So another week has gone by without a chance for me to update my blog. Nothing overly interesting to report. There was traditional music at the beach last week and it was really good, a really nice atmosphere. There was a house party we were supposed to go to last week but didn’t because the car we were supposed to be getting a lift in broke down. On Sunday there was a bit of a party to celebrate the end of the level 4 exams, a high diving grade which involves a lot of hard work. That was good fun and I got to know the people who work in the neighbouring dive clubs a bit more. We went out for a meal to celebrate Jess’ birthday. I had a really nice duck dish. Yoan moved out and cooked us a really nice leaving dish. He lives down the road now, the other side of the beach from us up a really steep hill. It’s a nice little apartment he’s got.
I went diving this weekend, got 4 dives in, one on a wreck and it was really interesting because we went inside it and everything! It’s only 9 years old so it’s in a pretty good condition. Saw a sea turtle on one of my dives and an octopus hiding in its little hole. Lots of lobsters and barracudas too. I also started my level 2 diving thing, on the French system (not PADI). It’s better than the advanced open water qualification PADI offers, and a lot more complete in terms of theory and it means I’ll be potentially one dive qualification away from being able to teach diving!
I’m finding the language barrier quite frustrating. Before when I’ve been in French environments for long periods of time the conversation hasn’t generally been with young people, and so when I’ve hanging around with younger people the conversation tends to move a lot faster, with a lot of people adding to the convo, so it moves quickly. There’s also language used that I’m not familiar with. It also doesn’t help that a lot of the people that are mentioned I don’t know, or I wasn’t there when they are talking about a past event. Obviously I’m starting to be apart of the experiences so I’m able to relate a lot more to the conversation but it’s still hard to find a moment to input, especially by the time I’ve decided what I want to say, the conversation has moved on already! I’m definitely going to have to learn fast!
Anyway apart from that I'm having a great time, I'm just wishing the mosquitos would leave me alone!!
mercredi 16 décembre 2009
dimanche 6 décembre 2009
Guadeloupe; First impressions
So I've been here a week exactly now and still haven't managed to post until now. Internet has been very dodgy here but today at least it seems to be fairly consistent.
So I left Richard in Paris; he came over to see me off but his plane was late so we didn't do much other than pack and go out for a lovely Mexican on Saturday evening and velibed around. Sunday morning was stressful, trying to ram everything into my suitcase which was refusing to close. I thought I was going to miss the plane but we arrived at the airport with time to spare so I bought a luggage strap to stop my bag exploding mid flight! Said good bye to Richard and headed through security. The flight was uneventful, I mainly ate, read and slept!
As we arrived in Guadeloupe we flew over Grande Terre (the right hand butterfly wing). It was so flat!! It looked like the whole lot could just disappear into the sea if the sea rose by a meter or so! You could see right over it to the sea on the other side. Basse Terre (where I live) on the other hand was mountainous and had clouds looming over the mountains.
View over Grande Terre as we came into land
After collecting my luggage I wandered out towards the Pharmacy where Isabelle (my new boss) had told me she'd meet me. I think she found me because I was looking lost! We set off in the car and went over/through the mountains to Basse Terre. As we arrived at the sea the view was beautiful. The whole place is so green!
We stopped off at my new work to pick up the keys to my house and I met Jessica, one of my work and house mates. Then we headed off to my new house. It's right next to the sea but it was very bare, my room had a single bed and a small desk and a chair in it and that was it! The chair has since been moved to the kitchen!
the beach that I work on
the view from my "office"; the islands you can see are where the main dive sites are
My work place
I started to feel very alone in my big empty room but went and showered and then to watch the sunset on the rocks outside the house. Then my housemates came back (Jessica, Yoanne and Cyril) and I chatted to them before going to bed.
Work has generally been great, the first few days I was really getting to grips with how things work. I went out on the last boat on Monday to the Islands to see how things work and on Tuesday I even got to go diving because someone didn't have a buddy. It was beautiful. Loads of pretty corals and fish. We had a barracuda follow us for most of the dive. Other than that work consists of talking to customers, advertising the dives, helping people get ready for dives and helping them when they come back. There's a lot of french; all the tourists here are french (well the vast majority of them) and the Guadeloupians don't speak much English either. It's been going really well tho and I've really got to grips with it after a week there.
My house mates are really nice too. Yoanne has been great, he's really friendly but doesn't spend an awful lot of time at the house and I think he's moving out soon. Jessica talks a lot but is also great and really friendly. Cyril is more serious. He's a dive instructor but when you get him talking he talks a lot. Jessica is 22, Yoanne 31 and Cyril 29.
I have met a few Guadeloupians too and in General they all seem very friendly. Everyone says hello to me as I walk to work. The houses range from fairly basic to pretty big. It's so hot here! The beach I work on has black sand because it's volcanic. It's quite a small beach but nice all the same. I don't think there are many other beaches near here altho I don't think it will be too hard to explore because buses are fairly regular (except on a Sunday!).
There are very french things, like supermarkets and stuff, but then the whole place has a very island feel about it.
I went out last week to a bar with my house mates which was nice. Every one seemed to know each other there but it was a nice atmosphere. We also went out for a nice meal one night at a restaurant in someones living room. It was really good food. When we got back we played cards, which was complicated! I was just starting to get the hang of it when Jessica gave up and went to bed!
Other than that I have spent my evenings chatting to my housemates and various friends of their's that come over. it gets dark very quickly here, I spend most of my daylight hours at work and if I'm lucky it's light for another half hour or so. But it's fine because there's a lot of time for sunbathing at work!
Yesterday was my first day off so I went diving in the morning. It was a really good dive but very different from my previous one. The corals and fish were different even tho it was so close to the site where I was for my first dive. I wandered up and down the beach and then managed to get a lift to the nearest cash point. It's a 10 minute drive away! I hitch hiked back and then went swimming out side my house. Then I went and watched the sunset on the beach. Today I was planning on going diving but it was raining so I stayed in instead and read and tidied and cleaned my room. I also sprayed my computer with ant killer because it seems to have ants living in it!! Not overly cool!
Apparently tonight there will be the traditional music on the beach so I'll go along to that if it's not raining.
Right I'll post again soon. The restaurant I'm in is shutting up!!
So I left Richard in Paris; he came over to see me off but his plane was late so we didn't do much other than pack and go out for a lovely Mexican on Saturday evening and velibed around. Sunday morning was stressful, trying to ram everything into my suitcase which was refusing to close. I thought I was going to miss the plane but we arrived at the airport with time to spare so I bought a luggage strap to stop my bag exploding mid flight! Said good bye to Richard and headed through security. The flight was uneventful, I mainly ate, read and slept!
As we arrived in Guadeloupe we flew over Grande Terre (the right hand butterfly wing). It was so flat!! It looked like the whole lot could just disappear into the sea if the sea rose by a meter or so! You could see right over it to the sea on the other side. Basse Terre (where I live) on the other hand was mountainous and had clouds looming over the mountains.
View over Grande Terre as we came into land
After collecting my luggage I wandered out towards the Pharmacy where Isabelle (my new boss) had told me she'd meet me. I think she found me because I was looking lost! We set off in the car and went over/through the mountains to Basse Terre. As we arrived at the sea the view was beautiful. The whole place is so green!
We stopped off at my new work to pick up the keys to my house and I met Jessica, one of my work and house mates. Then we headed off to my new house. It's right next to the sea but it was very bare, my room had a single bed and a small desk and a chair in it and that was it! The chair has since been moved to the kitchen!
the beach that I work on
the view from my "office"; the islands you can see are where the main dive sites are
My work place
I started to feel very alone in my big empty room but went and showered and then to watch the sunset on the rocks outside the house. Then my housemates came back (Jessica, Yoanne and Cyril) and I chatted to them before going to bed.
