RAKEVET LAILA LE KAHIR

NOY: After a long and very moving day in Auschwitz I and II, we got on bus driving to Krakow. After about an hour and 45 minutes, we finally arrived- it was 8:05, and the last train to Warsaw left at 8:00. We ran into the dirty, stinky train station- only to hear that the last train left. We were exhausted  and after dreaming of the soft beds in Sofitel Victoria we were all disappointed. We drove to the hotel we spent the night in last night and told them we missed the train. The lady at the front desk checked if there are any other trains leaving to Warsaw (she must of really wanted to get rid of us), turns out there was one- leaving at 22:40, arriving at Warsaw in 4 in the morning. Ima and Ely were for the idea, me- not so much. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel and left for the train station. After running around trying to find a bankomt that took Ima’s credit card, we finally reached the train. We were told that we can buy tickets on the train, so we stood in line. Ima came up with the idea of buying tickets for the Sleepers (little bunks in the train that you can sleep in). The conductor of our train (who did not understand a word of English) told us to get on the train. A young man translated to us what he said and he told us to go on the train and buy the tickets there. We squeezed into a little hallway in the back of the Caron with about 5 other people and their suitcases. The train left and we were still standing. We stood there for about half an hour- waiting in line to buy the tickets(the line was on the train). When it was our turn, we bought the tickets and were handed 3 sdeenim with the numbers of the bunks on them. We walked into the little room, only to find out we were sharing it with 3 poles- One was sleeping. The other two were drinking beer and staring at us. I got shivers. I told mom I thought they were drunk and she tried to get us other bunks. They had none left, so we had to sleep in the bunks we were assigned. They were not drunks, but it was still akward to share a “room” with them. There were 3 bunks one on top of the other on two sides. About half a meter was sperating the two sides. I slowly climbed up to the higest bunk and layed down. Ely got the bunk under the sleeping pole. Mom slept on the higset bunk on the other side, on top of the two other poles who later went to sleep too. So on my side was me- then under me was the sleeping pole, and under him ely. Pay attention- because soon you will understand why im giving you so much details. I layed there thinking to myself “how did I end up in this situation?” after about 45 minutes I managed to fall into a light sleep. Then I woke up. Im not sure what exactly woke up- but I would defiantly place bets on the fact that one of the poles was snoring INCREDIBLY LOUD. After hearing him snore for about half an hour, I thought to myself- “god, if I’m going to get any sleep tonight- I must find a way to get him out of the room”. Apparently the guy under me woke up too, but he had a little less patience then me. Hetleft the little “room” and returned 5 minutes later with the conductor. The conductor was a chubby man with white hair and round glasses- A beer belly and 5 chins. He gave the snoring man a nudge and started talking to him in Polish. The snoring man was half a sleep, and looked at him in confusion. After that for about ten minutes the man stoped snoring (probably cuz he was holding his breath or trying really hard not to fall asleep). Finally he fell asleep and the snoring conitued. The man under me became even more impatient, and woke him up again and began yelling in polish. I'm looking down at all of this cracking up. The poor man was looking at him in complete shock and not understanding what exactly he was asking him to do. The pole yelled at him for a while and all I understood from the conversation was “egotistic”. Apparently the pole thought that the snoring man was being egotistic by snoring. The snoring man then held his breath for 20 minutes scared half to death of falling asleep, and finally fell asleep (and so did we)- and continued snoring. The impatient man gave up on trying to stop him- and finally realized that snoring wasn’t something the man could control. You cannot imagine how extremely hilarious I found the situation to be, and hearing poor ely’s experience (who was lying In the middle of all the drama) was even funnier. There you have it- my side of the story- probably one of the weirdest experiences of my life- sleepers on a train in Poland.

Ely’s View of the train ride: Noy was obviously not awake for the entire story. When we walked onto the train 2 Poles, a fat one and a non fat one, were sitting there drinking a beer. About 30 minutes into the ride the two decided to go to sleep, and they opened up the second bed. When I saw that the fat Pole was about to go to the second bunk I was like “If a man like that was going to sleep above me I would have a beer too.” The fat man was asleep in minutes while the other guy was just sitting there doing nothing. After about 20 minutes he decided to go to sleep too, and literally 2 seconds after he laid down he was snoring like an elephant. By this time I knew I wasn’t going to get any sleep. After about an hour, the guy above me step down with one foot on the snoring guy’s bed and started to talking to me in polish. I just sort of nodded my head and he understood that I had no idea what he was saying. He then woke up the snoring pole and asked him to stop snoring. The pole mumbled that he would and two minutes later he was back asleep, snoring. This happened again 30 minutes later, but this time the guy above me was pissed. He shouted at the man and told him he was being egotistical. The snoring dude tried not to snore, and he managed for about 10 minutes, but then he fell asleep, and started snoring again. he obviously couldn’t control it. 30 minutes later the guy above me steps out. 20 minutes later the conductor comes back with a small flashlight and shines it in his eyes. He explains to him he has to stop snoring. Once more the snoring guy tried to stop and couldn’t. by this time they guy above me had given up and I had to listen to the snoring for another 2 hours before we reached Warsaw. It was an interesting experience.