In the middle of the night when unable to fall back asleep, or very early in the morning before groggily forcing ourselves out of bed, we both experience a sense of desperation. For me it comes as vain imaginations — fears of getting sick, for example. Who do we think we are? What in the world are we doing here?
Truly, life looks better out of bed (hmmm…must be an analogy here), although first-time things remain strange: eating dinner after sunset due to Ramadan; cold fried eggs, lots of bready things, and thin slices of cured meat stuff for breakfast; crossing busy streets without dying; brushing our teeth with bottled water.
Today we forced ourselves out of jet-lagged sleep and the hazy fog of anxious imaginings to eat breakfast before it was too late. I thought that I remembered “too late” being 9 a.m., but wasn’t totally sure so we postponed showers and ventured down at 8. Our fellow hotel residents, whom we’ve seen mostly in the dining room, appear to all be part of a Spanish tour group. Lots of foreigners are wandering around town, mostly French and Spaniards on vacation. Our hostess remembered us from dinner, and welcomed us to choose this table or that one. She has appeared to take pity on our inability to speak French, offering us what was maybe a special allowance last night to order ala carte when the Spaniards all had to eat the same prepared dinner. Their salad, chicken dish, and dessert looked pretty tasty, but our spaghetti bolognaise was way cheaper and plentiful enough for us. (Plus, the waiter brought us a plate of olives for an appetizer and then the same dessert the tour group got, no charge).
After breakfast, we wandered around to get a feel for the neighborhood and find ALIF. Conveniently, our language course is in a building down the block and across the street, so we checked in and got our schedule for the next three weeks. Class will be 4 hours each day, with homework every night and weekly tests . Woo hoo – homework and tests!
Next, we wandered farther down the street to the McDonald’s area and the mall. The mall, folks, is pretty schnazzy, and it has a coffee shop! Two cappuccinos and a nice long sit on comfy chairs restored our sense of well-being, as coffee does. Here also is Carre Four, the Walmart of Europe and other places, where we purchased six big bottles of water to stock in our little fridge, along with some yogurt, canned peas, and toilet paper. Yep, canned peas. These were my husband’s idea, as avoiding fresh produce, salads, etc. means we eat things that are neither green nor crunchy, and he is thinking of balancing our diet.
Tomorrow we’ll dive in to what-in-the-world-we-are-doing-here, but for this afternoon we are relaxing in our little cave of a hotel room with nothing to do and nowhere to be. And also no wifi, which come to think of it, has the same effect on our sense of well-being as coffee does.
Yay for a coffee shop! I picture you two becoming regulars in the days to come.