Dragging

Fuck me, this cold is dragging out. I was really hoping it would be gone before I have to leave for St Louis Friday morning but I'm giving up on that. I know it's a decade since I swore off Amtrak, but Southwest wanted three times as much to fly me down. So I'm looking at a minimum 8-hour travel day. I thought I'd spend it comfortably reading, but looks like I'm more likely to be fitfully sleeping instead. Feh.

It's got to be easier than getting through an 8-hour workday, right? So far I haven't had to do that this week--I gave up after two hours on Monday and yesterday I left at 3 p.m. Today not only will I have to be here past five to make up for being a bit late but I've got another tutoring session. As with Monday's dinner, I know I'll perk up once we get swinging, but I'll probably end up feeling even worse afterwards.

Nie fertig mit dem Sich-am-Riemen-reißen

Today's German mystery word from Fontane: Juchtenkoffer. Juchten turns out to be a (Low Saxon?) adaptation of Russian юфть, a kind of treated calf leather that was particularly resistant to insect damage. (The leather originated in Russia along with the name; in the novel, it is considered as prima facie evidence for a Slavic origin for the bag's owner as well.)

Today's German assignment: Draw up a list of common verbs discussed in the lessons so far but not included in the basic vocabulary at the end of the chapters we've covered. Today we went through German synonyms for "meet" including kennenlernen, treffen, and verabreden. Previously we covered how to translate "marry" and on the way home my Rabbi friend asked me for equivalents of "finish", which means dealing with adverbials like fertig and zu Ende. Also, I've got to find some way to work reißen into his vocab so he'll stop confusing it with reisen.