Volkshochschule

Today I spent 6 HOURS at the Volkshochschule. I arrived at 12:20 and filled out the forms and just waited around until my number was called. I There were people form all over there. There were people form Syria and Serbia and then some who could speak German but couldn't write it because they didn't know the alphabet. I felt so bad for the man who was working there. I had seen him on the previous two days I had come by, and he was so patient despite having to say the same thing over and over again. 

I finally went to speak with someone at 2:30 (thank god I went and bought a newspaper to help me pass the time) and told him that I had previously taken the C1 exam and that I thought maybe I should start at that level since I only passed with a 71. He then had me take a test. I had to write a complaint letter to which he pointed out that I made some elementary mistakes in my German (I had to use a variety of sentence structure and made my common mistake of not using the correct article and forgetting to conjugate the verb). On that part I only got a 9 out of 15. Then I had to take another part which was very similar to the B2 test. I was given 3 passages and had to fill in the blanks. The first passage I had a choice of which words. The second I had to change verbs (into different tenses and conjugation). The third I had to fill in the blanks myself. Although I didn't find it tough, I only did okay. Overall I got 24.5 out of 30. 

It ended up being determined that I should go into the B2.2 class. Which is annoying because that's where I started 5 years ago. But at the same time I haven't written much German in the last 5 years, and especially not with the proper grammar function. The bad part of this is that the only B2.2 classes are offered during the day in Hoechst and the only night classes are at the main   Volkshochschule in Frankfurt.  The class is Montag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag at 6 pm. So I would basically have to leave right after school to get there in time. The cost is 320 Euros plus book fees. There were only two sections one starts the first week of school, while the other starts  end of September. Both of them are 25 hours in total. Th second section was filled up but I put myself on the waiting list because I want to first see how the school year is before I sign up for anything.  If I did the second section it would end late November and then there's no classes until February because they're redoing their computer systems.

I don't know if I should be annoyed that my German level is where it was when I arrived here 6 years ago(when I began as an aupair), or if I should be impressed that I have not regressed further. At the same time, this test validates what I have said before, my ability has reached a proficiency level which is very hard to advance from. Unless I talk and read, and think in German I'm not able to progress further.