Rainy day in Prien

I`ve discovered I´m slightly dyslexic when it comes to reading body parts. It is not my right forefinger that is hurt, as I wrote yesterday, it is my thumb!! Still bad. But Thomas says the fact that it is not too swollen is a good sign. He`s bandaged it again this morning and I can only hope the pain will subside. Meanwhile am learning to use my left hand and left thumb, which is not a bad thing.

The weather is dreadful, cold and rainy. During a dry patch when the sun peeped out Marlis, Feli and I walked to the station to buy me a ticket to Frankfurt for next Monday. There are so many ways in which one can save money. For example if you buy your ticket a week or more in advance, you pay fifty per cent of what you would at the last minute. Also if you buy it from a machine you save a good six or seven euros - which I discovered too late this morning. I had already bought mine and as it started to pour while we were there, Marlis suggested we wait at the station. To while away the time she started to fool around with the ticket machine and said she would find out if it were possible to get a discounted ticket. There was this sudden indignant shriek from her at one point, which is when I discovered the truth about ticket machines.

Meals here are always entertaining because along with the food there is always a hot topic under discussion. This morning at breakfast we sat around for hours talking about one´s "calling in life". Ariela had seen a TV show about a Swiss woman living in South Africa who had everything she wanted, a family, a life of leisure, more than enough money. But it wasn`t enough and she started working in a hospice. This led to her starting her own project in a place far away from home where she now lives, meeting her husband and children five or six times a year. She had to give up her family for what she wanted to do but Ariela swears that she radiates happiness and contentment. The trouble, as we said, was that it is difficult to decide what your mission in life is, because most people are so influenced by their desire for acknowledgement and recognition that rather than look at what they want to really do they try to find work that will get them recognition.

Lulu - Ariela`s daughter is watching the movie "Chocolat" on DVD and I am half watching alongside. On rainy days it seems there is little to do, besides read or watch movies.