On this trip I already talked about being in Vienna and climbing the tower at St. Stephen's as a roadblock for my Amazing Race. As I traveled to Budapest I was thinking of a task to do there, but I decided that my travel on trains would be considered my challenge.
After my work was done at Haus Edelweiss I traveled by train to Budapest to visit my college roommate, Cheryl. Robin took me to the train station in Vienna and got me in the right place. We were early and so she said, "Will you be ok if I go ahead and leave?" She said the look on my face was one of terror and let her know that she had to stay. I felt like a kid whose mom was putting her on the bus for her first day of kindergarten.
I had to purchase a first class ticket for the train because there were none available in second class. On the first class car you have assigned seats. Also, the seats are arranged so that you are facing each other like this:
When I got on the train I was the only one in my car. So for an hour of my three hour ride, I rode alone. When the train made one of its scheduled stops a group got on my car. There was a woman with 4 kids. They were all middle school age. I thought the woman could be their mom, or at least one of their moms, but I didn't know for sure. They came into the car and found their assigned seats -- all the seats right around me (and no one else on the train). The kids were having a good time. I learned one girl's name right off as the woman had to keep telling Oleta not to do this and that. Oleta pushed every button she could find and checked out every feature of her seat and the car. The woman had very good interaction with the kids. After about an hour of listening to them speak Hungarian I got up the courage to ask if she spoke English. She did.
She told me that she was a teacher taking her students to a Latin competition in Budapest. Three of her students were in grade 7 and one in grade 9. They were her best students. She told me the competition is 4 hours long. We both thought we were worried about Oleta sitting still for 4 hours (teacher humor).
She also told me that the students start taking a second language in first grade, choosing either English or German. When they get to grade 5 they are required to take 2 years of Latin, which is what she teaches. After that they can continue in a language they are already studying or take a new one, so when they get out of school they know 3 or 4 languages well enough to use them.
All the time I was gone I felt pretty dumb because I only know one language.
I got to spend an hour of the trip having a great conversation with this teacher and her students. I got to share with them about my trip to Baden and Beethoven's home. I got to show them the video of the Ninth symphony (see yesterday's blog). Teacher's gonna teach.
Actually this encounter on the train was one of the highlights of my trip. It would never have happened if I hadn't had to travel in first class. The assigned seats forced us to all have to sit side by side in an otherwise empty car and that led to our conversation. And it was quite ironic to actually meet a teacher who was doing what I do in my job -- taking really bright kids to a competition.
When I arrived in Budapest my friend Cheryl was there to meet me. I'll have an entry about my time in Budapest later.
My other train challenge happened the last night of my trip. I stayed in a hotel at the airport so I could be ready for my early flight the next day. In order to make my Amazing Race seem more authentic I decided to make my way on the train and subway to the center of Vienna for my last evening. I just wanted to know I could do it. I am thankful that there were no real time constraints on my travel because that would have made it very stressful. As it was, I checked my path a few times at each point to make sure I could make my way back.
Here's a little taste of my time in the center of the city:
It was very satisfying to complete this self-imposed roadblock. It gives me confidence that I can make my way around on my own. (But I'm very thankful I had friends meeting me at both ends of my journey.)
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