What's been on your mind, Elli?

Well, I'm worried about numbers and my confusion surrounding them. Since learning German I have a hard time writing numbers and remembering numbers I thought I knew*. Case in point: I was filling out a voter registration card for the US and when I got to my current address I couldn't remember if it was 23 or 32.

The problem is hearing a two-digit number in German, "zweiunddreissig" (literally "two and thirty"), then translating it to English and writing it from left to right. If I could just skip the translation part in my brain, as if German were my mother tongue, perhaps I wouldn't have this trouble. Instead I write the 2 first because that's the one I hear first, then add the 3 in front of it. Are you with me?

So why would I forget my address? Because I write while thinking in English, but more often I hear it and say it in German. All this switching from left-to-right then right-to-left is causing my brain to fog over. Don't even get me started on my phone number.

*Edit: I still remember Elsa's phone number which I dialed every day of my life from ages 7 to 15 even though she lived next door.