November Work Week

It’s been a while since my last posting, so apologies to those of you who have visited and wanted to know my latest. I had a lovely trip to London (some pictures alongside); highlights were reconnecting with fellow musician/Amherstian Anita, seeing her daughter, Maya, at 9 years old (last seen during her first year of life) and meeting her newly extended family, husband Kareem and step-son Musa; my first ride on the London Eye; wandering through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, and making what now seems like a regular visit to Harrods just before the holiday season!

Back in Nice last week, I had to attend to several things, including planning my next trip (Rome), renewing my lease, working with my banker to get the pin code (lost in the US mail) that will allow me to start using my French credit card (and stop using my American ones!), and finding a doctor. All of these tasks required me to engage with the French, their unique French systems and their language. I continue to appreciate the help I receive from people, the patience of the French as I speak their language, and all the positive outcomes.

I will spend Thanksgiving with a friend from my Washington Western Presbyterian family, Don, who after many years of visiting Italy finally bought a small townhouse in a town about an hour’s train ride north of Rome. I will spend a few days with him, and then the weekend in Rome. I’ve signed up for a Runner’s Tour of Rome; hopefully they will get a few other runners signed up so that it actually happens. I’ve been offered a private tour for 200 Euros, alternatively. (I can make up a good run around Rome myself, I’m guessing, without paying that amount!)

As I have been working at keeping myself in shape, over the past several weeks I had been looking out for a road race in which I could participate here in France. While visiting Priscilla a few weeks ago in Grasse, I saw a poster advertising a 10 kilometer race in her town. I found the website and all the information, and realized, as I had learned when trying to enter a 10 km race while visiting Nice in April, that I would need a doctor’s certificate: a requirement for running road races here in France. So, after consulting with Priscilla, I had looked through the yellow pages and found a sports doctor who had an office just down the street from me. I called him and made an appointment, and saw him on Friday. HUGE difference between French medicine and American healthcare – well, first, socialized medicine, of course. Everyone is covered, so no big insurance concerns on the part of doctors. And so doctors can afford to do things pretty simply. My doctor was the one I talked to on the phone and with whom I made the appointment, it was he who buzzed me up into his building, answered the door, and asked me to wait until he was done with his other client. He ushered me into his office, took down my particulars onto his computer, conducted an exam on a table in his office, wrote my doctor’s note for the race, and then took 40 euros from me before ushering me to the door with his last little bit of advice regarding pre and post-race activity. No staff, no waiting, no forms to fill out, just the doctor! Amazing.

So, I am ready to race next weekend. Then I’ll be off to Italy on the train to celebrate Thanksgiving, and when I get back, it will be December! And time to return to the States for Christmas….where has the time gone?