Running is Normal

I just returned from my first run in Paris. It was, in a word, incredible. The best run I've had in nearly a year. Not one person looked at me like I was crazy... in fact, people SMILED at me AND other people were running. I'm not kidding. I was not the only runner. There were men running and women running. There were slow runners and fast runners. There were people. Running. Now, to everyone but a select few that sounds normal, but I seriously have never seen anyone running in Corinth and it is such a relief to be somewhere where A) running is normal and B) there are nice places to run. (I ran in this beautiful hilly park with a pond and flowers and birds and trails.) mmm, exercise and a society that appreciates it. 

At the end of my run (I will note at this point I was wet with sweat, panting and my hair was wildly frizzy) there was this guy (my age more or less) walking towards me and when he saw me he opened his arms and smiled like he knew me. (Now, I think I know two people under the age of 30 in France and one of them is 14 so there is no way he knew me, but I didn't really think about that in the moment) So I stopped and he said something to me in French... and I started talking to him in Greek. And I didn't do it on purpose, it was just the only language I could get out of my mouth. Like anyone in France speaks Greek. Especially grammatically incorrect, heavily accented Greek. So then I sort of recovered and said "I don't speak French" in French and then he asked what languages I do speak and I answered, again, in Greek. (On a side note, one thing that being around so many foreign languages has done is really trained me to read people. If I just understand one word I can often figure out what someone is saying just by context and body language and the similarity of words to other words in other languages I may know. I've noticed this with Russian. I only know a few words and some phrases, but I can often figure out what Alex and his mom are talking about when I listen carefully. When I say often, I mean sometimes.) So anyway then the guy asked for my number and I smiled and said "non, merci" and ran off. 

I think I'll take a shower now.