You know it's going to be a bad day when....

I posted a blog entry before about some interesting things that have happened, and I decided it was about time for another of those posts. Hope you enjoy!

My camera
When I was in Morocco, we spent a day visiting the Sahara Desert. Our guide told us to be careful and not drop our cameras in the sand. What he didn’t tell us that we might be caught in a sand storm! Seriously, there was sand whipping everywhere and we had to cover our nose and mouth with our scarves to be able to breathe without taking in a huge mouthful of sand. I’ve never been in anything like that.

When we got back to camp the 11 of us pulled out our cameras and about 8 of them sounded horrible. There was grinding when you zoomed in or out, and some wouldn’t even turn on. After 20 minutes of hitting the side of the camera and trying to blow the sand out with puffs of air, my camera was back in action. I thought I had gotten away with a lucky warning. My camera was working great, minus the grinding when I zoomed. Imagine my surprise when 2 full weeks later, an error message was displayed on my screen. It wouldn't focus, I couldn't take any pictures, it had completely given up. Shoot, guess I didn’t get lucky after all. At least my awesome mom has promised to bring me a new camera when she arrives next week!

The roommate
I know, I posted about a roommate before. However, it seems like there is a large supply of oddball roommates out there! This is the story of my friend Ceri from Scotland and her crazy roommate from New Zealand (we’ll call her the Kiwi). So one night early in the trip Ceri is relaxing in her room before dinner. She starts hearing sounds coming from the bathroom, It’s not what you would normally expect – she hears talking. She hears “Should I wear this shirt tonight?” “No, I think you should wear the purple one. It makes your eyes look better.” “But this green one looks really cute with my jeans.” “Well, I guess do what you want to, but the purple one really is the best choice.” Who on earth is in the bathroom together? Why are there multiple people in her bathroom? Imagine her surprise when just the Kiwi walks out. Now I know we all talk to ourselves from time to time, but usually it’s inside your head and it’s not usually two different voices!

A couple days later we were heading to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Obviously it was going to be a very sad and somber day so everyone was pretty quiet all morning. Ceri was chatting with her roommate and asked how she was feeling. The Kiwi responds with “I’m fine. I don’t see why everyone is making such a big deal out of this. I don’t think the Holocaust even happened, it is all a big lie.” Seriously? SERIOUSLY? I don’t understand how there are still people who believe things like this. Can you imagine sharing a room with someone who is so crazy and ignorant for 2 weeks? Poor Ceri.

Breakfast and my feet
When I was in Casablanca, I stayed in a super fancy American hotel. I felt safe in a city that is really big and loud and fast paced. When I’m with a tour group I’m fine staying in the middle of a big city in a shady area, but when I’m on my own I like to be in a safer, more anonymous place where I can have all my meals if I’m feeling uncomfortable. My first day there I went up to the club room to have breakfast. It was near the end of breakfast time and a couple of business men where there. I grabbed some food and sat down. The guy who worked there came over a minute later and asked if I wanted any coffee. He complimented the Columbine tattoo on my foot and walked off.

He was back in a minute with my coffee and he asked to see my tattoo again. I showed it to him and suddenly he’s taking his towel and rubbing my toes, like he’s trying to get the dirt off! Unfortunately it’s not dirt, it’s just a super sweet tan line. I was starting to get a little embarrassed by my feet….I mean, how hot is this flip flop tan line?

He gets a frown on his face and asks to see the bottom of my foot. I turn it over, but realize this is starting to get a little weird. He sees the bottom, then leans in to sniff them! WTF!!!! Why is this dude sniffing my foot! He works here, he’s supposed to be safe! After the odd sniff, he walks away.

At this point I start looking around the room and realize everyone else has left. It’s just me and the hotel employee/creepster. I’m starting to think it’s time to head out so I start to fold my newspaper and finish my coffee. 15 seconds later, he’s back again. One of my feet was up on the coffee table so he bends over and touches the toes. Then he asks in his broken English/French combination if he can kiss them. Excuse me, WHAT? I must have heard this wrong, so I ask him to repeat in my broken French/English combination. Oh no, clearly he is asking if he can kiss my feet!! There was a lot of fumbling around as I threw the newspaper down, muttered something about meeting my mom, gestured towards my watch and RAN! Needless to say, I didn’t eat breakfast the next day!