"I hope I am wrong"

The writer of this blog was out of commission due to an earthquake in her life. She has survived the tsunami.

It was a beautiful morning today so I worked a bit and then went to the health food store beside the Champion in front of my apartment building but on the other street. (There is a parking lot, a green area, and a small stream in the area right in front of the building, which I cross to go to the other street. Big enough for the circus… gives us space to see the Alps at a distance.)

I needed oatmeal and soy milk. I came home with these plus a stash of raw almond butter which is not available in London… organic fat free yogurt, organic Chiapas coffee, and some kind of “bio” red wine made by priests…( It sounded good, I trust priests making wine. Usually communion wine, when served as it is at least during the Anglican masses I have attended, is quite good.) There were also the most beautiful whole wheat breads at the check out. The check out lady was serving morsels of the enormous whole compacted wheat with nuts and raisins bread (at least half a meter by 30 centimeters in size). She offered me a thin slice and that was my breakfast for the morning. (Here I am talking about food again!)

Had some coffee and worked a bit more until 11:30 when I went swimming at the local public pool. The building is simple, attractive and all of the materials carefully chosen to last. I take the card to the desk; the attendant gives me a magnetic key and a card. I use one Euro for the locker and close it with the card and take out the key. I take a shower and go into the seven lane pool, two of which are reserved for school kids who come all throughout the day to swim or for classes. I am up to 21 laps, not bad for someone who sort of learned to (inefficiently) how to swim at age 50 and has not swam regularly for a couple of years. My next project is skiing. I WILL conquer that one…

After swimming I went into the hammas. That is the steam room. I absolutely love being in a steamy room. The more steam the better. I smuggled eucalyptus oil in and was in total heaven, sweating and smelling the scent of Australian forests. After 5 minutes I leave, shower and rest outside on wooden beds, using the time for yoga positions. After some of that, another shower and more steam.

During the second time around I met a Frenchman who I had talked with in the hammas before. He speaks fluent English and as a young man taught swimming at Jewish summer camps in the Catskills. The conversation first started when he was doing yoga positions in the hammas. I asked if he practiced yoga and observed that his twists and back relaxation poses were excellent. He said he had an inflammation on his side, so he used the steam and the poses to help the condition. Of course I found out that his 18 year old daughter was coming to NYC to study and we became best friends.

This time around I asked how his pain was, and then used the opportunity to ask about the medical insurance issue. He said that (horrors!) with the new changes he only can go to one GP, not to as many as he could go before. Some people have to pay a small co-pay to go to the doctor. The whole French social security is being overhauled. He thinks it needs to be but it needs to be done correctly (I almost wrote right instead of correctly, but I fear the Right handling SS.)

Two more people entered the hammas and got involved in the conversation. One very nice older woman, retired from UN peace keeping missions, doesn’t trust the SS changes. She thinks that now many people cannot see doctors who say they are full, or have the lower paying patients wait for months. She blames the infiltration of insurance companies for the medical insurance issues and of American TV into France for idiocy among youth.

Like every person I have talked to, this woman is hopeful that the US will change with the election of Obama or Hillary. To everyone who says that, I reply, “Do not bet on it! I hope I am totally wrong, but I do not think that either is electable due to racism and sexism rampant in US society, not to mention election corruption... It is going to be the “good o’l White soldier boy” again…” The answer is usually a gasp and “Oh, No!” And I nod my head, upset at myself for being so cynical, and say, “I could be wrong…”

Politics in the hammas is steamy too.