A History of My Media Comfort

I did not sleep as easy. I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep. That was why I fell back asleep after my alarm went off at 8.
I made my way over at 9:30 and G taught me how to make instant coffee. And then she offered me toast. Which I then became confused when a grilled cheese sandwich was set in front of me by Mrs. Crazy. I would later aske G about this and she would explain that toast WAS grilled cheese. If I just wanted the bread I had to ask for toasted bread. Good to know.
So I sat there at the table with my coffee and grilled cheese. The kids sat in front of the TV with their breakfast like they would every morning. And they were obsessed with Disney XD. All the shows in Greek, but they were the bright spot in my day. Let me explain about my relationship to the media in far off lands.
When I was in California for the summer, the DVD for High School Musical had just come out. And many nights when everyone else was doing their homework and I was bored and lonely, I would climb up to the roof with my laptop and watch HSM. It was just plain comforting.
Then there was Egypt. I was sick. A lot. The first weekend there everyone in the flat got really sick with Montezuma's revenge. But when everyone got better I never really did. Oh, I could function, but I couldn't eat any food without throwing up or getting sick. And every other week I would get so sick I was in bed for days again.
It got so bad that I remember one morning that the sweet girl I was sharing a room with was a nursing student, and she was trying to get me to eat yogurt. She had educated me on the good bacteria and all that junk and was literally holding the yogurt and coaxing me like a 2 year-old to eat. So I finally just broke down and starting crying because I was so hungry but I didn't want to eat because I knew I would get sick if I did.
The first weekend when we were all sick we got the movie Batman Begins (with Arabic subtitles) and set up a projector in the front room. Luckily our bunk beds were in the living room, so I laid in bed, and we all watched Batman Begins, and I ate the soup they had brought home for me. I fell in love. I always liked Batman the best, but that was when I developed an obsession with Batman that would last till this day.
And anytime after that, whenever I was sick, they would find the missionary's laptop and set it up on a table next to my bed playing Batman Begins before they would leave.
And Russia. Well, Russia just illustrates a crucial point. When you're in a foreign country and going through culture shock and life's stressful, the littlest things pull you through the day. When you're in Russia, and you haven't seen an attractive guy in a month, you might be able to watch Supernatural in Russian everyday. You may not understand a word of it, but if you've been in such a situation you know Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki need no translation.
The roommates would come in from preparing their lessons and I would be laying on the couch, watching TV in Russian. When they asked what I was doing, the only explanation they needed was, "Look how hot they are. They're American."