Classes are finally done, and I handed in my research paper yesterday, so I now have a week to get everything organized and all good to go for finals. I have a couple papers to write as finals for classes, but other than that, it should be a lot of me sitting at my table, staring at either a book or a wall.
I also signed up to do some transcribing of philosophy lectures, which I really, really shouldn't have done, because it's taking a terribly, terribly long time, and it's terribly, terribly mind numbing. I can't understand how legal typist do it without going stark, raving bonkers. Maybe they are. I don't think I've ever met a real, live one.
I am also pretty tired today because yesterday, a mutual friend of Sarah's and I, Marijke, invited us up to where she lived in Arendonk for the evening to have a nice evening meal and hang out for the night. I couldn't remember if it was called Arendonk, Podunk, or Marhonk until we pretty much left the place. Either way it's a pretty funny name. Arendonk.
Anyways, we got into Turnhout, another place with a rather amusing name, and Marijke and her boyfriend Pieter picked us up and we went post-haste from Turnhout to Arendonk. Arendonk is a smaller village outside of Turnhout. You could almost compare Arendonk as in the greater area of Turnhout like Toronto residents consider everything outside of Toronto in the GTA. ;) We then proceeded to have the most excellent meal I have had since I have been in Belgium, and I had real, homemade, Flemish stew, which was great in ways that only meat eaters understand. After dinner we went to a crazy little bar in Turnhout, the cultural centre in those parts, and also close to where we needed to catch our train, so we had the Flemish equivalent of a Shirley Temple (which is called a lemon squash, and really, it has enough lemon to make you do the sucky-lemon-face.) and generally it was one of those perfect evenings you rarely get. Afterwards we headed to catch the last train home.
However, when we went to change trains in Lier, we listened (Well, just me, Sarah was pretty tired, and so was I, or we would have just checked the schedules like intelligent people do.) to the train announcer, and I thought he said that track was going to Leuven, but really it was track five, and we actually ended up getting back on the last train of the night which went straight. Back. Where we came from. LOL.
The announcer guy said the track not last, like they usually do, but he said what track to go on, and THEN where it was going, and I wasn't thinking, and they usually do it the other way, and so I made a mistake in another language which I have little to no grasp of. Much to our surprise, and Sarah's dismay, the train squeaked to a finish with our window directly in front of the big blue sign that said 'Turnhout.' (I was pretty amused at the whole situation.)
We phoned Marijke, and ended up staying at her place for the night. The embarrassing thing was that Marijke had offered to let us sleep over for the night earlier in an e-mail, and we had declined. (Well, I didn't even know she had said that...I'm bad at remembering details sometimes.) Sarah was really stressed that we had to phone Marijke at first because I guess it made us look silly, but I simply told her that in comparison, we could be in a much worse situation. We could be lost in Italy somewhere after walking for 14 hours in the day, having been hailed on and having eating next to nothing, at which point I said I would have no qualms in using her as a bargaining chip with some drunk Italian men to find us a warm place to sleep for the night, or just to find me a warm place to sleep for the night. Besides, I officially have no travel pride left at all. I've embarassed myself on so many international levels that I just can't bring myself to even try to hold up a facade of travel smarts. I'm a walking, talking, bad chi travel bomb and I know it. I simply accept and move on. Well, unless it's 12am in Turnhout. Then I stand around a lot.
And, also, I think that if Marijke felt comfortable enough to invite us over for the evening for a meal in her own family's home, which is pretty stellar comfort level in Belgian terms, I doubt that it would be a problem if we made an honest mistake and took them up on their request to stay the night which they had originally offered anyways.
Besides, if it was me in Marijke's situation, I don't think I would be upset at all. I think it would be pretty amusing, and I wouldn't think anything of it. I've done more for less, I'm sure. I slept with my contacts in, which was a little um, well not smart, but I was tired, and I slept for maybe five hours last night, interrupted by hooting owls and pigeons and a scary dream where a giant moth almost ate me. Yeah.
All in all, I had a really fun time, and it turned out really well. =D So, being lost in Turnhout wasn't so bad. I'm glad I didn't stress out like I normally do. I guess I'm becoming more used to rolling with the traveling punches. Or I can't feel it when I'm sucker-punched anymore. ;)
Sarah and Brennan, turned out in the cold in Turnhout, May 2006.
Good times. =)
5 comments:
ahh trains aren't they great!
Yes, especially in Europe, where the system is designed to help tourists as little as possible.
that's right. it is designed to help the people who live there
Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?
Yes. I like the system, actually, we just made a mistake. Thus I shared my joke on myself with you all. =)
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