Ma Nouvelle Vie en France - My New Life in France

KanaBeach Revolution

2011-12-02T21:43:00.000+01:00

I stumbled across this French surfwear brand which makes cool travel bags and suitcases, Kana Beach.

When I saw the photo on their front page I immediately recognised it as a take off of the famous French painting, Liberty leading the People (La Liberté guidant le peuple)

I didn't actually realise it was a French brand until I saw the language options on the website and investigated further... Also when I saw the naked breast on the women I suppose it was also a clue that it could be French as they seem to love imagery of topless women for advertising purposes! Haha.

C'est drôle, non ?

One year ago...

2011-11-25T23:13:00.002+01:00

On this day one year ago it was snowing! I remember it like it was yesterday and yet I'm amazed at how fast the time has flown. As they say, Time flies when you are having fun :)

I keep wondering when it's going to start snowing this year. Although it's cold, it's nowhere near cold enough to snow yet. I wonder if we'll have a white Christmas... I surely hope so!!

Macarons in McDonalds in France

2011-10-30T11:59:00.000+01:00

Yeah Yeah I realise this is old news but considering I NEVER eat at McDonalds.. this was the first time I noticed them for myself (at a McDonalds on the outskirts of Annemasse). They cost 0,90€ each and no, I didn't try them! I don't think anything could compare to Ladurée, Pierre Hermé and Sève in Lyon.

SNCF Carte 12-25 for those up to 30 years

2011-10-22T10:46:00.001+02:00

I found out about this about a month ago and I should have posted it up earlier... oops.

For a limited time, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the TGV, you can purchase a 12-25 discount card even if you are aged between 26-30 years old. The card is valid for one year and non-renewable. It costs 49€.

linky

Get in quick while stocks last! Limited to 400,000 pieces.

Bilingual French English puns

2011-10-21T22:22:00.002+02:00

I bought this book second hand.. It's a book of random English phrases, for French learners of English.

Here are some really lame French/English puns:

Once upon a time in winter three french cats, called Un, Deux and Trois, went skating on a pond. The ice gave way and Un, Deux, Trois cats sank.

Why does Mitterrand only have one egg for breakfast?
Because un oeuf est un oeuf.

There was a class having a lesson, and one boy said:
"Miss, can we do French now?"
The teacher replied, "Mais oui."
The boy said, "Sorry, may we do French now?"

Carla Bruni has a girl called Giulia

2011-10-21T11:26:00.004+02:00

First lady of France, Carla Bruni, has a girl named Giulia.

Linky at LeDauphine.com

Paris vs New York skinny people

2011-10-20T15:37:00.000+02:00

I wrote that I thought there are no fat people in Paris. I happened to find this article New York skinny vs Paris skinny which I thought was interesting, especially not having been to New York...

I have to say that it's not just the Parisians or the French that exercise portion control. Pretty much every European I have met eats very small portions! I am always so shocked that they eat so little. I'm left thinking, "Aren't they still hungry?" Back home I am not a big eater at all but here I feel like a pig sometimes! Hahaha..

Carla Bruni has a baby

2011-10-19T20:25:00.001+02:00

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy's birth update...

Live updates here

1 year old thinks a magazine is an iPad

2011-10-14T10:56:00.002+02:00

Continuing on from my rant about babies and technology of almost 5 months ago (sheez where did the time go?!)...

here is a one-year-old who believes all media are now touchscreen-enabled. She seems not to understand that a magazine--Marie-Claire, in this example--doesn't take to pinching or prodding.
The video was posted by Jean-Louis Costanza, currently the CEO at Orange-Vallee, a subsidiary of the France Telecom brand Orange, of his daughter. He ends the video by saying, "They will nod even more sagely at the video's last words: 'Steve Jobs has coded a part of her OS.' "

For me, the most amazing part is when she thinks her finger is faulty.

Some might find this 'cute' but even though I find it funny, I also find it quite horrifying, actually... that our kids will grow up knowing nothing about print-based media and only screen-based media :(

Le Petit Prince agenda 2012

2011-10-14T00:04:00.001+02:00

When I was in Paris the other day I didn't buy much but I bought this adorable 2012 diary!! I've been wanting to get a nice diary for ages and I saw some nice ones but they were usually too small or too big and heavy (or in Geneva, too expensive). I wasn't even looking for one when I found this though.

I bought a cute artsy Paris postcard and when I went inside to pay for it I happened to notice there was a stationery section inside this bookstore and went to have a further look...

I love this because it was cheap (only 9 euros! - even less than the recommended price of 10 euros, weird), it's good quality (hardcover and with a magnetic closure), and there are random coloured pages inserted throughout which are pages from the book Le Petit Prince AND with the quotes in THREE different languages: French, English and German. It'll be great for me learning German.

It's so freaking adorable and perfect I want to start using it now but it's not like school diaries which start in September, it starts in January 2012. Here's the official site of the company which makes it (teNeues, it's German) if you want to get one too :)

Best time to travel to Europe

2011-10-12T11:51:00.000+02:00

After having travelled around Europe during every season and almost every month I would say, without a doubt, the best time is between mid April to mid June. (unless of course you specifically want to see snow and be here for the festivities of Christmas).

The weather is super nice during this time. You can also easily get sunny 20-25° days during these months in most cities/countries.

Even though the weather is also nice during July and August, riding on public transport and staying in places without air-conditioning can be horrific. Also, during the height of summer it can get exceedingly crowded at touristy cities/attractions.

And so I went to Paris again

2011-10-12T11:28:00.001+02:00

Apologies for my lack of posts. I just don't feel that I've done much noteworthy to blog about..

Anyhoo, I went to Paris again on Monday and Tuesday. For my return trip to Geneva I got a bargain ticket which cost me only 25 euros!

It didn't rain but it was completely overcast the whole time I was there. The weather was remarkably similar to the weather last time I was there (in July) except cooler and windier. I shouldn't have been surprised it was cloudy because it's ALWAYS cloudy every time I go to Paris. This was my seventh time to Paris and 6 out of 7 times, it was cool and cloudy.

Given the weather, I wasn't feeling particularly cheerful but I remembered that the previous time in July I also had to force myself to cheer up and enjoy my time there, and so I did.

I used AirBnB this time for my accommodation as the hotel I normally use wasn't vacant and also I wanted to save some money. Of course I would have used Couchsurfing if I could but every time I tried to find one in Paris, I wasn't successful and I didn't want to waste time not having a definite place to stay.

What did I do? Nothing particularly noteworthy but I just walked around a lot. And revisited places I'd seen before (some more than once): The Eiffel Tower, The Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysées, The Bastille, The Seine, Nôtre Dame Cathedral, Ile Saint Louis, Shakespeare & Co bookshop, The Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall)... I didn't go to any macaron specialty places but did manage to pick up a giant raspberry filled macaron at a pâtisserie towards the end of my trip.

I really want to take a boat ride along the Seine... one day. I didn't do it this time because I really want to do it with someone else and not alone.

I kept trying to recall what I did on my last trip and admittedly, did a lot of the similar things. What made me sad was that last time the sun didn't set until 10 or even 10:30 and this time it was completely dark at 7:15pm :(

When it was about 8pm and I'd walked around forever, I was exhausted. Yet, I felt it was still too early to go back 'home' yet. But what could I do? Oh that's right.. I hadn't even had dinner yet! So I found a nice restaurant.. actually I found 3 next to each other and looked at their menus and decided which one to go to based on what I wanted to order. I'm always scrimping and saving when it comes to food and dining out but since in Geneva I pretty much NEVER eat out (and when I do it's always pizza as that's the only thing which doesn't cost an arm and a leg), I decided to 'splurge' on a nice dinner. No drinks, entrée or dessert though! I ordered the confit de canard (duck). I LOVE duck. I had to wait a long time for my meal to come but was very content just watching the scene in front of me, listening to French being spoken all around me and the music softly wafting out of a speaker somewhere.

Although it was a cool night, I felt very warm in there, surrounded by all these people and the lights. There was an outdoor gas heater but I don't think it was on.

Finally my meal arrived and I wouldn't say it was over the top amazing but it would've been better than anything I could get in Geneva for under 40 francs. It cost me 16.20 euros. The duck was well cooked but a tad dry. It was surrounded by baked potatoes (which I love). It was overall very tasty (I didn't need to add any salt or anything) and satisfying.

What happened just before I decided to eat, I was just aimlessly walking down a random street and past a pub, when the guy walking there said hello to me. I thought he was doing it to get me to come in and have a drink (ie trying to drum up business). But while I was eating dinner, I thought myself.. surely he wasn't trying to chat to me? I remembered that on my previous visits to Paris I had had a 'connection' to someone and this time I hadn't. Twice in April I was with a friend who showed me around and in July, I spoke to that guy on the train on the way there and then tried to see him play at a concert at the Town Hall.

Anyhoo, after dinner, I couldn't resist finding out what his intentions were so I purposely walked past that bar again, wanting to see if he'd notice me again. If he didn't I'd just keep walking and if he did I'd stay and chat. I just LOVE chatting to strangers and finding out more about them. He did see me and motioned for me to come in. Luckily it was a Monday night so fairly quiet.

It's funny. I'd heard and read about these stories so many times but never actually thought it would happen to me... What I mean is, guys in Paris trying to chat you up randomly in the street or on the metro or something.

So I went in and he was like.. "Hi, I'm ___. What's your name? Where are you from? What are you doing in Paris?" etc etc... I just looked at him and said, "C'mon, you probably do this every day to every girl who walks past..." He sweared, "No" and looked to his colleague for affirmation. He told me he works from 5pm-6am every single day and is usually too busy, especially on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. He said he saw me out of the blue and felt attracted to me, and how pretty I was (la la la) and then he asked me if I had a boyfriend, to which I replied, "Yes." He was like "Damn!" but he still kept wanting to talk to me and offered me a drink. I stayed long enough just to learn something new about a stranger (my goal and only goal) and realised it was getting late so decided to leave at about 10pm...

