...continued

So if you haven't read the previous post I made, please read that first. It's long. But this won't make sense if you don't. And this is likely to be long, too. The last two days have been that way...long!

So where did I leave off...

Rajaton concert! Yes so we went home, checked on the car (still didn't work) and got to bed late, only to wake up early the next morning (this would be yesterday). Julian and I walked from our house back to the car again in the morning before he had to work, in the foggy frosty 7:30 AM. Julian thought maybe the problem was that there was no oil in the car and that's why it wouldn't work, so the plan was to walk to a gas station to pick up some oil, walk to the car and see if it did indeed need oil and then see if it worked after we put it in the car, and if it didn't, to push it to the nearsest mechanic. (I may or may not have mentioned that before all this mess with the car happened I had been planning to go into my new school to get a sense of what I will be doing once I start there...this was definitely put on hiatus as I had no transportation, and wanted to do everything I could to possibly have a car by the end of the day.)

So we got to the gas station and saw a co-worker of Julian's filling up and he drove us the rest of the way to the car. Julian popped the hood to check the oil and as he was about to pull out the oil testing rod-thingy a little mouse crawled out of hiding and around the engine, causing us both to shriek like little girls. He seemed to know his way around quite well and seemed to want to stick around, but Julian was able to check the oil after a few good kicks to the bumper to scare the little guy away. There was lots of oil, albeit a little dirty, but it was clear that oil wasn't the problem. So Julian started running to a Fountain Tire that was just a few blocks away to see if they had time to look at the car that day while I stayed warm by scraping the frost off the windows in case we were going to start pushing that car down the street. I got all the windows and most of the windshield frost-free when Julian came running back with news that Fountain Tire was all booked up, and another co-worker close behind, who stopped and took a look at the car and was also befuddled with what could be wrong with it. See when we tried turning the key it would try to start, but wouldn't turn over. It was clear (to some...I have no clue about this stuff) that the battery was working and that everything appeared to be in working order. Julian's co-worker seemed to think that it wasn't getting any gas.

Anyway, by that time it was 8:15 and time for Julian (and this other guy, I guess) to get to work, so that guy drove us there and we went in. Julian called around to every mechanic in town to see if we could get the car in, and everyone said they couldn't guarantee that it they could look at it that day. Which was bad. Because not only did we need to get into Edmonton for the Rajaton workshop, but Julian also had to be in Edmonton for a conference thingy about roads the next morning. So he picked a shop that had the likeliest chance of being looked at and then called CAA to send a tow-truck. They said it would take 90 minutes, then called back about 20 minutes later to say it would be 2 more hours. The plan was for me to go with the tow truck to the shop when it finally showed up, so I had a bit of time on my hands with nothing to do in Julian's cubicle. The first little while was occupied when another guy Julian works with (not his boss, but someone he works under) wanted to take a look at our car so we drove back out to the car, to take another look. When we popped the hood I noticed what I thought was a mouse nest, but upon closer inspection saw that it was just a dirty rag that some previous mechanic had left in there. Julian said it had been in there for years. I joked that maybe that's where the mouse was sleeping last night when Julian's boss-but-not-his-boss-guy poked at it and it started moving and the mouse actually crawled out again! It was more funny and less scary this time, but a little worrisome at the thought that maybe there is a mouse (or mice) living in Julian's engine. When we got back to the office Julian gave me a pad of paper and a pencil and a Learning Journal, provided to him to track his professional growth, to keep me occupied while we were waiting for the tow-truck. I chose to read the inspirational-quote filled book and was soon asleep on the floor of his cubicle.

Around 10, we got a call that the tow-truck was about 10 minutes away, so we started making our way back to the car (about a 10 minute walk). Julian had to go back a few minutes in to the walk/run because he forgot his CAA card by the phone and I continued on to meet the tow-truck. So the truck came, loaded the car up onto the back of it, Julian showed up and decided that he might as well just come along to the shop to make sure everything was okay, seeing as he was the one with the CAA membership and it was his car. After the car was dropped off and things were sorted out with the shop I walked back to home, and Julian walked back to work.

Around noon Julian called to say that we could get a ride into Edmonton with a guy who works in his office who commutes from there every day if the car wasn't fixed (which would leave us potentially stranded in Edmonton, but we'll worry about that one later). So my job was to pack for both me and Julian so that we could leave by 4:30 PM when work was finished. So my day was spent tidying up and packing for a 2-5 night trip to Edmonton, writing yesterday's blogspot post, and chatting with Wayne (my bro-in-law) on the phone about what kind of car we should get and other various topics.

So by the time 4:30 rolls around I've pretty much packed, the house is pretty messy, and I hadn't done the dishes. I might mention that I also had to pack Julian's suit and about 5 different shirts that he might like to wear at his conference in Edmonton on Thursday and Friday. Julian shows up and we madly try to get last minute things done and try to remember everything we're forgetting and throw everything in this guy's car to get to Edmonton. Between dashing around the apartment and the car ride, Julian tells me that about 10 after 4 the shop called him to say that they finally had a chance to look at the car and (good news) it was just a spark plug that had shorted and that was easy to fix and the car is running again, BUT (bad news) they don't know why it shorted out and didn't recommend taking it on the highway at this point. Maybe that little mouse has been snacking on our wires. So this leaves us in a stranger's car on our way to Edmonton with no forseen way of getting us home again. With an hour and a half to think a bit, I realized that I had forgotten Julian's bag with his toothbrush, razor, deodorant, etc. and that I had eaten a grand total of 1 bowl of Crispix and 1 apple so far that day.

We got to Edmonton at around 6:00 and the guy who drove us dropped us off at West Edmonton Mall to take a bus the rest of the way. We decided against dropping our stuff off at the hotel downtown (provided by Julian's work as he was there on business for the next 2 days) as it was an hour bus ride to choir and we were supposed to meet at 7:00. So at about 6:10 Julian and I boarded the #1 with 2 bags each and one half eaten box of soggy fries to share for dinner. We knew we would be a few minutes late, but figured we could be forgiven considering our circumstances. Plus we were tired and stressed and that point didn't really care. We were suprised about half way to choir when Julian's old roommate (also in the choir) got on the bus. Apparently the bus was like 25 minutes late, so we didn't feel quite so bad being the only ones that were unexpectedly late. This news also explained why the bus was packed to the brim which forced us to squeeze in to two seats side by side with all of our luggage on our laps (a suitcase, a backpack, a duffel bag, a suit bag, Julian's work folder-carrier-thingy for work, and my purse) and why another #1 bus passed us at one of our stops. Normally that bus is at a 15 minute frequency, not over 25 minutes and then 3 seconds.

We got to choir about 15 minutes late, dropped all our baggage and rehearsed with our choir while we waited for Rajaton and Scott (our director) to show up for our workshop. This is where the story takes a turn for the better because we had an amazing workshop with them, got a lot of good tips from them and then they sang again for us at the end of the evening. It is really something else to get your own little private concert from a internationally acclaimed group like that. They are 10 times more amazing when they are that close to you. I will post pictures when I get a chance :) Afterwards we went out to a restaurant with half of Rajaton and a few other people, finally got to eat real food and then got to our hotel downtown shortly after midnight.


So I guess that brings me to now. It's now 10 AM, I'm in my comfy comfy hotel room bed typing this, and I have plans with a friend to go shopping for teacher clothes. The whirlwind has started to die down. We still don't know the exact condition of the car, or how or when we'll be back in Edmonton. But for now, I'm not so worried.