Groceries, PCO orientation, Visit to the Doctor

I've had a couple of new experiences in the past few days that I would like to relate:

I went grocery shopping at a large supermarket last night where I found the rest of the population of Paris, as they had also just gotten out of work or class. As much as I would have liked to shop at a more relaxed pace, perhaps at several different specialty stores to find my dinner, it was nice to be able to wander around anonymously and search out what I needed. Earlier in the day, I had purchased a sandwich for 4 Euro for lunch and upon inspecting the ingredients, I decided I could make a sandwich just like it the next morning and not have to buy a pre-prepared meal that day. I gathered a baguette, a tomato, a head of romaine lettuce, a wheel of Camembert cheese, and a small tub of mustard, and there was my meal for the next day. I also bought a red pepper, an onion, and a box of pasta to cook dinner with. In all, my groceries came to merely 6,39 Euro, and with them I made dinner last night (with more than half of all of my vegetables remaining, plus more than half a box of pasta) and lunch for today. Tomorrow I intend to do the same, and I already bought my baguette for my sack-lunch. I saved the paper sandwich sleeve from the sandwich I had purchased and used it to hold my sandwich today, which worked very very well. Several students at IES asked me where I had bought it (making polite small talk, as we all know you get sandwiches at the boulangerie), and I happily told them that I had made it at home. C'est genial, they said. Vraiment une bonne idée.

Last night I also returned to La Cipale to inquire more about the cycling team, Paris Cycliste Olympique. Inside the Velodrome gates I found a meeting room with the lights on with voices echoing inside. Here I found a table with three men sitting behind it and several others sitting on my side of the table filling out forms. I caught someone's attention and asked if this was where I could find out information about P.C.O. and I showed him a brochure Mme C had found for me. He led me to a chair at the table, where I sat and spoke with what turned out to be the President of the team. I filled out a short form with my name and phone number and he gave me some more forms to fill out at home. Also, he told me I had to get a physical examination done to have another form completed with the doctor's permission that I am fit to race. I was also told to find a photo of myself (from a photo booth on the street) and turn it all in the following Monday with a check for the license and dues to the team. With the dues I would receive a jersey and pair of shorts with the PCO's colors and logo.

There were a few riders standing around in costume, perhaps they had just returned from a ride, and the uniforms are okay... I've gotten accostumed to wearing mostly black but the uniforms are quite blue with some red and white. Pas mal. I sat around and talked with / listened to a few of the riders talk about how they usually train throughout the winter since the season is about over for the year, and exchanged phone numbers with two members of the team. (I received a SMS - text message - today from one of the riders and we're meeting on Thursday to ride in the Bois de Vincennces.) At the end of the meeting, Jacques, the President, offered to give me a ride home in his car as he lives not too far from Rue Hénard, and I graciously accepted as it had started raining and would have had to walk quite a distance to the Metro station. After he dropped me off near Rue Hénard, in celebration I bought myself a chocolate bar at the grocery store where I had bought groceries earlier.

This morning, I asked a woman at IES how I might be able to meet with a doctor soon. She explained to me that the French do not make appointments for their doctor's visits and instead just go to the waiting room and wait to be attended on, on a first-come first-served basis. It is very expensive in France to have a medical office and even more expensive to have a secretary, so this is how they operate. At 10:30 this morning I went to the doctor's office down the street from the IES Center and waited until about 11 to meet with the doctor. His office was one large room, about the size of a living room in the US, with his desk in one corner and the examination table in the other, separated by a bookshelf. I showed him the form that I needed filled out and he said it wouldn't be a problem. The physical was pretty standard of moving joints around and checking my blood pressure and heart rate; the only bizarre part was when he attached a velcro strap around both of my wrists that had a small metal part in the middle. There was a hole in the small metal piece that he plugged two wires into and plugged the wires into an ancient looking machine... it kind of like a machine that senses earthquakes... I asked him what he was doing and he told me he was testing the electricity in my heart. I told him that as long as he wasn't going to electrocute me, it was okay. Something in the wrist-sensors must not have been working because he had to put two more on my ankles, which strung me up like a marionette, but soon that test was over and he signed my form and sent me on my way. After collecting 30 Euros, of course, for the visit.

Voila, there is my exciting past day. I think I've been averaging about one adventure a day and I'm finding it quite exhausting. I took a nap this afternoon which was absolutely wonderful. Now, I'll go help Mme C with dinner. A bientot!