Hide that body that I shall not see

Last December, I registered to a fitness club of my town. I haven't been an athletic person, I have a breathing problem so I can't do cardio activities and I became a little lazy. The sport we used to do at school and high school wasn't always fun either so it didn't convert me, so, I didn't like sport. I registered to a little fitness club in Paris when I was in University, I would actually buy some tickets and use them each time I went, so with the studies and the homework at the Univ and then the Business School, I didn't really go too often, also because I had to take the transportation to go there and it wasn't close to my home.

But a few months ago, I took the advantage of a special offer to go and have some information about this club. The offer was supposed to be "over" but I managed to benefit from it (900€ is way to expensive for me!) so it was the occasion to register, as I could also pay in 4 payments.

I'm really happy I did it cause I've become a soon-to-be-addicted to sport! =) I discovered Pilates, Body Pump, Body Combat, Body Balance, the cardio and body building facilities are really nice, as are the teachers.

Anyway, as in every fitness club, the changing room where there are the lockers is shared, this was not a surprise. What surprised me is that most of women there do not feel embarrassed to change in front of the others, most of all, hang around naked, put body lotion after the shower even without wearing a towel, etc. This morning, while I was changing (the minimum, as I take the shower at home), two women were talking, naked, with their towel on their arm, before to go to the shared shower booths. lol That was... bizarre.

So I thought 'am I being too chaste or modest?'. I have, like many women, some complexes about my body, I don't like to show some lower parts of my body on the beach and wearing a bathing suit has been a torture lately but it's ok as long as I don't do long walks! lol So, seeing all these women that seem to be without complexes kind of stunned me and made me question myself.

Soon after, I met a friend who is also going to a fitness club where she made the same comment and we talked about it. Most of these woman are not even looking like models, there are real women, with flesh, stretch marks, etc.

I got to thinking: do men also hang around in their lockers room, nonchalant, all attributes outside?

So, I'm asking, what are the limits? Are there any limits? Why do some women have no problems walking around naked in front of others women and others do?!

Meet Miss no Meat

Today, I went and celebrated three little girls' birthday, of my family.
As appetizers, there were some saucisson, chorizo, peanuts, little sausages and smoked salmon on toasts.

Then, the main course was some meat cooked in the oven with potatoes and mushrooms and fortunately, a zucchinis gratin.

I say "fortunately" cause, I'm a vegetarian. Each time I confess my way of eating, people just look at me, full of surprise, like "what, so it really exists?" or sometime it can also be like if I had confessed something disgusting.

And so, just after that, people will always ask bunch of questions like "why? for how long? but what do you eat then? do you eat fish? do you eat bread? but carrots also have a soul, why do you eat them?"... yes, sometimes, reactions can be stupid! But, fortunately it doesn't occur too often.

I have a friend, whose husband is also a vegetarian but because he doesn't like the taste of the meat. My reason is more an ethical commitment and moral conviction, I don't eat meat because I don't see meat in my plate as food but as a dead animal that was murdered! What I mostly dislike is baby animals served as meat like lamb or veal. I've always been close to animals, I used to ride horses for few years, we had a dog for 16 years but, it took me 17 years to actually realized that the meat I was eating was in reality killed animals. It just happened. Since then, I stopped to eat red meat I had never been found of anyway, then paté and rillettes, ham and other by-products from meat, I didn't stop all of a sudden, cause after all, there was some food I liked.

So it was like "okay, next week, I stop eating this, next week I stop eating that". I, somehow, kept eating chicken and turkey (something some people couldn't understand), not that I wanted to but, for some health reasons, because your body can't stop eating some much type of food so quickly. And I kept doing that for 7 years, until one day, I couldn't bear eating it and also because I was kind of fed up with always eating this. So, since September 2006, no meat at all.

To answer some questions, some vegetarians eat fish, others don't, there are no rules! And why do we eat vegetables? Cause they don't reproduce, they're not living beings like even sea shells are. =)

Being a vegan/vegetarian can also be a matter of health concern and environment. You have the superior level, the veggies! For me, they're more or less aliens! lol Cause, I don't understand all their reasons even if I know them. I try not to wear leather, I certainly do not wear fur (!) but not wearing whool or eating eggs, dairy and honey... goes a little beyond my conviction. I understand these people want to fight against the animal conditions, I also do but... I find it a little extreme. Anyway, after all, they're not hurting anyone, that's the total contrary and that's what counts! Of course, as I respect this choice of way of living, I'd like people to respect mine... that's another story.

I always say, "you don't criticize Muslim people who don't eat pork or Jews who only eat Kosher, etc. so, take this as my religion (I'm atheist...) and give me a break".

When, I announced my relatives and friends my choice, some didn't seem bothered, but my dad or my grand-ma (dad's mom), thought it was gonna be a phase or that it was some kind of diet. Believe me, you can be a vegetarian and not be skinny!! lol My grandma used to say "it will pass, you'll see, you'll go back to eating meat one day". Well, that day still hasn't come yet and I don't think it will ever come as it got even worse as I stopped eating any meat more than a year ago! Sometimes, people say "in the Jungle, animals kill and eat each other". Sure, but I'm not an animal and we don't live in the jungle.

