Learning Turkish

Merhaba.
It's funny how learning one new language can trip your brain into remembering other languages. In Turkish, where is translates as "nereye". But in my head I keep repeating "doko deska?" which is Japanese for where is. My mind is playing tricks. What these two languages have in common is that I can't for the life of me hear the break between words. Japanese was a slurry of syllables. Turkish sounds to me as if the speaker has marbles in his mouth. How are you? sounds like nashulsuhnhuz. My ear for language is hardening and I've had more difficulty with these two than with any other, including Nepali. In fact, I'm recalling words in Nepali as I learn new words in Turkish. Kalo chia dinos. I'll take that tea, iced, in the Mediterranean.
Gorusuruz.

The Low Carbon Commute

Yesterday was the first day of the 2007 Bike to Work Commuter Challenge. I head up a team from school again, where this year I've doubled the participation of staff. So, wearing my team captain t-shirt I pushed off from school yesterday at 3 o'clock to bike 15 miles north to Bothell's NorthShore School District office for an Earth Charter Global Climate Workshop for teachers. The sponsors were a great set of organizations: Yes! magazine, Facing the Future, and World Affairs Council. The keynote speaker was the renown Dr. Richard Gammon of UW's Program on the Environment. What a way to kick off the low carbon commute. Do what you can to reduce your carbon footprint. For us in the Northwest, with hydropower, transportation is the number one cause of carbon emissions.

Today was another reason to bike to work. The University Bridge was closed all day due to a water main leak that created a sink hole. Traffic, including bikes, rerouted over other bridges. I nearly had an entire, normally busy street, to myself! Bike on!