Do you mind?

Date	Place	Duration (min)	1/4 mile	Time
10 August	West Des Moines	40 run/walk	1:17.28	07:56

           So today it finally dawned on me that while I am staying with Bill, I am right beside Valley West High School.  Therefore, I can use their track.  I was a bit worried that they might not want random Joes coming by and soiling their pristine athletic facilities.  

        As I entered the complex, I caught up with a beefy young man, and asked him, “Excuse me, are you the athletic director here?”  I didn’t actually expect him to the be athletic director, but I wanted to shoot too high instead of too low.  If he had been the head football coach, for instance, I wouldn’t have wanted to say, “Are you the manager of the track team?”  

     He answered amiably that he was a coach at the school.  

     “Do you mind if I take a quick jog around the track?”  

     “No, there’s a sign down there, go ahead.”  As I got closer to the entrance, I did see the very obvious sign posted that proclaimed to all that people were welcome to use the track as long as they do not use skateboards or cleated shoes.  Pets were also prohibited.  A very reasonable list of exclusions.

     As I ran on the track, I noticed the uneven nature of the infield, the large cracks in the asphalt and the slightly shabby look to the bleachers.  I was remarking to myself that these were completely in contradiction of general outlook of Valley High.  Then I remembered that there is a new, huge football stadium, one that would not look out of place on the campus of a small college, down Valley Drive a ways.  Then I understood why they do not mind if the general public uses the track around the school in an unsupervised manner.

     I like to run on school tracks because it gives me a definite distance.  Two years ago in Emmetsburg, I ran around the super-lovely high school track in THAT town. My goal was to run 1/4 mile—or 400 meters—in 75 seconds.  I never made it and, as you can see above, it took me a bit more than 77 seconds today.  I am not disappointed though, because my fastest time was 75.17 on 31 July 2012.  Slower by 2.11 seconds is not a tragedy.

     The avid reader of this blog, or an English as a Second Language teacher, might note my word choice in forming my question to Mr. Beefy.  I used the “Do you mind…” construction.  This is one of the most difficult for English Language learners.  In some instances, the meaning of the answer depends largely on the context or even on the facial expressions and body language of the people involved.  In this instance, everything was clear:  “Do you mind…?”  “No”   

     But imagine a father of a young child asking the mother, “Excuse me dear, do you mind taking the baby while I take a quick look at that display of vintage beer bottles?”

The mother might answer, “Yes, go ahead,” which would mean he could take a look without reservation, even though she actually meant ‘No.’  Or she might say, “Not at all,” with a wave of her hand or a nod in the direction of the display, which would mean the same thing.  She might say, “Yes, actually. I’ve have a terrible head ache,” or “No, please feed the baby the last of this bottle while I prepare his diaper.”  Each of these answers would mean that the father is not at liberty to take a gander at the bottles.

Date	Place	Duration (min)	Time
12 August	Tirana, Albania (downtown)	60	21:05

     This night was a sad night for me.  Maura called me to ask if I heard that Robin Williams killed himself. I wasn’t sure I’d heard correctly.  I said, “WHAT?!? Robin Williams killed himself?????”  At exactly that moment, I thought, “Well, maybe I DON’T want to be famous.”  Yes, mental illness is a terrible thing.  

     When the boys and I arrived to Tirana, Maura met us at the airport and we went immediately to a lawyer in order to sign a document stating that our children have our permission to stay in Tirana.  Why such a document is necessary is unknown to me—probably because I do not understand the purpose of the document.  I didn’t know where we were going until we arrived.  I had been to see this man several times.  When I entered, we greeted each other warmly in Russian, and exchanged a few necessities. That is the good thing about being in a town more than a year--some history is created with several people to the point where we can develop some trust and understanding.   

     In addition to our friendship with the lawyer, when we arrived at the school, two people greeted me by name—Bill, the Australian man who took me to the ferry three years ago, said, “Ah, when I saw that shirt, I knew that it must be James.”  He was referencing the flowered red and white number I sported—a Good Will special.  This was the second time this summer that I was recognized by my clothing style.  Rhonda’s neighbor said to her, “Hey, is your brother in town?  I saw this guy running down Merle Hay in a rainbow tie dye.”

     After taking the luggage to Maura’s apartment, she intended to take me to my apartment downtown.  As I got out of the car with plans to spend the evening.  (I would come back to supervise the boys in the morning), I said, “Ah, if the key doesn’t work, what will I do?”  Images of me standing around with two backpacks and a huge suitcase with nowhere to run, filled my mind.  Luckily, she said she would wait until I was sure of the place.  As it turned out, the key DIDN’T work and we had to return to the apartment.  

     Another side benefit of knowing people in the city was shown to me when I called Fitore, my business partner, and the owner of the apartment.  I explained that the key didn’t work.  “Did they change the locks?” I asked.  The moment I had left the room in the spring, the handle had slipped off and the other side fell to the ground.  When the key didn’t work, I was thinking that they may have changed the lock.  As it turns out, no one had changed the locks, her husband’s driver had changed the handle so it wouldn’t fall off, but he claimed not to have done anything with the lock itself.  

      She told that the same driver had another key and that he would meet me and take me to the apartment.  As it turns out, the key DID work, but I was at the wrong door—after all, I had been there only once.  Not a full absolution of responsibility, of course, but I’ll give another excuse: Maura and the boys were waiting for me so I didn’t want to fiddle around any longer.  Actually, the way things worked out was the best of all worlds.  My stuff was transported to the new place without Maura having to life a finger.  

Date	Place	Duration (min)	one lap (sec)	5 laps (minutes)	Time
13 August	Tirana, Albania (Ridge pool)	20	45.34, 48.01	5:07	14:05

Date	Place	Duration (min)	5 laps (minutes)	Time
14 August	Tirana, Albania (Ridge pool)	20	5:06.16	13:15

     The Ridge is the place where many people from the American Embassy in Tirana live.  The pool there is splendid.  I can remember swimming there and timing myself doing laps in the place some years ago—before I started this blog.   

     I loved spending these two afternoons here with the boys.  We played, and I gave Oskar a swimming lesson, and life was good.