7 AM + 6 hours

7 AM is here. Really? SEVEN? I could have sworn when I rolled up the blinds, the sun would be blaring.

Jetlag. My old friend.

Yes; you've guessed it. I crossed the pond in the other direction (I will spare you the croissants + donuts diagram.) But yes, AirFrance brought me to NonFrance, and now I am sitting upright in my bed with not even the slight inclination to yawn.

J'ai envie de parler français en plus. (Merde.)

Sorry about that. French rolls off the tongue in such a lovely manner, that even after you've extradited yourself to other less pleasantly sounding linguistic lands, you can't help but to still want to utilize the language.

So, yesterday afternoon, the thought of diving back into straight-up-American-YALL was terrifying.

This is me, sitting on the plane back over, next to the empty seat which still had not been filled by my neighbor.

(private thoughts) -

pleasedon'tletmesitnexttosomeonefromtexasnoseriouslynotevenkansas
ohgoddefinitelynotkansasbutevenarkansaswouldbeatotalnightmare
orevencaliforniaidon'tknowificanhandlehearingdudejustyet

Very gentle looking German (don't ask me how, but I just gathered he was German, right away) college-professor type sits down.

(instant private thoughts) -

maybehewillspeaktomeingerman!YAY!thesetypesofmenaughttoknow
frenchasathirdlanguageanywayohpleasepleasepleaselethim
thinkidon'tspeakenglish

"Hallo. I must work, you see. I must work this flight, so I will not bother you" (with your English? Oh, come on, I'm not like that...) "I will ask the flight attendant to move me to another seat. I will ask right away."

At this point I'm wondering if that wouldn't be a mistake, maybe the gentle older German man next to me is some sort of brilliant science know-it-all (he kind of has the look) who can help me with my much neglected ecology homework. AND, he's not from Arkansas, not even Texas or Cali; his accent is almost kind of pleasant to the ear.

(private thoughts)

OHbutifIcouldjustbaskinmyfrenchstateofmindfor8morehours...

I got my eight hours.

Can I get them back?






OLB