waiting in abu dhabi

the abu dhabi airport is stifling. i feel like i am under an angel food cake pan. you know the one? with the hole in the centre, only if you're under it there is no hole. it's ornate, and quite beautiful with green and blue octagonal tile work, but there is something about the dome shape which makes you feel trapped. it makes the ceiling feel low, even though i'm sure it's actually quite high. i guess i kind of am trapped. for the next while anyway.

my next flight is only 3 hours and then i will be in india. i am nervous. i find the stares of the indian guys a little unnerving. it's somehow different from the arab stares... i'm not sure why. i guess i feel like arab men are easily shamed, but i have little to no experience with indian men. of course, i'm not saying they're all the same. i'm just refering to the leering ones, which are already a class of their own.

i met a saudi man in the smoking area. he is on his way home from toronto where he had been to take his son to university (u of t!). he gave me a dark chocolate cherry kashi bar- just like home! i will eat it when i'm starving in india, which will be in just a few hours i'm sure. for now i am still full from the meal fed to us on the flight from athens.

my flight can't come soon enough, and yet i dread it. i dread my arrival into india. rather, i am nervous. i feel anxious about getting to the train station where i will have to wait until noon for my train! i arrive in mumbai at 4:30 am. that's a lot of time to kill, while tired. sometimes i find myself in these types of situations and i think i must be crazy. crazy or stupid. i don't know which.

when i was looking at online forums about how to book a train in india last night, there were all these people asking questions about the protocal not just weeks in advance, but months and months in advance. then here's me, 2 days before i arrive trying to secure a spot. well, it worked, so i guess i'm lucky. in fact, i know i'm lucky.

last night i also thought i had a hostel reserved, but when i got to the hostel in istanbul they said they were full and my reservation had not gone through. i am amazed that i stayed perfectly calm, and i even felt cheerful, because i didn't really like the place. i found another place without too much ado and ended up having a mixed 13 bed dorm room all to myself. LUCKY! seriously. it was so nice too, because i had to get up really early this morning to catch my flight and this meant that i could repack my stuff at my leisure, using the other 12 beds for my stuff, if i wanted. also, in the night i was cold, so i took a blanket from another bed. a luxury i would not have had had the room been full!!

anyway, i guess i'll go check on the status of my flight. sorry i can't incorporate pictures. i took a picture of the airport, i hope it works out. it really is something else.