Trains, trains, trains

Well, I had an adventure yesterday. I journaled about it in French but I will be nice and translate it into English for you :-)

---7:53 en train- The man next to me is doing some kind of design (it looks like civil engineering) WITH POWERPOINT! What dedication! What a horror! That is a man who really needs the Gimp.

This morning I woke up an hour earlier than I had planned (3:30) and after half an hour I heard the sound of heavy rain. That made me really nervous because I don't have a jacket that is truly water proof and I have to walk around outside a lot today. Therefore, I got up and started looking for a large trash bag or something else I could use as a poncho. I couldn't find anything. I thought then of taking the bus down to the more distant RER station to avoid the 15 minute walk in the rain. I jumped on the RATP website and got the hours for the bus. Then I ate super fast and ran out the door. This whole time it had been raining fairly hard, but when I went out the door it was barely drizzling. That was a huge blessing, because when I got to the bus stop I found out that, thanks to road construction, the bus wasn't stopping there today. So I ended up doing the 15 minute march after all. I speed walked and just as I was getting to the RER station it was starting to drizzle harder again. Thank you, God, for keeping me relatively dry!

I didn't have any problem with the metro. Au contraire, it was easy today, and so was getting on the train at the station. The train is currently on time, which is a blessing because I have to catch another train in Besoncon just 5 minutes after this one arrives. For now, I am doing my homework and watching the pretty countryside. Yes, France is pretty when you can escape from Paris! Ooh là là! a castle! I just saw a castle perched high on a hill above a village.

--- Haha! I just saw a sign- "Hamburger Restaurant." It wasn't small either. It was huge, and permanently attached to the wall of a train station. It's really strange how English sneaks into France sometimes.

--- We have stopped. In the middle of nowhere. The conductor just told us that we will be here for about 10 minutes. Jesus, please, get this train moving again, RIGHT NOW! Amen.

--- Okay, about 10-15 minutes later (I forgot to check my watch) we are moving again. I saw several SNCF (French nation train company) vehicles with the word "signale" written on the sides. So I'm guessing maybe we had a problem with the signal system.

---And just now the conductor has announced that my next train will leave at 11:47, so I will make my connection. Thank you, God!

---*ahem* I didn't use my brain when I wrote that. The train I was supposed to catch left at 9:35 like it was supposed to, and we dragged in at 9:48. The next train between Besancon and Mulhouse is at 11:47. I certainly won't be visiting the train museum in Mulhouse, but that is the least of my worries. L will have to wait for me in that station at Mulhouse for more than 2 hours! Maybe his friend (who is driving him to Mulhouse) won't be okay with waiting around that long.

--- Alors, Besançon. After an experience with a less-than-private toilette and an incident with a glass door which left my glasses, the door, and my face all in various states of disorder, I have stumbled to a nearby park to re-shape my glasses in peace. I have a mark next to my right eye and my glasses are still crooked. To complete the scene, it's trying to rain. But the village is really pretty. [here is a video and several photos]:



It is (or at least, was) a fortified village because it guarded an important bend in the river. I love the numerous buildings that look like castles. There are also a lot of big stone walls.




---Fortunately I thought to get a ticket for the new train. My French was pretty rough when I talked to the lady behind the counter but she understood me anyway.

[view from 2nd train]


---location: unknown station- I am so glad I thought to bring my Minnesota driver's license! On this second train the SNCF guy asked me for an ID card, which they normally don't do. Then, just now, our train has been boarded by the police! I have no idea why, but we have been stopped for 10 or 15 minutes at a train station and the police have asked all of us to show our IDs.


---Finally, Mulhouse. And I found L! Yay, and a huge thank-you to God! We had a very good conversation. He showed me several things that he has done, the same types of things we will be doing together when I get there. We also talked about French some. And now, I have three hours until my train leaves. Not enough time for a museum, so I will wander around the city and see what I can see.


--- There is a pretty square. There is a big, beautiful protestant church. Closed. Bummer. I walked along the river for a while. It's like the Seine, but small. Then I ate my PBJ sandwiches and an apple that I brought with me. The rats were interested in my sandwiches but I didn't give them anything. It's against my values...

--- 10:57 And once again, a late train. This time the train arrived in Mulhouse 25 minutes late, so it left again almost 20 minutes late. I hope the folks in the US are praying. I think that we have made several of our stops quickly and we may be almost on time again. I don't know. This is the 1oth hour that I have been on a train today, not counting the hours of waiting in the train stations. And I have at least another hour to go. I have almost finished my homework. I have studied. I slept a little, thanks to an almost empty train car that allowed me to take up two seats. I and I have taken several pictures through the train window.

What will I do now? Hm.. I am going to read the Bible (in French, of course!)

[that was the end of the journal]

About half an hour later I realized that the train was still late. In fact, we got to the train station almost 25 minutes late. Fortunately I still got all of the metro and RER connections I needed without any problems and was able to walk home from the RER station under a clear sky. I finally walked in the door at about 1 am. I ate some corn bread, washed up, and finally crashed at about 2 AM. I then slept until 12:30 today, which honestly surprised me.

In conclusion, I was able to meet with the man I wanted to meet with and we had a very good conversation. Even if it was not a journey I would care to repeat, God got me where I needed to be and kept me safe.

*note: Most of the journal was actually written at 10:57 as if I had been writing it at the time. It starts with the *ahem.* Then, when I translated into English I changed some parts of it a little. I know you probably don't care, but I feel obliged to tell you anyway :-)