The weekend

Saturday, May 2, 2009
Shabbat, sort of

I arrived early enough this morning to hear the Rabbi's shiur on Talmud, after which services proceeded as normal. Today I was given the hagbah honor. One of the congregants remarked how well I lifted the Torah. We adjourned to the sit-down kiddush upstairs and I met a couple additional people. Remarkably, I remembered the names of a few people I had met last week.

I had to get an errand done today even though it's Shabbat. Several days ago, when I tried to charge my camera battery, I couldn't. I had recharged once or twice since I left home, but last night when I plugged it in, the charger didn't light up. (It was plugged into the same outlet that was powering the PC.) I tried plugging and unplugging; tried another outlet; tried removing and replacing the battery. No luck.

Today I'll try to remedy the situation. I'll try to find a camera shop to see if they can give me some insights.  That should test my German. First I asked the hotel reception where they suggest I go. They advised me of a place a few blocks from here. I went there and couldn't find it, so I asked someone. “It's right here,” he said. “They changed the name.” It was a large Macy's type department store.

The camera department didn't have either batteries or chargers, but the clerk helpfully directed me down the street to a store called Saturn. I arrived there to find something like a Circuit City or perhaps a mid-scale (as contrasted with up-scale and certain in contrast with the actual low-scale) Brandsmart, but about twice as comprehensive.  The place had everything electronic.  It is an impressive store on multiple floors.

The sales person suggested that it must be the battery, as the charger never goes bad.  He analyzed the problem by first placing the battery in one of his chargers; it started charging properly.  So it must be the charger.  They had no Canon charger or other "native" charger for this particular battery, but had a wall full of chargers of every sort.

I finally had to buy an apparatus that is a base for which you buy an insert for whatever battery you wish to charge.  The base works with car battery, 110V, and 220V. That's the good news. The bad news is that it costs 35 euros. I took it back to the room and it charged the battery just fine. Less expensive than a new camera, I guess.

Walking around today and the last few days, I enjoy observing the way traffic and people interact. Traffic – on foot, on bikes, in cars, and on public transport -- is very orderly. Even when there's no queue, people don't shove or crowd. At the pedestrian crossings, if the light shows “stop,” then the pedestrians stop, even when there's no sign of cross traffic. If pedestrians should be in the street when the cars get the green light, then they are likely to be honked at. Here, red means stop and green means go; and that's that. Even the bicycles stop at red lights – all the time.

In the evening I went to mincha and seudat shlishi. I got there early enough for the rabbi's shiur, followed by mincha. We adjourned to seudat shlishi, where they had a nice variety of salads, tuna, herring, vodka, fruit, bread and crackers. We sang, after which the rabbi gave another lesson. The singing was remarkable for it sheer volume, but also for its musicality. EVERYONE sang in tune; many people harmonized; it was electrifying.

At the end, the rabbi asked if I'd like to lead birkat. I said that I wasn't familiar with the way they say it; he said, “we say it the way you say it.” So, I started it off, and shortly everyone was going at their own speed, until everyone finished singing the last paragraph together. After maariv and havdalah, everyone took their leave, wishing each other a good week.