One Down; Lots of Ups

I realized that when I gave my whole description of the subway system here a couple days ago I neglected to tell you what the tread on the escalators was like. Here you go.

That is a mark on my shin. How did it get there you ask? By diving head first down the escalator into the subway.

I had quite the trip to church this morning. As I hurried, in my effort to make sure I wasn't late (I needn't have worried - I was twenty minutes early; it's apparently impossible to consistently predict travel times here) I moved at a brisk pace down the subway escalator. It's still not clear to me exactly what happened, but somehow I tripped, stumbled, fought to grab the handrail, and went down head first. My entire body went airborne. Then I hit the escalator hard, flat out, arms stretched in front of me, and umbrella flying down a good distance away from me. That mark on my shin is one of many similar marks on my legs (especially knees), hips, chest, and arms. Fortunately it was 9:00 am on a Sunday morning, so the escalator wasn't crowded, because based on how close I got to the guy that was in front of me, I estimate that through the course of my fall I traveled about thirty feet down. In case it's not clear what I mean - I slid on my stomach down the escalator for about thirty feet. It was insane and I thought I might die. I'm now walking with a very decided limp and my entire body is sore, especially where I landed on the steps on my chest. Also, I felt like a fool.

On the upside, I had a great day at church. I talked to some interesting people and felt really good about my progress with the language, and to top it off Elder Perry, one of the twelve apostles, was at church and spoke today. There was a district wide meeting and first Elder and Sister Senkans (who are from Latvia, so that was fun for me too, since they were from my mission) and then Elder and Sister Perry spoke. I felt like I definitely learned from the things that they had to say and felt like I also received some personal inspiration and testimony affirmation that I really needed.

After church I had plans to go visit a monastery in the city, but I was actually in enough pain that I didn't really feel up to spending the day walking around. It took most of what I had to get myself home, so I've spent the rest of the day lounging and feeling sore. This makes me feel like a little bit of a baby, especially when I think about my friend Todd, who just completed a marathon after breaking his big toe on mile 16. But, in my defense, I don't think I've ever had a fall like this in my life and it really was a little crazy. Also, I feel like at some point in my life, and perhaps not that long ago, I would have been able to shake it off better than I am. While I was able to hop up, act like everything was fine when the guy I had almost rammed into asked if I was okay, and get to church with no problem, my entire body is now completely sore and my muscles feel really tense. Does this mean I'm getting old? I feel like I'm still too young to feel so achy.

P.S. Just in case you're interested, I don't want you to miss the other two posts I put up this evening as well. Three in one day! A bit much, maybe.