die Sicherheit - safety

today i had an appointment with my friend laura for what we call "laufen und kaufen" - walking and buying. to many, including her husband, this sounds like a shopping spree. he was none too amused by our idea, as everything in berlin costs about twice as much as venzuela. he was pleasantly surprised when we returned to her home having bought only plantains and ice cream for him to eat.

he was not happy to hear about the "laufen" part of our day. we walked through the tiergarten. venezuela is very dangerous, or so i hear from laura and eric. understandably, eric worries about her walking on her own. it didn't help that we told him about being followed by a small band of turkish musicians for a while. honestly, i might not have noticed certain pathways to avoid or situations had laura not been there. eric need not worry too much about laura because she is always aware of her surroundings. like central park, the tiergarten has it's good parts and bad parts. it's always hard for me to tell in another culture exactly where those places are. luckily, laura has a very sharp eye and we avoided some uncomfortable situations. she deftly steered me away from one such instance in which i would have walked us directly into the middle of a..., um, er, transaction of sorts. (prostitution is legal here.)

i love dan but i must say, if i am ever needing another person to walk with me so i feel protected, laura is my new choice. avoiding the danger is the best way to protect one's self. apparently growing up in her town taught her street smarts that neither dan nor i will ever have.