Where am I exactly?
That morning in Cesky Krumlov I overslept and by the time I left my hostel I was cutting it close, but I figured if I walked quickly and didn't get lost then I would make it in time. Well I walked fast alright (or should I say hobbled on my crutches) but I took a wrong turn and ended up 15 minutes away from the bus station with only 10 minutes until my bus departed. I asked a woman on the street for directions and she said motioned that I could jump on the bus that was just pulling up and that should take me to the train station. After a couple of minutes on the bus I looked more closely to the sign in the window and realized that this was the bus I had wanted all along! I was so relieved and settled in for the short 30 minute ride to my next transfer. I made the next bus with 2 minutes to spare and didn't get to the next station for another 4 hours.
When I arrived I realized that I had lost my schedule that told me the names of the towns and the buses I wanted. I wasn't bothered because I knew my next bus was in 45 minutes at 12:15 and that would take me directly to Krakow. I found my way to the information desk and and asked about the 12:15 bus. The woman pulled out her pen and wrote "2:45 Krakow" in large letters. Argh!! The last thing I wanted was to sit around in this depressing station for an extra two hours. I accepted my fate and went in search of lunch, but quickly regretted my choice of a seemingly appetizing baguette that actually contained cream cheese, pickles, cheese, meat, and some unidentifiable brown stuff.
After giving up on lunch I spotted the ticket counter and hoped the information lady was wrong and perhaps they knew of the 12:45 bus that would get me out of this dark station. Unfortunately, the ticket lady, after furious hand motions on both sides, got across to me that the next bus to Krakow did not leave for two days. I quickly blabbered in English that this just didn't work for me as it was the end of my trip and I flew back to the States in three days! Not a word of this translated and she just laughed at what she apparently saw as quite a funny situation, I on the other hand was on the verge of tears. It had occured to me as I stood there helpless that I didn't even know what city I was in, let alone country. That information was lost with my itinerary I left on the last bus. I took a deep breath, trying hard not to break down right there in front of a bus station full of Polish/possibly Czech people, and asked slowly, "Where am I?" It didn't matter how many times I said it she didn't understand. As a last resort I tried writing down the words, "City? Name? Here?" Finally it clicked and she replied, "Ahhh, Brno". I motioned for her to write it down and then asked where the train station was. Oh course that didn't translate either, not even with my emphatic conductor gestures and enthusiastic "Choo Choo! Choo Choo!"
I eventually found my way to the train station and with 4 different local trains I could make it to Krakow by 10:30. I didn't care what time I made it at this point and I graciously bought the tickets. From there on I barely made my train connections and would still be wandering Poland were it not for the help of local people who took pity on the wandering cripple and guided me to the right platform. My biggest compliment, although also a bit disconcerting, came from a young Polish man I met on one of the trains.
Polish Guy: So is this your first time in Poland?
Me: Are we in Poland?
PG: Uhhh, yeah.
Me: Yes, then this is my first time.
PG: You are travelling alone in Poland on those sticks? You are very brave.
The days travel from Cesky Krumlov to Krakow totalled 16 hours, but the time seemed to pass by without my even noticing. I wrote in my journal that day, "As a result of the trip I've become much more patient, I have to be or I would loose my mind jumping from one 8 hour train to the next. I've also been in so much pain and discomfort that I had to make the decision early on to accept and move past it or else risk ruining my trip."
posted by Lauralai @ 10:25 PM
1 Comments:
You wrote, “After giving up on lunch I spotted the ticket counter and hoped the information lady was wrong and perhaps they knew of the 12:45 bus that would get me out of this dark station.” I like your skepticism. I always listen to what people tell me but virtually never accept it at face value.
You wrote you were near tears at the information counter. I’ll pass on to you what a guy who was in his sixties at the time I spoke to him told me. He said when he was in college he used to jot down, in a code only he knew, in the corners of the pages of one of his textbooks what was really bothering him at the time. Forty years later he came across the book and could only barely remember the situations which according to his scribblings he considered absolutely crucial at the time. In other words unless there is death or serious injury involved, the problematic situation you’re in is probably not as serious as it seems at the moment.
I liked the Polish guys comment, “You are traveling alone in Poland on those sticks?” Little kids and adults who speak English as a second language often turn an unusually descriptive phrase because they haven’t spent a lifetime within the linguistic confines of a single culture. About two years ago I was waiting for a bus to go to work when a woman with the husky voice of a heavy smoker walked over to me, held an unlit cigarette to her lips and asked in the delightfully lyrical accent of the French, “Do you have fire?” I find the Italian and French accents particularly attractive. Throw in a throaty tonality and thinking back I have to ask myself, did I really need that days earnings so badly?
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