My German is a notch above tourist level. You'd think it would be better, as I've had a few years of classroom instruction, but I'm a complacent learner, and once I got to the point of being able to make dinner reservations, watch a movie (with German subtitles on), and tell the young woman next to me at the bar "Was für ein schönes Dirndl, das du trägst!" I was good to go.
I'm fortunate, though, to live near a city (Cincinnati) that is spilling over with German culture, and it's not unusual at all to hear German spoken here, especially if you're going to one of the German specialty places (butcher, baker, etc). In earlier times, I used to go to a weekly German language night, where people would gather in a local German restaurant, both native and non-native speakers, with the charge that, for the duration of the night, no English was to be spoken. I learned more at those than in class.
We also have several German culture/heritage clubs in the area, and at those, you'll hear a lot of German spoken.
