Guten Tag...

Last night was an interesting, unexpected evening on the town. I had just left the house and was waiting at an intersection on my way to a friend's, when my row of cars got the green light to go - the same time an SUV coming from the other direction ran a red light. I swear I heard the thump before I heard breaks squealing. The driver of the car was a half second from being directly hit in the driver's side door. Luckily only the front end was smashed. I called 911, not sure of what to really do. It did not appear as either party were severely injured, as they were both able to drive their cars to side streets, but the accident made me sick to my stomach and uneasy about driving in the dark that night. I finally, finally figured out another route to leave the apartment complex (I am not kidding, it took almost ten minutes to find a legit escape path). I approached an alternative intersection, exactly one block from the previous crash, and on the same busy road, one car had completely rear-ended the other. Holy cow, what is going on here?

But what topped it off was the drive home last night. Downtown traffic was getting clogged, and as we got closer we could see flashing lights and police officers running around. Then we realized the cause. An SUV had t-boned the train. The same transportation I take daily, and feel relatively safe riding, had been plain ol' smacked into. There were at least four traincars attached to it, and the person had hit the last car. I'm not sure about you, but I am thinking it is almost impossible to hit this thing. There are lights flashing, and wooden arms come down to block through traffic, warning that a train is approaching, and, quite blatantly, it's a big, long vehicle chugging through town. How do you miss it? Luckily, once again, I don't think anyone was seriously injured, but after witnessing three accidents in a relatively short time span, I was pretty anxious about the trip home. Luckily, I made it back unscathed. Wow.

On a much happier note, I attended "Theology on Tap" last night and met a lot of people my age, which was a breath of fresh air - I didn't expect it to be so hard, but it has been rather difficult going from working with all college kids to being surrounded by, well, adults. One conversation actually had me laughing so hard I had tears, unable to even speak. And that hasn't happened for a long, long time. Afterwards some of us girls headed downtown to take part in the annual Oktoberfest. Three of us were 100% German, so it was a must-see event. I found my name in the big book, reassuring me that my ancestry was, at least somewhat correct, danced to the polka, and even participated in a "parade" directed by a lively old German man with a tiny purple and yellow umbrella leading the way. I have pictures on my cell - however I don't know how to get them onto the computer. If I ever figure it out though, I will share.

auf Wiedersehen!