Early Morning Wake Up Call

So southern France is pretty warm and moist, like sweat in a room after someone's been working out. In the apartment I'm in there is no air conditioning so it is absolutely vital to open the windows to try and catch a breeze. Otherwise you wake up in some sweaty knot gasping for breath.

Also, the garbage trucks come around at a ridiculously early hour, before it's light and ohmygosh they make so much noise, as if their job is so significant that they deem it their right to notify the world that they're doing their job, which they are very slow at. "Alright everybody! This is your garbage man, letting you know he is picking up your garbage, which he does, every week. Oh sorry, were you sleeping? Well I'm the garbage man, so..." *self-righteous laugh*

There also happen to be a great many musically talented birds. Some are very pretty and melodious. Others are like this tone-deaf owl that will not shut up even though the sun's been around for hours. The birds like to sing in a chorus too, just after the garbage men leave, and their sound gives "cacophony" a whole new meaning.  When I first heard it I thought I was delirious, just coming out of sleep, because nothing could be that loud with so much vocal variety. But it happens every morning, so I must conclude it is real. I can't shut out the sounds by closing my window because I would suffocate. I'm covered in mosquito bites, but the breeze is worth it.

Other discoveries: 

• We have a million brands in the US. Like, laundry detergent brands? We've got Downey, Tide, Oxy Clean, Arm & Hammer, Clorox, Melaluca, then all the off brands. Here, it's like 2-3 choices, if you're lucky. I found ONE bottle of stain remover. One. 
• Eight ounces of sunblock is at least 12 euros. 
• Germans speak English with an English accent, and it is adorable. 
• The French take their holidays very seriously. 
• The French do not like to stack things in their luke-warm fridge.