Work has generally been great, the first few days I was really getting to grips with how things work. I went out on the last boat on Monday to the Islands to see how things work and on Tuesday I even got to go diving because someone didn't have a buddy. It was beautiful. Loads of pretty corals and fish. We had a barracuda follow us for most of the dive. Other than that work consists of talking to customers, advertising the dives, helping people get ready for dives and helping them when they come back. There's a lot of french; all the tourists here are french (well the vast majority of them) and the Guadeloupians don't speak much English either. It's been going really well tho and I've really got to grips with it after a week there.
My house mates are really nice too. Yoanne has been great, he's really friendly but doesn't spend an awful lot of time at the house and I think he's moving out soon. Jessica talks a lot but is also great and really friendly. Cyril is more serious. He's a dive instructor but when you get him talking he talks a lot. Jessica is 22, Yoanne 31 and Cyril 29.
I have met a few Guadeloupians too and in General they all seem very friendly. Everyone says hello to me as I walk to work. The houses range from fairly basic to pretty big. It's so hot here! The beach I work on has black sand because it's volcanic. It's quite a small beach but nice all the same. I don't think there are many other beaches near here altho I don't think it will be too hard to explore because buses are fairly regular (except on a Sunday!).
There are very french things, like supermarkets and stuff, but then the whole place has a very island feel about it.
I went out last week to a bar with my house mates which was nice. Every one seemed to know each other there but it was a nice atmosphere. We also went out for a nice meal one night at a restaurant in someones living room. It was really good food. When we got back we played cards, which was complicated! I was just starting to get the hang of it when Jessica gave up and went to bed!
Other than that I have spent my evenings chatting to my housemates and various friends of their's that come over. it gets dark very quickly here, I spend most of my daylight hours at work and if I'm lucky it's light for another half hour or so. But it's fine because there's a lot of time for sunbathing at work!
Yesterday was my first day off so I went diving in the morning. It was a really good dive but very different from my previous one. The corals and fish were different even tho it was so close to the site where I was for my first dive. I wandered up and down the beach and then managed to get a lift to the nearest cash point. It's a 10 minute drive away! I hitch hiked back and then went swimming out side my house. Then I went and watched the sunset on the beach. Today I was planning on going diving but it was raining so I stayed in instead and read and tidied and cleaned my room. I also sprayed my computer with ant killer because it seems to have ants living in it!! Not overly cool!
Apparently tonight there will be the traditional music on the beach so I'll go along to that if it's not raining.
Right I'll post again soon. The restaurant I'm in is shutting up!!
jeudi 26 novembre 2009
Special offers to Guadeloupe
Wow I am getting good at posting!
Just thought I'd put a post up to say I've updated the travel info section for coming to Guadeloupe - there are some deals on at the moment with Corse Air and Air Caraibes - both have a deal that means if you fly out to Guadeloupe on or before the 13th December and return on or before the 16th December it can cost from 419 euros.
Corse Air also has one for 10th Jan to 18th March (latest return 25th March) for 529 euros return. All this is from Paris.
Regarding my news, I woke up feeling loads better today and set out to get my money off my boss. He gave me 100 euros which I was pleased with. I was contracted to get 150 euros per month but I couldn't be bothered to argue with him. Especially considering out of the 24 working days in the month I worked 13 of them!
Then I set off on a mission to stock up on my favourite hair product before Guadeloupe and got a free ring because I bought so many of them.
This evening Georgia, Sarah and myself went to Chartier for a meal. It was a pretty cool restaurant; it was a massive airy room, very busy (people were queueing to get in) and pretty cool decor. The food was standard french (meat and potato) but very good non the less! Our waiters were very friendly and the service was extremely quick, our starters arrived moments after we ordered! Apparently it used to be a soup kitchen style thing but has since become a cheap but good quality restaurant. 3 courses and a bottle of wine between the 3 of us came to just under 60 euros, so at less than 20 euros a head I think it was a right bargain! Then we went dancing at Cafe Oz nearby. Georgia got hit on by a particularly smooth guy whose chat up lines included gems such as "I think you are a thai masseuse named Jessica", "What do you think I am, an artist, a philosopher or a sex God?....I am all three but I am a professor of love" and finally, upon hearing the DJ start to play a salsa song "Do you like salsa? I can feel the salsa dancer in you just waiting to come out"... and he proceeded to try and drag Georgia to the dance floor!
But it was a great night, apart from the dodgy men who seemed to appear all to frequently!
Just thought I'd put a post up to say I've updated the travel info section for coming to Guadeloupe - there are some deals on at the moment with Corse Air and Air Caraibes - both have a deal that means if you fly out to Guadeloupe on or before the 13th December and return on or before the 16th December it can cost from 419 euros.
Corse Air also has one for 10th Jan to 18th March (latest return 25th March) for 529 euros return. All this is from Paris.
Regarding my news, I woke up feeling loads better today and set out to get my money off my boss. He gave me 100 euros which I was pleased with. I was contracted to get 150 euros per month but I couldn't be bothered to argue with him. Especially considering out of the 24 working days in the month I worked 13 of them!
Then I set off on a mission to stock up on my favourite hair product before Guadeloupe and got a free ring because I bought so many of them.
This evening Georgia, Sarah and myself went to Chartier for a meal. It was a pretty cool restaurant; it was a massive airy room, very busy (people were queueing to get in) and pretty cool decor. The food was standard french (meat and potato) but very good non the less! Our waiters were very friendly and the service was extremely quick, our starters arrived moments after we ordered! Apparently it used to be a soup kitchen style thing but has since become a cheap but good quality restaurant. 3 courses and a bottle of wine between the 3 of us came to just under 60 euros, so at less than 20 euros a head I think it was a right bargain! Then we went dancing at Cafe Oz nearby. Georgia got hit on by a particularly smooth guy whose chat up lines included gems such as "I think you are a thai masseuse named Jessica", "What do you think I am, an artist, a philosopher or a sex God?....I am all three but I am a professor of love" and finally, upon hearing the DJ start to play a salsa song "Do you like salsa? I can feel the salsa dancer in you just waiting to come out"... and he proceeded to try and drag Georgia to the dance floor!
But it was a great night, apart from the dodgy men who seemed to appear all to frequently!
mardi 24 novembre 2009
A meeting with the boss
So I thought I'd break my usual habit of posting once in a while and actually post something more frequently!
Today was mainly written off due to this virus which leaves me wanting to sneeze the whole time and a perpetual runny nose, but I eventually left the house and walked to my bank. Unfortunately my bank is a good 20 minute walk away, which was made worse by the fact that I am ill and therefore constantly tired. I walked through park Buttes Chaument, which was really peaceful compared to normal Paris and was a breath of fresh air. I continued to my bank and things went surprisingly smoothly - I wanted to deposit cash (a complicated yet non the less accomplishable task), claim back the 25€ insurance fee that I shouldn't have to pay because I'm young and change my postal address to my new Guadeloupe one. All tasks were completed within 20 minutes and I was very pleased with myself!
Then I caught the metro to my old work to confront my boss and demand that he pay me. I was pretty nervous I have to admit but Lucie opened the door for me (Lucie works there and is absolutely lovely) and after waiting for about 5 minutes my boss decided he was going to see me. He knew exactly why I was there. He took me into his office and proceeded to light up a cigarette. I was so annoyed, I wanted to ask him to stop smoking but figured that probably wouldn't be the best way to go about getting my money. I just resolved to silently chuckling to myself when he dropped the match that he lit it with in a full can of coke! He then proceeded to tell me that, seeing as I had only worked there for two weeks, he was not going to pay me. I was appalled. I tried to tell him that I had in fact worked for 3 weeks non stop before he sent me home and told me to wait for his call, when I would have to come in no matter what. This effectively tied me down and meant I was still obliged to show up when he wanted. I started working there on the 29th September. I would have started on the 28th but the office was shut and he failed to tell me and I waited outside for 4 hours before giving up and going home. I worked my last day there on the 29th October. Anyone with half a brain cell can tell that that equals one month. He cut our meeting short and ran away home (apparently one of his children had been hospitalised) but I am going to go back there tomorrow morning and pin him down!
