28.11.05

The Race Begins

The last week has been relaxed all things considered. The real challenge starts tomorrow. Since I am leaving my current project three weeks early it is likely that I will be trying to cram those three weeks of work in on top of regularly scheduled work before I leave. In addition I have all that packing and wrapping up business here not to mention the paperwork that will be starting. Somehow I have a feeling this is just not going to be tidy.

I'm back in DC already. I did my normal Sunday night fly back. The apartment is 55 degrees because I had turned off the heat before I left. BRRR!! Hope it warms up soon!

Talked to M. quite a bit yesterday and today. He's been a great sounding board in helping me to determine what details to worry about and which ones to save for later. I practiced some German on him today. It's kind of humorous how I use the 'wrong' words at times. For example today, I made a mistake with a verb conjugation. He corrected me and then I said 'Ich bedeute...'. What I really wanted to say was 'Ich meine...'. Both verbs mean 'to mean'. Bedeuten however is used more in the sense of 'to signify' whereas meinen is used when you want to say 'to intend'. So my pride at actually knowing bedeuten was quickly squashed when I realized the difference. I am sure there will be hundreds of humbling experiences with German. I just hope I don't get frustrated or embarrassed to the point of not wanting to try.

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