the waiting game (a novel)

is something i dont want to play for along time. but more on that later.

.foreword.
today was the first "exkursion" for us oles. there are 3 of us, two girls and me. Herr Eichler, our counsler type guy here (he is old, retiring after we leave), set it up with us last week. i figured it would not be all that bad seeing we were not going to far and all. but....

9 o'clock A.M. rolled around this morning and i went down to meet him thinking id be getting in a car. i got down there and he (Eichler) said go get a bike (and a rain jacket, he was convinced it was going to rain), so i got my crap bike and went back down. the other two eventually made it and he told us we were meeting him down by one of the bridges, he had to pick his bike up. so with the other two in tow i led them (slowly) to the meeting place. there we waited for 15 minutes (so much for german punctualitly) and eventually he showed up, with his wife. right at that moment i knew it was going to be a long day. i thought we were just going to take the bikes on the train and use them in the cities. wrong. we were biking most of the way. our first destination was Stein am Rhein, that village with painted buildings i have a picture of a while ago. at my or others like me, this takes about an hour. only 28 km or so. not bad. but with two senior citizens and two girls who dont bike more than to the town center i got scared. so we got going, instead of taking a nice direct route right to the bike path Eichler wanted to go through the woods because it was prettier. yeah ok i can do that, change is not bad. this was not all that bad. just really slow. eventually we got to the bike path and luckily started looking at train scheduels to Stein am Rhein. about 30 min later we got on a train and were soon in the village. that was not so bad. then we took a break. and slowly walked through the village, thank the lord it is tiny.
then to my dismay we started biking in the direction of Schaffhausen (20 km), i thought maybe we will just go to the next village. i was wrong. for the next nearly 3 hours i was basically sitting on a really really uncomfortable chair swinging my legs in a pedal motion. at one point along came a small incline, id say 4-6% grad for a km or so. we passed some hikers at the bottom. at the top i waited for 15 mintues, watching the hikers go by. i nearly died. luckily this was a gravel trail through a wooded area so there were mesquitos (sp?) to entertain me. it was awful. eventually the others showed up, walking their bikes (no other tourer was walking) and i resumed swinging my legs. 15 min later after a downhill/totally flat section i (and one of the other girls) had to wait 5 or so min again. how? no idea. the other got there stopped at a fountain nearby filled water. and then 3 min later a 10 min break was suggested and enacted. honestly we just stopped for 10 min!!!!!!! AHHHHH. eventually we got going again and made it to schaffhausen. but kept right on going (or waiting) until we got to the Rheinfall. which is 3 km past schaffhausen and basically a smallish waterfall that is wide. here is a picture

the "amazing" Rheinfall. thats it folks, nothin more.

it was packed with people. getting a "nature" experience or something. it even cost money to see the falls. sure if it was like Niagra i might be amused, but Jay Cooke State Park is i think more entertaining.
we were forced onto a little boat to go see the falls from there. i thought it might be fun. but like everything else today. it was slow. for little kids and old people!

a few hours later we started back. we were (luckily) asked if we wanted to take the train back from schaffhause or ride back to Stein. without pause you can guess my answer. luckily the others were tired.
then one of the highpoints of my day came along when i decided to get some swiss francs. since i could only get 50 or more. i got 50 and then bought some swiss chocolate to get smaller bills. which are really really cool. i really like the bills. i wish the $ was this cool.

pretty. i think i will get a swiss bank account next time im bored.
then on the train. blew the Eichlers minds by telling them it is possible to go around the Untersee in under 3 hours. and then we got back to right near the border. i knew how to get home from here so i turned to go the fast way and was told no we are going to go the pretty way. which is not all that pretty. finally we got back to konstanz and it was over. i took off, liberated at last!!! but not for long. at the train tracks the gaurds were down. for 1 train, 2 trains, long long pause, 3rd train. gates still down. it had now been 15 min. the pizza moped went around the barrier, a few bikers. i said screw it the train is nowhere near (neither see or hear) and went. going across the tracks like that i am sure is an exectutable offense. but i did not get caught. so no worries.
so that is the waiting game. and i hope it is obvious that i am sick of waiting because i did it for 7 hours today. if i have to wait for anything but food for the next week something is going to die.

by the way, my internet is making me wait right now. i want to burn the network center..
and it was nothing but bright sun today

oh on a good note that chocolate i got, wow.