Then I went and met up with Sarah and Tristan (Sarah's boyfriend), Georgia and some of Sarah's other friends. We had lovely drinks and chats and then Sarah, Tristan Georgia and I went for a lovely meal at the Pot de Terre. Sarah also gave me a lovely going away present; a little charm - a map of Guadeloupe! I was really pleased and surprised, I was not expecting it at all! I need to get myself a charm bracelet now!
Anyway bed time, I need to be on top form to confront the boss tomorrow!
Today was mainly written off due to this virus which leaves me wanting to sneeze the whole time and a perpetual runny nose, but I eventually left the house and walked to my bank. Unfortunately my bank is a good 20 minute walk away, which was made worse by the fact that I am ill and therefore constantly tired. I walked through park Buttes Chaument, which was really peaceful compared to normal Paris and was a breath of fresh air. I continued to my bank and things went surprisingly smoothly - I wanted to deposit cash (a complicated yet non the less accomplishable task), claim back the 25€ insurance fee that I shouldn't have to pay because I'm young and change my postal address to my new Guadeloupe one. All tasks were completed within 20 minutes and I was very pleased with myself!
Then I caught the metro to my old work to confront my boss and demand that he pay me. I was pretty nervous I have to admit but Lucie opened the door for me (Lucie works there and is absolutely lovely) and after waiting for about 5 minutes my boss decided he was going to see me. He knew exactly why I was there. He took me into his office and proceeded to light up a cigarette. I was so annoyed, I wanted to ask him to stop smoking but figured that probably wouldn't be the best way to go about getting my money. I just resolved to silently chuckling to myself when he dropped the match that he lit it with in a full can of coke! He then proceeded to tell me that, seeing as I had only worked there for two weeks, he was not going to pay me. I was appalled. I tried to tell him that I had in fact worked for 3 weeks non stop before he sent me home and told me to wait for his call, when I would have to come in no matter what. This effectively tied me down and meant I was still obliged to show up when he wanted. I started working there on the 29th September. I would have started on the 28th but the office was shut and he failed to tell me and I waited outside for 4 hours before giving up and going home. I worked my last day there on the 29th October. Anyone with half a brain cell can tell that that equals one month. He cut our meeting short and ran away home (apparently one of his children had been hospitalised) but I am going to go back there tomorrow morning and pin him down!
Then I went and met up with Sarah and Tristan (Sarah's boyfriend), Georgia and some of Sarah's other friends. We had lovely drinks and chats and then Sarah, Tristan Georgia and I went for a lovely meal at the Pot de Terre. Sarah also gave me a lovely going away present; a little charm - a map of Guadeloupe! I was really pleased and surprised, I was not expecting it at all! I need to get myself a charm bracelet now!
Anyway bed time, I need to be on top form to confront the boss tomorrow!
5 days till Guadeloupe and ill again!
So I appear to be ill again, which is rubbish because I haven't shown my face in La Chorba since the entry in my last blog update! Quite a bit of time has passed since then, I went to England that Friday, altho I didn't actually arrive until a very unsociable hour on Saturday morning due to a 7 and a half hour delay from EasyJet. Not amused! But I had at least changed my flights to Stay in Newcastle until the following Sunday.
Newcastle was great, saw people, socialised, got bank stuff sorted and dressed up as a cripple for Steph's 21st - she recently ruptured her achilles tendon so to make her feel less left out we all pranced around with bandages, crutches and various injuries all night long.
Richard came back to Paris with me and we spent Monday biking around, we went to the Sacré Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe and then decided to bike all the way to La Grande Arc de la Defense (or something like that) which is actually a lot further away than it looks when you're stood on top of the Arc de Triomphe! We met with Georgia at Chez Gladines for some plate fulls of meat and potato, the French way!
Tuesday was a doss day and then me and Richard went to see Muse in concert who were awesome!! Altho the French organisation was interesting. We had seats, but they weren't allocated, so when we got there (a little late due to taking longer than expected on the velibs) there were no seats left apart from those behind the stage. And so every one was standing in the aisles. It was no bother because I was planning on standing anyway, I just wonder where they were planning on putting all these people?! In England we would have definitely been a fire hazard!
After Muse we went to Rue Mouffetard for some sophisticated drinks and some late night grub. The next day Richard woke up with food poisoning. We're not sure whether to blame his ham baguette or the late night grub but in any case Wednesday was written off, as was most of Thursday, altho we did make it out for evening drinks and free food at Spaghetti Bar followed by Twilight 2 (which Richard loved of course!).
Friday we hit Disney, which was so cool! It's not just a theme park, it's a whole experience, you are literally transported to another world. Thanks to Lisa we had tickets to both parks and because it was a week day there were little or no queues, most were 5 - 10 mins waiting time, altho we did have to wait about half an hour for a couple of rides. My favourite was the finding nemo ride, and I just loved the Alice in Wonderland maze. We watched the Parade at the end and then headed back to Paris for a meal (Pot de Terre on Rue Pot de Fer - €10.60 for a 3 course menu) and then went to meet my parents for drinks.
Saturday morning we went for breakfast and sent Richard off to Newcastle and then hit Cité de science et de l'industrie because it was having a free weekend, and it was fantastic. We spent most of the day there trying out all the hands on experiments to do with science and industry. A really great experience and definitely worth a visit if you get the chance. Then we headed across to the Opera to try and get some last minute tickets for a dance show that night. It turns out we had to wait until 45 mins before the show to get the last minute tickets. We got 3 cheap ones and one fairly expensive one. Dad and Stef had to stand the whole way thru because their tickets were so appalling. Mum had a great view and my seat was not bad at all. The dancing was absolutely fantastic. The way the dancers moved their bodies was mesmerising. The had such control and made it all look so easy!
Sunday we went for brunch and then to the Orangerie museum which was great, stunning paintings. Then we had the best hot chocolate in Paris (and I would go as far as to say it was the best hot chocolate I've ever had) at Angelina's (226 Rue de Rivoli). Then I took them to the book shops at St Michel and then we headed for a meal with a very heavy bag full of second hand books and cheap BDs.
After a meal I sent them on their way to the airport and headed off to meet Luke (a fellow French student in Newcastle in Pau for the year who had a few hours in Paris between flights/trains). We went up the Montparnasse tower for a view of the whole city and a drink. It was a pretty good view, the Eiffel tower did it's sparkly thing, but it was sooo cold and windy outside!
And then yesterday and today I have been ill again :-( so I haven't really achieved much, altho I intend to go to the bank today to sort out my address change and I may go to Point Par Point to demand my pay!
I imagine the next time I post will be from Guadeloupe unless I manage to get my act together and post before then!
Oh and I changed the blog address so that it doesn't include my name!
Newcastle was great, saw people, socialised, got bank stuff sorted and dressed up as a cripple for Steph's 21st - she recently ruptured her achilles tendon so to make her feel less left out we all pranced around with bandages, crutches and various injuries all night long.
Richard came back to Paris with me and we spent Monday biking around, we went to the Sacré Coeur, the Arc de Triomphe and then decided to bike all the way to La Grande Arc de la Defense (or something like that) which is actually a lot further away than it looks when you're stood on top of the Arc de Triomphe! We met with Georgia at Chez Gladines for some plate fulls of meat and potato, the French way!
Tuesday was a doss day and then me and Richard went to see Muse in concert who were awesome!! Altho the French organisation was interesting. We had seats, but they weren't allocated, so when we got there (a little late due to taking longer than expected on the velibs) there were no seats left apart from those behind the stage. And so every one was standing in the aisles. It was no bother because I was planning on standing anyway, I just wonder where they were planning on putting all these people?! In England we would have definitely been a fire hazard!
After Muse we went to Rue Mouffetard for some sophisticated drinks and some late night grub. The next day Richard woke up with food poisoning. We're not sure whether to blame his ham baguette or the late night grub but in any case Wednesday was written off, as was most of Thursday, altho we did make it out for evening drinks and free food at Spaghetti Bar followed by Twilight 2 (which Richard loved of course!).
