Wednesday, April 9, 2008

I can see clearly now the rain is gone....

And I hope everyone has an a cappella version of that song on their computer. If not, I can send it to you. It's pretty fabulous.

I think the one typical thing to notice for those who come home after spending time in France is the difference in how people dress, and boy am I having fun with this one! In France everyone is always dressed up. Not in like formal evening wear, but you are always dressed to be seen. Always. So this weekend I went to Home Depot with my mom to pick up lightbulbs and wow did I see the difference! Big Nike or Addidas tennis shoes everywhere. Tennis shoes are only seen on tourists in France. It's okay to wear your cute little Pumas or Asics, but full-out athletic shoes are a big no-no. Sweatshirts on everyone, dorky jeans, just everything you coud imagine. I loved it! Not only because it was funny to see the difference, but I liked that everyone was just doing their own thing and not caring who was staring or judging. I did see this one woman who was really off her rocker though. She was wearing Nikes, of course, with tight pink camoflage capris and a bright yellow fleece. It was slightly horrifying, and I'm really not sure where she got the idea that tight pink camoflage capris are appropriate for a woman her age. But as long as she's happy I guess....

I also went to the wonder that is Target. Why this doesn't exist in France I have no idea.

Thankfully the surgery went really well and I now have nearly perfect vision in my right eye! I have been horribly nearsighted since I was seven and I can't do anything without my glasses or contacts because I just can't see without them. It's really trippy to be able to see out ofmy right eye without any other aids. I am kind of far sighted now because the artificial lens they put in can't focus the way a natural lens can so I'll need glasses for reading. But I really can't complain about that!

And wonder of wonders, the nurses and doctors were actually nice! It was refreshing and also shocking. Everything was friendly and congenial, we were talking and joking, it was such a nice change from the hospital full of Soviet droids.

Now that I've come clean about the cancer thing I'll try to not overload everyone with cancer speak. But I'm extremely comfortable talking about it, so you know, don't feel weird if it comes up again.

2 comments:

BlondeInFrance said...

most of my christmas vacation at home was spent laughing at the way people dress. i don't know if it's so much not caring what people think, or just not caring in general. i like that people make an effort here, but it definitely gets exhausting after awhile.

here though, i've noticed lots of crazy caked on makeup. like, runway makeup but on normal people. and ridiculous amounts of eyeliner on 13 year olds. i like that american girls (usually) keep it simple. hopefully one day i will combine the two into a perfect amerifrench style. so far i just have lots of black things and ballerina flats, lol.

yay everything went well! and yay for nearly perfect vision!

shannon said...

I'm glad things went well with the surgery! I've been wondering how that went.

P.S. Rome was amazing! Thanks for all of your suggestions!!