Jason Witkowsky's Blog

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.