Friday we hit Disney, which was so cool! It's not just a theme park, it's a whole experience, you are literally transported to another world. Thanks to Lisa we had tickets to both parks and because it was a week day there were little or no queues, most were 5 - 10 mins waiting time, altho we did have to wait about half an hour for a couple of rides. My favourite was the finding nemo ride, and I just loved the Alice in Wonderland maze. We watched the Parade at the end and then headed back to Paris for a meal (Pot de Terre on Rue Pot de Fer - €10.60 for a 3 course menu) and then went to meet my parents for drinks.
Saturday morning we went for breakfast and sent Richard off to Newcastle and then hit Cité de science et de l'industrie because it was having a free weekend, and it was fantastic. We spent most of the day there trying out all the hands on experiments to do with science and industry. A really great experience and definitely worth a visit if you get the chance. Then we headed across to the Opera to try and get some last minute tickets for a dance show that night. It turns out we had to wait until 45 mins before the show to get the last minute tickets. We got 3 cheap ones and one fairly expensive one. Dad and Stef had to stand the whole way thru because their tickets were so appalling. Mum had a great view and my seat was not bad at all. The dancing was absolutely fantastic. The way the dancers moved their bodies was mesmerising. The had such control and made it all look so easy!
Sunday we went for brunch and then to the Orangerie museum which was great, stunning paintings. Then we had the best hot chocolate in Paris (and I would go as far as to say it was the best hot chocolate I've ever had) at Angelina's (226 Rue de Rivoli). Then I took them to the book shops at St Michel and then we headed for a meal with a very heavy bag full of second hand books and cheap BDs.
After a meal I sent them on their way to the airport and headed off to meet Luke (a fellow French student in Newcastle in Pau for the year who had a few hours in Paris between flights/trains). We went up the Montparnasse tower for a view of the whole city and a drink. It was a pretty good view, the Eiffel tower did it's sparkly thing, but it was sooo cold and windy outside!
And then yesterday and today I have been ill again :-( so I haven't really achieved much, altho I intend to go to the bank today to sort out my address change and I may go to Point Par Point to demand my pay!
I imagine the next time I post will be from Guadeloupe unless I manage to get my act together and post before then!
Oh and I changed the blog address so that it doesn't include my name!
mercredi 4 novembre 2009
Another Week gone by!
So another week has gone by without a blog update!
Thursday I went into work for about 10am having been asked to get there for 9.30. It became apparent that there wasn't a lot for me to do. I spent about an hour sorting cards into piles of 50 so they could be sorted into piles of 50, 100, 150, 200, 400. There were 3400 of them. Then I read for 2 hours before lunch. The afternoon passed in much the same way except I had new exciting things to sort into piles and then work out which piles went with which piles. I again spent 2 hours reading. As 5pm neared I tried to talk to the boss to tell him that I wouldn't be coming back, but he was just impossible to talk to. I overheard him saying that he wanted me in the next day but he didn't actually say that to me. Then he left in such a way that just made it impossible to talk to him. So I sent him an email when I got back telling him I was leaving and asking him to pay me!
The next day volunteering was cool, I got chatting with a really nice girl called Sarah and her friend who was visiting for the weekend, Aude. Sarah is part of a society that is spending 9 months volunteering; they spent 3 weeks at La Chorba and then now they have moved onto 7 months with an association for old people. A lot of the others in the society seemed very immature and loud. Sarah, Aude and myself biked to the 19th on velibs, Sarah is a true Parisienne on the bike, no regard for red lights or other traffic!! The distribution went well. It was different to the other place; less school like. The food was all obviously home made too (by me and other volunteers!).
Saturday I met up with Emily, my cousin from Mauritius, who was in Paris with her school. It was lovely to see her. We went to a Starbucks and Emily was delighted because they don't have them in Mauritius. My Aunt and Uncle were there too and we just generally wandered around Paris. It was horrendously busy seeing as it was a Saturday and my uncle favoured using his car to get from A to B rather than the metro which was actually a lot of hassle! Then that evening I went back to Châlons-en-Champagne with my aunt and uncle and stayed the night there. My cousins were there who I haven't seed for a couple of years now and I met their girlfriends too. The next day we were heading to St Dizier for my other cousins birthday meal celebration. We were supposed to be leaving at 11 and I was ready to leave at 10.45 (surely not?! I hear you cry!!) but yes, I was actually ready to leave at that time! We didn't actually leave until 12.30... Clearly the late gene is something I can do nothing about! It is in my blood!
We arrived and had champagne and nibbles and a spectacular meal; starter was a salad of some sort with some kind of saint Jacques fish, I'm not sure what the english is, then turkey AND duck with cooked pineapple, potatoes and sauce, and 3 desserts; chocolate cake, raspberry mousse and swiss roll with home made custard and fruit coulis. It was soooo good, but I ate enough to feed me for the week! It was all home made and delicious. It was lovely to see everyone too. Then Carole and I got the train back.
Monday I was back in the soup kitchen and again it was great. I didn't go to the distribution in the evening and instead met Georgia at 6pm at La Comédie Française to queue for our free "jeune" tickets to the evening's performance of Figaro Divorce. We queued for an hour and a half before the guichet opened, by which time Sarah from La chorba had joined us, and we didn't even get seats together!! To be honest it wasn't worth the wait. The seats we had meant it was very hard for us to see the stage without leaning right forward and the play was a lot of dialogue that was hard to follow. Even Sarah who is French found it boring! I dozed through the second half and then we headed home. I was starting to get ill :-(
I took all of Tuesday and Wednesday off because I was ill and I did not want to pass it on to all the homeless people of Paris. Tuesday evening I did meet with Sarah Leahy (from the uni) and Georgia for a hot chocolate. Sarah was finding out all about how we are getting on and letting us know that the uni still loves us!
Anyway that's all from me before I bore you to death! Tomorrow is my day off anyway so I shall try and do something exciting and Parisian if I'm feeling up to it; I'm feeling a lot better now after 2 days of bed rest.
Thursday I went into work for about 10am having been asked to get there for 9.30. It became apparent that there wasn't a lot for me to do. I spent about an hour sorting cards into piles of 50 so they could be sorted into piles of 50, 100, 150, 200, 400. There were 3400 of them. Then I read for 2 hours before lunch. The afternoon passed in much the same way except I had new exciting things to sort into piles and then work out which piles went with which piles. I again spent 2 hours reading. As 5pm neared I tried to talk to the boss to tell him that I wouldn't be coming back, but he was just impossible to talk to. I overheard him saying that he wanted me in the next day but he didn't actually say that to me. Then he left in such a way that just made it impossible to talk to him. So I sent him an email when I got back telling him I was leaving and asking him to pay me!
The next day volunteering was cool, I got chatting with a really nice girl called Sarah and her friend who was visiting for the weekend, Aude. Sarah is part of a society that is spending 9 months volunteering; they spent 3 weeks at La Chorba and then now they have moved onto 7 months with an association for old people. A lot of the others in the society seemed very immature and loud. Sarah, Aude and myself biked to the 19th on velibs, Sarah is a true Parisienne on the bike, no regard for red lights or other traffic!! The distribution went well. It was different to the other place; less school like. The food was all obviously home made too (by me and other volunteers!).
Saturday I met up with Emily, my cousin from Mauritius, who was in Paris with her school. It was lovely to see her. We went to a Starbucks and Emily was delighted because they don't have them in Mauritius. My Aunt and Uncle were there too and we just generally wandered around Paris. It was horrendously busy seeing as it was a Saturday and my uncle favoured using his car to get from A to B rather than the metro which was actually a lot of hassle! Then that evening I went back to Châlons-en-Champagne with my aunt and uncle and stayed the night there. My cousins were there who I haven't seed for a couple of years now and I met their girlfriends too. The next day we were heading to St Dizier for my other cousins birthday meal celebration. We were supposed to be leaving at 11 and I was ready to leave at 10.45 (surely not?! I hear you cry!!) but yes, I was actually ready to leave at that time! We didn't actually leave until 12.30... Clearly the late gene is something I can do nothing about! It is in my blood!
