Malidies; 14 July; Day Off

Maladies:

I fell down the stairs last Monday. This made me feel like an old person. I hit my elbow hard, and it still hurts.

After the discussion about food handling, I got some sort of stomach bug for a couple of days—probably from unpasteurized cheese.

14 Juillet:

I told Patrick, the father of my host family, that I would be going to Paris for Bastille Day. And I said it like that: “Je vais à Paris pour Bastille Day.” I wasn’t thinking apparently, and it turns out “Bastille Day” is not in fact what the French call it. But anyway, I was there. I was a block away from the parade (so I heard it go past). I saw the parade of military planes and fighter jets go overhead, which was really impressive—all different kinds flying low in formation. I also finally saw the Musée d’Orsay, as well as the sewer museum. The sewer museum stank. But I think it is an excellent example of how Paris has capitalized on tourism—they can even get people to pay money to see their gray water.

That night, Jennifer and I watched fireworks over the Seine in Rouen.

Photo: "Eve after the sin"

Day off!

I don’t go to the MJC this week, except Wednesday. This afternoon, I went to lunch at Dr. Rolland’s house in the country—the woman who helped organize the internship. After lunch, she said, okay, now what do you want to do? We ended up doing some oil painting for the afternoon. What a strange thing—in France, in some woman’s thatched-roof house, painting.