Actually I lie. Something like that DID happen to me before in Paris but it was an old guy. This time it was someone around my age and who was reasonably attractive too. He invited me to his place and that's when I thought this has gone too far and I definitely have to leave now. He asked me if he could get a hug before I left...

I did spend some time talking to my AirBnB hosts too, a couple. So I guess you could say that was another Parisian 'connection.'

Overall I didn't really do a great deal in Paris but I walked so much I was totally and utterly exhausted (and still am). Next time I go I'll make sure to have a more concrete plan though. I've seen almost every part of Paris now, I'll have to go further afield to discover new places. Next time also, I want to go to La Défense which I didn't have time for this trip.

What I actually wanted to write about was my ride home on the train.

I spoke to a friend on the phone when I got back. I told him that I felt a great amount of sadness riding the train home to Geneva from Paris. I tried to sleep so for the majority of the time I was slumped/slouched in my seat and had my eyes closed with my sunglasses on to block out the light (the lights inside the train were on the whole time). I barely noticed what was going on outside the window at all until I heard the click-click of the shutter of a young man sitting near me.

When I heard him taking photos of course my natural reaction was to see what was outside the window and when I looked out, it didn't seem that interesting and special to me (the only noteworthy thing was that the further we travelled from Paris, the sunnier it got until I saw no clouds at all!) but then I had this flashback to a year ago or even just a few months ago.

I used to be totally and utterly mesmerized by everything I saw out the window and took photos at regular intervals throughout the entire train ride. Now I barely even look out the window and didn't take a single photo. It goes something like this. 1 is when I first arrived a year ago, and 5 is today.

1. Staring out the window the whole time and taking lots of photos
2. Staring out of the window some of the time and some photos
3. Staring out the window sporadically and taking photos every now and then
4. Staring out the window sporadically and taking no photos
5. Not looking out the window at all and taking no photos

I was telling my friend that I felt somewhat sad that when I first arrived in France and for the first few months everything was new and amazing, my senses were totally overwhelmed but now, after countless train journeys (probably 50?) and trips to Paris (7), nothing is new or amazing to me anymore. And that made me feel sad.

He told me he thought that that means the older you get, the less impressed you get by things as you would have experienced more, like his father who moved around and travelled so much for work and now he just wants to stay put. I guess there was some truth in what he had to say, even if I felt it was a tad negative. But it also made me think of the other spectrum. If it really is true, then it must also be true that kids are impressed by everything because they've never seen/done it before and isn't that why I hear time and time again that parents love seeing everything through their kids' eyes? Because for them, it's like reliving the moments again when THEY did such-and-such for the first time (which they probably can't remember because they were too young)?

To use an analogy (because I love analogies) I guess it's similar to the phenomenon of people who have lots of kids.

With the first kid, it's their first time so everything is new, interesting and amazing and they take photos of every single step of this kid's life. With each subsequent kid the things get less amazing and they take less and less photos and if they have 4 or 5 kids there will be significantly less photos and less milestones celebrated compared to the first kid.

Makes you ponder, doesn't it?

One year ago...

2011-09-27T23:16:00.012+02:00

A trip down memory lane...

I can't believe it. One year ago I turned up at the high school I'd be working at (teaching English) for the next few months, scared as all heck. I'd only been learning French for a few short months prior to moving to France and now I had to navigate my way around a HUGE school and a new town, all without speaking a word of English!

I'm quite proud of myself and how far I've come now. Not just in my French ability but my ability to adapt to different life situations and boy oh boy have I had some stressful and horrible situations... but I guess it's all part of life. Living, learning, loving, growing and all of that.

On one hand I'd love to say that I'd love to do it all over again (especially being able to take naps during the working day and having so many holidays!) but on the other hand I cringe at having to do it again. I definitely could not live that life again. Stuck in a small town with nowhere to go and nothing to do in my spare time.

Still, overall I had a great time and fond memories that will stay with me forever... :)

I'll be going back to Paris again soon, back to where it all started in September 2010...

Justified text

2011-09-21T14:50:00.000+02:00

Apparently the French have a big thing for justified text.

Now, I've actually studied typography (the study of type!) and know that justified text makes it harder to read. The fact that newspapers use it doesn't mean it's 'better' or 'correct' or.. Grrrr...

Whenever I've shown a French person a piece of text to correct for me (usually a shitty translation I've done myself of something I've first written in English and then tried to translate into French), they take it upon themselves to also justify it left and right! hahaha. When I've received letters from French people they are almost always justified!!

Here is a great example of why justified text sucks!!!!!

One year...

2011-09-20T23:43:00.002+02:00

Cela fait un an... It's been roughly one year since I left the comforts of my home and ventured halfway across the world to France... What an adventure it has been! and despite some bad things that have happened, I've loved every minute of it. Every sight, taste, sound... everything I've experienced will be forever embedded in my memory, my brain and my heart. :)

Decipher this!

2011-09-18T14:40:00.002+02:00

C3 M355463 53RT 4 PR0VV3R QV3 N0TR3 35PR1T P3VT F41R3 D'1MPR35510N4N735 CH0535 ! 4V D3BVT C'3T41T D1FF1C1L3 M415 M41NT3N4NT, 4 P4RT1R D3 C3TT3 L16N3, V0TR3 35PR1T 3ST 3N TR41N D3 L1R3 C3C1 4VT0M4T1QV3M3NT 54N5 M3M3 Y P3N5ER. 50Y3Z F13R5 ! S3VL5 C3RT41N3S P3RS0NN3S P3VV3NT L1R3 C3C1. R3P05TEZ-L3 51 V0V5 P0VV3Z C0MPR3NDR3 C3 M355463, M41S N3 D1T3S 4 P3R50NN3 C3 QV'1L S16N1F13.

I'm surprised it was actually quite easy to read, even though French is not my native language!

Cirque

2011-09-12T15:19:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I was with this French dude and according to him I cannot pronounce cirque (circus). I tried so many times but he says it sounded more like siècle (century). Apparently I can pronounce circonscription (electoral constituency) and it's just the start of that.. but .. ARGHHHH it was so frustrating. I was giving myself a sore throat trying to say it over and over again! Anyone else have a problem with this word?

Cirque sucks!

(image from here)

The French verb munir

2011-08-31T12:24:00.000+02:00

I came across this word many months ago at the train station in Geneva.. munissez...

Obviously I figured out what it meant (especially since there was also an English translation) but to actually translate this word?

This is my best interpretation :

munir = to come prepared with (something)

Learning a foreign language is like having children

2011-08-11T12:39:00.000+02:00

First of all I have to preface this by saying that I don't have children but have friends that do and I can imagine what it's like...

In my life I'm forever making analogies and when I think about myself wanting to learn German I think about a couple deciding to have a second child...

Why do I think the two things are similar?

* The first foreign language you learn will be the hardest and any subsequent ones you learn will be much easier because you've already developed the skills necessary and you've learnt the tricks, grammar rules...

* Having the first child is hard work (because you've never done it before) but having subsequent children should be comparatively easier since you've already done it all before and have an idea of what to expect.

* The beginning is always the hardest. The very very beginning of my learning French was hard. I'd see words I didn't know and immediately look them up in a French-English dictionary but it wasn't really that helpful because I hadn't learnt to conjugate yet! Once I got to an intermediate (B1) level things became much easier and faster to learn.

* I imagine raising a baby is the same. The beginning is super hard when the baby is a newborn and you don't know what you are doing and you never get any sleep... but after a few months or a year it becomes gradually easier.

* Once you've gotten to a stage of competency (in my case with French) you do start to feel a sense of dread that you'll have to start ALL over again with this other language you want to learn...

* Likewise for having a second child. I can imagine what a relief it is when your child is able to be a bit independent (around the age of 4-5) and starts school and if you have a second one you'll have to start all over again and do all that hard newborn stuff again...

Is it all worth it though?

It must be! I think there is some sort of a sense of addiction or something... Most people who love languages fail to stop learning at one foreign language, they keep going learning others.. and most people have at least two children... so there must be a reason to start all over again and go through the hard part to get to the good stuff! :) It must be... rewarding?

The secret of the quickest way to learn a foreign language

2011-08-11T01:29:00.000+02:00

Want to know the secret of the quickest way to learn a foreign language?

Get a boy/girlfriend who is a native speaker of that language.

I've heard it, read it, even experienced it... there really is no quicker way.

I believe it's true too because it's similar to how toddlers learn to speak. By spending so much time with their mother or primary caretaker... you just talk talk talk and listen listen listen all day long. It's an intensely quick method of absorbing and learning a foreign language.

However, it may not be so easy to find a willing participant ;)

Bonne chance !

Zoidberg has friends!

2011-08-09T16:08:00.001+02:00

Wow, I honestly didn't think that my friends cared so much. I feel so loved :) I'm talking about my French friends and that's why I'm writing it in this blog and not my Geneva blog.

* Last night one of my friends from France called me up out of the blue to ask if I wanted to meet him (and a friend of his) at the Fêtes de Genève.

* Then, this morning, I got a Facebook friend request from another friend from France. I lost contact with her and some others because I didn't have her email or Facebook, only phone number and I 1) somehow killed my French SIM card (magnetised or de-magnetised?) AND 2) got my phone stolen so I lost a whole heap of French phone numbers :( I was so shocked that she managed to track me down. I figured it was through a mutual friend.

* Just then, I got a surprise private message from yet another friend from France asking me how I was doing (after two shitty events that happened to me in Geneva...).

I feel so humbled because 90% of the time it's ALWAYS me asking people how they are doing and it's so nice to hear from someone out of the blue asking ME how I'm doing... particularly since everyone told me the French are cold blah blah blah... I really know who my real friends are and who I can rely on now.

(PS the quote is a Futurama reference, in case you didn't get it)

Conversations with a Parisian

2011-07-28T10:57:00.001+02:00

So last night I spent 4 hours (!!) chatting to a Parisian, a stranger no less. I find that I can usually relate well to Parisians, both having grown up in big, well-known cities (mine being Sydney). I'm not actually Australian Australian. No I'm not Aboriginal either but my parents or ancestors did not immigrate here from England. One of the most tiring and frustrating questions I get asked when I travel is, "Where do you come from?" And when I answer "Australia" they usually stare at me, puzzled, and then there will be more statements and questions such as "Oh but you don't look Australian!" "Are you sure?" "Oh I didn't know there were people who look like you in Australia" and all sorts of ignorant crap like that. In hindsight I guess I have to feel sorry for these people because they've lived such a sheltered life and never ventured outside of their own mono-cultural society!

