the hammum hero

This week I am a little embarrassed to talk about my cultural experience. I constantly put myself in situations where people take advantage of my absent mindedness. On Monday after visiting the Grand Palais I wanted to unwind a bit, so I decided to try out a Hammum. Upon walking in I felt that I stepped back in time, or into a painting by Matisse or Ingres with women lounging and washing each other. I pointed to the service I wanted and the woman handed me a fist full of soaps and tickets and pointed towards the back. Having no idea what to do, I wandered from room to room, far from relaxed. I went back and forth from my locker a couple times. I fussed with my stuff and hoped to catch a glance of someone who looked like they knew what the deal was, so I could copy them. The second or third time I came back I was walking down the row when I heard a stern voice shout “Qu’est-ce que vous fait?....” she continued in French I could not comprehend. I looked up to see a hand pointing at my locker, I had left it open, with all of my stuff inside. She continued to chatter and walked away. Horrified and on the verge of tears I went back to the bath, where I was scrubbed to oblivion. When I walked into the massage room a half hour later I saw the girl who had yelled at me. She walked over and started talking to me again, I told her I didn’t speak French. She smiled then and said “oh, that’s why you didn’t answer me in the lockers! I thought I had just scared you badly!” We started talking and she told me she had seen me walk away from my locker and stood there for fifteen minutes making sure no one stole anything before I got back. I couldn’t believe how nice she was to me. I was so careless and her kindness was completely uncalled for. I bought her a tea and we sat and talked, she was from Libya and come to France to study international affairs. I always thought that my carelessness only affected me, but now I’m starting to realize the amount of strain it puts on people like this woman, or my friends and family. But, it is reassuring to know that the world is full of beautiful people who go out of their way to protect a total stranger.