  From Friday... > Today was beautiful. It is the day of the general > meeting, so instead of attending the conference i > biked to the other side of town for a mojito by a > canal with Dave. We talked about drugs, > relationships, transportation, activism in SF, and > bicycle planning. From the Canal we watched people sunbathing and fishing -- neither seemed like such a good idea in an urban canal. Last night a small group of us > (Maya, 2 Swiss guys, Eddie and Bennie, who work for Green Peace in Zurich, and an Aussie, Elliot from Melbourne, who is a podetrist > who will be doing bicycle planning in Bogota for the > next while) walked a ways to a hip neighborhood for > a beer. This city rocks!
It is so pretty and vibrant and multicultural. Walk isn't quite the right word for what I did to that other neighborhood because my feet are useless. A few days ago I went for a walk with Maya in those shoes Carolyn gave me and got terrible blisters. Then, of course, I accidently pummased one of the blisters making it much worse. Now I am almost handicapped, but fairing OK. Just a bit of a limp, really. So, I road Elliot's new Bike Friday that he takes with him everywhere bc he couldn't get it insured.
This city is much more bicycle friendly than it is pedestrian friendly. Bicycle paths are likely to be painted at the expense of sidewalks. Everyone is very tolerant and nice about it, but there is definitely a shift in the dynamics between the modes. Drivers never flip out when you bike right in front of them, but pedestrians are expected to get out of the way. We think it is because everyone here rides a bike. Speaking of speed, social interactions move at a much slower pace here than I am used to.
it takes hours to come to a consensus or even leave an event. No one ever just takes off -- they meander about a bit, talking pleasantly with one another and fiddling. You can imagine that I find this a strain, but I am trying to be tolerant. Did you know that someone did a study about the speed of cities based on social interactions, travel time, etc? They found that San Francisco was one of the fastest cities, along with Zurich, NYC, etc. (it must have been Eddie or Bennie who told me this).
I also learned about a Slow Cities movement, like Slow Food, slow travel, etc. I guess it doesn't have to be this fast, but I like to keep moving myself.... Saturday... Last night was the conference closing party, but I just couldn't get in a celebratory mood about it. I felt more sad. They had a Salsa band and then a Ska band, lots of lovely space lit up with tea lights, and medioccre but cheap drinks. I haven't completely kicked my cold, but I feel basically fine, just not like partying. Another thing is that a lot of people here smell bad.
2 reasons: lots of hippies, hard core and a general difference in personal hygene expectations. I was hard for me to get into dancing when the dance floor smelled like stinky unwashed armpits. I am bad. Actually, that was my first impression of the conference when I walked into the door. Fortunately, it faded (the impression or the smell, you decide). The rooms were rather stuffy.
But I had an excellent conference. I have come away with several ideas I want to pursue, and a renewed enthusiasm for my field. I said that at the conference evaluation this morning. This afternoon lots of people when to a lake to swim, but I went to a co-op that used to be a squat for video training. It was very much geared towards documenting police brutality at protests, but I learned a few things about video production in general -- another thing I am thinking of pursuing in the next year (my first year of retirement). There certainly won't be time for it all, darn it!
I walked back (I should say limped) via the wrong directon with Mel, an Estonian Medical student and natural ham. Now it is Saturday night I can't find my friends, which is actually fine because I have hardly had a moment to myself since I got here. In other news, I have determined what my next destination will be: Prague. I will be staying with one of the conference organizers, Steve. He said I could stay until Saturday, which sounds good to me. I'll head over that way sometime on Monday.
Tomorrow a small group of us are going to an area near here that is only accessible by boat (thus car-free) with little rivers making up 'roads' to connect the buildings. We may swim. I am excited. On the other hand, I am very sad to be leaving Berlin soon. I could imagine staying here for a long time, but I can't really imagine learning to speak German. So, there you have it.
That's probably enough for today. love,l 
