Monks quarters

The training center must be a very old house or some type of orphanage, lots of small rooms. The upkeep has not great.

My room is on the second floor, above the large classrooms, and behind a set of double fire doors. As soon as I walked onto the floor, I saw three very basic toilet stalls, which reminded me think of a military barracks. I walked down the long gray corridor floored with a very worn carpet and opened the door to my room.

Aha, I thought, this is quarters for a monk. The room is small and Spartan. There was a small sink, an old Ikea cabinet for clothes, a chair, and small table. Behind the door is the bed which just fits in the small space.

When I unpacked, I opened the old cabinet to find a half dozen non matching hangers and an old gray wool blanket in the bottom and. I hung up my shirts, and then opened the cabinet again to put away socks. Hmm, there is no shelf. Ok, socks can stay in my back pack.

I went to the sink and turned the cold water knob. It spun freely like a top. I guess there's no water. Finally I pressed down on the faucets and that did work. When I pressed the faucet it starts running and keeps running for a minute or two. The faucets are also reversed from what I think of as normal, with hot on the right and cold on the left. I'll get used to it.

Why are you coming to the UK?

4:00 am came early, but I had time for a bite before heading for the airport.

The plane was full and I was in the center seat of row 20, the last row before the toilets. The noise in the back of the plane with an engine on each side was almost more than my earplugs and noise reduction headset could handle.

Little did I know this would be a small irritation.

When I arrived at passport control I was at the end of the line. My line, those not having a UK or EU passport was rather short, but I was at the end of it. The immigration official asked where I was staying; I dug around in my computer bag and found the instruction to the training center and handed that to her. Then she asked what my occupation was, and why I was coming to the UK. When I said I was going to a training course, she asked for my invitation letter. I looked through papers for something that might say that I had two training courses for my future volunteer assignment. Nope, nothing like that printed out.

She told me to take a seat and kept my passport while she disappeared for 10 minutes or so. She called the training center and they thought I was a Dutch national. This is not looking good. After a few minutes more, she let me go with a stern warning, If you come to the UK again, be sure to have a copy of your invitation with you.

I walked into customs and headed for the "nothing to declare" door, where I was stopped by the immigration lady's friend. This one went through my back pack and asked the same questions her colleague had asked. This is getting a little old.

After clearing customs, I passed a policeman, and expected him to stop me and ask me questions. I am sure I had Terrorist American stamped all over me.

From the airport arrival hall to the training location is about an hour of monorail, rickety old train, and an even older bus. When I arrived at the training center, there was a closed automatic gate at the entrance. I pushed the button and waited. Then I pushed it again, and nothing happened. I thought there should be someone around, after all the immigration people called the training center. OK, I hate to use my Swiss mobile phone because this will be an expensive call but I was getting cold. I called and the training center manager said she would open the gate as soon as she could.

I have made it.

From Today

Today was another packing and cleaning day.

At 17:30 it was off to the tram, to the train to Zurich for a very early morning flight tomorrow to Birmingham where I have a weekend training course.

At the train station there was long line waiting to purchase tickets, so I used the automated ticket machine (There is an English option, thank god). It took about 100 punches on the screen, my right index finger is a bit shorter after this, but in the end I managed to purchase a ticket to Rumland, the train stop for the Holiday Inn Express. I'm on a roll; I will try to purchase the ticket from the airport back to Basel. Another long set of punches but I did it! The machine asked "from today" I punched yes. I assumed that means that the ticket is good today and into the future.

I made the 18:07 to the Zurich main train station, ate my three-sandwich dinner, and listened to the Economist.

When I arrived in Zurich, as I reached the bottom of the escalator, a train powered its way past me. It was the 19:07 train to Rumland. I now have half an hour to wait.

In the main station, I asked at Information if my return ticket is OK, because it said From Today. The lady in the blue train uniform looked at the ticket and said it was only good for today. I had that feeling. Could I exchange it? She pointed to a glassed-in area behind her.

In the ticket area the ticket agent confirmed that the ticket was only good today. She could not exchange it; I needed to try in another office at the other end of the station. Exchanging the ticket was easy, and I was back at the platform at 19:25.

The ride to Rumland was short, only four stops. As the train pulled into the station, it was raining, but I could see the Holiday Inn Express, great it will not be a long walk. I pulled up the hood on my coat and walked the kilometer to the hotel.

At reception, they said the first bus to the airport is at 05:00, with breakfast available from 04:00. WOW, I will get a bite before I leave.

Airline Ticket

Things all of a sudden seem much more real, like I am really going to go to Cambodia, I received my ticket!!

It took me some time to decipher the ticket; my expectations and reality were not aligned. I think that will be the case for the next several weeks, even months.

On the 10^th of March I will fly from Zurich to Charles De Gaulle in Paris, then onto Bangkok and from there to Phnom Penh.

