What a day!

Sometime you have one of those days that just stands out from the rest. Yesterday was like that for Laurel and me. It all began when we arrived at the Ukrainian church to take part in a craft class and when we got there realized it was part of a major seminar, which we’re pretty sure they didn’t tell us beforehand. Since it was supposed to last all day and entail much more than we planned we decided not to attend. So instead of the seminar we headed to the train station to check on schedule and prices for our vacation trip to Hungary. Laurel bought the tram tickets and after punching the tickets I put mine in a pocket. One stop from the train station the ticket control officer came by and asked for our tickets. Laurel showed hers right away and I started looking for mine. I searched my coat pockets and briefcase bag several times, telling her all the time that I have one, I promise, but I just can’t find it. The lady was just about to write me up and charge me a fine when Laurel noticed a little piece of paper sticking out of my sweater pocket. Then I remembered that I specifically put it there so I would have it if someone checked. Didn’t I feel like a jerk. Well, we got off the tram at the train station and headed for the main entrance. We hadn’t walked far when a man started staggering toward us. I realized that he was drunk and moved to the side so we wouldn’t bump into him. As I moved he lunged toward me trying to grab me or my bag and saying something we didn’t understand. At that moment Laurel and I started running away across the street, right in front of a bus that was slowing down to stop. I guess that long honk was for us. I’m pretty sure we lost him at that point, but we were looking over our shoulders the rest of the time we were in that area.

We got our needed information at the station from a very cheerful and helpful young lady at the desk. NOT! Customer service still needs some work here in Ukraine. Even our trip to the restroom was an adventure, but I will not go into details here. After finding beans at the bazaar and finding out that we didn’t need to visit one of our church members at the hospital because she was coming home later we decided to stop at the coffee shop for dessert and a “much needed cappuccino”.  After ordering a very delicious looking struedel the waitress returned to tell us that they didn’t have any more. Our replacements were delicious and we were rested and refreshed after walking several kilometers since  starting out that morning. Time will not permit me to recall the events that Laurel and I encountered separately as we split from each other and headed home.