Dreamer's Tale (1): Sitting Next to an Angel

i nearly forgot that i have to tell this tale. a wonderful tale which i'll never forget in my life.

and because i have a blog, and i always share everything on my blog, so i have to tell this tale. there is never too late to share something.

it's about my dream. i have a chance to fulfill it, how i make strategies to make it real, and how God put His hand on that.

so, lets rewind about seven months ago.

during my stay in Taize, i planned something. something that i consider it as a bonus for me after my stay in Taize. so i do some little research and finally made a fix strategies for it. i put it on my notes, every detail, every minutes, plan A and plan B, everything!

and finally here comes the D-Day.

Saturday, October 4th, 2008.
07.21 am
i departed from Taize village by bus. the bus with the meanest bus driver in the world ;p and i arrived around 08.00 am at Macon-Loche TGV Station. from there i have to take one hour and a half of TGV to go to Paris.

ah, the train schedule is on 08.27 so i have around half an hour to wait. i took my luggage, carrying my backpack, and walk to find the right peron of my train. then i waited next to the railway track. it was a freezing morning! the good thing is there are some shelter placed every about 100m next to the railway track so i just wait there and keep my self warm.

and on that sheter, i made a conversation with an old guy. i told him that i just back from Taize. he knows about Taize but never been there. well, okay. it's normal. ;p








finally my train is arrived. took my luggage, put my self into the right train, and find my seat number.

Voiture 15, Place Assise 86

hm, coach 15 and seat number 86 or coach 86 and seat number 15?? argh...
but it doesn't make sense if this train has 86 coaches...so i think it's must be coach 15 and seat number 86...ok! it's easy!

after put my luggage on its place, i took my backpack to my seat. argh, my seat is not next to the window. that seat already taken by a lady who dresses like a normal people and it's a two seat row. so i take my seat and gave an envy smile to her. haha!

the train is departed on 08.27 am, it's on time!


and when the train began to moving fast, the view from the window starts to blur but the Burgundy scenery becomes more beautiful because we can see it all.













and the lady break our silence with a question. a question that head to a wonderful conversation.

lady: where are you head to?
me: mmh, back to my country, Indonesia. my plane will take off from Charles de Gaule, Paris.
lady: oh! you come from far far away! and i guess you're just back from Taize?
me: huh? how, how do you know? do you know about Taize? *shocked because there are people know about Taize! ;p*
lady: *laughing* of course i know! i just get back from that hill as well!
me: huh??? wowh! and what were you doing there? volunteering?
lady: no no, i'm a sister...
me: WOWH! you are a sister!?!?!?

and from there, our conversation begins to more interesting. she told me what she did during her a month staying in Taize, which is helping the brothers to do the welcoming. i asked her if she know Sister Marie-Ruth which is a very nice sister who take care of me while i was getting ill and she knows her. and in the middle of our conversation, she told me that,

look, how wonderful is it...in this train full of thousands stranger people, we are sitting next to each other...

what a wonderful coincidence!

later i found out that she also head to Paris and have to attend some kind of a meeting in the middle of the town. she lives in Paris, i don't know if she's French or not. so i told her my plan and my tight schedule. and she give me some suggestion about my plan; instead of taking metro, which is placed underground and can't see anything, she suggest me to take the bus. hm, my little research and my route map didn't tell anything about the bus. it's because i don't have the route map for the bus and i don't want to take the risk so i plan to take metro because i have the route map. okay, it seems that the bus will be a good idea because it's placed upper ground and we can see the whole town from the window.

and she proposed herself to be my personal guide during the bus ride. wowh! it's can't be better than it was! lucky me!

finally, we reached Paris. about 10 minutes before the train get into the station, she asked me to get up and stand by next to the train door. at the first, i refuse it because it's better to wait our turn to alight with sitting than stand queueing. but she convinced me.

and she's right! there are already a lot of people queueing the train door. ahahaha i thought this thing only happens in Indonesia ;p and she told me that, "you read the Bible too much, Timo. there's a time that we don't have to put ourself before others. ;p" haha!

finally the train stopped at Gare de Lyon Station and we alight.














it's so difficult to walk with my luggage in the middle of the crowd. there was a lot of people! during walking in the peron, in the middle of the crowd around us, she told me,

see these people? there is thousands of people in that train and we were sitting next to each other. i can't believe it.

ahahaha she's right.













so before we take the bus, i have to put my luggage and my
backpack to the locker room. three months ago i already found out where the locker room is. so i put my luggage and my heavy backpack to a middle size locker but the locker didn't work! getting panic because i have a tight schedule, the sister who come with me, told the employee there. he did something with the locker and speak something in French which i don't understand with the sister. so she told me that i have to show my ticket to him if i want to take my luggage. pfff, it's so damn lucky that i can meet her. afterward i told her,

i don't know what it will gonna be if i don't met you...thank you...

then we took the bus. and the surprise thing is, she bought me the ticket! oh my God, my fortune just won't stop walking beside me!

afterward, we finally already take a seat in the bus.
and that bus ride will be my precious 35 minutes in my whole life.


to be continued...



related posts:
The Last Nine Hours in Taize
Minutes Away from Dreams
H-31
My Own Dreams (2)