today
It's almost 12:00, time for my German lesson from my ex-flatmate Roman. He's an excellent teacher. For the first time ever I don't feel completely intimidated by learning a language. When I lived in Japan I took language lessons quite a bit, and even studied it for two years as an undergraduate before moving there but never seemed to get past the point of exchanging pleasantries. Weird. In Holland I tried learning Dutch a bit, but I wasn't attracted to the language, I just had no passion for it.
Now, German. I like this language, and am very into learning it and don't feel overwhelmed by it at all. Maybe it's my German roots, maybe there's some genetic connection to the language. Ah, whatever... But it's funny, after starting to study it I've realized that the language is actually very soft, not hard-edged at all. Much smoother than Dutch, that's for sure.
Tonight I'm off to Mills College to see Fe-Mail, Matmos, and Thomas Lehn/Marcus Schmickler, an analog synthesis duo from Germany.