Is the doctor in?

I'm undergoing a rather significant change in my identity. I'm not changing, but people's perception of me is. Let me back up this thing up and explain.

When a person finds out that you worked in a village health clinic in West Africa, they begin to think that you know a bit about medicine and treatments. (Which I do, if your problem happens to be intestinal worms, amoebas or malaria.) Over the past five years I've gotten used to being asked the occasional medical question, often relating to alternative medicines or home treatments.

But the wind is now blowing in a new direction and people are asking me medical questions more often and on much broader topics.

Silly, prideful me. I thought the recent influx had to do with my experience in Africa and perhaps I had gained a little reputation as someone knowledgeable. Umm... non. It struck me recently that these conversations seem to follow a similar format - particularly at the end:

Friend: Hi Kari! Wow, did you cut your hair again?

Me: Yeah, it was getting a little bird's nest-y.

Friend: Oh, well it looks.... Anyway, I had a question for you. My X has been really bothering me lately. I tried Y and Z, but it's not helping.

Me: Hmm... If Z didn't work, you could try A. Or maybe B with some vitamin C? Where There Is No Doctor says to avoid E with it though.

Friend: Uh... thanks. I'll look into that.

(quiet pause)

Friend: Say, do you think you could ask Jonathan for me? Or give me his email address and I'll write him to ask? Actually, I'll be in your neighborhood tomorrow. Would he be available to squeeze me in for a session, maybe during a study break?


The first couple of times this happened, I actually felt like I'd been demoted. But I quickly realized how incredibly silly that is. I mean really, who would I rather go to for medical advice: a former short-term village healthcare worker or someone with five years of hands-on osteopathic training and a growing list of patients? So I'm now feeling thrilled when they ask questions for Jonathan because it means they recognize how very skilled and knowledgeable he is.

My name is Kari Masson, and I'm the osteopath's wife.

Le special delivery!

This little guy was in our mailbox. You know what that means!



Any guesses as to what's inside?



There are several food items we bring from the US or ask friends and family to bring over for us in their suitcases. Unfortunately, Fritos (wonderful Fritos) don't survive airplane travel well.

To date my best strategies were 1) snagging a bag my mother-in-law brought in her carry-on, 2) my mom bringing over Fritos in a canister (but even those took a beating serious enough that they had to be eaten quickly). Then someone had idea number 3.



You may recall Jonathan's brief blog appearance recently. He sent out a restocking request. As thoughtful as it was, I really didn't expect anyone would take him up on it and actually buy and mail me Fritos! Apparently I was wrong - and in this case, I am loving being wrong.



Unless you have some sort of dietary restriction that keeps you from being able to eat your favorite foods, I don't know if it's possible to understand the intensity and frustration of craving a food that is 3,000 miles away. (3,000 miles + some pretty pricey postage, at that!)



(One box was, in fact, harmed in the making of this blog post.)



Thank you, Holly. You are an amazing friend.

Thank you, Todd and members of Snowhill Church. (I'll bet you never thought you'd be sending Fritos to France!)

I really don't know how to express how much this meant to me, how loved I felt, or how incredibly delicious that first bite was. From the root of my heart, thank you.

And it's not even noon...

Five things I saw this morning that I think can be labelled 'Only in France'.

1. Leather pants and burgundy hair. On a woman in her mid-60s.

2. Members of the local Confédération générale du travail protesting in front of the town hall. There were fireworks involved. Then police. More fireworks followed.

3. A man sitting on the ground by the métro with two open bottles of wine, drinking out of a disposable plastic cup. He asked me for a cigarette, which was in keeping with his theme of two-at-once as he was smoking at the time.

4. A well-groomed shih-tzu sitting in the display window of a shop selling up-market womens clothing. I asssume the little guy belonged to the shop owner.

5. A businessman on the métro carrying a briefcase and wearing socks with cartoon characters on them.



Vive la France!

Also in the 'before noon' category, I had a voice-over audition this morning for multiple voices in an animated TV series for kids. A new record of auditioning for five voices in one hour: a princess, a cow, a witch, a farmer and a super-hero named Thunder Girl. We'll see!

Le marché...

Take Your Husband To Work Day...

Yesterday was TYHTW Day. I don't think it's an officially recognized event (check Wikipedia if you have doubts) so much as a day that worked out well for Jonathan to go in to the office with me. Here's how it came about...


My favorite graffitti on the way to work: Those who don't move can't feel their chains - Rosa Luxemburg

Wednesday morning I rolled over, looking refreshed and lovely as usual, and found that Jonathan was already awake and out of bed. Before I even had time to strike my first yoga pose, Jonathan came running back to the bedroom announcing that scores were posted online and he had passed his exam on Monday! Not only did he pass, but he ranked 13th out of all those taking the boards this round. Compute in the fact that he's the only non-French person in the group, and it gets even more impressive and exciting.

So Wednesday morning was a very happy one chez les Masson.

But he still has the rest of his exams to tackle next week (including a particularly challenging neuro exam) so it was important that he keep studying and stay focused. Hence, TYHTW Day.



