Monthly Archives: May 2015

Walks

Learning to Cycle When You’re Not Five – Lesson 2

Off we go, scooting around. Gather speed (man, my legs are tired), one two, three, second foot on the scooter and hold “as long as it rolls” – check. I need to pause a bit in-between, but I do shoot off further away today, so that I actually have to hurry back to the instructor each time she announces a new exercise. But why walk when you can scoot.

This exercise was the basis of today’s session. We try three more combinations in varying degrees of complexity. Scoot off, both feet on the scooter, then bend one leg behind you and stand on the other one as long as you can – check. Imagine yourself looking down and, gasp, seeing a spider (bees were also suggested) on your foot and needing to shake it off.

Mostly check – not so much shake, but definitely some off. “And now,” our instructor says, “write in the air with your foot. It can be a zero, or the letter A…” I optimistically imagine myself “writing” a V, but as soon as I take off, jump on and extend my left leg, it becomes clear that I’ll have to start smaller. “A one is also OK!” our instructor shouts. A one it is. But a “quick” one, without the top bit.

At this point it starts to rain heavily and we take cover in the shed. It stops after ten minutes and we resume training. We were lucky – the kids practicing soccer in the distance were running laps with no breaks. “This next one is a partner exercise!” And for a minute we’re all in school again – because the people I would rather not partner with are eyeballing me. They rush over and start yelling something, so I pretend to be confused and ask a lady who seemed to have a sense of humour. Same – gather speed, scoot along with both feet on the scooter, during which time your partner runs alongside you and gives you math problems to solve. You do so while staying on the scooter. This is fun – I discover I’m better at speeding up and standing longer on the scooter.

The next exercise is also with a partner. Same base, only without the speed, both feet on the scooter, and as soon as you start to slow down, the partner holds you around the waist and carefully pushes. Your job is to steer. Half-check.

Last challenge: each of us gets a coloured cardboard circle which we lay on the ground. We’re supposed to ride along it, then loop back to it, and then loop from there in another direction. Brows are furrowed as we listen. “Basically make a figure 8. Small 8, large 8, doesn’t matter.” I make a whole potpourri of eights, at least as far as I can tell. Small, large, crooked, half-done, eights that fold in on each other, eights that unravel towards the end.

It rains again and we take cover. Since the clouds above still look threatening, the instructor lets us off early. But I ask for a few more minutes and do some joyful one-legged gliding.

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Walks

Learning to Cycle When You’re Not Five – Lesson 1

I’m a beginner, so I signed up for a course for beginners. There’s a small butterfly fluttering in my stomach as I approach the sports center where the training takes place. Our instructor tells us to grab a scooter.

“You’ll simply do as I say. Every exercise has a purpose.” I keep a close watch on her hands and feet as she shows us the first basics – how to step on and off, how to do this with one leg crossed behind you, and how to step off with a turn. Then we start to scoot, the difficulty increasing with each exercise. I quickly discover the part that’s most fun for me – right foot on the scooter and pushing with my left. I’m careful to scoot in short bursts of speed, braking cautiously.

Within minutes most of us take off our jackets and continue to work up a sweat on the football field sized training ground. “Yes, yes, it’s exercise!” our calls instructor encouragingly. Jump on and off the scooter, holding for a few seconds – check. Scoot gathering speed, one, two, three, both feet on the scooter and hold as long as you can – check. Ride around a circle on the ground, one foot in, scooter stays outside of the circle – half check. That one was harder. Ride around small coloured circles laid out in a line on the ground, swaying the handlebar – mostly check. I look back expecting to see a mess, but the circles are still there. Push your scooter along a curvy line two times, making sure first the front and then the back wheels follow it. Scoot around in small and large circles – check. At least it felt like a circle. Gather speed, both feet on, squat once (more if you can, but I’m saving up my ambition) – check. Wow! And then the same, only standing on tiptoe instead of squatting – check.

Ride around in larger circles, not looking down, but around. Check!