So I was completely surprised when this Parisian I was talking to asked me where I was from and I said "Australia" and then there were no further questions asked! I couldn't believe it! That almost never happens. The conversation just continued on as normal.

However, maybe 10 minutes later I couldn't help thinking about it so I brought it up again. I asked, "When I told you that I come from Australia before, why didn't you ask me any further questions?" He told me that because Paris is so multicultural and he realises that (shock horror) there can be people who are born in France who don't look French and don't have French origins, the same thing must exist in Australia! Hurray! Bravo! So my conclusion is that he didn't have a problem with it because he comes from a big city because in almost every other place I've been to in France (and elsewhere around the world) I've been asked these dumb questions...

He said he thinks it's impolite to ask questions like that and it can be seen as being racist... something to do with the past, something to do with the French and the Africans... I can't remember the exact details but it was an interesting conversation.

Another thing I found interesting about this conversation was that he told me he grew up in the 6ème arrondissement, which - according to my knowledge of Paris - is a rather wealthy neighbourhood. It is also quite busy, crowded, noisy etc... and it's for that reason he now lives in a tiny city with a population of only about 6000 people! He says he really likes the peace and tranquility now. Ha!

I told him about my recent trip to Paris and how I went to Galeries Lafayette because I just love looking at the interior of that department store! He told me that Le Bon Marché is even more ritzy and the things they sell there are the top of the range luxe.

We talked about so many different things, it was such an interesting night!

Désormais et Dorénavant

2011-07-24T20:17:00.002+02:00

So on Thursday and Friday I was with my old friend the TGV listening to and reminisicing about the announcements you hear on the train platforms. There was one word that I did not understand and I was wracking my brains for what it could be. I wasn't even sure if it was one word, or two, or three...

Just then I had a Skype chat with someone I found through one of those languages learning sites (and OMG thank God he was a good chat partner. They are so rare to find) and then he typed it "dorénavant" and immediately I made the connection that that was the word they were saying over the loudspeaker!

Here is the exact sentence : "Nous vous rappelons que dorénavant l'étiquettage de vos bagages est obligatoire." (We remind you that from now on it is compulsory to tag your luggage (with your details))

Now I only came across the word désormais because of Facebook (I had since switched my language to French about a year ago) but did not realise that dorénavant means practically the same thing ("from now on").

It's funny the different ways by which I learn new vocabulary!

Here is a somewhat related blogpost about train platform messages.

Aaron, the band

2011-07-23T14:55:00.000+02:00

After my last blog post about Paris my curiosity got the better of me. WHO exactly was I sitting opposite to on the train? Well I went to the FNAC Festival Live website to see the list of who was playing at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris on Thursday night (21 July). I soon realise the times are all wrong because I was there from about 9:30-10pm and did not see the ones listed on there during those times. Also the guy I met told me he was playing at around 7:30pm (then again, I suppose schedules do change at the last minute?!)

Given I know that he's French and there are two of them, it was pretty easy to narrow down - the band is Aaron. LOL. And to make sure I was 100% correct, I checked out their tour dates and the day before, they were in Nyon (which makes sense why they were on the train from Geneva to Paris). Looking at the tour dates... OMG how exhausting! Still, if you love what you do... Interestingly, I knew about the Nyon (Paléo) festival because the friend that I caught up with about a week ago (who is also a singer) is/was also playing there...

If they really did play at 10pm (as the website says) I'm gonna be pissed 'cause that's around when I left. Oh well.

Still, it's kind of cool to know I struck up a conversation with a real live Parisian rock star ;) However, the photos on the sites don't look exactly like the guy I remember. I think it may just be the different hairstyle. Anyway here they are: Olivier Coursier (left) and Simon Buret (right). Guess which one he was? :P

Official sites:
• My Space
• Tumbler
• Facebook

Check out how many people were in front of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris though!

I guess bad weather doesn't stop Parisians from partying!

I also found this photo which means they also went straight to the Hôtel de Ville (like I did) straight after getting off the train from Geneva at Paris Gare de Lyon!

There are no fat or ugly people in Paris

2011-07-21T23:54:00.005+02:00

Back in my hotel room after a whirlwind day in Paris. There is NEVER enough time to spend in Paris! Every time I come here it's one big rush where I feel like I spend half the day underground riding the metro!

I forced myself to have a good time. No matter what. I would NOT let anything get in my way of having a great time today.

Before I get to the good stuff and the story let's get the bad stuff out of the way.

1. The weather. It was lightly raining and overcast. It wasn't that cold but it seemed like it might be and most people (including myself) were dressed for November or March type weather! The main problem with the weather was not the rain or the clouds but the extremely high humidity which made me sweat like crazy even though it was only somewhere around 17-22°. However, if I had worn fewer clothes I would have also frozen so it was hard to know what to wear in this strange weather.

2. The romance of Paris. You can't escape it. Recently I went through some events which sort of feel like a break up and it hurts. And then every millisecond my eyes were assaulted by lovey dovey couples. Ouch. It hurts so bad. There's nothing I can do except be happy for them and wish one day I could be in Paris with my love and make out everywhere and not care who is watching!

3. I had a shit problem with my hotel booking where I nearly had a spack attack. Because I had so many credit cards in my wallet that got stolen and they are now blocked and I don't have a single accessible card at the moment, they couldn't reserve the room for me. Even though I said I can pay them in cash it didn't matter. The guy at reception said I HAD to have a credit card to book the room. What could I do? I could have gone elsewhere but I couldn't guarantee that they'd have a room available and for the same or less price. Plus I had accumulated some bags/stuff and did not feel like traipsing around wasting my whole day looking for another hotel!!

At first I tried calling my bank in France because I was due to collect my credit card there the very next day and hoped they could just give me the number of my new card over the phone (since I don't need the PIN or anything) but all I got was voicemail. D'oh!

When all else fails I can only rely on one person who never fails me: my father. Thank God it was still a decent time in Australia. It was 2pm here and 10pm there. Luckily it wasn't much later. So I called him on my mobile thinking it would cost 2chf a minute (that's what my phone told me when I crossed borders but then I realised in hindsight that was probably only the call cost to France). I quickly explained what happened (he had no idea I was in Paris. In fact I barely told anyone it was such a last minute thing!) and asked if I could use his credit card saying they weren't even going to charge it, it was just to book/reserve the room. He gave me his credit card number and I gave it to the reception guy thinking it was all OK now.

No.... being French everything must be in writing. Oh fuck. I forgot about that! He wouldn't accept it saying he needed 'authorisation' from my father to use my card. I said, "But you heard our entire conversation!" So I had to call my father back, and ask him to get on the email to send an email to the hotel regarding authorisation to use his credit card for my room. Oh My Fucking God. I felt so bad for bothering my father and felt so crap for all this time I was wasting. Meanwhile I decided to check the credit on my phone... I only just added 30chf credit yesterday! It should be at 28 or 29chf ish. When I checked my credit I had only 12chf left. I nearly had a heart attack. The call must've cost me around 5chf per minute! ARGH. Still there was nothing I could do about it now, and at least I had a hotel room for tonight! I decided not to let it upset me too much other than I had wasted some of my precious sightseeing time.

OK now let me go to the beginning of my story.

As usual I don't sleep much before big trip and I only had 4 hours sleep. I had to get up so early to walk about 10 minutes to a bus stop a bit further away, take the bus, get off the bus and walk some more and wait at the station for my train. I got there way too early I could've caught an earlier train but decided not to and just stick to my original plan.

When I got on the TGV headed for Paris I went to find my seat hoping the train would not be full (it was almost empty!) The guy yesterday booked me a couloir (corridor/aisle) seat in the lower level. The worst!! He didn't ask me what I wanted otherwise I would always choose a window (fenêtre) seat.

I quickly realised I could have a window seat afterall... I found myself sitting opposite a fairly good-looking French guy who reminded me a lot of my former teacher in Alliance Française in Sydney. He was travelling with his friend who sat across the aisle, taking up all 4 seats.

It was going to be a 3 hour train ride and I really felt like talking to the guy sitting opposite me but I talked myself out of it. Besides, he seemed to be seriously occupied (addicted?) to his iphone! So I got on my computer and did some work and then I tried to go to sleep. As often happens on train trips, right where I get to the point where I'm almost asleep the inspector comes to check the tickets. Why the heck can't they just check it at the beginning? So of course I never did fall asleep during the entire trip but I was in that sort of sleepy drowsy mode which was nice given I didn't get enough sleep the night before as usual.

Towards the end of the train trip the guy opposite me started reading a novel. Without even thinking and pondering and dwelling too much (allowing me time to get nervous about it), "That's it!" I thought. I was going to talk to him and I knew the EXACT way to start the conversation because it's something I've been wondering for ages.

Back in June-July 2010 not long before I left for France, I invited a French guy over to my place for lunch. Actually I invited other people too but he was the only one who could make it that day. We met on Couchsurfing and were going to do a language exchange with each other. I remember him showing me this cool bi-lingual novel where you open at any page, and one side is in French and one side is in English. As well as that, there are translations and phrase explanations at the bottom of each page. It was so cool and whenever I've been in a bookshop in France or Geneva I'd look for a book like that but never found one. Then again I never looked for it seriously or even asked for assistance (thinking they just didn't exist in a bookstore that's not huge)... but given this guy was reading a book, I thought it would kill two birds with one store: it's a way for me to start a conversation with him AND find out the answer to something I've been dying to know (assuming he knows the answer).

I started with something like, "Excusez-moi s'il vous plaît mais est-ce que vous venez de Paris?" (Excuse me please but do you come from Paris?) He answered "Oui" (phew)... OK so I asked him and he told me I could try Shakespeare & Co bookstore and even drew me a map! He suggested I could also try FNAC (which I know of because they are in Geneva too and obviously I'd seen them before during my travels around France but I had no idea of their locations in Paris since I'd never been to one there). He tried to look it up for me on his iphone but there was no connection. D'oh! Still... at least it gave me two ideas of places to try.