We arrived and had champagne and nibbles and a spectacular meal; starter was a salad of some sort with some kind of saint Jacques fish, I'm not sure what the english is, then turkey AND duck with cooked pineapple, potatoes and sauce, and 3 desserts; chocolate cake, raspberry mousse and swiss roll with home made custard and fruit coulis. It was soooo good, but I ate enough to feed me for the week! It was all home made and delicious. It was lovely to see everyone too. Then Carole and I got the train back.
Monday I was back in the soup kitchen and again it was great. I didn't go to the distribution in the evening and instead met Georgia at 6pm at La Comédie Française to queue for our free "jeune" tickets to the evening's performance of Figaro Divorce. We queued for an hour and a half before the guichet opened, by which time Sarah from La chorba had joined us, and we didn't even get seats together!! To be honest it wasn't worth the wait. The seats we had meant it was very hard for us to see the stage without leaning right forward and the play was a lot of dialogue that was hard to follow. Even Sarah who is French found it boring! I dozed through the second half and then we headed home. I was starting to get ill :-(
I took all of Tuesday and Wednesday off because I was ill and I did not want to pass it on to all the homeless people of Paris. Tuesday evening I did meet with Sarah Leahy (from the uni) and Georgia for a hot chocolate. Sarah was finding out all about how we are getting on and letting us know that the uni still loves us!
Anyway that's all from me before I bore you to death! Tomorrow is my day off anyway so I shall try and do something exciting and Parisian if I'm feeling up to it; I'm feeling a lot better now after 2 days of bed rest.
mercredi 28 octobre 2009
First Day volunteering
So I have finished my first day volunteering and I am officially absolutely shattered!! I started off the day cooking soup for 600. As you can imagine this is not simple affaire. I turned up at the place and everyone was really nice, I got shown around and introduced to everyone. Everyone was so nice and welcoming and as more volunteers turned up during the day they made a point of saying hello to everyone and introducing themselves to me. I was put to work chopping tomatoes. There were bucket loads of them! They're tomatoes that the association has been given, a lot of them had big bad bits in them that needed cutting out or were slightly soft so they are probably the sort that aren't likely to be sold. I was encouraged to take breaks when I wanted and to help myself to the food and drink that was available. They had an upstairs area full of donated goods too; clothes, packeted/tinned food, toiletries, bedding etc etc and they had a shower in case any of the volunteers are homeless people and need somewhere to clean themselves. The attitude in the place was completely non judgemental; I was asked if I had somewhere to live and told that if I didn't I was welcome to use the shower etc. I chopped up lots of courgettes too and then we had lunch. Large quantities of couscous had been made along with a vegetable mixture and some meat. We all had cheese and bread too and lots to drink. We all sat around a large table to eat. In the afternoon I got chatting to some of the other volunteers a bit more. They all seemed really interesting. I had already said I would go and volunteer serving food with another association this evening so when they carted the 10 barrels full of soup (each barrel containing enough soup to feed 60 people) across to the 19th arrondissement I went to the 13th.
This association seemed completely different. We were given throw away aprons to wear and gloves and the food being served was some sort of soup, pasta with a sauce and a burger, bread, cheese, fruit, milk, water. I was in charge of wandering around the tables offering bread to people who wanted more. Everyone seemed really nice again and the people who came to eat were a real mixture; most of them were charming and very thankful for the services that were being provided. Some however were a little creepy; one guy seemed to take to me and every time I walked past him he asked for bread and looked at me in the creepiest way. When he asked for my number I naturally said no. Another guy gave me abuse for no reason when I offered him bread, I have no idea what he said but the next person I went to told me to take no notice of him. Some of them were very chatty and just wanted to find out about me as they hadn't seen me before. What was surprising to me though was how well dressed a lot of them were. These people didn't seem to be the people who sit in the street begging. The 2 and a half hours went quickly. There was a never ending queue of people waiting for spaces to sit down and towards the end I ran out of bread. Overall people were very thankful and charming and wished me a "bonne soirée" as they left. It was a great experience and I feel like now I'm doing something useful with my time. I'm very tired now though, it seems to me as if I've spent all day on my feet! And to top it off when I got back to the apartment the lift broke on me! The doors shut when I was in it but it didn't go anywhere (yes I did press the button!) then none of the buttons worked, not even the open door one, and I didn't want to force the doors open too hard in case I broke it even more! I pressed the emergency button and up until this point I had kept my cool, however when an extremely loud siren sounded it made me jump out of my skin!! Eventually someone came to my aid and forced the doors open but I think it's still broken now!
Right I must get to bed. The boss (as in Point Par Point) called me when I was on my way home today. He wants me in work tomorrow. I've decided I'll give him one more chance and if it just seems as if he's taking advantage of me tomorrow then I'll leave for good and concentrate on my volunteering work. Night all!
This association seemed completely different. We were given throw away aprons to wear and gloves and the food being served was some sort of soup, pasta with a sauce and a burger, bread, cheese, fruit, milk, water. I was in charge of wandering around the tables offering bread to people who wanted more. Everyone seemed really nice again and the people who came to eat were a real mixture; most of them were charming and very thankful for the services that were being provided. Some however were a little creepy; one guy seemed to take to me and every time I walked past him he asked for bread and looked at me in the creepiest way. When he asked for my number I naturally said no. Another guy gave me abuse for no reason when I offered him bread, I have no idea what he said but the next person I went to told me to take no notice of him. Some of them were very chatty and just wanted to find out about me as they hadn't seen me before. What was surprising to me though was how well dressed a lot of them were. These people didn't seem to be the people who sit in the street begging. The 2 and a half hours went quickly. There was a never ending queue of people waiting for spaces to sit down and towards the end I ran out of bread. Overall people were very thankful and charming and wished me a "bonne soirée" as they left. It was a great experience and I feel like now I'm doing something useful with my time. I'm very tired now though, it seems to me as if I've spent all day on my feet! And to top it off when I got back to the apartment the lift broke on me! The doors shut when I was in it but it didn't go anywhere (yes I did press the button!) then none of the buttons worked, not even the open door one, and I didn't want to force the doors open too hard in case I broke it even more! I pressed the emergency button and up until this point I had kept my cool, however when an extremely loud siren sounded it made me jump out of my skin!! Eventually someone came to my aid and forced the doors open but I think it's still broken now!
Right I must get to bed. The boss (as in Point Par Point) called me when I was on my way home today. He wants me in work tomorrow. I've decided I'll give him one more chance and if it just seems as if he's taking advantage of me tomorrow then I'll leave for good and concentrate on my volunteering work. Night all!
mardi 27 octobre 2009
A weekend with Esme and a fresh start
The weekend with Esme was great, she seemed to really enjoy showing Georgia and myself all her favourite spots. The Spaghetti bar is a real find; 3 euros for wine and 6 euros for cocktail and they keep on bringing out trays of pizza, pasta, couscous and salad. It was basically a free all you can eat buffet! Later we went a looked around the Shakespeare company book store which is a little gem near Notre Dame. When you go inside you have the impression it is literally made out of books! There are books everywhere! People are encouraged to sit and read the books too so the shop has loads of people just perched in random corners browsing. Apparently they have free accommodation for writers, providing they write and read a book a day! Then we went to a jazz club which was in a cellar, it was very full and the music was good.
Sunday morning we went for brunch in Montmartre. We had a huge bowl of hot chocolate each, a large slice of brioche with honey and jam, a croissant, and a soft boiled egg with soldiers. It was sooo good! I will definitely go there again! Then we climbed up to the Sacré Coeur and looked out over Paris.
Next we went to the market and I again decided it would be a good idea to buy bowl fulls of veg; I got loads of tomatoes and loads of peppers for €1.50. We also managed to get some free ends of pumpkins which we were really pleased about! Then we went to the Marais which is about the only place where stuff is open on a Sunday because it's the Jewish Quartier. We had yet more food (fallafels) then browsed the vintage clothes shops. We ventured to the top of the Pompidou centre to look out over Paris from another vantage point. We decided against going around it seeing as it's all a bit weird! Then we headed back to Georgia's and cooked a really good meal with our purchases from the market, roasted pumpkin was delicious! Georgia's apartment is really nice and right near the Eiffel Tower.