We rode the bus in to town together, but rather than going separate ways at Bellecour we kept going together up to my corner of the city. He spread his notes out over a spare desk, brewed up a mega-pot of coffee and got down to the business of studying endocrinology.

And what did I do? I learned what the word 'endocrinology' means.

Date night, Masson style...

We've been planning Saturday's date night for weeks now. May 16th was the annual Nuit des Musées across France, an evening on which many museums offer special programs and free entry. We read over the many options and took about .03 seconds to decide we would go to the Musée Africain. It was an easy choice made even easier based on the facts that 1) it's African, 2) free concert, 3) it's African, 4) special African food and drink menu.

So on Saturday evening we got ready for date night and hopped on a bus into town. We walked the couple of blocks towards the Musée Africain and came up on a wall of people. (Amazingly, they were actually standing in a line!) I waited in line while Jonathan went to investigate.


Part of the line in front of the museum entrance

He came back with the estimate that we were about 300th in line. Precisely .03 seconds later we had decided to ditch the other 298 people.



We went for a walk instead. The yellow route below retraces our footsteps over the course of an hour and a half. (Les Masson always wear comfortable walking shoes, even on Gussied Up Date Nights.) The purple dot marks the spot where Jonathan mentioned Dairy Queen and we began discussing what we'd order if we were there. (Final answers: mint Oreo blizzard and a cherry cheesecake blizzard.) That craving is going to stick with me for, oh, about 16 more months.

Study buddies...

Jonathan on his computer and his study buddy on her 'computer' that looked suspiciously like an Etch-a-Sketch

Can you believe it's been almost a year since Jonathan's end of year exams and the bloglife extension? He's been buckling down with his notes and lots of tiny cups of inky black coffee. When asked how he feels about his exams tomorrow, he shrugged, smiled and said, "Fine."

Keep reading to see his schedule for the next couple weeks and tell me if you'd feel 'fine' if you were in standing in his orange shoes. :)



Mon, 18 May
5:30-6:30pm oral/practical, six techniques in clinical scenario (cranial, structural, functional, visceral, vertebral skeleton/articulations, peripheral skeleton/articulations); cumulative from last 5 years

Mon, 25 May
8:30-9:30am written multiple-choice; Urology-Nephrology (kidneys)
9:45-10:45am written essay and case studies; Endocrinology and pathology

Tues, 26 May
9:45-10:45am written essay; Pediatrics
11:00-12:00am Statistics and general principles for the thesis

Thur, 28 May
8am-12:30pm working as therapist in the school clinic

Fri, 29 May
8:30-9:30am written multiple-choice; Neurology- central and peripheral nervous systems, their anatomy and physiology, general neurological pathologies in children and adults; cumulative from last 5 years

Mon, 08 June
10-20 page 'Pre-Thesis' due


Better get back to work, Jonathan!

Lyon speaks English-ish...

Lyon is a wonderful city to live in, and also a great tourist destination. We've got it all - history, gastronomy, music, art, festivals... And over the past few years the city of Lyon and its tourism office - even the public transportation system - have made great strides towards making the city more English-speaker friendly.

They've published a handy downtown shopping guide in English, a public transportation map in English with key tourist locations clearly marked, and also developed a really comprehensive website in English. (Click here for printable walking tours, here for PDF maps, here for help choosing restaurants... you get the idea.)

I just really wish they'd hire proofreaders.



It might make it ever more welcoming for the newscomers to our city.

One of my favorite additions is the (free!) Lyon City Greeter program. You simply fill out a request online two weeks before your visit. You'll be matched up with a City Greeter - a real lyonnais - who will give you a two-hour walking tour of the city, introducing you to the best-known sites and also insider secrets.


After all, who wouldn't want to profit by the best and pay the less! (In all seriousness, the City Tours sound super cool and I'd love to go on one. Alas, we're locals.)


What to do? What to do? Visit OnlyLyon's event calendar to 'find this week programme'. (Hey - at least they didn't spell it 'weak'.)


And the good news: 'all can be reached at least 30 minutes from Lyon!'

It's a UGO!

That's right folks. We've got an Unidentified Growing Object in the window sill planter. We have our suspicions that it's either a Sugar Baby watermelon or a Fins de Bagnols green bean. Why do we think that? Because that's what we planted. Melons on the left, beans on the right. But the problem is that this little guy popped up right smack in the middle.

Anyone care to make a guess?


View from the apartment hall of Jonathan in the garden

In other news, the grandgarden is coming along well. We've expanded and it now includes two kinds of tomatoes, three kinds of lettuce, spinach, basil, parsley, mint, thyme, rosemary, leeks, onions, radishes, green beans, watermelon, zucchini, bell peppers and a little, tiny fig tree.


Our garden gnome :)

Garden question: can we save seeds we don't use this year for next year? If so, how?


Weeding the spinach and lettuce bed


Jonathan and his gardening assistant


The first radishes


We made a 'garden' for her to dig in.


In my hand you can see spinach leaves for salads.


Watering the rather funky-shaped grandgarden