an expatriate dream

It's been a long time since I reported a dream. I know I've had them, but the memory of them typically evaporates practically as soon as I wake. This one stayed, although a lot of it is already gone as I write this story a few hours after I woke.

I recently arrived in another country. [The specific country/continent is unknown to me while awake. Some stuff happened chronologically here at the beginning, but I don't remember it now.]

I went to my room, in an apartment-style building. A room diagonal from mine had the door open, and I looked inside. Nobody was there, obviously because this thing was about to collapse. The whole room was tilted strongly. For some reason, I went to the far side of the room to approach the window. As I did so, the room predictably collapsed. The whole thing fell and slid down a tall hill. I emerged from the rubble unscathed, and I walked back to the office of the building where I was housed. I had a conversation with a woman at the desk, mentioning that I wasn't sure if I should bring it (the collapse) up at all. As I was hesitating, another woman (the owner of the building) came up to ask what was the issue. [Some sort of transition happened here. I think I explained to her about the room collapse.]

I was in a line to pay for something. Groceries, maybe. I was fumbling through a bag of documents and currencies, trying to find what I needed. I had Euros and other currencies, none of which were appropriate. One of them "looked" real, but it had strange ape-like faces on them. I handed one to the cashier woman (who was for some reason at a checkout counter much taller than me, so I had to look straight up to her.) She said, "I don't know what that is." I didn't either.

I was at the dining area of this building. It was a long string of tables in a big hall. A man I knew from real life [and I hadn't thought about them in many years] was also there eating. He was very tired after his own trip, and he climbed on top of the table to fall asleep. He apologized to the stranger on the other side of the table, explaining that he was really just extremely tired.

I didn't know the local language, but somehow everyone I interacted with spoke flawless English. I think twice in the dream I asked someone for tutors in learning the language and figuring out the currency.

And that's that. Now, I need to ride the micro-route bus to the grocery store and hope that it doesn't leave me stranded again. With my leg the way it is, I really don't want to try walking home. I have an appointment to see the doctor on Friday next week.