, but I figured what the hell, this is how you meet people, right?

We wandered around a bit until we found a likely looking pub and settled in for a bite to eat. I ended up sitting next to the slightly older British woman who has resided in Germany for the last few years. We ended up one menu short, so she said "Shall we share?"

No problem, right?

She then informs me that she forgot her reading glasses and asked me to read the menu to her. Great. Oh well, might as well be helpful....

She told me that she didn't want any meat, and as I read the vegetarian options on the menu she gave me a running commentary:

"Oh, that sounds too smelly"
"I don't like garlic"
"No, that sounds a bit too mushy"
"Garlic will make me smell in class!"

She finally decided on some caserolle made of spinach, potatoes and cream. Guess what the had in it?

"Oh, no garlic. I didn't want any garlic!" Fortunately I managed to persuade her not to send it back. The conversation then turned to the class. We had begun some grammar review today and our homework was to explain what a participle is. She asked me for the answer, and I began to tell her.

"Well, you take a tense like the Past Perfect and..."
"I don't know what that is". We literally had reviewed this exact thing 5 minutes before in class, which is why I picked it.

"Well, when you combine two verbs, like 'have ordered' it's...."
"See, that's it. I don't know what a verb is. It's a thing, right?"

Now, I generally don't get down on anybody for not knowing grammar...it's barely taught anymore, but she did want to be an English teacher, right? And we're talking about a verb here....

"Well, that's ok, you can always look it up online. I'll help you find a website that covers this stuff.."
"I don't have a computer!"
"Ok, well they have some we can use at the school, so..."
"Oh, I'd like to be able to take it home with me and those things are always in use."
"Ok, well, have you been to an internet cafe? They only charge a crown and there's one..."
"Oh, no I hate those places!"
"Well, I guess you're screwed then."

I made it through lunch mostly by staying quiet. When the check came she asked me to convert the price of her meal into Euros so she could figure out how much it was going to be.

I think I'll be eating alone for the most part. Or at least staying out of large groups.