My Replacement Seth

The European rail system is a great way to see the continent. Train travel is easy, as you can hop on a train as it is leaving the station and just purchase your ticket on the train, although you should pre-pay seeing as the conductor can arbitralily change prices, and it also provides a more intimate mode of travel than flying. Intimate not only with the scenery, seeing as you can feel the breeze and smell the scents of the area that you cover, but also with the people that you share space with. Train cabins are usually six seats per cabin with three facing each other on both sides. Train travel is also less restrictive than plane travel (you are in charge of your own luggage, you don't have a seat belt, and seats are first come first serve for the most part) which, I believe, adds an element of freedom that creates a more friendly environment. Every train ride has given a new conversation with a new group of people.

On the train from Vienna to Krakow I met Daniel. Since Seth left I am on the search for the "New Seth", and Daniel is the first candidate. He is from Mexico and is a very nice guy. A quick note; I must comment on a phenomenon. People who speak english and it is not their first language use curse words in hilarious ways. I am guessing that it has something to do with the fact that there is no formal teaching for the use of curse words and they are often learned as individual words and not with their grammatical context in mind. As Daniel and I were talking he kept saying "It's so fuck hot, man," and "Oh my shit." Perhaps they should teach conjugation of curse words in school, I mean, we wouldn't want to sound uneducated would we?

As I tried out Daniel for his role of Seth, we walked around Krakow I had an interesting experience. I was walking on the sidewalk, as I normally do, when a car ran up onto the sidewalk not five feet in front of me. The driver stopped, looked at me without giving me a "sorry" or "oops" look and proceeded to parallel park his car. In Krakow the streets were built without parking in mind so the geniuses at the motor vehicle department decided, "we can just have the cars park on the sidewalk. That won't scare the ever-loving shit out of tourist who get startled when cars ramp up onto the sidewalk where they are walking, thinking that they are safe." It was quite disconcerting to say the least. Seth would have jumped and cursed. Daniel stepped aside quite nonchalantly. I don't think Daniel is going to make the cut.