And somewhere in Rouen in some little folder is a study in black and white…of my lungs.

I jaunted to and from Paris today and had lots and lots of fun at my medical checkup. There was a crowd of about twenty people outside the door when I got there, apparently waiting for someone to get back from lunch so we could all go to our 1:30 appointments- this was at 1:15. Once in the system, we were processed pretty quickly, and would have been more so except a lot of us were assistants and, after being stuck with ourselves and a strange language so long, many of us were quite ready with real human interaction with people we could relate to. I saw Ramid from Jersey, who I’d met at the meeting, two Amelias, one from Toronto and another from Philly (I think), Candice from San Fran, Gary from I don’t remember where, and Alex from…Atlanta! He had just arrived the day of the meeting, backpack still on back, waiting to meet his professor…no stress. He said he’d come so late so he could take the GRE…

So first they called our names and had us verify that all their info was correct- not easy with us noisy Americans jabbering away in English, and them pronouncing our names last name first with very strong French accents, then they checked our weight, vision, eyesight, fine fine fine…and then…go into the little room and take off your shirt, bra, necklaces etc. and put your hair up. All fine. I’m waiting for them to reach in and hand me a robe or something. Nope. Man barges in. Come on out, time for your chest x-ray. Not like we’ve built up any doctor- patient relationship of trust or anything. And they couldn’t just stick us and have us come back in a week to make sure we didn’t have TB. I know it’s not such a big deal in France, that people go around topless on beaches all the time…but I’m not French! That is why I’m getting this exam done, by the way. Because I am not French! Or even European! I just feel bad for all the Arab women who were there…probably wasn’t any better for them.
At least they didn’t make us pee in a cup. (though I think I would have preferred it)

Ok, so the guy was very professional. Or he probably was. I was too busy trying to cover myself up to really notice.

Blood pressure listen to your heart have any health problems take any medicine the pill parents have any health problems vaccines up to date fine fine fine… here are your lungs wait for your signed paper saying you are up to French health standards ALL DONE!

Hung out in a brasserie (bar) with Alex and Amelia (from Toronto) at the train station waiting to go back to Rouen. We had a great time on the bench there talking about crime, French kid questions, Teacher questions, all kinds of groovy things there. Amelia kept having kids ask her about American hip hop songs, does she know what a Candy Store is (snigger snigger)—and she has middle school kids. Said she was familiar with about everything they threw at her except some poor kid all dressed head to toe in Slipknot (?) gear…she didn’t know too much about Slipknot and the kid almost cried! And they’re asking her (right in front of her supervising prof) if she’s smoked marijuana and the prof is just waiting for her answer…looks like I got off easy. All I have to do is familiarize myself with Tony Parker.

France and Switzerland tied, by the way. There’s still hope if France wins the next game.

Rode back with A&A too (no problem, mom). Apparently Alex mentioned something about how his last name probably came from someone who had owned his great grandfather or something and it may be Welsh, and his prof was really interested in his sharing this with the class…no pressure. We got to tell Amelia all about Stone Mountain too. I know I really should be hanging out with more French people…but it was great to talk to other étranger(e)s for once.


And I did talk to a French guy- Julien, who I caught on his way out the door at mass (which was great…they had this whole crowd of people with Autism and Down Syndrome, etc… was great to see them and have mass with them and what’s more…the reading and the sermon were slow enough for me to understand for once!!!) He was on his way back to Paris, to his wife and one-month-old daughter, but he seemed to understand right away that it would really be great to hang out with other Catholics (note to you who aren’t: I LOVE YOU!!!! YOU’RE GREAT AND I’M GLAD YOU’RE IN MY LIFE!!! And I’d be thrilled if you were all here with me! I just feel the need to belong somewhere right now, with people who share more with me than the English language or a desire to learn it…not that that’s true of all of you! Oh, y’all know what I mean…) and gave me his email so I could get the number of a nice young Catholic couple in Rouen! Who knows, maybe they’ll even let me babysit…