Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Madness at the Train Station

March 25, 2008

Sunday evening I spent the night on a train that was built around 1948. From Yoloten to Ashgabat it took roughly eleven hours. ELEVEN HOURS in a tiny compartment two doors down from the grosses toilet i've ever seen in my life.

It was a long eleven hours.

Then in an attempt to purchase a ticket back home yesterday I jumped into a mosh pit of people at the Ashgabat station and shoved my passport through the window like everyone else was doing.

Well the lady next to me wasn't cool with that.

She took the four passports in her hand, smacked my passport out of the way, shoving hers through the window in front screaming at me the whole time.

"I CAN'T UNDERSTAND YOU," I sang triumphantly. Usually in situations of confrontation I shake and cry and can't handle it. But seeing that I couldn't understand her rudeness, it didn't affect me at all.

And when she was informed there were no tickets for her destination and she walked away defeated, I smiled at her, shoved my passport through the window and was walking successfully away with my ticket in hand in less than a minute.

Patience is the key to success. And train tickets.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I can't imagine you shaking and crying. I CAN, however, imagine you getting punchy.

Especially in a mosh pit! :D