This friggin German

On one hand I get blamed for not being completely fluent in German after nearly 8 years in the country, on the other hand very few German-speaking people actually speak German to me. An example from today. I phone a friend to talk to him about the apero this evening. I say my piece in German, and although his English is as crappy as my German, he responds in English! Now how can people expect me to advance my German without making an effort to help me? Only the people whose English is really bad make me practise my language skills. And as much as I looked down on them before, I now am starting to feel grateful towards them. Weird, isn't it?