So I learned something (a few somethings) interesting about German tonight. To wit: In German, commas are used exclusively to separate dependent and independent clauses. (What a wonderfully simple, eminently memorable rule!) I also learned that in German, there is no such concept as a "run-on sentence," which just makes me laugh. A student tonight linked the German propensity to run-on sentences to the German propensity to run-on words. Allowing run-ons to proliferate seems like a lazy way to manage a language, really. It's as if Germans are in a hurry to say something and then get on to the next thing - they don't want to invest time making their language elegant, they want to get back to making tools or cleaning, or something . . .

All in all, life here has been chugging along pleasantly this week. This past weekend was very enjoyable, I'm happy to say. On Friday night, Diane came up, and she and I and her daughter Sarah went to a Ten Pound Fiddle concert, then out for coffee at Magdalena's Tea House, all of which was very nice. The concert was pretty hokey, but the venue (Central United Methodist Church in downtown Lansing) was really an interesting performance space. And I was happy to see that Magdalena's had quite the appealing atmosphere; it's sort of the real version of what Starbuck's is supposed to evoke, if that makes any sense. I could imagine riding up there of a summer morning for a muffin and a cup of coffee while I sit outside and read a book . . .

Then Saturday, Emil and I were going to go to the Kresge Art Museum to see the Tools in Motion exhibit, which closed yesterday. However, Saturday was a game day, so rather than go east, we ended up puttering around in Old Town for a few hours. It's an area that's been gentrified quite a bit since we lived here; in addition to Elderly Instruments, there's now an awesome "destination" pet store, a few restaurants (including a very cozy brick-and-wood, high-ceilinged sandwich shop where we had lunch) and many (too many) artisan boutiques. There are also a few galleries and performance spaces, including a venue for music and one for theatre. (The place needs a really good used bookstore - something to pull people in an d keep them for a while.) All in all I found it very pleasant, and I really hope that it catches on as a cool place in the city. I'm trying to figure out the route I'll take to ride up there to brunch in the summer . . .

On Sunday, Emma and I were going to go to an MSU production of Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern, but she wimped out on me. So Emil and I ended up getting to the Tools in Motion show after all, and it was very interesting. (It's part of a series of shows about work being put on by the Greater Lansing Area Museum Collaborative, which is practically invisible, judging by their web (non) presence . . . . ) Oh, and I rollerbladed around the neighborhood. I looked up Wanda on the web, and thought about taking hammered dulcimer lessons this summer.

Anyhow. I spent the weekend proving to myself that there are indeed things to do here . . . and learning that it's often very difficult to find them. That's a matter for another post . . . it's going to take a while to get hooked in to the right news sources for this stuff.

Well. I must get back to grading . . .