I never imposed my choice on the others, sometimes, when I'm invited for dinner for example, I will remind it to the person, if that's someone I know well, if not, I'll eat what I can eat, sometimes not much, but that's how it goes. Fortunetely, I have some relatives and friends who also think about me!

Another aspect of being a vegetarian is that, some people think you eat disgusting food like tofu and other soya-made food. Well, it now exists lots of good vegan food, tofu steaks that taste like chicken, I swear, I made some people tasted them and they were surprised! I'm also a little into the organic food and there are now a variety of meals you can have for lunch or dinner even if you don't eat meat. Vegetarians do not just eat vegetables! lol

And to end this (one way, so far) conversation, isn't it said that vegetarian people live longer and have less risk of having serious deseases?! ;o)

This speeach may sound a little vicious to you but I wanted to take the occasion of this blog to create this post and talk about being vegetarian.

Feel free to comment!! =)

Update: just saw this sentence on a blog about the vegetarianism "Animals are my friends, thus, I do not eat my friends". I like it, it sumps up everything.

Some introduction

If you arrive on this blog, first of all, Welcome! You'll think, another blog, there are tons of blogs now on Internet, why should I read this one and come back to read more? Well, I've been a salesperson, I should have the right arguments... but no, I'll just say that I wanna talk about everyday life subjects, stories that can happen to all of us, ask questions you may also be asking yourself and try to answer them... If you like the way it's written, the tone, the environment, please, feel free to come past and most of all, post comments! :o) I don't even know if I'm good at blogging yet, we'll see this all together with time! =) A little about me, I'm a 25 years old Parisian girl. Well, I don't leave in Paris, but its suburb. I have always lived at the same place (although moved apartment 12 years ago). This summer, I'll have to move to my own apartment because my parents are selling this one. The hard part, apart from moving from a place I've been living in for 25 years, is that I'm currently unemployed. I've been looking for a job since I graduated in Sept 2006. I've worked since but nothing relevant. This will be the subject of another post. I've been living with my mom since Fall 2002, she's been actually part-time here and part-time at her partner's. I've had a little black she rabbit since 2005. As far as I know, my origins are mostly French and 1/4 Polish but I don't know anything from my foreign ones, my mother's father came to France during WW2, in the early 1940's but never talked about his past, so my family has very little information, but I'd really like to find more and go to Poland one day. I physically consider myself in the average (height and weight), have long hair, brown eyes, wear lenses everyday, like to dress casual but dress up a little more for special occasions (like wearing hills). I love to travel, read (books, magazines, papers), surf on Internet and learn about anything, am an series addict, only go and watch original version movies (most of them being Anglo-Saxon), listening to music (can't live with music!). I've been cooking and enjoying it for the past 2-3 years (especially deserts, seems like I'm good at it!). I like long walk, having a drink and chitchatting with friends. I also discovered a recent sport-almost-addiction! =) I've never been an athletic person - especially since a minor but inconvenient heart/breathing problem sat in 10 years ago (bad consequences of a vaccine that occurred to lots of young people) - but I registered to a big fitness club of my town last January and since them, I discovered fun courses like Pilates or BodyPump and now, I need to have my dose... like an addict! lol Two to three times a week! I could end up saying that I'm used to going to bed late (even during the week unfortunately for my sleep) as you can see. And this night, we're losing an hour of sleep, looks like it's gonna be a little harder to get up tomorrow morning... Tomorrow, I'm going to the birthday of three little girls of my family (between age 4 to 8), I'm sure I'll have something to talk about...

I did it!

Here it is and here I am. Finally blogging. Finally did it. The most difficult part was to find blog address and title for my blog, you have no idea how people can be imaginative, I wanted to be creative but I had a hard time cause all my ideas were already kind of already taken...

Anyway, hope I chose right and that my final ideas weren't too boring after all.

Dunno if a lot of poeple will ever manage to arrive on this blog one day, but I'd like it to be. I finally decided to create a Weblog of my own to be able to share some beliefs, some fears and wondering of my life (maybe your life too?) with people from everywhere. Right now, I don't really where I'm heading to, in many domains, I lost track of my life and so, maybe I'll be able to find it back with some advice or support I can't find so far.

Eventhough, I'm French, I chose to write in English, to be able to share this blog with the most people possible, because I've liked the English language since I learnt it at school, I only (at least try to) watch original version movies (even apart from English), I love to talk in English, sometimes it even comes easier than my mother langue. Maybe, this will also enables me to improve my English - so please, excuse the possible future mistakes! =)

P.S. First difficulty I encounter tonight, the spelling checking stuff is underline in red almost every word lol yes, can't I have the freedom of writing in the language I want... I will try to find out how to solve this problem later).

Next step, a little of introducing to try to put a (virtual) face to this blog!