Going Home

The Christkindmarkt in Bad Aussee

Well, it has been 10 months since I have seen my family, and I am finally able to go home! I am so excited I really don't know what to say. All I have wanted to do is it sleep to make the time go by faster. I want tomorrow to be Sunday, so I can give my mom a hug and kiss my nieces and nephew!

But of course as is everything with my life, looking forward to going home hasn't meant smooth sailing. I just hope that my string of bad luck doesn't mean something bad is going to happen on the way home.

There aren't a lot of stores here in Bad Aussee, and so I hadn't gotten a lot of my Christmas shopping done before last weekend. I had a few little things, but no gifts for my family. The next "big" town is about an hour away by train, but it is still really small. There is a shopping center, but it only has a handful of stores, most of which are only clothing. I had been invited to a ward Christmas party in Graz on Saturday night, and so I thought I might as well go in early and take advantage of the large city  to get all of my shopping done.

Saturday morning I was supposed to wake up fairly early to catch the train into Graz, but when I woke up I decided it was too early and would wait until the next train two hours later. This was just fine. I made it to the train, and had a pleasant journey. The only thing that didn't go according to plan was my needle broke. I had taken some cross-stitch to work on. In Graz I grabbed a Straßenbahn into the city. At least that was what I thought. It turned out that I got on the train going the wrong way. Luckily the trains there just go in circles all day, so I just had to be a little more patient.

Once in the city I walked around and found a few things along the way. All the time looking for a place where I could eat. I didn't actually find anything to eat until 4:30, and that was a Mc Donald's. It wasn't the best, but it is cheap. After I ate I checked out a few more stores and was able to find most of my gifts. I then met up with a friend to go to the Christmas party. At the party I met a few others of the young adults in the area and we went to see The Hobbit. (btw fabulous movie!) We were really lucky to find seats.

The shops werent open, most of then had Glühwein to sell

The next day was both good and bad. Church was good as usual, but after church, things didn't go quite as smoothly. I was walking to the train station with one of the other sisters from the ward, and got on a train. Then the train conductor came by to check our tickets. I had forgotten to buy mine! I had totally spaced it. I apologized, said I had forgotten to buy my ticket, and asked if I could just buy one now. He said no. I had to pay a fee of 65 €. I looked in my wallet and only had 60€. That meant I would have to pay the fee later. But instead of only paying 65, I would have to pay 95€. I was so mad at myself for not paying my ticket. I am usually so nervous that I have lost my ticket that I check several times. I thought, ok, I learned my lesson that will never happen again,And it wont. There goes my savings for this month.  So at the next stop I had to go and buy a ticket for the rest of the way home.

It turns out there was another little blessing in this fiasco. From the train station in Bruck an der Mur there are two trains to Leoben where I catch the next train to Stainach-Irdning, where I change trains again. If I miss both of these trains I have to wait two hours until the next train comes. I had happened to take the first train that day. I usually take the second. If I hadn't have taken the first train, and still forgotten to buy my ticket, I wouldn't have had time to buy a ticket before my connection left, and I would have had to wait two hours. 

I made it home fine after that. On Monday there were a few gifts that I still needed to get, and so I decided to go to Liezen, the next "big" town with only a handful of stores, to see if I could finish things up. If I didn't find anything there I was going to have to order something online and have it shipped to my mom's. That was the last resort, because I couldn't be sure it would be there on time, but I also couldn't be sure I would be able to find something on Christmas Eve. The only other day I would really have to shop. I was able to find the rest of the gift that I needed, but of course with out a bit of stress along the way.

Chris's new Märchenbuch

One of the things Chris really wanted to buy while he was in Germany was a fairy tale book in German. He never found one that he really liked, and so he asked me if I would continue to look for him. A month or so ago I found one, sent him pictures, and he said he wanted it. I didn't have any money at the moment so I said I would buy it before Christmas and bring it home then. Well, when I went to the store yesterday to pick it up there wasn't anymore copies. I asked if maybe I could order one. I didn't like the idea of having to go back to Liezen the next day to pick it up (yes it really is that fast usually), but I would if I needed to. Nope. He couldn't order it anymore. I didn't know what to do! I quickly looked to see if I could find it online somewhere and as luck would have it one of the other bookstores in town claimed to have a few copies. I went straight there and was able to find it. The rest of the day went smoothly, that is until I decided I wanted to go home.

There was a train that left at 16:23 and one that left at 17:25. I was at the station at 16:15, but hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. This train would make me connect to a bus, whereas the next train would connect me to another train, and I would get home an hour later, but in less travel time. I decided I would go get something to eat and take the next train. I had just enough time. When I got back to the train station I read the board and saw that the train left at 17:45. I didn't remember when the train was supposed to leave so I didn't think to much about it. I should have. I went out to the platform and stood in front of a train and watched it drive away, and then I realized that was the train I should have taken! The next train would take me to the connecting station, but I would have to wait about 2 hours before There would be a train to Bad Aussee. I felt like such at idiot. But I had my ticket.

 These things are little setbacks, but one small setback on top of another on top of my train ticket to Saarbrücken doubling has made things a little stressful. I am trying however to focus on the good things that have happened in the meantime. The little blessings, like getting my suitcase packed last night with minimal problems getting it to the right weight, or finding a hotel very close to the Hauptbahnhof in Munich for when I come back in January, for only 44€, or the surprise I found in my pay pal account from my step-mom. These little things are making the other things much more manageable.