And then we got talking about our lives. I said I used to live in France but now live and work in Geneva. And just when we had to get off the train I finally found out what HE does. He told me he's a musician and would be playing tonight at the Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall) starting at around 19h30 and invited me to come. It wasn't till much much much later in the day (night) that I realised I didn't even get his name or his band's name so I had no idea who he plays for! (ETA: I do now)

I love that I've been to Paris enough times now that I don't have a big long list of touristy things to do and can just do whatever I want. I LOVE not having any concrete plans. It's fun to go with the flow. I had no plans other than the one important thing that I had to do.

I couldn't check into my hotel until 2pm so I had some time to kill. First of all I needed to get a map of Paris since I left mine at home. After that I needed to go to the Post Office but I had no idea where one was (I couldn't remember the address of the awesome one I went to last time) so I just decided to go to the Hôtel de Ville for a few reasons: 1) it's only a few stops away on one métro line from Gare de Lyon, 2) I could check out what would be going on tonight regarding the free music concert, and 3) It's a big enough landmark so I guessed there must be one somewhere around there...

As luck would have it, there was an information stand (which was staffed by some young, good-looking AND friendly Parisians) one of whom told me there was a post office right IN (sort of underneath on the left as you're looking at it) the Town Hall. Wow, I'd guessed right!

With that out of the way I thought I could go straight to Levallois to do my 'business' but something happened.. I kind of took a shopping detour.

At first I thought I'd go and find FNAC (since I remember him saying there was one around there) so I went back to the Info desk to ask the same girl where it is. She explained but I got lost. I asked a random man in the street and he didn't know either. Hmm... so I just kept walking and saw a nice bag shop that had heaps of backpacks in it, many of which were on sale.

I couldn't help but go in for a peek. I really need to replace my beloved backpack that got stolen but I put it off because one of a similar size/style cost 129 chf in Geneva. However, I could get one cheaper here! After spending ages through them all there weren't that many that were big enough. And not all were on sale. In the end I chose the only one that fitted all my criteria and it was 90 euros down to 60euros so I was really happy with that. It's the very pouplar Eastpak brand and it has a 30 year guarantee! I still miss my baby like crazy and hope that he turns up in Lost and Found (I had him for 10 years :( ) but this one is a nice replacement.

So then I asked the salesperson guy (who was super nice.. who says Parisians are rude?!) where FNAC was and he said it's in Forum Les Halles, a big shopping centre a bit further down the road.

Following his instructions I did manage to find it. This FNAC was HUGE! OMG I was in book heaven.

Allow me to go off on a tangent a bit. I LOVE books. When I was in primary school we got these catalogues for 'book club' and my father usually let me choose 2 or 3 books in each catalogue and I always had such a hard time narrowing down my choices. I still have all those books I got from book club! Also, I was a 'library monitor' in 5th and 6th grade and one time we went on a school excursion where I got to meet some famous children's authors which was awesome.

Buying books in Australia was kind of shit because a large majority were imported from the US and even though our currency is almost equa,l the prices of the books were usually double! Eg a book which costs 9.95 USD ends up costing 19.95 AUD. Sometimes it was even MORE than double. Because of this, most people now buy their books online (Amazon and Book Depository) and because of that, recently a lot of bookstores in Australia closed down! In Geneva I have the exact same problem as I did in Sydney. A lot of the books are imported from France and the prices are double! Now the Euro is stronger than the Swiss Franc but still.. the prices are a joke!

Meanwhile shopping for books in France is a dream come true. The range is HUGE and the prices are good. I cannot believe you can buy paperback novels for 5 or 6 euros. Novels cost at least 20 and often 30 Australian dollars in Australia!!

I could have spent all day in FNAC but just focused on what I wanted. After asking two different salespeople I finally found the section with the bi-lingual books my suspicion was right. The section was quite small and given this is a huge bookstore I doubt a small bookstore would even have these types of books.

I got 1) Alice in Wonderland (Alice au pays des Merveilles) and Breakfast at Tiffany's (Petit déjeuner chez Tiffany). I've never even seen the film and didn't know it was based on a book! There were classic novels like Charles Dickens and John Steinbeck etc but I want to read something that actually interests me and most classic novels bore me because they were set so long ago...

After that I went to check out the foreign languages section. The selection in Payot Librarie in Geneva actually has a bigger section for learning French! But that makes sense given most people in Paris already know how to speak French :P Not long ago I almost ordered Assimil German from Book Depository online (where I buy all my books). I couldn't decide whether to get it in English or in French (ie learning German comparing it to English, or to French). The thing I wanted to buy wasn't on the shelf so I asked a staff member if he had it. He promptly went out the back and brought back 2 copies to put on the shelf. While i was there a lady was also enquiring about it and we both ended up buying it! It was too tempting not to because it was cheaper than Book Depository already AND there was 20% off! Bonus!

The lady asked me if I thought it was good and I said I used it to learn French! I told her as much as I could about it and she seemed generally grateful for my advice with just makes my day (when I feel like I've helped someone).

After buying a big backpack, 2 books and the very heavy Assimil kit (book and CDs) AS WELL AS carrying my existing bags which had my 2kg laptop inside, my back and arms were killing me and now I was dying to get back to the hotel, just about time too.

First I had to get myself to the metro at Châtelet Les Halles. Now, I've only ever heard bad things about this place. That it's dangerous at night. That's its huge and overcrowded, etc. So knowing this I wasn't in a hurry to dilly dally but being so huge it took me a while to get me to where I wanted to go!

When I got to Gare de Lyon I bought a maxi pain au chocolat as I hadn't eaten since about 8am and was now totally starving.

So I got to my hotel and I already told you what happened...

By the time I left the hotel it was almost 3pm and I STILL hadn't done what I set out to do and I didn't even know what time they closed. I prayed to God they didn't close at 4 or else I might be stuffed as I didn't think I could get there before 4pm. It was quite far away and I had to change metro lines twice.

Still, I made it at 4 on the dot and they didn't close until 5 anyway. Levallois. I'd heard of this place before in Sarah Turnbull's book Almost French. It's just out of the ring road so technically it's another city! I went to two cities in one day hehehe.

As soon as I stepped out of the metro I thought, " Wow, it's so much cleaner/quieter/less crowded than the city and still just as beautiful." I can't believe how much she whinged in the book about living there. Actually I'm tired of these spoilt 20 something year old brats from well to do families (they are always from upper middle class families, aren't they?) whinging about stuff when they have a place to live for FREE in Paris, an instant companion, an instant and free French tutor... I'm sorry for sounding bitter but I had none of this when I arrived and now it's a constantly struggled to provide for myself and to make friends, etc etc. Levallois is beautiful and tranquil and not that far from Paris. Man! I wouldn't mind living there if I had a free place to live in!

Anyway so... after doing what I came to do, I popped into a supermarket where I bought 2 sandwiches which cost less than 2 euros each (bargain!) as I still hadn't even had lunch yet. I sat on a park bench and ate my lunch and then...

I checked out the very beautiful gardens of the Hôtel de Ville there. There were so many different kinds of flowers and at that exact moment I was there, the sun came out! Ah the sun... how I've missed you.

So with that, that was my queue to high tail it to La Tour Eiffel. I knew the sun wouldn't last long and I was right. It was gone by the time I got to Trocadéro. The reason why I wanted to go back to the Tower is because I've seen it in autumn, winter and spring and now I finally get to see it in summer completing my cycle of 4 seasons :) although my spring photo looks far more like summer than today's photo!

I'm still struck with awe the moment I see it from Trocadéro. No matter how many times I see it I want to gasp.

Lovey dovey couples everywhere...

Around Gare de Lyon and around that area I saw HEAPS of police and men in army uniform. HEAPS and heaps and all carrying weapons. On one hand it feels weird but on the other it makes me feel safer which is a good thing. And without fail all the policemen were hot hot hot! ;)

Anyway so I took the same photos as I always take at the Eiffel Tower, squeezing in trying to find a space between all the other tourists.

Then I realised I really needed to use the toilet. I couldn't find one anywhere. I managed to distract myself with a small market where I bought a cheap, soft case for my mobile phone (since that was also stolen along with my phone!!). I asked a stallholder where the toilet was and she told me it was downstairs near the boats. When I got there I was told they were closed. WTF? The one up near the markets was also locked. The lady at one of the restaurants told me to go to the actual Tower. Geez. I tell you what, I was that close to to finding a quiet secluded spot...

I got to the Tower and asked some policemen where the toilets were. I started off being quite angry (that there were no toilets anywhere in such a busy, crowded place?) but they were so good-humored I actually left smiling. Apart from the rude hotel reception guy every other Parisian I dealt with was super nice and friendly!!

She joked about going behind a tree and I said I already thought of that.. she said there were two toilets. One you have to pay for (which you didn't!) and another one. She suggested the one further away because the queue would be shorter (it wasn't). Now I never say, "je m'en fous" because it means "I don't care" but it can ALSO mean "I don't give a fuck" but given I was about to piss my pants and she asked me if I cared about paying, I said, "je m'en fous".. other giving me instructions to the other one (of course I initially got lost) she said "bon courage mademoiselle" which made me laugh.

I did eventually find it and there were 7 people in front of me! Thank God the queue moved relatively quickly AND it was free. Usually all public toilets are paying in France!

I was really glad to see this sign after my bag was pickpocketed in Geneva

There were lots of police and army presence!

And then I had to get back on the metro again and I'd forgotten just how far Bir Hakeim station was. It felt like I had to walk 20 minutes to get to it!

I still hadn't finished my shopping fix so I wanted to get to the shops before 7pm (I assumed they close at either 7 or 8pm). Luckily for me though, since it was Thursday, the shops don't close until 9pm! (and usually 8 or even 8:30pm which is such a change from Geneva!)

