Dubai

I left Nice today and now I am in Dubai. I am walking around like a zombie at the airport bc I have about an eight hour layover. It is 4am, so if my blog doesn't make sense it's bc I am so tired.

I had to return the rental car at the airport and gas it up first, so I pretty much dedicated the day to getting all that done and arriving on time. I did and all was well. The flight from Nice landed in Rome for fuel and to pick up passengers. The 8 hour flight was packed!! I sat next to a chinese woman, Stella, she called herself. Spoke excellent english and was quite funny. She was traveling to Tanzania ironically (bc that is where I will be going mid-August). Her husband works there as an engineer and she was traveling w/ 5 other people who were her superiors. She was the only one who spoke english and french so she was exhausted from all of their translating needs. She had this innocence about her and she was just cute and funny. Well cultured and well traveled for 26 years old.

I understand why Americans don't speak more languages. Part of it is that everyone else does speak english, part of it too is we don't have strong external influences. Example: Holland, they have several American TV shows and lots of American music played on the radio. The magazines are Brittney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie etc. France, I found a fabulous radio station. They would play the top hits in french then alternate w/ an American song. I pulled into Nice jammin' to Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back." I do like that song however.
But it DOES make me want to become more fluent in Spanish bc that is the language I would use most where I live. I also realized that I know more Spanish than I thought bc in France I didn't know a damn thing. In Mexico, I can convey what I need or want and ask the basics for directions. In France, I would point and hope for the best. Plus, the french act as if you are inconveniencing them if you are trying to ask questions.

I had dinner in the harbor the night before I left. I was actually staying in St. Jean Cap Ferrat, which is between Nice and Monaco. Anyway, I ordered fresh sea bass. I guess they cooked the whole thing up and then brought it to me for my approval, head, eyeballs, teeth and all. I nodded my approval thinking, "Dear God, please tell me they are going to cut the head off that thing!" But the service is like the wine, they bring it out for your approval first, then taste, then pour. So yes, my fish was beheaded and filleted. It was very good.

Breakfast in France consists of french bread, croissants, jam and yogurt and cafe. I am craving eggs. They don't eat eggs for breakfast, nor do they have whole wheat toast.

On my drive to Nice I forgot to mention the toll booths along the highway. You can use a "carte" (credit card) to pay or go to the man in the booth. I had gotten down the system using the carte, but then at one stop, it rejected my card, then my next card and the next card. At that point I could either crash through the gate or back up. So I shrugged my shoulders to the guy behind me and we had to back up the cars. It was well received I am sure. So then I pull into the drive w/ the man in the booth and my card worked fine, but he was mad bc the machine in the other drive took my ticket so he didn't know how much I owed. We figured it out and away I went.

The french love to honk. At everything and everyone. If I even LOOK like I am going to screw up, they honk. Several times I have wanted to honk back, but my horn doesn't work. Then I realized that my horn is on the steering column, not in the middle, plus my horn is a little beepbeep, not a HONK HONK....I really liked my rental-girl-car. We were zipping along great. I only hit the curb once on a very narrow road, backed over a construction cone and sideswiped a parking pilon. Other than that, all was well.

The Beach--is not sandy. It is very rocky and big pebbles. I don't have indian feet so I walk like, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. The water is much colder than I thought, so only braved it up to my knees. Put on my new sunscreen and tried to read, got blown out. VERY windy. Had to go home. Saw a handful of topless ladies though. No big deal. I have the same parts so it's not that exciting.

Le Poste--I arrived at the post office at 4:45pm, they close at 4:30pm, of course they do. Bc everything right now is 10 times harder. So I call my hotel the next morning to make sure Le Poste is open on Saturdays, yes, they say, in the morning. I arrive at Le Poste, closed. Sweet. They aren't open on Saturdays, so I have to drive to the next town to get there by noon to ship stuff home. The roads are very narrow, lots of signs pointing every which way...quite daunting to drive actually. I arrive at the second Le Poste and I have to prepay for the boxes for my stuff. I don't know how many I will need, but I have to buy them up front. I assemble the boxes, pack my stuff, fill out two address labels per box, tape em up....etc. The boxes are bright red. Finally I get them off, and have one box left over, she won't refund the 33 euros bc I purchased the boxes w/ my credit card. Right, of course, bc telling me that beforehand would HAVE BEEN HELPFULL!

Later in the day at dinner, (eating the headless fish) I notice that my palms are red and kind of orangey. I figured that since it was so hot and humid and sweaty that somehow at Le Poste the ink from the red boxes rubbed off and stained my hands. But then in the morning my hands are MORE orange, as if I used a self tanner and didn't wash it off. For those of you who haven't used a self tanner, it is a lotion that tans your skin w/out the sun's ultraviolet rays to damage your skin, but you have to wash your hands bc it doesn't soak up. Welp, I think I accidentally bought self tanner instead of lotion the day it took me 2 hours to grocery shop to pick up 5 items. I can't read the labels bc it is all in French, it just looks like lotion. But, the funny thing is I am not sure if is the lotion or my new sunscreen. So not only am I a non-french speaking tourist being honked at and not knowing what I am doing.....I am now an ORANGE non-french speaking tourist being honked at and not knowing what I am doing....sweet. But I have a killer tan now. Good thing I didn't use it on my face.

I have to go pretend to sleep now before I catch my next flight. It will be w/ one eye open to make sure I don't miss my flight.

I wanted du-bai something here at the airport. Get it? Du-bai, (to buy) something. So I bought an ashtray. Bc I am going to take up smoking. Well no. It has a camel on it w/ Arabic colors and design, so it would be pretty on a coffee table. Why is it called coffee table? I don't drink coffee. How about cup-of-warm-yummy table w/ my new ashtray on top in the middle.

I'm waaaaayyy too tired.