Slackety Slack Slacken

Right. As you can tell from the title, I have been slacking. My apologies... I know that everyone has been waiting with baited breath for my next entry (tee hee, I like to make little jokes).

In the month of February we get a 2 week break. This is ostensibly because it is the winter and all of France would like to go skiing at some point. As such, this break is called the "Winter sports break". They even change the dates of the break among the three different scholastic regions in France so that everyone doesn't go charging up into the alps at once (I love how France likes to organize everything).

I am a rebel. I have decided that I will not go skiing during this break ("surely not!" "what does she think she's doing?!!"). Instead, I have spent the last week hanging out with some family friends in the Netherlands. Originally, I had planned to do things like go into Amsterdam and explore things on bicycle and generally try out all things Dutch. The problem with this is that one of the things that is very Dutch is rain. And it has been raining steadily since I arrived. In any case, I scratched my plans for general exploration and decided instead for general relaxation. The family I am staying with is American, so they have lots of books in English; I have been reading books, taking baths, and taking every opportunity to eat as many vegetables as I can. (I have officially gone insane. Karen asked me what I would like to eat while I was here and all I could think was "whole grain and vegetables". My idea of comfort food has gotten a little wonky"). Despite the rain, I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay, and Karen is an excellent hostess despite the her protestations.

In fact, just getting here was probably the most exciting thing that has happened to me in a while...

The train system in France is one of the things that actually works pretty well in France. The trains are generally on time and they very rarely break down. Nonetheless, I don't live in Paris. I live in the boonies. This means that anytime I want to go anywhere a fair amount of traveling has to be done because I have to get to an international hub (Paris). Anyhow, my plan of attack for this trip was to get to Paris, and then take a direct train to Rotterdam, and then take regional trains to Geldermasen, the nearest stop to where the family lives, which really isn't that bad considering the distance traveled. Additionally, on the way to Paris I   got to ride first class, which is a great place to do people watching.

When you ride on a TGV in France, you will be checked for your ticket. This is a guarantee. I have never ridden one and not been checked. As such, I have always been very careful about my tickets. In my case, I not only need to present my ticket, but I also need the card that shows that I have to right to an under-25 discount. The one time I did not have this card, they fined the price of the full ticket plus ten euros--luckily I got most of it refunded by visiting a station later on showing that I did, in fact have a card. Still, they take it pretty seriously.

There reason I am explaining this is that the guy who was sitting caddy-corner to me--an executive, important looking man in his late fifties, did not have the correct ticket. I guess he had bought a ticket for the day before without realizing it. When the conductor came through asking for tickets, he pointed this out to the man and told him his ticket was not valid and that he was going to have to pay the full price for the ticket to be in his spot. Now, if I had been in his situation (like I was the time I had forgotten my ticket), I would have dutifully paid the fine, assuming that if an important ticket-collector tells me I have to pay a fine I have no option but to do so. This is terribly American of me.

Here is what he did:
Ticket collector: You are going to have to pay the full price for your seat, sir.
Man: No, I won't. I refuse. (laughing sarcastically, shaking his head and looking around at the rest of us for support--everyone in the booth resolutely avoiding eye contact)
Ticket collector: But sir, you do not have a ticket for this seat. You must pay for the ticket.
Man: Well I absolutely refuse.
Ticket colllector: Well you will have to file a complaint the blah-blah desk with this form and do blabitty-blah if you don't want to pay...

What I find so astonishing, as I have in other situations in France, is that there was, in fact, another option to paying. The man had to create quite a fuss to find it, but there was another option. I probably could have done the same thing the time I was fined, but it just didn't occur to me. It just drove home the point that, in France at least, if you want something, all you have to do is make a scene.

Anyhow, after this incident, the train did eventually pull in the station in Paris. I then had to take the metro to get to a different station from which my train to Rotterdam was leaving. When I got to this station, the first thing I saw was a big sign that said "ATTENTION: Due to blah blah blah... all trains going to the Netherlands have been cancelled... blah blah blah", which was great. Trying to figure out what to do, I went to the desk to stand in line, but before I got the front, a man wearing a uniform but somehow still managing to look a little untrustworthy came up to me (I think it was the dreds halfway down his back and the fact that he still somehow managed to look like an elf at the same time). "Can I help you?" He asked.
I told him that I needed to get to Rotterdam but that all the trains had been cancelled and that I was wondering how long until they would start running again.
"Not to worry!" he said, "there is a train that leaves for Brussels at 18:01."
"Ok, that's great." I said, "But I'm going to Rotterdam"
"There will be a connecting train. Not to worry"
"but my tickets... they won't be for this train.."
"Not to worry, not to worry," he hurried off.
Somewhat confused, I suddenly had 3 hours in train station and only fairly shady direction with what to do next. I decided that I should probably get a coffee and clear my mind. While doing this, I realized that I really had no idea where this supposed train was leaving, or whether I would be stranded in Brussels or not, or pretty much anything, so I decided to see if there was someone else I could talk to. I went back to where I was before to investigate further.

I ended up running into the same man. He said "Not to worry! Not to worry! The train will leave at 18:01, it's certain. And as long as you wait right here, we'll be able to give you the information for it when we have it."

Several things were running through my mind. First of all, I wasn't so concerned with whether or not the train would leave. I was more concerned with whether it would leave with me on the train. Also, I checked my watch, it was 15:31. "So we have to wait right here until you know?" I asked.
"Right here, no need to worry!"
There were no benches even remotely nearby. But I know French bureaucracy and organization, and I knew the only chance I had of getting on that train was if I waited right there. Because they sure as hell weren't going to make an announcement or anything.

In fact, I have a deep mistrust of French organization, so I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to get anywhere. So I stood there, feeling disgruntled for about two hours.

The truly weird thing was that was that it all actually happened as he said it would. at about 17:30, they told us where the train would be and we all got on it--and I even actually got a seat! The train left exactly at 18:01. And when I got into Brussels, there was indeed a connecting train to Rotterdam 10 minutes later. It was surreal.

Now I am off to the Canary Islands. I am super-excited, but also pretty sure something will go wrong with my plans. We shall see.