Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Some new friends

Here is my roommate Amy, introduced at last. This picture is from last week, when she showed me the Ufer (riverbank/park) right by where the hospital is where her daughter Audrey was born. It was a nice spot, and this morning I found the way to run there from the apartment. There and back will be a nice regular thing. There are plenty of other runners, and the round trip is pretty close to a couple laps around Prospect Park. The path goes further too, and I'll explore that as I feel more ambitious.





And this is my newest friend. He doesn't have a name yet (suggestions?). My conversation partner from yesterday recommended a place with a bunch of used bikes, and this one was a little less than 100 Euros. Not bad. I considered an 80 Euro folding bike, but it seemed less ideal for long rides to Humboldt and Tiergarten (the actual reason was that it seemed too emasculating). And: wheeee! I'd forgot how fantastic it feels to be on a bike. And unlike most places in the US, the roads here are made with bikes in mind. Tomorrow I'll try riding to Humboldt.

Some words for the day: 'gebraucht' ('used') , 'schlicht' ('simple/plain') and 'verwalten' ('to manage', as in 'manage a store').
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7 comments:

  1. JessicaApril 8, 2009 at 8:41 AM

    Nice bicycle! I've been bad at blog-reading lately, but now I have set up Google reader and maybe this will make me better at it. But I'm caught up now. I think Hans would be a nice name for your bicycle.

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  2. Hi! I'm Joy!April 8, 2009 at 10:06 AM

    I would name him Henri, or Jacques! He's beautiful!!!!!

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  3. ColinApril 8, 2009 at 10:48 AM

    Thanks!

    I could also do a hyphenated thing, since that's Europeish. 'Hans-Jacques,' for instance.

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  4. LaurelApril 8, 2009 at 11:36 AM

    i, and my constant companion, would name him lewis.
    i because i think lewis is a fine name.
    my constant companion, because lewis is one of the two names he knows. right lewis?
    mroow-ow!
    (my other constant companion does not lower himself to commenting on blogs, as you might imagine)

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  5. ColinApril 8, 2009 at 11:47 AM

    I think the German equivalent of 'Lewis' is 'Ludwig.' What do you think about that, Lewis?

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  6. Luc PerkinsApril 8, 2009 at 12:31 PM

    Any "walten" word is pretty cool. The best translation that I've found is "to prevail over," and so to administer would mean something similar, and also gives rise to words to "Gewalt" (force), "Anwalt" (lawyer), and "Bewaeltigung," which is something like coping or coming to terms with. Did I mention that I'm waaaaaay too into the German language? Can't wait to come to Berlin so that we can share grammatical nuggets like this. I have literally thousands.

    In the meantime, here's the word of the day (also my favorite word in the whole language): Zermuebungsschlacht. See if you can take that one apart :)

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  7. Luc PerkinsApril 8, 2009 at 12:33 PM

    Oops, sorry, the word of the day is Zermuerbung. (Note the second "r" that I left out the first time)

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