I went to Galeries Lafayette not that I can afford anything there but just to look at it because the interior is so beautiful. For the first time I checked out the kids/toy section (amazing) and also the top floor with the souvenir shop, a book shop, a tea room, and cafeteria (and also a nice rooftop view out the windows). And there, I found a FREE toilet - woohoo! It is such an incredibly beautiful (and huge) department store. I still remember my last trip there during Christmas with the beautiful moving window displays.

Lots of lovely books about Paris

I got my macaron fix too at the Pierre Hermé stand and bought two macarons.

On leaving Galeries Lafayette I couldn't help but notice the chic 'school uniforms' in the window. It's a bit of a novelty for me to realise that 1) kids don't wear uniforms and 2) school starts in September and therefore school diaries start in September (and not January)! Right now in Geneva and Paris and probably everywhere else in Europe, they are selling back-to-school supplies and I just go gaga over the gorgeous stationery and beautiful things, the kind of stuff which did NOT exist when I was in school! An surely still doesn't exist in Australia. The range of incredibly beautiful and cute back-to-school supplies is mind boggling.

Then, finally, after I had finished my checklist I could go back to the Town Hall to check out the concert.

I didn't want to change metro lines ago (which drives me nuts!) so I just decided to get off a bit further away at Pont Neuf. I'm really glad I did because I walked along the Seine and saw Paris Plage. I was fascinated with it ever since I heard about it 2 years ago and today was the opening day for this year! Unfortunately, it wasn't beach weather though :( Still, there were quite a few people taking advantage of the beach chairs and enjoying the atmosphere. There was a band and they were awesome. I looked down on them from above.. Just loved the music.

Would have been a gorgeous sunset without all those clouds

By the time I got to the Town Hall it was already 21h30, two hours after 19h30 so I didn't get to see the guy on the train :( Still, I quite enjoyed myself. There was quite a big turnout despite the miserable grey weather. I LOVE live music. The only thing I really really wished (and I wished all day long) is that I had someone to share my day with. Not necessarily a guy, but even a good friend from home. That would have been the icing on the cake!

It's funny how things turn out though. If I didn't meet the guy on the train I probably wouldn't have gone to FNAC and wouldn't have gone to or even known about the concert at the Town Hall. So many "ifs".. If I didn't get off at Pont Neuf I wouldn't have seen Paris Plage, etc etc. I wanted to stay at the Town Hall forever. I got that horrible feeling I get at the end of every holiday. That I have to leave this city/country and soon go back to every day life...

Regarding the title of this blog post.. there seem to be very very very few fat people in Paris and those that are overweight are over 45 or 50 years old. I am guessing it has something to do with the metro. Taking the metro I feel like I've walked thousands of steps and kms of tunnels. Sooooooo much walking and it's one thing I don't like about Paris. Those long underground metro tunnels and tonnes of stairs. I'm simply exhausted! Also, the Parisians are sooooo good looking. Both the guys and the girls. I can hardly stop staring. There is quite a large percentage of good looking people here! AND they seem taller than the average French person (who is shorter than the average Anglo or Northern European person). Weird. Are they all super lucky with genes or what?!

But it was a very successful day indeed and like all my previous Paris trips, I could barely keep the smile off my face all day :D

Paris here I come... again!

2011-07-21T00:02:00.002+02:00

OMG how time flies! It's been over 3 months since I was last in Paris and so much has happened between now and then.

Last time I toured Paris with my friend who I'm now kinda trying to ignore because I realised my crush on him was getting out of hand and I'm just trying to forget him now.. still, I will always remember that day in Paris with him which was nothing short of perfect. Perfect weather, nice company, beautiful sights, ice cream, scooter ride, nothing could've stopped me that day from feeling anything other than utter bliss.

Unfortunately the weather for tomorrow is not looking as great as last time. I don't mind if it's overcast so long as it's not actively raining. Please God, Please don't let it rain. That will just remind me of my last trip to Lyon where it was freezing, windy and raining and it was late May.

Now I'm not going to Paris for the heck of it. I would be stupid to given the high(er) cost of last minute train tickets. I need to go there to do something and since I can't do it on Friday I have to go tomorrow (Thursday). Since I need to go back to my hometown in France on Friday I thought it would be stupid to come back to Geneva so I will stay the night in Paris, in the same hotel as the one I used last time! - Hotel de France Gare de Lyon Bastille.

I'm basically blowing all my savings on this trip but I don't care really. I really need to get away from Geneva because I'm not liking that being here just reminds me of all the bad stuff that's happened recently. It will be such a great diversion to go to Paris. I can't wait :) I wish I could take a proper holiday and go somewhere new but it's not meant to be at the moment.

Every time I've gone to Paris I've done and seen different things... what will I do this time? I'm not sure yet but I'm going to buy a day metro pass (which works out cheaper than the carnets of 10 tickets if you take the metro at least 4 times in one day).

Nothing makes me feel more ALIVE and happy than when I'm travelling. I think back fondly to my last three "overseas" trips - Germany, Barcelona and Italy and what a fantastic time I had, and if I go further back, all my trips around France. Those were the days... Unfortunately my life now doesn't allow me to go on trips so often anymore. It was just a fluke that I had 2 sets of public holidays in June!

Ideas for what I can do... after I've gotten the important stuff out of the way:

Check out the sales (and then get all depressed I can't really afford to buy much anyway)
Check out more macaron places!
Just walk around or sit outside at a café on a cane chair and people watch
Go to the cinéma and watch a film (something I haven't done since February or March)
Go to a museum I haven't been to yet
Go and sit in the Jardin du Luxembourg
Go back to the Eiffel tower for the fourth time
Take the metro to a random unknown stop and just walk around to see what's there

Try really really hard to be happy despite the weather (if it turns out bad) and my stresses over the past few weeks. :D

I'm just so happy to be going back to my beloved Paris. Even if it is only for 24 hours.

A chandelier is not a chandelier

2011-07-18T21:01:00.000+02:00

Last night I was talking to a French guy and it turns out that what we call a chandelier in English is not the same thing as in French!!

A chandelier in English is a lustre in French
and a chandelier in French is a candlestick/candle holder in English.

I would love to have an all-white chandelier like that for my living room!

2 years of learning French

2011-07-08T19:36:00.000+02:00

Wowzers how time flies! I only just realised that this week it's been about 2 years since I first started learning French. Now I wasn't learning French during 2 years continuously of course but I'm still proud of my achievement and the level that I've attained :)

I'm going to start learning German one of these days but I'm really not looking forward to it because it seems sooooo much harder than French :(

We are all connected WWF video

2011-07-07T22:10:00.004+02:00

A short and lovely video!

panda.org/50

All about the Test de Connaissance du Français (TCF)

2011-07-06T15:37:00.000+02:00

So, about a year or so ago I did the TEF (Test d'Evaluation de Français) which is an exam that evaluates your level of proficiency in French. I wanted to do it again but it wasn't offered when and where I wanted it so I opted to take the Test de Connaissance du Français (TCF) instead. They are both pretty similar.

I decided to take it at the Alliance Française closest to me, which was in Lyon. So that's why I went to Lyon at the end of May.

Prior to the exam

..I didn't really have much time to study or prepare in between travelling, moving to Geneva and starting my new job. And then when I went to Payot Librairie wanting to buy a textbook to help me study for it, there weren't any! I couldn't believe it! They seemed to have every single French language learning textbook that ever existed except the one I wanted. Of course they could order it in for me but it would be too late. pfft... I should also mention that compared to the price in Euro in France (printed near the barcode) they were also way more expensive (as is always the case in Switzerland!)

So I used what I could online including the very excellent online simulated TCF test.

Much like the TEF, the sections are the same:

Obligatoires (Compulsory)
- Compréhension orale (oral comprehension)
- Maîtrise des structures de la langue (language structure)
- Compréhension écrite (written comprehension)
Facultatives (Optional)

Expression orale (oral expression)
Expression écrite (written expression)

However unlike the TEF, you don't get points taken off for incorrect answers. I contacted the AF in Lyon prior to the exam but noone could answer my question and finally I found the answer I wanted somewhere online!

The day and location of the exam

When I got there I was filled with a mix of emotions. The day started off not so great for me because I had to get up at some ungodly hour to get there on time and it was cold. Much colder than I was prepared for, windy and raining. Not a great start at all.

However I quickly popped into a boulangerie for a cheap and delicious strawberry croissant for breakfast which instantly made me feel much better and made me so happy to be back in Lyon again.

However, when I found the building and arrived (way ahead of schedule!) all these emotions flooded out. I loved my time at the Alliance Française in Sydney so so much and seeing a (not 'the' because she is in Paris!) mothership in France was a dream come true.

There was a big board with everyone's name, date of birth, nationality, test name and room number on it. I quickly scanned it to find myself and also to scope out everyone's age (most were younger than me) and nationality (varied but mostly from Asia).

We all waited in the lobby and it when it was time to go we were ushered upstairs. As is often the case in Europe there was a lift but we weren't allowed to use it so we had to walk up 3 or 4 big flights of stairs in this rather old looking building.

There were a lot of people doing the exam and we were separated into 4 classrooms. The classrooms had names of countries and there was an "Australia" classroom! Woohoo! However, I wasn't put in that one. Bummer.

The exam

My group got this old guy as the exam supervisor who seemed to mumble. I barely understood him and he wasn't friendly at all. It all kind of went downhill from then on...

He didn't even explain to us (another exam supervisor who came in did) that if you changed your mind with an answer (4 options, all multiple choice questions) you could put a big cross through it and circle the correct answer (your new answer).

The exam had literally just started (question 1 or 2) when someone came in late and it really really distracted me. I mean seriously... if everyone else could get there on time, why couldn't you?

Then, when we got up to question 9 (I think it was) the CD or CD player went all funny and everyone started protesting. The exam supervisor said to just don't worry and leave it out and we'll come back to it in the end however it kept happening. The CD was skipping a lot and it really was soooo damn frustrating and annoying. How can we answer the question when we can't hear the question?

IF ANYONE WHO HAPPENS TO WORK AT THE AF OR ANY OTHER EXAM CENTRE IS READING THIS: PLEASE CHECK THE ENTIRE FREAKING CD ACTUALLY PLAYS PROPERLY BEFORE THE EXAM, PLEASE!!! OMG.

