Day 193: An Explosion of Fruit Flavours

Paris, Day 22. My super-sonically-introspective weekend detonated into a full-frontal celebration of a Monday. And I would like to live a life where that sentence is true every week.

9:30 Morning Pages and green tea
10:00 Bizarre intuition about gospel music followed by Googling “Gospel Paris”
10:10 Discover a gospel singing workshop that MEETS ON MONDAYS
11:00 Follow intuition about dance I’ve been having lately and discover the Danse Centre de Marais
11:05 Realize I don’t know how to say “drop-in classes” in French. Call them anyway and have a very pleasant but fruitless conversation with someone who speaks no English
11:07 Haul ass and get ready to go because I’ve decided that if my intuition has decided I’m taking a dance class today then I’m damn well gonna take a dance class and they’re gonna let me drop in even though the French find a way to be bureaucratic about everything, including their love affairs

11:40 Throw self on Metro Line 7 and head south
11:52 Begin to lose faith in the whole idea, thinking I am stupid for believing the whole world is just going to open up because I had some silly idea about dance...and gospel. Gospel?! WTF? What was I thinking...etc. Etc.
12:10 Explode off Metro at Chalelet, run down rue de Rivoli towards Le Marais, knowing full well that I have gotten AMAZINGLY lost every time I attempt to go to Le Marais, the most recent example being this weekend when I somehow got rebounded OUT of the district every time I tried to walk in. It was like rue du Temple was made of rubber balls. Weird.
12:12 Find rue du Temple and the Dance Centre with zero problems
12:15 Talk to very nice English-speaking woman at reception who says I can drop into anything I want and oh, there’s a super-rocking Boxing class starting in 15 minutes, why don’t you try that?

12:16 Walk into the Boxing studio. Change my clothes
12:20 Remember what a frickin’ DELICIOUS feeling being in a dance studio is
12:30 - 1:30 Get PUMMELED by the Polish Boxing Nazi who screams “Allez! Allez! Allez!” non-stop for an hour while techno music slams in the background. Achieve THE BEST endorphin high of the past six to eight months of my life. Resolve to try a DANCE class at the DANCE centre next time. Note that fake tanning among fitness professionals is not just a North American thing

1:40 Find a bead store. Buy bracelet-making supplies
2:00 Grab a coffee so I can make the bracelet. Get told by guy behind the bar to move to the other end of the bar. Obey. Get introduced to Sandra and Sandrine. Decide this is the FRIENDLIEST Parisian cafe I’ve ever been in – which is weird because Parisians are not friendly in public. Ever.
2:15 Get patted on the ass by Sandrine as she leaves the cafe
2:16 Realize I just got cruised in Le Marais (gay district)

3:00 Continue Operation Colour Saturation by stopping into H&M and Zara
4:00 Realize I have a mortal fear of floral patterns. Resolve to work on this in therapy upon returning home
5:00 Get on subway bursting with excitement about my new YELLOW shirt, a RED striped shirt and a PURPLE SPARKLY scarf
5:30 Rush to bathe in the non-shower-bath-thing in which I have to crouch or kneel in order to wash myself. Do this while boiling pasta water, chopping tomatoes and Skyping with my sister

6:18 Run out the door to gospel thing even though no one responded to my inquiry email or phone message
6:45 Decide that if my intuition (aka Higher Power, aka God) told me to go to gospel, then I’m GOING TO GOSPEL. Even though I don't know the building code and may have to lurk outside the door like a panhandling junkie until someone lets me in
6:56 Walk straight in with zero problem. Talk to the choir leader through a lovely woman named Nancy. Get permission to participate in warm-up and watch the rest of rehearsal

7:00 SING! SING! SING! For the first time since that high school vocal jazz audition where I didn’t get in and was TOTALLY CRUSHED (I hate you Brian Farrell!) and never, ever tried again even though singing has ALWAYS been a secret dream.
7:30 Sit and listen to the song they are working on. Feel heart crack wide, wide open and spill out. Cry.
8:00 Begin listening to choir leader’s performance notes as metaphors for life:
“We need everybody to make a song...a hundred voices make a song.”
“Sing beautifully, sing your best, every time.”
“God will still love you if you don’t hit that note, but I won’t.”

8:40 Get invited to dinner at Nancy’s house. “When?” “Right now.” Tell her I’m meeting a friend. Get invited to lunch and/or swing dancing later this week instead. Marvel at how much generosity can fit into one 4-foot-tall woman from Singapore

9:00 Meet Justine for a drink at a place full of crazy primary colours. Talk about dreams and authenticity and colour and dance and weird intuitions about gospel. (GOSPEL?!)Realize this has been the best day EVER.