Jason's Daily Notes

I had to catch my bus at 10:30am. But I had an incredible hangover, and I knew it would only get worse as the day went on. I drank lots of water when I woke up at 9, but I could barely fit anything into my stomach.

I drowsily got my stuff ready, wrote a thank-you card for Charly, and said bye to him. Snow had fallen,  so all of the streets were icy, making it difficult to walk with my heavy backpack.

I got to the Eurolines bus stop; there was a woman there checking everyone in. It was like 10:10 and there was a bus. I showed her my ticket and asked if that was my bus. "No," she said. "This is not your bus."

After the bus left, she double-checked my ticket against the roster she had; my name wasn't there (perhaps because I was using the return ticket of my journey. She then realized that I should have been on the bus that just left!

So I could take the next bus to Brussels and change there, or wait until 13:15 to catch that bus. She recommended, and I chose, to take the 13:15 bus.

I returned to Charly's and napped for another hour (though I had a hard time falling back asleep). At 12:30 I walked back to the bus stop. Hardly anyone was there. I needed food (even though I had no appetite); the queue at the pain shop was too long, so I just bought some fig cracker thingies from the convenience shop in the train station. I sat in the sun (the snow had melted), waiting for the bus. There was an Indonesian girl waiting there too. The bus was 10 minutes late (but it had also been just sitting there down the street). Whatever. The bus was mostly full but I was able to take up 2 seats. It hurt my head to look at my phone or read my book, so I just stared out the window or closed my eyes. (With my coat gone, I no longer had my earphones.) I didn't start falling asleep until after Gent.

Made it to Antwerp; Katrien wasn't home yet, so I had an hour to kill. I went to Ekit, a health restaurant, where I got a bowl of soup. It was just what I needed. WhatsApped with Fernanda.

I walked to the apartment. Nike was already back too. She was also completely dead from her first week of working/teaching at the school. She needed wine, and I needed tea, which she made for me (because I felt like I was coming down with something).

I didn't go out. The internet wasn't working at all. I stayed in, watched some Amazing Race and HIMYM and Parks and Rec which I had on my computer. My throat was really sore; it hurt badly just to swallow. It was cold in Jan's room, so I wore a sweater as I slept.