At least there was a second CD we could use but from that point on after repeated interruptions and disruptions (not to mention we could hear the CD playing next door as well which was at a different spot to ours) I was going insane. Especially then later when another exam coordinator came in and started chatting rather loudly to ours right next to my table!! I blocked my ears to give them a hint and OMFG I just wanted to scream. I can't concentrate in conditions like that!! That was the THIRD interruption for me.

So by the time the first part (the oral part) of the exam finished we were soooo behind the other 3 groups.

Luckily sections 2 and 3 didn't require use of the CD and we could go at our own paces. I distinctly remember last year when I did the TEF exam not having enough time for the written comprehension section (which I found rather difficult) but this time I am happy to say that I answered every single question in the exam, in all 3 sections. I just had enough time for the written comprehension section. I was reading as fast as I could and trying to choose the correct answer...

Because of the kerfuffles at the beginning the exam supervisor kindly gave us an extra 10 minutes (which I think is totally fair) even though he said he'd give us 5.

When it finished I was a little sad to leave AF Lyon knowing I won't be back there again. If I lived in Lyon I would love to continue taking lessons there.

My results

And now, more than a month later I finally got my results. Despite the fact that I gave them a nice big A4 envelope with cardboard inside (to keep it flat) complete with more than 4 euros worth of stamps to send it to me in SWITZERLAND they sent it to my friend's address (that I used) in France! ARGH. So now I have to go through the hassle of picking it up from him. Not to mention all the effort I went to in the rain to go to the post office to make sure I had the right postage AND the fact that I did NOT want the certificate folded!

I'll repeat the table of results again here (info from this site)

Cadre commun de référence	TCF points	TEF points	CIEP / Ministère de l’Education Nationale	Nombre d’heures
A1 Utilisateur élémentaire	0-199	Level 0+ : 0-68 1: 69-203	DELF 1 A1	150h
A2 Survie	200-299	2: 204-360	DELF 1 A2	300h
B1 Utilisateur autonome	300-399	3: 361-540	DELF 1 A3 - A4	450h
B2 Autonomie	400-499	4: 541-698	DELF 2 A5 - A6	600h
C1 Utilisateur expérimenté	500-599	5: 699-833	DALF B1 - B2	750h
C2 Maîtrise	600-699	6: 834-900	DALF B3 - B4	900h

So, what result did I get? Based on practice exams and based on the fact that I got B2 last year I made an educated guess that I would most likely get C1 (and it's what I hoped to get). But... I still got B2!! I am somewhat disappointed. Especially since I missed out by ONE LOUSY POINT. OMG. Can you believe it? I scored 499! I swear if I wasn't distracted a billion times I would've easily gotten C1. Oh well. The surprising thing was that my BEST section was written comprehension! Given that I haven't been reading as much stuff in French as I was last year (example- reading lemonde.fr every single day) I am surprised.

Well if and when I decide to take another proficiency test I am aiming higher. I am aiming for C2 next time. For those who are wondering (as some friends have asked me) I am not taking the test for any particular purpose but merely for my own interest and because I like it. Yeah I like tests. Weird, huh? I love the studying beforehand and the adrenalin rush of doing the test against the clock and the anxious wait to find out the results.

I have to say that I much more preferred doing the test in the AF in Sydney. The room was nice and big and the feel was much more relaxed. And the person conducting the exam was nicer and more helpful!

Le Sirop de Monin

2011-07-05T22:45:00.001+02:00

I subscribe to this blog stylistic.fr and just read about these Monin syrups.

I need to backtrack a bit. Growing up as a kid in Australia in the 80s and 90s everyone drank Cottee's Cordials. In fact, I still remember the song from the TV commercial (below)

However, my parents only believed in giving us good quality food. Only 100% fruit juice for us. None of this 50% or 25% fruit juice rubbish or even worse, cordial. So I became very fussy and snobby about my juices and when I'd go over to friend's houses and their parents gave me Cottee's cordial I'd feel sick at the thought of the horrible artificial taste. I'd much rather drink tap water (and still think like that)!

However, in Geneva, I was introduced to Aproz sirops and as far as I can tell there isn't anything overly artificial or chemical in them. I like the pamplemousse (grapefuit) one. And in an effort to save money (as much as I love my pure fruit juice) I decided to be a syrup/cordial convert.

Now, it was with great interest that I read about this French syrup by Monin. It's so hard to find a list of all the ingredients but it doesn't seem that artificial either. How good do these flavours sound? Basil, Chai Tea, Blood Orange, Speculoos, Icy Mint ... I really need to get my hands on some and try them for myself!

Monin English website
Monin French website

French schools and jobs

2011-07-01T16:28:00.001+02:00

This morning I met up with one of my friends from France. It was so lovely to see her again and catch up! She worked at the school where I worked and told me that she and another staff member lost their jobs. They had to (for the first time) re-sit an interview with the headmaster if they wanted to continue working for the school. They didn't 'pass' so their contracts were not renewed but from what she told me it was more of a case of favouritism than anything else. After 4 years there she doesn't know to do with herself and is furiously looking for work... I can't imagine what that would be like. I mean, you see the kids grow up and you become their friend and then 'poof'. It's so sad.

I have to say that I was lucky because the headmaster was always nice to me. But my friend reckons that that was because I wasn't a 'real' staff member there, it's like I was just there for fun, with a bit of teaching on the side. I was there mainly for the cultural experience and she knew it so there was no reason to give me a hard time or anything...

Meanwhile, SO much has happened with other staff members at the school where I taught.

Examples...

Someone is going to retire soon
Someone quit her job and is now a full-time translator
Someone applied to teach French in the US (not sure if she succeeded or not)
Someone who was a temporary teacher passed the hard Capes exam so they can now get a permanent post either at the same school or one a bit further away
Someone quit and moved to Lyon
Someone quit and is going to be a stay-at-home dad
Someone is getting posted to another school to be closer to home
Someone is an alcoholic and got a big talking to by the headmaster!
People (teachers) who have been having relationships with each other have broken up!
My friend and someone else got fired

etc etc...

OMG it's like a soap opera!

So much for a job in the education sector being secure! It seems like it's soooo hard to get and KEEP a job in France!

And today is the very last day of school before the big vacances scolaires d'été. If I ever go back I won't know anyone except the headmaster and the people in admin!

My other friend is moving to Lyon this weekend and starting work as a lectrice after the summer vacation.

And to think that about a year ago I was gearing up to come to France. I was writing to the previous assistant and going to the French embassy in Sydney to get my visa sorted. I can't believe how much has happened in my life since one year ago.

Paris me manque

2011-06-29T23:30:00.001+02:00

Un blog en français...

Je me souviendrai toujours de mon voyage précédent à Paris. Ce fut un des plus merveilleux jours de ma vie et ce fut aussi un jour mieux que parfaît. Paris est une ville incroyable. Plus jolie que n'importe quelle autre. Plein d'histoire, plein de culture, plein de verdure, plein d'architecture impressionante...

J'avais de la chance la dernière fois avec le temps si beau et avec un copain drôle. J'ai essayé plusieurs fois mais je n'arrivais pas à sortir ce souvenir de ma tête. Je me suis dit que peut-être c'est lui qui me manque et pas Paris..

Je souffle. Ma vie n'est jamais simple. Trop de choses compliqués qui me perplexe. J'attends avec impatience le jour où ma vie serait plus simple !!!

World's best cities to travel to during summer

2011-06-22T23:00:00.001+02:00

I just read the title of this Lonely Planet article and had hoped and guessed it was Sydney (hey I'm not biased or anything! ;) ). I was close. Sydney came second. Barcelona came first.

Crap crap crap. That reminds me I am sooooo behind in my blogs I still haven't written about my Italy, Barcelona or Germany trips :(

Anyway, I can see why Barcelona would come first. It is an all-round incredible city. I don't know what it'd be like in winter but when I went the weather was largely perfect. Sunny, but not boiling hot, and with a nice sea breeze.

1. Barcelona
2. Sydney
3. Montreal
4. London
5. Chicago
6. Stockholm
7. Edinburgh
8. Berlin
9. Amsterdam
10. New York
11. Lisbon

Notice how most of them are in Europe and Sydney is the only one in the southern hemisphere?

When friends of mine told me that they wanted to visit Europe in the summer I could never understand why. Don't they realise it can be stinking hot and a lot of things are not open since the residents themselves have gone on holidays?

Also something else about Europe in case you didn't know already: They don't use air-conditioning as much as in Anglo countries. Just yesterday I nearly died on the bus with no air-conditioning and the other day I was standing next to a guy with really bad body odour and swear I was going to faint and throw up at the same time!

In Barcelona also it was horrific on a bus without air con. It's not that they're not equipped with it, the bus driver just doesn't turn it on!

Oops, as usual I've gone off topic..

anyway to all my northern hemisphere readers, enjoy your summer holidays! :)

(picture from here)

My French level

2011-06-19T00:02:00.000+02:00

On Thursday I went to Payot bookstore (previously mentioned briefly here) and went through their entire collection of French learning textbooks. To my surprise, almost every single one I leafed through was too easy! There were very few I wanted to buy since I realise I was already past that level. That was a pretty awesome feeling, I must say :)

I think I mainly just need to improve my speaking, since my reading, writing and listening are all pretty decent. But when I try to speak quickly I know I sometimes use the wrong tense or the wrong conjugation.

Anyway, I have decided to start learning German soon. I would much rather learn Italian or Spanish but it would make far more sense and be far more useful for me to learn German. I'm going to use the EXACT SAME self-taught method as I used for learning French as it worked really well for me. I'll be documenting it over on my Swiss blog.

Wish me Viel Glück! :)

Algerian man has been denied French nationality

2011-06-14T10:00:00.000+02:00

An Algerian man has been denied French nationality because of his sexist attitudes towards women.

The man's application was refused because "his idea of sexual equality is not that of the republic", according to a high-ranking official quoted by French radio station Europe 1.