Now that the trip seems more real, I have started packing in earnest. I have spent most of the day sorting through cloths, this is very light weight it will go, this shirt is long sleeved and heavy so it will stay home. I was surprised how many pairs of shoes I have. With only 20 kilos (44 pounds) of luggage, I will be limited to what I can take. There are some serious decisions to be made.

Weekend away

This will be my last weekend in Switzerland for a while. Anita and I went with the BIS cross-country ski section to Blatten high up in the Swiss Alps. It was GREAT! The village was deep in snow houses looked like gingerbread with heavy icing.

I am sure in two months I will be thinking back to how cool, clear and dry the air was high in the alps.

In Wiler a small village just a few minutes down the valley by Post bus we saw the first signs of the carnival season. Wiler had its version of Fasnacht. Not nearly as warm as in Reo but still carnival. The Swiss call carnival Fasnacht and the date vary from canton to canton (state to state) but, it is normally just before or just after the beginning of Lent.

In Wiler the celebration appears to be based upon pagan traditions of using fearsome masks to chase away evil spirits, the Tschäggätä mask certainly does that, or at least me.

The best known of the Swiss Fasnacht is in Basel, for information on it, you can visit http://www.fasnachts-comite.ch/ which starts at 4 AM on a Monday morning the 22nd of February. Luckily, I will be away at that time in a training course in the UK. I will be back later Monday to participate in the annual event.

Administration in Minnesota

I arrived at about 20:00, picked up a car and drove to Karen's house. Julie had come up so the whole family was there. It was great to see my daughters and grandchildren. I had trouble staying up after having left Antwerp at about midnight.

I had several things to do while in Minneapolis. Some could only be done on week days. I set to accomplishing as many as I could on the weekend. I wanted to purchase a baby carrier back pack for Mouaniss in Morocco. I had ordered one from REI and they are open on the weekend. I picked that up.

Sunday night, it snowed about 12 cm. I awoke about 05:00 as usual, still being on European time. I looked out; the car had a heavy white hat. I have not seen fresh snow in a long time. It brought back many fun memories.

Monday morning I had planned to go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). It is not too far to drive but in the snow, I was a little reluctant to drive in the snow. I have driven for years in the show and am not afraid of it, but I am afraid of other drivers. I waited until about 09:00 when I thought most people would have made it to work. The small rented car was doing well in the snow.

The main streets were clean; the side streets were another story. As I drove north, I turned onto a four lane highway. About a kilometer down the road, there was a police car on the side of the road with all of its 1,000 light flashing. There were two cars in the ditch. Two kilometers further there was another Christmas tree looking police car and a wrecker loading up a car. There were two other cars off in the snow. I thought, drive carefully, all of the crazies are still not off the road.

I made it to DMV safely. Even thought the parking lot was fairly full the office was almost deserted. For a sate office the renewal of my license did not take long. The young man assured me that my license will be sent to Switzerland in two weeks. I sure hope so.

Now to try and convert Euros to dollar traveler's checks. This was not nearly as easy as the license. I went to six banks, finally had to create an account and then drive to the center of Minneapolis to exchange Euros for dollars and then carry then to a different area to get the traveler's checks.

Monday night was almost a repeat of Sunday, there was an additional 8 cm of snow on Tuesday morning. Today's task is to mail the back pack to Mouaniss.

I have been in Europe for some time. When strangers started talking to me in the post office I was surprised. The man behind the counter was overly talkative. The package is on the way.

Off to the USA

I had planned an early train from Antwerp to the Brussels airport. I set my alarm for 05:55 so I could catch the 06:45 train to the airport. I arrived at the Antwerp central station in time to catch the 06:17 train to the Brussels North station. Oh great, I will get to the airport early and I can check on exchanging Euros for US dollars.

When I arrived at the Brussels North station, I looked for information on the train to the airport. On the old dim monitor there was a line with the correct time and destination for the train. In the track column there was three "***". I wondered what that meant. I went to the long yellow paper time table, on that it said that the train should depart from track 11. I went to track 11, on the sign there it said the next train would go to Antwerp. Hummm, Antwerp is the opposite direction from the airport. Time for the train to depart to the airport passed. I decided to look for the next train to the airport. At information they told me that the last train was canceled and where the next one would depart from.

I went to the departure track. Time for the train to arrive and depart passed. Everyone just stayed in place waiting. There was an announcement in French. I only caught the last word which was Airport. I sure hope the train is just late and not canceled. The train finally arrived about 15 minutes late. But it did arrive.

At the airport I tried to exchange Euros for traveler's checks. The answer is we do that but we sold all of the traveler's checks and don't have any more. I am sure I will have better luck in Zurich.

As I walked off the plane in Zurich I saw the headline on the Financial Times that said the Euro had dropped against the dollar.

In Zurich I did not pass through the normal departure area, but just went directly to the international departure terminal. This terminal only has six small shops and no money exchange.

