Jason Witkowsky's Blog

Winter is finally here. Although more bearable recently, temperatures have already dropped to slightly below zero and first small signs of snow were shown recently. Feels like someone left the door of the fridge open. Time to install a heater on my bicycle.

It's been almost a month since i last updated my blog and due to popular demand I am writing another entry (actually not, I have to remind people to check it out). Some of my activities in the last month included:

• A trip to the Czech republic (Brno) for work as well as the weekend in Prague (see pic below).

• Went for a mountain bike trip to the Harz mountains (thanks Mark!) today. The first real mountain biking I have done in a long time - as is indicated by the souvenir on my chin. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was quite amazing (during the times we stopped to catch our breath).

Went to Hannover on Saturday to see how October fes was celebrated there...for research purposes, of course. To expensive to go to Münich where the real October fes action happens but something might materialize for the next weekend if i get my way. One thing that definitely stood out in Hannova was the beautiful parks. We were lucky as well because the beauty of the parks was complimented by beautiful weather on the day. Could see myself spending a weekend here just checking out the parks...

It has been a while since i last posted an entry to my blog. I don't think it's the novelty wearing off -- its just that i like to update it when i have done some interesting things (making food doesn't count any more) and when i obviously have the time -- . so, what have i been up too? So far places i have traveled to include Berlin, Potsdam and Kamenz - all lovely places with each having there own unique attractions. Plenty of information about them on the net to if you are able to read this blog, you should be able to search the Internet and find out more about them as well ;)

I went to Berlin again this weekend past to check out the IFA which the Consumer Electronics Show. Lots of interesting things to see. However, no real new technology but the show had more emphasis on how technologies have matured. E.g. Flat-screen tv's, Digital Radio and TV units, Personal Portable devices (Mps, GPS etc). But i did get lots of free brochures so it was definitely worth the trip. Now i just need to find the time to read them...

I need to go make some food now. Oh speaking of which, I received a German Cook book for my birthday (more about that later) from my friends at ifak :-) OK, at least there are pictures so for now i will have to look and learn.. My German classes are looking pretty exciting as well -- today two new female students joined the class. One is from Russia and the other from Uganda. The Russian student speaks no English but conversational German and the student from Uganda is just starting to speak German -- this is interesting since i am somewhere in between the two....but more towards to level of the student from Uganda. Lets see how it unfolds..

Tschüss

Went for my first German lesson today. Was lucky enough to be the only student. The German teacher has an interesting way of teaching German -- he uses German (90% of the time) and we use English ONLY if it is necessary. My Afrikaans background and previous lessons definitely helped with the vocabulary but it can also be confusing at times. It is a bit of a "thrown in the deep end" approach but i think in my case it will be necessary! But the best part was leaving the class and having everybody around me speak German - that was the big difference between the class in SA and the one i am taking now. It almost felt strange for me to speak in English once i left the classroom..

After many failed attempts at trying to use bungee cords to hold my bag down, I decided to go visit the bike shop for some alternatives. Somehow either the salesman (well done Mark!) was really good or the cheap drugs I was on this morning did not wear off yet because my bike suddenly sported a brand new "can-not-miss-it" "goto-be-over-65-to-use-it" basket. However, I tested it out and apart from the low "coolness-looking" factor, it works and serves its purpose remarkably well and gets a 10/10 for practicality.

If the thought has ever crossed your mind about commuting by bicycle to work (or even if it hasn't) why not have a look at the following site with some excellent bike commuting tips.

I made it! A total of 18.5km (to work and back) with a time of approx. 30mins to work and 20mins coming back -- no points for guessing which way the wind was blowing. In total, an average speed of 21.55km p/hour -- might just be time for me to register for the Tour de France? And max speed of 47.85km p/hour - only explanation could be because of the combination of the downhill, wind on my back and desperately needing the toilet. Having commuted several times to work in SA in the past, it was a nice refreshing experience to cycle to work in Germany without being invisible to (most) motorists.