Monday I went for a lovely lunch with Esme, Georgia and one of Georgia's work friends and then saw Esme off. I decided to go and see Paris and got as far as the Notre Dame. I hated it; there were so many people inside it had just lost all feeling of spirituality and just become one big tourist attraction. I went to join the queue to climb it seeing as it's free for me as I'm under 25 but they had already shut it for the day when I got there. I went and got lost in the second hand book shops, I bought a book I'd been looking for "Etre Bénévole à Paris" which means roughly "Volunteering in Paris". It is full of some really inspiring ideas, such as helping homeless people (there are a lot of them in Paris, it's quite distressing), volunteering with ill children and helping them to forget their illness for the day, connecting children with their parents who are in prison etc. Unfortunately a lot of them require a long term commitment. I also bought the northern lights trilogy in french. Then Georgia and I went to a student bar that did cheap sangrias.
Today I was fairly productive; I completed my personal learning record and found myself two volunteer jobs in soup kitchens. I'm really looking forward to them seeing as there are so many homeless people in Paris and I want to do something more to help other than give them spare change. Hopefully they will be interesting, I'm really looking forward to meeting all sorts of interesting people. If the university agrees I may be able to take them on as my main jobs and leave Point Par Point once and for all which means I won't be as the Boss' beck and call anymore. The first one starts tomorrow at 10 so I'd better get to bed! I'll try and keep the post shorter next time!
Sunday morning we went for brunch in Montmartre. We had a huge bowl of hot chocolate each, a large slice of brioche with honey and jam, a croissant, and a soft boiled egg with soldiers. It was sooo good! I will definitely go there again! Then we climbed up to the Sacré Coeur and looked out over Paris.
Next we went to the market and I again decided it would be a good idea to buy bowl fulls of veg; I got loads of tomatoes and loads of peppers for €1.50. We also managed to get some free ends of pumpkins which we were really pleased about! Then we went to the Marais which is about the only place where stuff is open on a Sunday because it's the Jewish Quartier. We had yet more food (fallafels) then browsed the vintage clothes shops. We ventured to the top of the Pompidou centre to look out over Paris from another vantage point. We decided against going around it seeing as it's all a bit weird! Then we headed back to Georgia's and cooked a really good meal with our purchases from the market, roasted pumpkin was delicious! Georgia's apartment is really nice and right near the Eiffel Tower.
Monday I went for a lovely lunch with Esme, Georgia and one of Georgia's work friends and then saw Esme off. I decided to go and see Paris and got as far as the Notre Dame. I hated it; there were so many people inside it had just lost all feeling of spirituality and just become one big tourist attraction. I went to join the queue to climb it seeing as it's free for me as I'm under 25 but they had already shut it for the day when I got there. I went and got lost in the second hand book shops, I bought a book I'd been looking for "Etre Bénévole à Paris" which means roughly "Volunteering in Paris". It is full of some really inspiring ideas, such as helping homeless people (there are a lot of them in Paris, it's quite distressing), volunteering with ill children and helping them to forget their illness for the day, connecting children with their parents who are in prison etc. Unfortunately a lot of them require a long term commitment. I also bought the northern lights trilogy in french. Then Georgia and I went to a student bar that did cheap sangrias.
Today I was fairly productive; I completed my personal learning record and found myself two volunteer jobs in soup kitchens. I'm really looking forward to them seeing as there are so many homeless people in Paris and I want to do something more to help other than give them spare change. Hopefully they will be interesting, I'm really looking forward to meeting all sorts of interesting people. If the university agrees I may be able to take them on as my main jobs and leave Point Par Point once and for all which means I won't be as the Boss' beck and call anymore. The first one starts tomorrow at 10 so I'd better get to bed! I'll try and keep the post shorter next time!
samedi 24 octobre 2009
Week 4
Last time I wrote was a while ago and a lot has happened since then. Firstly last week when my boss assumed I was staying later that 5 I asked him if I could leave and he told me no since I finish at 6. I told him that I normally finished at 5 and that since I had done nothing all day I didn't really want to start doing something now. He seemed annoyed and told me to leave. The next day I again did not a lot and just before lunch I asked the boss to stop smoking in the office. He basically told me that he could smoke if he wanted, even if the law said one thing, in this office it was his law. After lunch he told me to go home and not bother coming in again until he called me.
I went back to Newcastle that night and spent almost a week there. I was supposed to come back on Sunday but I changed my flights and had an awesome week.
Now I'm back in Paris and I don't really know what to do with myself. I have opened a bank account which I'm happy about and I tried for a job as an English teacher but because I'm only here for such a short period of time they didn't take me on.
Esme is here at the moment and she's showing me around all her favourite places to go from when she was here. We went to see a ballet at the opera. It was stunning, the dancing was fantastic and the music was great, it was the Jewels, so there were emeralds, rubies and diamonds. My favourites were the rubies. We paid 10euros each for our ticket and had to stand for the whole thing to see because our seats were classed as "limited visibility" but when we stood we had a great view, much better than the people in front of us who had paid 3 times the amount for their tickets. The opera house is stunning, both on the outside and on the in. We were in a little box with 6 people, we were right at the back of our box but it was fine, I'd definitely go again, especially at that price! We also went to see La Danse at the cinema which really shows you just how hard the dansers have to work and how perfect every single move has to be. And how strong they are too. Really good. Going out tonight to a cocktail place where the happy hour is free pizza with the cocktails!! Bargain!
Anyway I'll stop boring you now and try and get some photos up here soon, altho I haven't really taken many!
I went back to Newcastle that night and spent almost a week there. I was supposed to come back on Sunday but I changed my flights and had an awesome week.
Now I'm back in Paris and I don't really know what to do with myself. I have opened a bank account which I'm happy about and I tried for a job as an English teacher but because I'm only here for such a short period of time they didn't take me on.
Esme is here at the moment and she's showing me around all her favourite places to go from when she was here. We went to see a ballet at the opera. It was stunning, the dancing was fantastic and the music was great, it was the Jewels, so there were emeralds, rubies and diamonds. My favourites were the rubies. We paid 10euros each for our ticket and had to stand for the whole thing to see because our seats were classed as "limited visibility" but when we stood we had a great view, much better than the people in front of us who had paid 3 times the amount for their tickets. The opera house is stunning, both on the outside and on the in. We were in a little box with 6 people, we were right at the back of our box but it was fine, I'd definitely go again, especially at that price! We also went to see La Danse at the cinema which really shows you just how hard the dansers have to work and how perfect every single move has to be. And how strong they are too. Really good. Going out tonight to a cocktail place where the happy hour is free pizza with the cocktails!! Bargain!
Anyway I'll stop boring you now and try and get some photos up here soon, altho I haven't really taken many!
mardi 13 octobre 2009
Tuesday
Work was a bit better today. I decided not to turn up until around 11 so naturally I got there at about 11.30. I didn't have anything to do until about midday when I was tasked with phoning up printing places across Europe, asking them for their email address and copying and pasting an email to them. I took a long lunch and then later in the afternoon I had to roll up 70 posters and put them into tubes. The only upside is that the new girl is really nice, we went for lunch together today and chatted a fair amount. Well she chatted a fair amount! She speaks very very fast!
I velibed it home and I'm not sure what to do with myself now. I may start sending round emails looking for another job because I want real work experience, not just experiencing being an office aid!
I velibed it home and I'm not sure what to do with myself now. I may start sending round emails looking for another job because I want real work experience, not just experiencing being an office aid!
lundi 12 octobre 2009
Monday
I am getting more and more depressed with this job. I turned up today at about 9.50 and was given nothing to do until about 11 when myself and a new girl who is doing a 2 year internship 2 weeks working 1 week at school thing were tasked with sorting through 12 boxes of reels of stickers and noting which stickers were in each box and how many of them. After lunch I literally did nothing for 3 hours. It is so depressing that for 4 hours of the day I am literally wasting time in an office and I'm not being paid to do so. I have decided that if things don't brighten up after tomorrow I am going on a job hunt because this is just a waste of time.
