March 16, 2006

Home again

I'm back from my mountain adventure, and it was just that. The first night my Internet box would not work. I called the toll-free number and the technicial told me to turn the power switch on the box off then back on. I did, and it blew the fuses in my room. Total darkness. I had to open the door to find the phone. After the hotel replaced the box, it worked fine.

Monday was reasonably normal (I say reasonably because normal is only a setting on the dryer), but Tuesday was more like Sunday night. Just about bedtime, the fire alarm started. I was still dressed so was in the hall immediately. A man ran from another wing and was fumbling with the alarm at the end of my hall. He saw me and waved his hands saying, "It's okay, I did it."

After a few minutes, the hotel turned it off, but within moments, it went off again. I went out again and looked down the wing where the man had come from. He was there, with friends, laughing. They were obviously having a party.

Not funny. The next day the hotel staff told me a couple from another country were very frightened. Where they live, if the fire alarm goes a second time, it means there is a bomb. I don't know if the pranksters were caught or charged.

On a positive note, I met some terrific people, made new friends, was able to talk a bit about my faith. The drive home was a bit surreal — heavy fog for part of it, but I'm here, thankful and ready for whatever happens next.

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