Day 27 - Almost Home

My biological clock woke me up around 7:30 and of course everyone else was sound asleep.  So I got up, got dressed and headed to breakfast alone.  A few of the students were actually awake and having breakfast.  Several asked me to join them, how thoughtful! so I did.  I can't tell you how impressed I am with these young people.  It is such a different look at youth than I am used to seeing at the PRC.

One of the kids was going into town, 5 minute bike ride, so I asked to tag along so I could get my take home supply of Milka.  I had to share this treat with the kids back home.  It was pretty cool this morning, jacket weather, but still very pleasant.  On the way back she took me through a tiny museum of Gaming and shared some of the town's history with me.

About this time, Heidi was waking up in time to get ready for noon mass.  The chapel was filled with students, teachers and teacher's families.

Heidi and I took a little walking tour of the small town after lunch.  We went through the neighborhoods ( 2 - 5 houses big) but I got to see how simply everyone lives.  We americans have a few things to learn for sure!.

After dinner, Heidi, Chris and I set out for the train station.  Remember the bus situation here in Gaming?  Well the buses stopped running at 5:30 and my train left at 8:30 so Heidi said we would walk and surely someone would pick us up.  She was right!  We walked for about 10 minutes and a young man stopped and loaded my huge suitcase, and the 3 of us in his "civic' sized car and took us to the train station.  I offered to pay him and he flatly refused.  This just was something that was an everyday thing for them.

I arrived at the train station without a ticket and Gaming is so small they do not have a station attendant to sell tickets, so I was a little worried about my 10 hour train commute to Munich with no ticket in hand.  Heidi assured me I could buy a ticket from the kiosk on the train and she was right.  I had not seen this in all of our train travel, but it worked great to get me to the next stop, where hopefully I could get a ticket through to Munich.  I arrived in St. Polten at 10:30 PM and my train didn't leave until 1 AM.  Because it was so late, the train attendant had left, but they had a kiosk for me to buy a ticket at.  The problem was it couldn't dispense a ticket for another country.  So I had to buy a ticket as far as I could go in Austria and then hopefully buy a ticket on the train from an attendant.

I did a ton of praying and reading my bible as I sat alone in the waiting room.  I just felt a degree of protection from having my bible in my hands and the Lord certainly kept me safe during my wait.

I boarded the train but entered the wrong compartment.  The attendant came by to check tickets so I explained my situation and purchased the remainder of my fair to Munich.  She also informed me I could not sit there even though there were tons of empty seats because I did not have a sleeping car ticket, mind you these were just seats and not beds.  She told me where to go so I went, but there were no empty compartments.  So I had to share with a stranger.  I was exhausted by now, so I quietly entered a compartment, settled in, PRAYED for protection and fell fast asleep for the next 4 hours.

I arrived at the Munich airport around 7AM.  Once I arrived, there was a great sense of relief.  I made it and from here on out, things were covered.  My flight didn't leave until  10 so for 3 hours I figured I would sleep, but no can do.  So I kept busy and I just planned on sleeping like a baby after I made the plane change in Paris .  By this time I was getting sad realizing my adventure was coming to an end.  What an experience it was!! Something I will never forget.

I boarded the plane in Munich and headed to Paris where I would board a plane to the states.  As we took off I couldn't believe 28 days have passed by so quickly.  It was really coming to an end and as thankful I was for the experience, there is no place like home.