Paris in the morning leaves behind its big-city hustle and bustle to become a sprawling, quiet small town with abnormally tall buildings. Everyone that is out before 8.30 am seems to know one another, waves at neighbors, nods to the floral shop owner or the baker.
I've recently taking up running again, and with this sticky city heat striking down by 9.30, I have to hit the pavement by 8.00. And oddly, although at first I was hesitant about no longer sleeping 'til noon, I've find I'm liking my 7.30 am walks to the park more and more each day.
Today I encountered a bum making sculptures with beer cans. There was also a women with a strong accent ringing of southern France saying "Dou-ce-ment, dou-ce-ment" ("Slowly, slowly") to her hyperactive little pup. And of course there were the hundreds of schoolchildren dressed in their fancy little French outfits, excitedly greeting their friends outside the elementary school doors.
I suppose it's only logical that the more I gulp down the lovely taste of fresh morning air, the more I find myself getting up early despite myself. Even on days when I don't run, I still wake up before my alarm, springing out of bed instead of lazily clinging to it like I do in winter.
This morning, for example, I woke up at 6.40 - no alarm, no loud noises, nothing. Just me, and my open eyes, and my body ready to start the day. In just a few short weeks, I have made such a turnaround that I can hardly remember how I had been before; I'm looking back at myself just awhile back and wondering why I hadn't taken some of the proper steps to take care of myself, to get myself active and animated and energized. It's so easy, getting up early and going for a jog, yet it had never occured to me to do it. And because of my inactivity, I just wallowed, instead of doing something productive that would make me feel good.
All of this got me thinking about spirals: we all know about the downward spiral, by why don't we ever talk about the upward spiral? Things just keep falling into place, and I keep looking stupidly around myself wondering when somebody is going to pull the rug out from under my feet. My energy is up, I'm laughing more easily, I've got goals and questions and things I want to do and places to see and people to talk to. Those burdening questions of who I am and what I am doing are just sort of fizzling into the background while I make my way semi-daily to the Luxembourg Garderns for my morning jog. And I carry that feeling with me all day long.
It feels really, really good. So good, in fact, that I want to keep it up until - yes, I've set a date - June 30, 2004. I figure that gives me a year, and if I hate it by the end of the year I'll just stop. But between now and then, a lot of shit will go down, and hopefully I'll still have the comforting Parisian morning to keep me company. That's reassuring.
Have you been assigned to Paris for the assistanat?
Srah - Nope, Creteil. Which is juste � c�t�.
I'm a bit nervous that I'll be in some school in BFE, but then I'll just raise holy hell 'cause I TOLD them I would be in school in Paris.
We shall see, we shall see.
ah yes ... the upward spiral. i seem to be experiencing the rollercoaster spiral right now. ups and downs packed tightly together. it's all good.