Leaving Hell

Well, as we boarded the minibus bound from Pattaya to Bangkok, Annie found a large knot on her foot. It's probably some disease caused by the lizard that shared our tropical hell hotel room for a couple of days, but she took an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory right after the discovery, and we think she's going to make it. She's a brave soul. I think Annie and I have never been so happy to leave a place as when we left Bangkok. We were on an Air France flight and thanks to my high school French teacher always calling Air France Air Chance, my anxiety level was a little high. I was about to have my faith in the French restored merely by the presence of personal TV screens at your seat until we encountered the meanest French stewardess ever. She was downright scary, and I'm glad I got to sleep through most of the flight. I did watch a nice French film as I tried to remain cultured despite the fact that my taste has been seriously detiorating since we left the U.S. This is primarily due to the fact that every English speaking program shown abroad sucks. Annie and I actually looked forward to seeing Yes Dear at our hotel in Pattaya. We also loved Sorority Boys . All sad but true. Of course my attempts to culture myself went awry when Annie convinced me to watch Kangaroo Jack after the French film. If I come home only interested in CBS and UPN programs, I'm sorry. We also almost missed our connection from Paris to Athens. Something was up at the French airport. I don't know what kind of alert they were on, but I have never seen people inspect passports with such fervor. I have also never seen so many people pulled out of line for further questioning. One guy was actually smelling the passports. Our flight to Athens left 40 minutes late because someone was pulled off the plane due to an i.d. problem and the police were called. Perfect flying conditions for someone who worries about terrorists, etc. Before that, as Annie and I arrived at the terminal for our departure there was a line of at least 100 people to go through security, and our flight was already boarding. I had accepted the fact that we would miss this plane until Annie hit me and demanded Speak . Annie has never hit me before and this simple act of violence on her part was quite frightening. It was then that I realized she wanted me to speak French to convince the guy close to the front of the line that we should be able to cut in front of him. Thank God for my high school French teacher (I forgive him for the Air Chance comments because of this) because I was able to convince him of this and we actually jumped about 90 people in line. I even used the subjunctive. Who knows where that one came from. After we talked to him, I could hear him discussing our situation with his wife. He either said that my French was shit or that we were in deep shit because of our flight. I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt (and try to salvage some of my self-esteem) by thinking it's the latter. Athens is fabulous. I love Greece and don't think I can even say enough about how much I love this country. We've been exploring the city, climbed to the top of the Acropolis, and wine is cheaper than water. Tomorrow we're off to Mykonos for 4 days. I can't wait. There are only 2 things I dislike about Greece thus far: 1. Gatorade tastes like orange Tang. 2. Every staircase and walkway is made of marble. Pretty, but bad for those who lack coordination like myself. Some of you may be thinking, Laurel, there's nothing bad about slipping as you climb to the top of the Acropolis. You're not in peak physical form, you were probably tired, etc. The truth is that I slipped not near the Acropolis, but rather leaving a clothing store and in our hotel. I went sliding down about 4 steps in our hotel the other day. People in Mykonos are going to wonder who the extremely bruised girl on the beach is.