Zurich to Chicago is a long flight. Today we all were lucky, it was only nine hours. I had the Economist magazine on the IPod which took up the entire trip that I was not dosing off.

In Chicago I asked and they don't sell traveler's checks any more. I exchanged Euros for dollars and was extremely disappointed at the rate of exchange.

In Chicago, they have some beautiful neon art in the underground passage between terminals.

Off to the USA

I had planned an early train from Antwerp to the Brussels airport. I set my alarm for 05:55 so I could catch the 06:45 train to the airport. I arrived at the Antwerp central station in time to catch the 06:17 train to the Brussels North station. Oh great, I will get to the airport early and I can check on exchanging Euros for US dollars.

When I arrived at the Brussels North station, I looked for information on the train to the airport. On the old dim monitor there was a line with the correct time and destination for the train. In the track column there was three "***". I wondered what that meant. I went to the long yellow paper time table, on that it said that the train should depart from track 11. I went to track 11, on the sign there it said the next train would go to Antwerp. Hummm, Antwerp is the opposite direction from the airport. Time for the train to depart to the airport passed. I decided to look for the next train to the airport. At information they told me that the last train was canceled and where the next one would depart from.

I went to the departure track. Time for the train to arrive and depart passed. Everyone just stayed in place waiting. There was an announcement in French. I only caught the last word which was Airport. I sure hope the train is just late and not canceled. The train finally arrived about 15 minutes late. But it did arrive.

At the airport I tried to exchange Euros for traveler's checks. The answer is we do that but we sold all of the traveler's checks and don't have any more. I am sure I will have better luck in Zurich.


As I walked off the plane in Zurich I saw the headline on the Financial Times that said the Euro had dropped against the dollar.

In Zurich I did not pass through the normal departure area, but just went directly to the international departure terminal. This terminal only has six small shops and no money exchange.

Zurich to Chicago is a long flight. Today we all were lucky, it was only nine hours. I had the Economist magazine on the IPod which took up the entire trip that I was not dosing off.

In Chicago I asked and they don't sell traveler's checks any more. I exchanged Euros for dollars and was extremely disappointed at the rate of exchange.

In Chicago, they have some beautiful neon art in the underground passage between terminals.

Processing in Antwerp

In the USA there is very little to do to be gone for a year. That is not the case in Belgium. There is the forwarding of your mail that can be done for only four months at a time and costs €70 for each four months, you must unregister with the commune (city hall), you must tell the tax man that you will be out of the country and change your insurance from one provider to another.

While doing all of this I leaned that my 2008 Belgian taxes were delinquent. What a relief to learn that even being delinquent I may still get a bit of a refund.

Headed to Brussels

One thing I planned to do before going on a volunteer assignment was to go to the USA to visit my daughters and grand children. The way this assignment came up, it is making that trip a little rushed.

The train ride from Basel to Antwerp was uneventful but long. The train pulled into Luxemburg and we sat there for what seemed a long time. Then there was an announcement in French, we are having technical difficulties with the engine. This is much less worrying than when you are on a plane. We arrived in Brussels about 20 minutes late.

The lights in the car did not come on after the problem with the engine was fixed. So I moved to the next car, the light were on in that car. I sat across from an older lady with graying hair, I guess she was about 70. She had on black men's shoes with black and white ankle high socks. She did not have ankles, her legs were swollen and her caves and ankles were one. She was wearing a red sweatshirt and bright red glasses. She had on red, orange, pink pants that came about half way down here calves. She was knitting something out of white yarn.

What drew my attention to her when I sat down was the bright green IPod she had in her lap.

As we rolled through the Belgium country side, it was starting to get dark. The ground was covered with snow, the fog moving in and out trees rose out of the fog and snow with a magical tough. I wanted to get off and take some photos but this is a train not the car.


Before arriving in asked the conductor when the next train departed to Antwerp central station. He said it would be about 15 minutes after we arrived. Even in Brussels North station that is lots of time.

I stepped off the train and walked a meter or two. The conductor stepped off the train behind me. He shouted at me track 11. I thanked him and walked down the stairs and looked for track 11. I've got lots of time. I found track 11 and walked up to the train. There were people boarding. I looked up at the sign telling where and when the train was leaving. It was going to Antwerp Central and it was due to depart 1 minute ago. I had better get on NOW! I hopped on and turned to walk into the compartment and the train took off. That was almost Swiss precision.

I arrived in Antwerp and walked the kilometer to the hostel. I had not made a reservation. I think that was hoping that they would be full and I would have to find a real hotel. No such luck. There was lots of space. I took a bed in a room with three bunk beds and two single beds.

The room was quite warm when I moved in; there was one person already asleep at 21:00. I took the bed next to the window and the radiator. Now I am in charge of the heat. I turned the radiator almost off. A little later in the night, I found I had turned it down just a little too much. The thin blanket let in just a wee too much cool.