Thursday, May 20, 2010

Quick and Brief

I honest to God have no idea exactly where we are right now, but we're in Normandy. I am currently in the hotel lobby awkwardly trying to glance around for something with the name of the town we're in, but keep making awkward eye contact and accompanied by even more awkward "bonsoirs" with the front desk person.

Going off on that tangent, a cultural trait I have been told and confirmed to notice about the generalized French: If they wish to talk to you, they will. If not, there will be no exchange of words or glances. This is excluding the customary polite "bonjour," "au revoir" and "bonsoir" when greeting people in shops, restaurants, hotels, etc. I'm talking about the everyday person on the street. And I like this and find it to be more my style. (Crap - now he's attempting to talk in English fml maybe I'll try, "No hablo ingles" or, "Non parlo inglese," though I feel that would fail as well. Google Translate to Finnish, now [Kayla]) I feel that it is par usual for Americans to most often than not, smile and say "hey" to people they make any kind of contact with, even just with the eyes, then following with either an immediate look away or an ensuing conversation. If it follows to the latter, it's pointless and superficial (in my opinion), so I guess the French would see this as a waste of time (agreed).

Anyway, they have really nice gas stations here. You don't know what I am talking of until you see it for yourself; it can only just be said for now. I would compare it to a nice convenience shop if it were placed in the States. They had these sweet coffee vending machines inside (we really, really need to get these back home).
A group of us didn't know how it worked so I let a European guy behind me go ahead and we creepily watched in awe.
First, you select which type of coffee drink you'd like to have (espresso, au lait, etc.)
Then, a little plastic cup with stirrer drops down from the top and it makes your drink for you.
Done. Awesome.

Andd they just turned all the lights off on me. In the lobby. I'll write more tomorrow, hopefully.

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