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And I mean flushed in the non-bathroom sort of way Weighing my pockets with stones of longing |
It's not even 10 o clock and already I've spent 9 euros for the train to Carcassonne. I don't have an appointment until 10:30. The weather today is awful. In Narbonne it's raining and hot. In Carcassonne, it's raining and cold. I had to wear my glasses today for the medical visit, so I can't see anything; they're all foggy. I took the train with Jessica, Alina, and Wilson, but they've put all their coats on the chairs so I've had to sit farther away. Last night I thought to bring my knitting with me, but I got up late and decided to leave it at home. I regret it. My apartment is a disaster. I had to do laundry two weeks ago and I still haven't done it. I left the dishes from yesterday... after watching two movies and eating spoonfuls of Nutella and honey I put myself to bed, indulged myself some more and wrote till midnight. Oh my God. Can we say traumatic doctor's appointment?? Apparently there are some cultural clashes at work here. We got called into this big empty room with a big French man wearing a half-unbuttoned shirt and gold chains who simply said "take everything off." No explanation, no specifics, and upon our sputtering questions he just said, "naked from the waist up." Didn't even leave the room while I was undressing. Didn't have anything to cover up with, no robe, no nothing. So I'm standing there trying to cover up my breasts with my hands and feeling totally exposed, and he says to stand up against the machine in the middle of the room--a frigidly cold metal sheet. The temperature alone is enough to make me uncomfortable, but he pushes on my back so I have to turn my head to not smash my face into it, and while I'm held there up against this metal thing he moves it so it drags my breasts and chafes. In my experience in the U.S. doctors explain everything they're doing so you know what's going on. Here... nada. All he said was "Don't move" and left the room. Then when I was told to get dressed again he said to wait but didn't say if I could leave the big empty room and go back to the reception area... Oh it was terrible. Then at the second appointment when the other doctor checked the X-ray he asked if I was pregnant. Shouldn't they have asked BEFORE the X-ray?? Jeez. There was some screwy business with stamps, reminiscent of the running around we got at the Police Prefecture waiting for three hours for nothing trying to get our cards to let us stay in the country. They closed early on account of there being too many people. Makes sense. *Endnote: Upon further reflection and talking to other assistants, we have arrived at the conclusion that this was in fact not a cultural misunderstanding, but that the radiologist was indeed somewhat on the pervert end of the scale. Gross.*
On the cultural consistency of creepy men wearing chains at 6:17 p.m.
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