After work I explored Paris' used book shops and came across some real bargains! I got 3 Routard guides and a Lonely Planet guide (all dating between 2002 and 2007) and now have Guadeloupe and the surrounding islands in the Caribbean covered, Paris by bike and South America on a shoe string budget, all for under 10 euros. It was very exciting! I met the cutest old man in one of the shops who saw me looking at the travel guides and pointed me in the direction of more, and then we had a travel related discussion and he advised me on a rock and roll club in town which has an open mic every sunday, 1 euro drinks and apparently all the people there are really friendly and young and it's a great place to get to know new people. I do wonder how he knows about such a place (seeing as he was probably in his 70s) but he seemed cool and told me whenever he travels it's always with just a rucksack so I might check it out at some point.
Anyway apart from the rubbish and pointless day at work that's all from me today, I think I won't bother going in until 11 or so tomorrow because I am just a waste of space otherwise!
After work I explored Paris' used book shops and came across some real bargains! I got 3 Routard guides and a Lonely Planet guide (all dating between 2002 and 2007) and now have Guadeloupe and the surrounding islands in the Caribbean covered, Paris by bike and South America on a shoe string budget, all for under 10 euros. It was very exciting! I met the cutest old man in one of the shops who saw me looking at the travel guides and pointed me in the direction of more, and then we had a travel related discussion and he advised me on a rock and roll club in town which has an open mic every sunday, 1 euro drinks and apparently all the people there are really friendly and young and it's a great place to get to know new people. I do wonder how he knows about such a place (seeing as he was probably in his 70s) but he seemed cool and told me whenever he travels it's always with just a rucksack so I might check it out at some point.
Anyway apart from the rubbish and pointless day at work that's all from me today, I think I won't bother going in until 11 or so tomorrow because I am just a waste of space otherwise!
dimanche 11 octobre 2009
My first Sunday in Paris
The rest of the week was ok, Thursday I gave up even trying to look busy at work. The boss kept on telling me he'd give me something to do, and then that something was taking the rubbish out, buying stamps, folding letters, stuffing envelopes and stamping them. I didn't even bother to hide the fact that I was just wasting time on the internet all day. I attempted to ride a velib home for the 1st time that day and got caught in a MASSIVE down pour of rain. I was literally soaked through and dripping by the time I arrived home. I don't think my little map book of Paris is ever going to be the same again! I went out later fro drinks with Sarah and we discovered a lovely lively area near Notre Dame.
On Friday I was given my first proper task! I had to go across Paris and take photos of a shop front and measure it so they could make a display for it. And Friday afterwork I attempted to get my head around the French banking system and came away even more confused!
Saturday consisted of shopping, but it was so busy I won't be repeating that experience again in a hurry! Shopping from now on will be reserved for week days! Then we headed to the Sacré Coeur where there was a wine festival going on. There were lots of stalls all selling various regional products and lots of free samples. We tried jam made from champagne which was lovely, cider, wine, fig jam, paté (which I think was made from snails) as well as various liquors and juices. Then we met with some of Sarah's assistant friends who all seemed lovely and are from all over the place. It was nice tho because we all spoke in French to each other, even if we were both anglophones. Then there was a really nice firework display. It was funny because we were so high up and a fair bit back in the crowd, some of the fireworks were exploding just over the heads of the people in front, it's bizarre to imagine struggling to see a firework display!
Georgia and I went to the market at Bastille on Sunday morning. There were so many stalls and the veg was so cheap! All the vendors were keen for you to taste their fruits, I tried so many different mangoes and figs. I ended up spending a lot tho because I treated myself to a custard apple and some seedless grapes and some cheese. Oh how I wish I knew how expensive cheese is before I fell in love with it!
At the moment I am creating with carrots. I was going to make carrot soup but we have no blender or mashing implement. They sold huge bowls of carrots and other veg for a euro, so now I have enough carrots to last me a lifetime!
On Friday I was given my first proper task! I had to go across Paris and take photos of a shop front and measure it so they could make a display for it. And Friday afterwork I attempted to get my head around the French banking system and came away even more confused!
Saturday consisted of shopping, but it was so busy I won't be repeating that experience again in a hurry! Shopping from now on will be reserved for week days! Then we headed to the Sacré Coeur where there was a wine festival going on. There were lots of stalls all selling various regional products and lots of free samples. We tried jam made from champagne which was lovely, cider, wine, fig jam, paté (which I think was made from snails) as well as various liquors and juices. Then we met with some of Sarah's assistant friends who all seemed lovely and are from all over the place. It was nice tho because we all spoke in French to each other, even if we were both anglophones. Then there was a really nice firework display. It was funny because we were so high up and a fair bit back in the crowd, some of the fireworks were exploding just over the heads of the people in front, it's bizarre to imagine struggling to see a firework display!
Georgia and I went to the market at Bastille on Sunday morning. There were so many stalls and the veg was so cheap! All the vendors were keen for you to taste their fruits, I tried so many different mangoes and figs. I ended up spending a lot tho because I treated myself to a custard apple and some seedless grapes and some cheese. Oh how I wish I knew how expensive cheese is before I fell in love with it!
At the moment I am creating with carrots. I was going to make carrot soup but we have no blender or mashing implement. They sold huge bowls of carrots and other veg for a euro, so now I have enough carrots to last me a lifetime!
mercredi 7 octobre 2009
Paris So Far
So I arrived in Paris 10 days ago now, I spent the flight chatting to an Australian guy who was over in Europe promoting his surf business. He showed me some pretty crazy videos of the same business in winter going down mountains in cars, going over a jump and landing in a swimming pool!
I took the train into Paris and then met Fred at his metro stop (Fred is the guy I am living with, he is Christine's brother (Christine is my host mum from my year abroad in Geneva)) The apartment is lovely, a large lounge which Fred uses as a recording studio too (he's a musician, check him out on myspace - meetfred) a nice sized kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom with a little balcony and a view over the Sacré Coeur. Fred made me feel right at home and we went for a walk around the area, there are two lovely parks right nearby. The view of the sunset from his apartment was incredible. I was pretty tired and got an early night ready for work the next day.
I turned up at work after getting a bit lost on the metro only to find no one was there. I waited around for 3 hours before leaving! Then I headed home and attempted to find a phone deal to suit my needs, which is nearly impossible! The French system of pay and go is sooo backwards! The credit expires, so you have a certain amount of days to use it in, depending on how much you put on. 5euros for example will most likely last you 5 days, 10 euros might last you 2 weeks and what you haven't used vanishes! I ended up buying a sim card for 30 euros but it came with 15 euros free credit and 100 texts. The trouble is to get 10 of those 15 euros and the free texts I have to fill in an application form and send them a photocopy of my passport! It's all so backwards! I then went round and round in circles trying to activate the stupid sim card, phoning this number and that number. I eventually left it with Fred and it wasn't until Friday the he was able to register it for me!
Work the next day was a bit more of a success; people were there! The boss didn't apologise profusely enough for my liking though and wasn't the most warm and welcoming of characters; he arrived late and then gave me the task of phoning all the beauty salons in Paris from the yellow pages, trying to sell them our services of creating flyers and other such papery goodies. I quickly became very bored and did not have much success.
The next day was pretty much the same except I was phoning restaurants offering them menus and serviettes. The boss had real trouble grasping that I do actually understand him and that I do speak French. He spoke to me as if I was an idiot, despite his wife shouting at him each time he did it. He also took to asking the other girls in the office to tell me things, when I was standing right by him and heard him tell them what to tell me. Thursday and Friday were the same, but I left early on Friday to go to Newcastle for Richard's birthday. A very tiring weekend!! Lots of partying and it was full of emotions for me, after my awful week at work I certainly didn't want to leave to go back to Paris, but despite doing our best to miss the plane (and the metros being cancelled to the airport) Georgia and I made it to the airport with a few minutes to spare for security checks. I ended up wearing a lot of my clothes on the way back because the easyjet staff took their job way to seriously and wouldn't let me on board with my slightly oversized hand luggage (I say slightly, it fitted into their measuring box, but it was very snug and therefore too big).
