After walking everywhere so much this week in my flip flops, last night the right side of my foot started to throb. I should've thrown an ice pack on it right away, but instead I shrugged it off and decided a night of rest will probably do enough good for it to feel better in the morning... WRONG! How many times do I have to learn this lesson?!?!? When it hurts, put an ice pack on it! It makes me want a version of this Portlandia skit for injured athletes:
Ahahaha... PUT. AN. ICE. PACK. ON. IT.
Today, the President accompanied me to see my dream apartment, I finally got my FIVB international transfer number, and started my temporary long-stay visa paperwork for France. All this bureaucratic bull on top of my nagging foot pain kinda put a kink in my outlook on the day. So, while Laurent made lunch, I blasted some of my favorite music: King Crimson's Walking On Air, Erik Satie's Je Te Veux, Simon and Garfunkle's Greatest Hits, and this Bell Chant.
The music sparked a deep conversation about the incredible life of Laurent Cahu. We ate and talked. He's been really great about opening up his home and sharing everything with me... He's also been a very patient French teacher at every opportunity he gets. He takes the time to explain expressions and words to me - for example, well, every bad word in the French language, slang for "cops", the word "mothballs", etc. Ahaha! :)
I can't say my foot or my mood had fully recovered by the time we rolled up to the gym, HOWEVER, by the time I laced up my shoes, every thought from my day just completely faded away into team thoughts. Volleyball practice has a way of quieting the mind that I just love so much... Once that ball is in the air, the team is all that matters... A lot of the credit for this feeling goes to the coach of course. She's doing a really good job setting the tone, working us out, and starting to get us to think as one. Oh man, just typing this gives me such a good feeling! Love my team!! Love this sport!!
The Head Coach gave me a lift back to Laurent's place. It was a real privilege getting a chance to talk to her. She told me her volleyball history (she's my hero) and I told her about how much I love hot yoga. She said that if you buy the TGV tickets for Tours-Paris far enough in advance it can be as cheap as 20 euros!!!! I said, "GET OUT!" I'm stoked... This means that I can go practice bikram in Paris - maybe as often as once a month. This is great news! Can't wait!
Opening the door to the house was like walking into a scene from Ratatouille - ha! - Laurent had cooked up a specialty of his, a very meaty sausage and vegetable stew. So, I made an exception and tasted it. Delicious! This is the first pork I've had since May! I sauteed some zucchini on the side and ate while icing my foot and then almost fell asleep on the couch. So beat!! Bed now.
More later!
No comments:
Post a Comment