Rocks, tofu, and French dentistry: Events of Sept. 23-25

Saturday began mildly enough. I went to yoga in the morning, showered and caught the bus to Antibes. My plan was to stop by a fossil and mineral show in Juan les Pins (right next to Antibes) and then investigate the large supermarket called Carrefour. I took a hot stuffy bus from Antibes to Juan les Pins and managed to get off at the correct stop. The fossil and mineral show turned out to not be a free event, but after going to all the trouble to get there I decided to cough up the 5 euros and go in anyway. There were a bunch of dealer’s tables, some dinosaur and fossils displays and some interesting activities for the kiddies. I was tempted to dig in the sand boxes for bones or pay for the privilege of using a hydraulic device to chip away the rock from a small fossil, but as I would be the only one over 12 years old participating I restrained myself and browsed the specimen tables instead. I finally decided to get one specimen: a strange combination of two minerals that resembles green spherical blobs engulfing little black logs (see picture). One dealer was selling only these specimens; both the dealer and the minerals were from Africa. The difficult thing was that he was selling them by weight, plus there were a lot of them. It took me forever to choose one that was both interesting and affordable. I had to have him weigh several choices for me, but I finally selected the one pictured here (with matchstick for scale). It makes me think of a little green planet with gargantuan buildings sticking out of it like some bizarre sci-fi world. But here’s where things get really bizarre. I somehow got drawn into a long confusing “conversation” with the dealer that seemed to be about going dancing that evening. I say “seemed to be” because things were mostly communicated by gestures. One thing that was clear, however, was that this guy only spoke French and an African language, while I essentially only spoke English and little Japanese. No overlap. I kept trying to explain that there was no way I could go dancing with him that evening because the last bus back to my house came 10 minutes after he (I think) wanted to meet up. Ok, so maybe there’s no point in trying to be polite when the other person has no clue what you’re saying, but I felt compelled to try. At any rate, I eventually escaped with my cool rock, though somewhat frazzled by this odd exchange.

Rather than wait for the stuffy bus I opted to just walk back to central Antibes. Once I got oriented with my map, it was pretty straightforward and turned out to not be all that far to walk. Plus, (and here is the important part) I happened across an Asian food store along the way! Yes, it was small, but the fact that I can now get large bottles of soy sauce, tofu, rice crackers, and giant bags of frozen samosas and nan made me very happy. Since I was planning on a major trip to Carrefour I restrained myself to some silken tofu, sesame oil, kimchee flavored udon, and a special treat. This little store in Antibes carries the tasty-chewy-sesame-peanut candy that I enjoyed so often in Hawaii but have never found elsewhere (not even in San Francisco). I broke into it the moment I stepped out of the store and was happily chewing away when I felt a horrible CRUNCH! And I thought to myself, “Oh s***! I did not just break another tooth, did I?” I DID. Now, I have to admit that I should have been expecting this since the tooth in question had become very sensitive over the last week before this, but it was still horrifying. Why must this happen here? Why not while I was teaching at Corvallis where people speak English and I had full dental coverage? I was very dismayed. The last time I broke a tooth it cost me about $600 to get it capped and it remains highly temperature sensitive to this day. Plus, European dentistry???

Nothing to do but to carry on. Nothing could be done until Monday at the earliest and it didn’t really hurt nor was it dangerously sharp. Seemed like just a small piece had broken off. I continued back to Antibes and took another bus to Carrefour.

What to say about Carrefour? Huge. Like a massive Super-Walmart or Fred Meyer. Also crowded. Well, it was Saturday afternoon. I couldn’t get a cart because you need either a 1 euro coin or a clever little plastic token to disconnect the cart from the row and I had neither. Boring shopping followed. I must add, however, that even the simple selection of the correct type of vacuum bag was made so much more challenging, tedious and frustrating than was necessary since all the packages were in French. Also, still no decent selection of Mexican food. I had brought my one super-sturdy reusable shopping bag and got another one there to help lug out my purchases. Then back to Biot on yet another bus.

Now on to Monday. My goal: make an appointment with a dentist who speaks English and can be reached by bus. Based on my previous experiences with American dentistry I figured this would be expensive and it might be weeks before I could get an appointment. But lo and behold, the first place I called in Biot had an English-speaking dentist and she could see me that very day. Shocking! Same-day dental appointment? Unheard of! At the lab, I found out that I could later get some of the cost reimbursed as soon as I got my French social security number, but meanwhile I would have to cover the cost myself. Gulp! With some trepidation I made my way back to Biot early in the afternoon for my appointment. Oddly enough, the dentist was in the same interesting old building where my yoga class meets. I kept expecting the receptionist to give me some forms to fill out but she never did. To my surprise, the dentist, a pleasant woman close to my age, did the work that afternoon. She took x-rays of the tooth, removed the old filling and put on a new tooth-colored filling all in about an hour. And, ready for the kicker? The whole thing cost a mere 58 euros (around $75). Heck, what else can I have done to my teeth here? I may start chewing on ice cubes so I can just break anything else that’s going to break and then get it fixed for cheap.

Some more random observations:

- So, cars are generally smaller and more gas efficient here. I have come to the conclusion, however, that some of that efficiency comes at the expense of cleaner emissions. I am engulfed in toxic fumes whenever I have to walk along even a moderately busy road. A single passing car leaves a cloud of nastiness behind it. Makes jogging on the road extra yucky. I did find some un-gated roads to jog on; I just have to be alert since there are no shoulders to speak of and only occasional sidewalks. No jogging with the ipod here. Instead of worrying about mountain lions and rattlesnakes, as I did at Lava Beds, I have to worry about crazy drivers and lung damage. I prefer the critters.

- I found out why the village of Biot has no street gutters. The streets just act as small rivers when it rains hard. I practically had to wade up the steps from my bus stop on Monday when I went to my dentist appointment. I suppose it was a good thing I was wearing my sandals. Except that I knew the water flowing over my toes was basically diluted kitty and doggy doots.

Next: Naples and Rome – Tanya takes a trip for her project and eats a lot of pizza