Sunday, September 22, 2013

Ironman

Last night was pretty much the worst ever. I woke up at 4 am and my ear hurt soooo bad. I immediately took 800 mg of ibuprofen and tried to figure out what else I could do. I was talking to mom and Megan on Skype and they both told me to use a hot towel but at 4am I really didn’t want to wake up Madame and I didn’t really want to move… Overall I was just in a lot of pain and mad that there really wasn’t anything I could do. So I started crying because it hurt so bad and learned that somehow it relaxed or something so my ear felt open instead of closed. It made it feel a little better so I kept thinking about sad things so I would keep crying, eventually the ibuprofen kicked in and I fell back asleep. It was definitely the worst part of my trip so far. Nothing like being in a foreign country in pain and not being able to do anything about it…

I woke up about 9:30 this morning again and told Madame I didn’t sleep well because of my ear. She pretty much was like yeah im not surprised because you went swimming and got water in it. She gave me a schpeal on paying attention to water getting in your ears. I just sort of nodded along. I think what it was is that I had used the ear drops and they had just made it worse before I went to bed. So then when I woke up 3 hours later it was just still worse. The best way I can explain it is that my ear felt clogged and that behind that it was like burning. So when I could make a gap between the clog it felt a bit better but it just really sucks. I am going to go ask tomorrow to get my sard so I can go to the doctor because it is just getting to a point where I think there is something really wrong going on. Everyone seems to think it is an infection and I think yeah it could be that but I feel like my ear infections before haven’t ever been this bad and that because it all started with the airplane ride here there may be something wrong with like pressure or something. I dunno but I really hope that I can see a doctor TOMORROW. But I doubt that will happen… But I am really going to try.
I had breakfast and whatever and then started reading. Around lunch time I met up with Cassandra to go to the place we went last night so I could get pizza. The waiter was really not nice… He was not shy in his expression that he didn’t like us because we were American. Even though I spoke French to him and I thought I did a pretty good job saying everything. It was interesting because both times we went there they serviced the French people twice as fast and often as they serviced us. The girl last night seemed nice enough but the guy today like was really not hiding his dislike. It really doesn’t make sense to me because if they didn’t really want us there they should have serviced us faster so that we would leave… Whatever. I just won’t go back there again because their pizza sucked anyways. We talked a while and then left to go walk down to Cours Mirabeau. Cassandra and I parted ways after she kept walking on my left where she mumbled and because of my ear I really couldn’t hear her so I kept having to say “WHAT” all the time.  Everything was closed because it was Sunday so there wasn’t really a point in walking around town. 
I walked down Cours Mirabeau to go home and saw there was a bunch of stuff going on in the Rotonde. Apparently there was this Ironman race today. I think it was a triathlon but I am not sure. Cassandra had said she had to wait for bikes but then all the little stands had biking, swimming, and running gear for sale so I would assume it was a triathlon which probably started in Marseille because I don’t know of any other water around. The finish line was at the Rotonde so I walked down and saw some people cross it. I went back to going on my way home and noticed some water bottles for sale!!! I have been looking everywhere for a water bottle and they were only 5 euros so I bought one which says Ironman Pays d’Aix France on it.  It isn’t the cutest thing ever but it works so I am happy! I got to being really sad on my walk home. Crying last night just sort of opened the flood gates and there is something very somber about Sundays here that just make you sad. 
I went back home and did some homework and reading. Madame helped me with the pronunciation of French names for Megan which I am not sure if they are really in IPA or if they are in French phonetics because yes they are different even though you think that the “I” in IPA is International there are differences. But it isn’t so hard to figure out.  She also looked over my answers to my French homework tomorrow and corrected my grammar. That is nice because even though I’m not turning it in it’s nice to have the corrections to learn from.
I learned today that Madame’s mom died when she was really little and that her dad lost his mind like had brain troubles so that is why she moved to France. She lived with her Aunt who she says was already old so it was a difficult life. She finished 2 years of high school and then started working so I think that is why she has had some odd jobs and still does. She worked in a restaurant for a while, cleaned houses for a while including for two years in Ramatuelle which is where we went swimming yesterday.  She had troubles with her heart when she was younger so she didn’t play sports but she has skied and runs sometimes. She had Laurence when she was 21 and her son (I forgot his name) when she was 23. So she has had a bit of a crazy life. Now I can find out how old she is by finding out how old Laurence is! 

We had some good bonding today I think which is nice. We had pasta and broccoli for dinner. I couldn’t eat all of it though. I am not a big pasta personne it fills me up too quickly. Now we’re watching tv. I feel really tired today so I will probably turn in earlier. I have been fighting with the internet all day as well. Oh that’s another thing. At the end of the month when my account expires if Jean-Claude hasn’t bought internet for the apartment yet, Madame told me that she is going to give me 30 Euros to go buy another month of internet (I’m going to try a different company if that’s the case). She was very intent that it is important that I have it and that she wants to pay for it. I told her I could no problem but she seems very insistent. But hopefully Jean-Claude buys it and then it will be no big deal and the internet will be better because we will have a router. Also we are getting a new tv which is kind of exciting at the end of the month. It must be when people get paid here. But Madame seems excited about it so that is cool. 

I am most excited to have my ear fixed. It has been very annoying since I got here so it will be nice once that isn’t a concern anymore. Also I hope that my package is here tomorrow because that would be cool!

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