Easter vacation is looming, it's about time you took yourself to Deutschland or Osterreisch to put your German into practice.

1) Though I had met both your grandparents on few occasions, I hardly knew them at all. I remember your grandfather, a bespectacled man, who always busied himself in his books or newspapers. I can't recall having a meaningful conversation with him. It would be interesting to learn a little more on the maternal side of your family story.

As to your paternal grandfather, I did not get to know him at all before his passing. In 2010, I was successful in tracing the home your grandfather built back in his ancestral village and found living links. It raises more questions such as how did he enter Australia during the White Australia Policy era? Did he come as a merchant and exempt from the notorious dictation test? The test was designed so that no one could possibly pass and thus keeping the Chinese out. Why did he not go to places like Vancouver, ( where you had to pay a head tax of $500, and eventually an Exclusion Act in 1923,) Hawaii, Cuba, Fiji, or Peru. All those places mentioned had a strong representation of labourers from his part of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province.

2) Why did you not choose German as an elective in your high school years? I did fancy myself as a German language student, but back in my school days, we were offered only Latin and French. I tried French up to form 4, with very ordinary results. Back then, there were no Asian languages on the curriculum. It was some years later that some schools offered Bahasa Indonesian, or Japanese. I'd have preferred Japanese if it were available. It is just as well I did not get a chance to tackle German because my daughter told me it is a hard language to master.

It sounds very promising so far on your level of competence in your goal of German proficiency. Without any applied pressure, you can go far.