Main impressions – I did not fall off, coordinating my feet around the scooter took some time, as did finding a good grip for the handlebar. “You’ll feel your leg muscles tonight”, says our instructor by the end. Oh, yes.

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Hamburg

Hamburg along the Alster River

Walking around the two lakes this river forms within the city of Hamburg easily becomes a favourite past-time. In any weather, at any time of the year, it’s a satisfyingly long stroll that’s both calming and invigorating. Joggers also frequent the seven km long route, as do cyclists, parents, dog owners and tourists. A lush, green area in spring and summer, walking around the Alster river takes your mind away, and you don’t have to travel far to get there. Either start from the city center around the town hall and pass the small Alster (Binnenalster) before proceeding around the big Alster (Außenalster), or walk in to the Alsterpark at the other end and make your way from there. It’s impossible to get lost as you just follow the lake curve, signs are situated in convenient places, and so are a few cafes and ice-cream trucks in good weather. It’s one of the areas in Hamburg that make you feel how special this city is.

 

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Auf Deutsch

Rausschmeißen

“Ich schmeiße dich hier raus, wenn’s OK ist”, said the colleague giving me a lift from work. I remember being stunned at the combination of the seemingly aggressive verb with her normal, polite tone of voice. Cue small German lesson afterwards. Rausschmeißen does indeed mean to throw someone out etc. “Wir haben ihn rausgeschmissen” is what you might hear from a friend about a raucous guest at a party. There’s also the noun, Rausschmeißer, which means bouncer. And I was recently having coffee with a friend shortly before the café‘s closing time. The music suddenly got significantly louder. She laughed and said, “Das ist die Rausschmeißer-Musik”.

My colleague, of course, was using the word colloquially (or umgangssprachlich auf Deutsch) and simply meant to ask me if it was OK to let me out at a certain subway stop. However, to be on the safe side, if I get a lift now, I use the neutral “Ich kann schon hier aussteigen” instead of “Du kannst mich GERNE hier raussschmeißen.”

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When at Home

If You Lock Yourself Out

Let’s hope you don’t. But if you do, here are some tips that might make the experience a bit less traumatic.

Consciously look for locksmith shops when walking around your neighborhood. Memorise those within walking distance, save the number in your phone, or even pin the location on your phone if you know how (I don’t) – whatever works. Shops that have the encouraging “24 hours” sign in their windows are a particularly good idea. Yes, paying for what might turn out to be a few seconds of opening your door will hurt, but sometimes it’s your only option.

Even if you are stepping out “just for a second” to set out the trash and there’s someone else home, ALWAYS take your key with you. A friend of a friend told me she developed a reflex of patting her pocket to feel for her keys before leaving her apartment to go to her building’s laundry room.

Ditto on the key if you have a door that swings shut easily.

Triple ditto if you’re wearing something “just to nip out for a sec” that you’re positive no one else will ever see you in.

We don’t always see or really know our neighbors, but do say hello if you cross paths and have an idea who’s bell it’s OK to ring. Maybe the nice couple who’ve signed for your packages or the grandmother and granddaughter duo you run in to most Sunday mornings. A bit of advance choosing will make the tremulous statement “I’m afraid I’ve locked myself out” easier. Especially if you’re already feeling vulnerable due to having extra fluffy bunny-shaped slippers on (see above).

Try to keep your phone on you when you go out, though obviously sometimes we all forget or it doesn’t make sense to take it with you if you’re only popping out to the bakery around the corner. In which case you will have to ask your neighbors to please use their phone or help you look up a locksmith if you don’t remember the number or location.

Pick a trusted friend or relative in the vicinity to keep your spare key. If you’ll have your phone on you in the event you do get locked out, you can call them. Hopefully they won’t be out of town. If you don’t have your phone on you or the number of the key keeper memorized, the knowledge that somewhere out there your spare key is safe might still be comforting.

If you do get locked out, try to do so at an hour when it’s still OK to knock on people’s doors or call them. If the hour is not of such a nature, breathe through your nose and get creative.

Know which of your family members and friends has mechanical skills, especially if they are within reach.

Basically, try not to get locked out. Good luck!

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