Good Sensations Again

Today was probably the best I've felt on the bike in 2 weeks. With the suspected infection last week and the exhaustion that I felt earlier this week, its nice to see things are on the up and up. 1hr and 40min this morning with a little caffé crema to finish up the ride. Just a quick tune up ride before the kriterium tomorrow in Haßlof. Its a C-klasse race. I'm eager to give it a go and finally get back to my old ways of kriterium racing, riding hard and near the front. I remember last year the exact time when things just clicked in the crit for me. I suffered from a bit of confidence in my sprinting and positioning. A talk with Shawn and Karl helped things and gave me the confidence that I had lost. I think we all suffer from low confidence from time to time. Whether it be in bike racing or in our jobs. Since I started going to schule this week, my confidence for the german language is steadily increasing. You can learn so much and improve so much, but confidence, I think is the final determinate. If you i don't think I can speak well, then i probably won't. Same with racing. Mind over body.

My class is quite interesting. Apart from the wide range of cultures, the class operations is the biggest adjustment. In the US, you raise your hand to speak. Elsewhere in the world, its jockying for supremecy like the last corner of criterium. You speak(ride) louder(faster) than the others. I find myself raising my hand when everyone else just blurts out without regard for what is being said. The class exercises are pretty straightforward I think. There is an example with exactly how you are suppose to address the remaining questions. Think fill in the blank with the word in parentheses. Where the disconnect on this occurs, I'm still in black hole of thought. You have people reading the entire thing without putting the new word in or reading the entire sentence and saying the word at the end or just saying the wrong example assigned to them. Perhaps I just need to be patient. And if you pause(1-4sec of thought) to think about how to conjugate the verb the entire class is speaking alound, some incorrect, some correct. Why can't they just keep their mouth shut when its not their turn? Differences in classroom procedures I guess throughout the world. On Friday, I was starting to read my sentence and someone else started saying it after the teacher said, "matthew, C." I paused and just looked at the teacher. She tried as hard as she could to shut the student up by telling her, "Nein! Matthew." Kind of funny. I need to learn the phrase for "please take this conversation offline." On Wed two students began on conversation on the kaffee that was going to be brought to class. keep in mind that another student was reading his example. Well the kaffee conversation escalated and eventually lead to the entire class talking about it and the teacher struggling to regain control. Lack of respect, or just culture differences?

Tonight is the big Geburgstag(birthday) for Dirk and Petra. 40Jahres! Should be a fun party.

chow,
Bearclaw