Monday, January 16, 2006
On the first day of German class, the instructor assigned the first five pages of "Das Manöver" by Wolfdietrich Schnurre, who served am Zweiten Weltkrieg und nachdem hat es beschriebt. Thus far, the story consists of a general's preoccupation with how to manuever his infantry units, armoured tanks, etc. ("usw." = "etc." auf Deutsch) through heathland. Somewhere in all of this, I discerned that buzzards are circling, larks are being disturbed by the roaring of the motor vehicles, and crickets are chirping monotonously ("das monotone Zirpen der Grillen von fern..."). I shall easily remember "der Grill" as part of my now-expanded vocabulary, because I can envision crickets grilled as components of a shish-kabob. Mmm... der Grillen schmeckt mir gut, ja.
[Lauree Frances Keith concluded this diatribe at 2:40 PM]