Quote:
Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar
Only two exceptions. The first occurred a few days after arriving in Austria when I forgot to set my alarm (honest), but I remember feeling so good that day having finally caught up with the jet lag and sleep cycle. The only other exception was the last day of my mission when, again, I forgot to set my alarm. I missed the train from Salzburg to Vienna, where I was to meet my parents at the airport and then proceed to the mission home. I caught a later train, feeling horrible I'd miss my parents' arrival. But my greenie companion knew the U.S. Consul General, who happened to be LDS. My comp called him and the guy, with his wife and kids, were waiting on the Vienna train platform and whisked me away in a nice Mercedes Benz with diplomatic plates. We ran red lights and got waved through a couple of nasty intersections. I walked into the airport terminal at the moment my parents and sisters walked out of customs.
Back on point... looking back my diligence in arising at 6 AM every morning but two over over two-year period, coupled with my steadfast refusal ever to venture outside mission boundaries (seven other countries were within an hour's train ride at various times) amazes me.
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I may have overslept once or twice when first in country, but afterwards I rose early as IL Pad to make up ground in the language department. I was fascinated by the intricacies of the German language many of which I have long since unlearned. But I have unlearned the German word for that, "verlernen" curiously.