Work on Monday was freezing. I began to feel really depressed at work. There are 4 other people who work there; the boss, his wife and 2 girls. I spend all day sitting in an office by myself trawling through the yellow pages repeating the same words in French over and over again. I began to get ill from the cold (and probably from the weekend's antics aswell) as there was no heating in my office. The other 2 girls that work there are really nice but I think share the same dislike for the boss. I'm sure it's illegal to smoke in the office but he seems to think it's ok.
By Tuesday midmorning I had had enough. The boss had asked me to clean the outside window where someone had drawn on it in pen. I felt like telling him that it certainly wasn't my job to be doing that at all, let alone in the rain. He also told me I had the heating on too high (the girls had brought me in a little free standing heater) and that I would get ill. I responded by telling him that I was already ill from sitting in a freezing cold office all day the day before. Shortly after this episode I asked him if I could do something other than telesales and he said that after lunch he would give me something different. Then just before lunch he came in and told me that my french had improved so much that he thought I should continue with telesales for another afternoon. I felt like screaming at him that just because today was the first day that he was ready to admit that I could actually speak French, did not mean that it was all down to his plan to put me on telesales that my French had improved. I went to lunch in a fury and vented it all out to poor Georgia! Luckily he let me go early that afternoon.
Wednesday I was ill. I don't know if I just couldn't handle another day of him but my head was pounding and my throat was sore. I texted him and told him I was taking the morning off and he told me to take the day off, so he clearly has some sort of soul, hidden, deep down inside him!
Other than my work life I have been out a few times with Lauren, Georgia and Sarah for after work drinks but sometimes they turn into all evening drinks! I haven't seen much of Paris as of yet and I have yet to sort out a bank, but other than that I seem to be on top of things. I am also looking for Salsa lessons in the hope that I may meet more French people doing that.
Right, I think I'm up to date now, hopefully posts in the future will be shorter! And hopefully tomorrow at work I will be doing something other than telesales, I checked and it's certainly not in my job description!
I took the train into Paris and then met Fred at his metro stop (Fred is the guy I am living with, he is Christine's brother (Christine is my host mum from my year abroad in Geneva)) The apartment is lovely, a large lounge which Fred uses as a recording studio too (he's a musician, check him out on myspace - meetfred) a nice sized kitchen, a bathroom and a bedroom with a little balcony and a view over the Sacré Coeur. Fred made me feel right at home and we went for a walk around the area, there are two lovely parks right nearby. The view of the sunset from his apartment was incredible. I was pretty tired and got an early night ready for work the next day.
I turned up at work after getting a bit lost on the metro only to find no one was there. I waited around for 3 hours before leaving! Then I headed home and attempted to find a phone deal to suit my needs, which is nearly impossible! The French system of pay and go is sooo backwards! The credit expires, so you have a certain amount of days to use it in, depending on how much you put on. 5euros for example will most likely last you 5 days, 10 euros might last you 2 weeks and what you haven't used vanishes! I ended up buying a sim card for 30 euros but it came with 15 euros free credit and 100 texts. The trouble is to get 10 of those 15 euros and the free texts I have to fill in an application form and send them a photocopy of my passport! It's all so backwards! I then went round and round in circles trying to activate the stupid sim card, phoning this number and that number. I eventually left it with Fred and it wasn't until Friday the he was able to register it for me!
Work the next day was a bit more of a success; people were there! The boss didn't apologise profusely enough for my liking though and wasn't the most warm and welcoming of characters; he arrived late and then gave me the task of phoning all the beauty salons in Paris from the yellow pages, trying to sell them our services of creating flyers and other such papery goodies. I quickly became very bored and did not have much success.
The next day was pretty much the same except I was phoning restaurants offering them menus and serviettes. The boss had real trouble grasping that I do actually understand him and that I do speak French. He spoke to me as if I was an idiot, despite his wife shouting at him each time he did it. He also took to asking the other girls in the office to tell me things, when I was standing right by him and heard him tell them what to tell me. Thursday and Friday were the same, but I left early on Friday to go to Newcastle for Richard's birthday. A very tiring weekend!! Lots of partying and it was full of emotions for me, after my awful week at work I certainly didn't want to leave to go back to Paris, but despite doing our best to miss the plane (and the metros being cancelled to the airport) Georgia and I made it to the airport with a few minutes to spare for security checks. I ended up wearing a lot of my clothes on the way back because the easyjet staff took their job way to seriously and wouldn't let me on board with my slightly oversized hand luggage (I say slightly, it fitted into their measuring box, but it was very snug and therefore too big).
Work on Monday was freezing. I began to feel really depressed at work. There are 4 other people who work there; the boss, his wife and 2 girls. I spend all day sitting in an office by myself trawling through the yellow pages repeating the same words in French over and over again. I began to get ill from the cold (and probably from the weekend's antics aswell) as there was no heating in my office. The other 2 girls that work there are really nice but I think share the same dislike for the boss. I'm sure it's illegal to smoke in the office but he seems to think it's ok.
By Tuesday midmorning I had had enough. The boss had asked me to clean the outside window where someone had drawn on it in pen. I felt like telling him that it certainly wasn't my job to be doing that at all, let alone in the rain. He also told me I had the heating on too high (the girls had brought me in a little free standing heater) and that I would get ill. I responded by telling him that I was already ill from sitting in a freezing cold office all day the day before. Shortly after this episode I asked him if I could do something other than telesales and he said that after lunch he would give me something different. Then just before lunch he came in and told me that my french had improved so much that he thought I should continue with telesales for another afternoon. I felt like screaming at him that just because today was the first day that he was ready to admit that I could actually speak French, did not mean that it was all down to his plan to put me on telesales that my French had improved. I went to lunch in a fury and vented it all out to poor Georgia! Luckily he let me go early that afternoon.
Wednesday I was ill. I don't know if I just couldn't handle another day of him but my head was pounding and my throat was sore. I texted him and told him I was taking the morning off and he told me to take the day off, so he clearly has some sort of soul, hidden, deep down inside him!
Other than my work life I have been out a few times with Lauren, Georgia and Sarah for after work drinks but sometimes they turn into all evening drinks! I haven't seen much of Paris as of yet and I have yet to sort out a bank, but other than that I seem to be on top of things. I am also looking for Salsa lessons in the hope that I may meet more French people doing that.
Right, I think I'm up to date now, hopefully posts in the future will be shorter! And hopefully tomorrow at work I will be doing something other than telesales, I checked and it's certainly not in my job description!
The plan and general info
I am heading away for 9 months and thought I would create a blog, even if I'm the only person who reads it! I will attempt to update it regularly and add photos and the likes.
My plan so far: Work at Agence Point Par Point in Paris 28/09/09 - 27/11/09
*weekends in Newcastle* 2nd-4th October, 15th-18th October, 6th-8th November
Feel free to come and visit me at anytime you like. The weekends above are when I am not here!
Fly to Guadeloupe on the 28th or 29th November (still need to book that flight!!)
Work at Centre de Plongée des Ilets from 30/11/09 - 02/07/10
After this I may be going travelling around South America for the summer but that of course depends on the funds. You are welcome to come and visit me in Guadeloupe but I appreciate that the cost of the flights may be a little out of most people's budgets. The cheapest I have found so far is Air Caraibes but they only fly from France, so a budget flight to Paris may be in order...
Keep in touch!! My e-mail is joellemaurice@mac.com and I would love to hear from you.
I am also on msn: purple___koala@hotmail.com
and Skype: joellem88
I don't know which number will turn out to be a permanent one but for now I have three!!
07858857654
07920798926
+33601351811
Thats all from me for now! Much love xxx
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