I envy you on so many levels for living in Germany. It is a country that I really admire and I hope to be there some day (I've been to Austria, so beautiful). Your story strikes me as rather odd, as I have heard the opposite. I've been told and this has been my experience when I was in Austria, that though the older generations will probably be the hardest to deal with in terms of speaking English, many people do indeed speak English. It is more common that I hear that English-speakers trying to speak German, only to then for the natives to notice that you are an American or Englishman, and they will immediately switch to English. But I also know when it comes to expats, that one of the many things they often say as a token of advice to wannabe expats is that you need to learn German.