The man, who has not been identified, is married to a Frenchwoman, but does not allow her to leave the family home freely, it was claimed.

The French constitution states that the government can refuse nationality or strip nationality for a "lack of integration".

A spokesman for the interior minister, Claude Guéant, told the Guardian that the man had failed to accept the French way of life.

"His behaviour showed a lack of assimilation into the French community; it was incompatible with the values of the French republic, notably in respect to the values of the equality of men and women.".....

Hahaha! I have to say that I agree with this policy but disagree with the one about ending the right to dual nationality!

A quoi ça sert l’amour ? What good is love?

2011-06-09T09:46:00.000+02:00

Cute, whimsical, emotional and beautiful animation! I actually immediately recognised some of the backdrops in Paris too :)

"J'aime"

Effects of technology on babies

2011-06-01T21:57:00.001+02:00

I'm not sure what this is... a rant, a discussion, a critique, an analysis, an essay, or just my own boring opinion...

I don't mean to criticize anyone and I'm sorry if I offend anyone but this is just my own person opinion and what I would do if I had a kid (after extensive reading and 'research').

I'm surprised (and yet horrified) that so many people I know give their mobile phones or ipads or laptop computers or whatever to their babies or toddlers to play with and think it's 'cute'. I don't think it's a great thing to do and You can Google it yourself about why.. there are hundreds, thousands of articles that say that TV (and therefore other kinds of screen-based technology) are very harmful for kids under the age of 2. Here is one of them

My father already knew this when I was as kid and always tried to restrict my sister's and my television viewing time. Of course being kids and teenagers we couldn't and wouldn't understand but now that I'm older and hopefully wiser I actually agree with him.

Meanwhile, I am also surprised by the number of people who make/allow their kids to learn anything and everything under the sun (usually some kind of sport or music or art) but never even think about foreign languages. I suppose when it's not important to the parents, it's not important for their kids.

Hmm...

My heart is in France

2011-06-01T21:34:00.003+02:00

Lyon continued II

Something I didn't write about in my previous post about Lyon... When I first arrived it already felt strange and foreign and not at all familiar. I guess there has been a change inside me where deep down I realise that France is no longer my home. Before, when I travelled in France... after a while, everything felt really familiar and nothing felt strange anymore.

But yesterday, it DID feel strange. And I admit I felt sad. Maybe it was just the dreary weather. Maybe it was my stress. But part of me wished I'd chosen to go to Lyon instead of Geneva. It's not that I don't like Geneva (afterall what's not to like when it's the third 'best' city in the world to live in) but maybe that (already) I feel like it's just too small for me! There's a lot of things a city doesn't have when it's not big enough and I think that I'll always be a big city girl. Living in the 'burbs or in a small country town would bore me to tears.

Also in Lyon I had the strangely familiar occurence that everyone around me speaks French! If I ask a stranger to help me take a photo or for directions I don't have to guess whether they actually speak French or not.

What else? I could have CRIED at the low price of food compared to Switzerland. Plus the boulangeries are more plentiful and have a wider variety of products. I got a strawberry croissant!

Despite the horrible horrible weather I was actually still charmed by and still in love with Lyon. Perhaps also because it's rather arty and that part of it 'speaks' to me as I'm a creative sort of person. I don't know. It has so much character, and history, and culture, and art, and food and and and... it's not as beautiful as Paris of course (few cities are) but to me it's far more liveable.

I still feel that my heart is in France. Switzerland is a wonderful country but somewhat just too perfect and too pristine for me I think. When I lived in Shanghai I loved witnessing all the funny shenanigans that one normally never sees in a Western country and I can still see stuff like that in France but in Geneva it's extremely rare... Actually, to be honest, I think Geneva reminds me too much of Sydney and Australia. Namely the high price of food and housing, the modern buildings and roads, the longer working hours (compared to France), the way they do things (for example it's tax time now in France and in France it's not automatically deducted from your salary like in Australia and Switzerland).. it's all very similar to Australia. Not that they are bad things (or maybe they are :P ) , but I came to Europe (France) because I wanted a life that was DIFFERENT to the one I formerly had.

Lyon Continued

2011-05-31T22:06:00.000+02:00

Continued from my previous post

So I went to Lyon today. I had a 16 hour day and am just a little bit tired after getting less than 4 hours' sleep last night. All the muscles in my arms and back are killing me (pain continuing from overuse). I'd like to say I had a good time in Lyon but I had an awful time! Why? Because the weather was horrible. When I think about it, I think I've only ever seen Lyon ONCE when it was sunny and warm and that was the very first time I went when I first arrived in late Sept/early Oct.

I had no idea the usually warm and sunny weather of these past few days/weeks would turn SO COLD. Luckily I thought to bring my trenchcoat and umbrella or else I really would have frozen. The worst was that I was wearing sandals and it was raining so my toes were wet and frozen all day long.

The train ride back was horrible. 2 hours. It was so nice that it was strangely empty and quiet and I could sleep BUT then I could not because I was totally frozen. I tried to curl my legs underneath me and shove my hands in my pockets, etc. It felt like it was air-conditioned inside the train. I hated it. It was horrible. How I longed for those nice warm trains during winter... I even went into the first class carriage just to check that it wasn't heated (it wasn't but it seemed a bit warmer only because the compartment is smaller on this TER train). When I finally arrived back (late) in Geneva I was actually shivering and my teeth were chattering. It's about 9 degrees now.

Well the good thing is I did achieve what I set out to achieve in Lyon today and the day (weather wise) actually started off OK. It was overcast but not that cold and not raining. And I did some shopping and bought some new clothes, a pair of shoes and stocked up on some random stuff from the pharmacy (the range and brands and prices are better than in Geneva). That's basically why my back was killing me carrying that around all day and trying to juggle my heavy handbag and umbrella as well.

I feel totally 'ripped off' that I was 'given' this horrible weather. Made me so sad. I didn't get a chance to go to Sève to get those macarons as walking around outside was awful with my umbrella being blown inside out, but I did walk around a bit in the city and over a bridge before I hightailed it to the Part Dieu indoor shopping mall!

I had so much time to spare which has never happened before as it's always a mad rush to get everything done before I need to catch my train back. It was good that I could take my time browsing everything slowly. The annoying thing about this shopping centre is that you have to pay to use the toilets! (0.50 euros) and there are so few for such a large shopping mall so it took me a while just to find it and use it and get back to the shops again.

I know, I'm sorry this is such a boring post... I kind of wish I could just blog all day long but since I now work full time I have no energy or motivation to a big long post (with lots of photos and links) even though I know they are far more interesting to read :(

Only Lyon

2011-05-30T23:38:00.001+02:00

Tomorrow I am going back to my beloved Lyon!!! How I love this city so. If I didn't end up in Geneva I would've really liked to move to and work and live in Lyon.

This will be my fifth time there (I think). Sounds like a lot but the last time was 4 months ago in the middle of winter. It'll be nice to see it in the (almost) summer for the first time. Every time I've been I've done something different, and seen a different part of the city. Tomorrow I'm off to do something a little boring but I'll have to keep it a secret until it gets 'resolved' and then I'll definitely report about it back here on my blog in a few weeks' time.

I'm not really sure what else I'm gonna do or check out tomorrow but I am DYING to go back to Sève chocolatier/pâtissier to get me some of those one-of-a-kind awesomely delicious macarons!

(image from here)

Midnight in Paris- Woody Allen

2011-05-24T00:01:00.000+02:00

Oops, left this one out in my post about Cannes 2011 here.

Midnight in Paris - Directed by Woody Allen

Paris never fails to look gorgeous and it looks stunning in this film! Gosh, how I miss Paris. It never fails to impress me with its beauty. Film looks interesting too!

TCF French Test Online Simulated Test Take II

2011-05-22T23:59:00.000+02:00

TCF French Test Online Simulated Test Take I - 61/80 = 76%. B1. Took 59 minutes to do.

2 months and 1 week later... I decided to take this test again. I can honestly say that I did not try to remember any of the questions/answers (and I didn't anyway). I got question no.1 wrong because I didn't have the volume high enough on my computer so I missed hearing the answers clearly.

This time I scored 69/80 (86%). B2-C1 and took 55 minutes to do the test (you are given 90 minutes). I was shocked I had actually improved since not much time had passed and I haven't exactly been studying for French or anything (haven't had time really with my Italian trip, my move, my new job, my apartment search and all).

Interesting to compare with my previous results and see that some questions I got right last time I got wrong this time and vice versa! and some questions (like 43) I got wrong both times! Ha!

VOTRE SCORE 69/80

Votre score pour l'ensemble du test est égal à 86 % de bonnes réponses. Vous êtes d'un niveau fin de B2 (utilisateur indépendant), début de C1 (utilisateur expérimenté) pour la compréhension orale, la compréhension écrite et la maîtrise des structures de la langue.

Compréhension orale
90%
Votre score pour la partie Compréhension orale est égal à 90 % de bonnes réponses. Votre compréhension de l'oral en français est d'un niveau fin de B2 (utilisateur indépendant), début de C1 (utilisateur expérimenté).

Structure de la langue
90%
Votre score pour la partie Maîtrise des structures de la langue est égal à 90 % de bonnes réponses. Votre maîtrise des structures de la langue en français est d'un niveau fin de B2 (utilisateur indépendant), début de C1 (utilisateur expérimenté).

Compréhension écrite
80%
Votre score pour la partie Compréhension écrite est égal à 80 % de bonnes réponses. Votre niveau de compréhension orale en français est celui d'un utilisateur indépendant (niveau B défini par le Cadre européen commun de référence).

You can take the test yourself here.

World's top ten countries with the highest living standards

2011-05-21T14:20:00.001+02:00

Not sure where they got their data from... The list sounds about right but I'm not sure of the order... and I'm pretty sure Germany should've been on it too.

Grenoble.fr

2011-05-20T20:20:00.002+02:00

Bienvenue à Grenoble par Ville de Grenoble

A really nice video promoting the beautiful city of Grenoble!

Grenoble.fr

Festival de Cannes 2011

2011-05-16T09:59:00.003+02:00

Festival de Cannes 2011: 11-22 May 2011

Oh Cannes how I miss you and how I wish I were with you again..

BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU'DA (ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA) directed by Nuri Bilge CEYLAN

DRIVE directed by Nicolas WINDING REFN

HABEMUS PAPAM (We have a pope) directed by Nanni MORETTI

HANEZU NO TSUKI (HANEZU) directed by Naomi KAWASE

HEARAT SHULAYIM (Footnote) directed by Joseph CEDAR

ICHIMEI (HARA-KIRI: DEATH OF A SAMURAI) directed by Takashi MIIKE

L'APOLLONIDE - SOUVENIRS DE LA MAISON CLOSE (HOUSE OF TOLERANCE) directed by Bertrand BONELLO

LA PIEL QUE HABITO (THE SKIN I LIVE IN) directed by Pedro ALMODÓVAR

LA SOURCE DES FEMMES (THE SOURCE) directed by Radu MIHAILEANU

LE GAMIN AU VÉLO (THE KID WITH A BIKE) directed by Jean-Pierre et Luc DARDENNE

LE HAVRE directed by Aki KAURISMÄKI

MELANCHOLIA directed by Lars VON TRIER

MICHAEL directed by Markus SCHLEINZER

PATER directed by Alain CAVALIER

POLISSE (POLISS) directed by MAÏWENN

SLEEPING BEAUTY directed by Julia LEIGH

THE ARTIST directed by Michel HAZANAVICIUS

THE TREE OF LIFE directed by Terrence MALICK

THIS MUST BE THE PLACE directed by Paolo SORRENTINO

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN directed by Lynne RAMSAY

Photo Exhibition in Sydney Française en Australie

2011-05-11T09:25:00.001+02:00

Photo Exhibition in Sydney « Française en Australie »

I thought I'd alert you to a cool photo exhibition at the Alliance Française de Sydney coming up between 20-27 May, 2011 (opening night on 19 May).

I would love to see this!! Now that I think about, I'm the opposite... I'm an Australian woman living in France (well not so long ago I was).

If you're in Sydney, go check it out! :D

Voilà ! Je vous présente un lien à une exposition photo « Française en Australie » à l'Alliance Française de Sydney (en Australie) qui commence à partir du 20 mai, jusqu'au 27 mai

Je voudrais bien la voir ! En fait, je l'ai fait à l'envers. Je suis une Australienne en France (il n'y a pas longtemps).

Si par hasard vous vous trouvez à Sydney, allez-vite la voir ! :D

• AF Sydney

• Official Site : Française en Australie

Weird stuff about European Houses and Buildings

2011-05-08T15:12:00.005+02:00

There are certain topics that stay in my head for months. I always think about doing blog posts for them and never getting around to them. Well this is one of them.

When you go to other countries you start to notice very quickly the things that are different from your own (in my case, Australia).

Windows
In all the European countries that I've visited, all the windows are pretty much the same. They are tall and narrow and have a white plastic frame and a special (plastic) handle which allows it to be opened horizontally (on a hinge from the bottom) or vertically (on a hinge from the side of the frame) depending on which way you turn it. In Australia the windows are made of aluminium and they are sliding. Of course it varies depending on the age of the house but the newer windows are all like this. In Europe nobody has flyscreens on their windows and in Australia almost everybody does. This annoys me because I hate mosquitoes (their bites specifically) and there is no way to block them out in hot weather in Europe.

I wonder who designed the windows? Why are they made of plastic? And why are they all white?

Also on European windows they always have shutters. They can be hinged and manually opened and closed or the electronic rolling kind or even a combination. When I first realised this it automatically made me think of Lego windows! Shutters are very often green too. When I played with Lego as a child it never occured to me that all the houses are based on real life houses in Europe! :)

Locks and Keys
Almost every door lock/key I have encountered has been different and there is almost always a special or tricky way to turn the key and/or door handle to open or lock the door! There are some tricky keys with small holes 'dug' out of it too which I've never seen in Australia. In Australia, often the door locks when you shut it (or by pushing a button on the handle behind the door and then closing it) but in Europe you can only lock the door with a key, which is better because it means you don't lock yourself out and you don't forget to bring your key with you!

Public toilet door locks
I noticed that in Europe they are almost always twist/turn locks whereas in Australia they are sliding locks.

Light Switches
In most apartments that I've seen in Europe (that have been renovated in the last couple of years) the light switches are these HUGE square things. As well as that, in a lot of places (including my own 'home' in France) some lights have two switches so you can turn them on/off in different parts of the room/house (usually one is by the front door so you can turn it off just as you leave). I've never seen anything like that in Australia and think it's very cool...

Lifts/Elevators
Oh I saved the best till last! These rarely exist anywhere and even if they do.... a) noone uses them or b) noone is allowed to use them (except the handicapped). It never ceases to amaze me that Europeans are blind to lifts/elevators. It's as if they just don't see them. They will always opt for the stairs. Even when they are carrying big heavy luggage (like they do at train stations). It's as if they have gotten so used to living without lifts that even where there is one available (and they need one) they don't take it!! Often when there is one available you aren't allowed to use it. But shhhhh I used one in Vatican museum to save my sanity and save myself having to go down fifty billion stairs.

In Australia it's pretty much the opposite. Even when people don't need the lift they'll take it anyway and most would would never choose the stairs over lifts if they were right next to each other.

I do find it annoying when I have luggage there aren't lifts around and I feel really bad for the handicapped people and people with prams.

In many older buildings the lifts also have two doors - a set of inner doors and outer doors and you need to open the outer ones manually. It was such a novelty to me at first but then I just found it annoying!

Apartment Addresses
They don't seem to have an apartment number! Only the building number. In Australia we would write it a 12/25 ....... street/road meaning the building is number 25, and the apartment is 12. In France and most other European countries they don't seem to do that because they rely solely on the NAME of the person on the front door or on the letterbox. That's why the name is so important.

The letterboxes are never accessible to the public. The postman must go inside (obviously he has a key) to deliver them.

Also, at the front door, often there is a pin number type code so anyone can enter if they have this code. I find this really handy as it means you don't need to have so many keys and if you have someone coming you can just give them the code and they can come in, even if you're not at home.

New city, new blog

2011-05-05T23:20:00.000+02:00

Head on over here to read about my new adventures. Don't forget to put it in your RSS reader or bookmarks too!

I'll still be keeping this blog, though, when I want to blog about something France/French related or my travels. I'd like to just keep one blog (it's easier) but the title and URL is kind of not relevant anymore.. d'oh!

New Life and Stress

2011-05-04T10:17:00.001+02:00

I realise that all the stress and anxiety I had when I first moved to France is coming back to haunt me. Although I don't cry like I did back then (yes I admit I had my moments!) I feel constantly stressed. My life is currently so unstable and I'm gonna have to fork out a lot of money upfront for various things... money that I don't have. I had to borrow money to pay for my months' rent here in my apartment. But the problem is I have not been able to withdraw it from an ATM here. I have no idea what the bloody problem is and it's seriously frustrating me because I NEVER had any problems with this (Australian) card/account in France or Italy.

Then, yesterday, I tried to open a bank account only to be refused because I have ties with the USA so today I have to go and try another bank.

So for the moment... I'm totally broke AND Swiss banks hate me!!! OK so I'm not totally broke since I have the pay from the school for me to live on for the moment.. but still. In the land of money, it's not much. In the land where ATMs give out 200 franc notes as if it were nothing and you can pay for things in the supermarket with a 100 or 200 franc note without anyone batting an eyelid. (In Italy I had people checking to see if my 50 Euro notes were real every time i went to pay with one!)

But I'm so stressed not having a permanent address since all these billions of forms that I have to fill in require an address, and I realise that in the near future I'll have to go back and tell them all that I need to change my address.

Finding a nice and affordable apartment in Geneva is harder than finding a needle in a haystack, it seems. There is a serious shortage of them and people just hang on to them forever. Not only that, if I did happen to find something OK it seems like people only want to rent it to you for short-term only. I'm going out of my mind with this apartment search which I actually started as soon as I found out I got the job, over a month ago.

The good news is that soon I will have my Swiss residency card meaning I won't have to carry around my passport anymore.. yay! I am so sick of having to bring it everywhere I go considering it's so precious and important.

Another unexpected thing I have to deal with is... I have to cook again! I'd forgotten how to do that. Seriously. I mean I now have to buy groceries (which aren't cheap) regularly and prepare and cook once I get home from work! Ha! And I have to do all that washing up too afterwards. D'oh! I was too spoilt at the school with the cantine and its plentiful and cheap meals. Painfully, I am surrounded by almost every kind of restaurant you can imagine - Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Italian, Lebanese, Turkish, French, Spanish, Indian, etc, within a 2 minute walk and yet I can't afford to eat at any of them :(

Perhaps not the expected update but I realise that everything is hard at the beginning and once I'm settled, life will become much much better and easier. At the moment the weather is beyond amazing and gorgeous. Low 20s, sunny, with a slight breeze. Unfortunately for me by the time I get home it's 8-8:30pm so I don't get to make the most of it but I'm really looking forward to all the upcoming festivals and events here :)

The Big News

2011-05-02T13:50:00.001+02:00

So, what was my big news? Now I can finally reveal it. It was a saga that took around 2 months.

At the start of the winter school holidays (end Feb) I decided to stay 'home' and look for jobs instead of travelling and I'm pleased to say it totally paid off! But I don't think I could've done it without the support of two friends I had spoken to beforehand about it. Everyone suggested I should look for jobs in Switzerland instead of France, though, mainly because it pays better.

However, money never was a motivation for me as I don't believe that money makes you happy. However, I knew there would be some benefits if I applied in Switzerland such as they would more likely want to employ a native English speaker, as there is far more demand for them than in France (except for perhaps Paris). After having visited Paris several times now I know there is no way in heck I'd want to live there. I think people have this glamourised romantised view of the city when they have no idea about the realities of living there. Life there is certainly not easy at all. Even getting a tiny tiny apartment is close to impossible unless you have connections. The metro with all its stairs and long winding tunnels drives me nuts. I much prefer the tramlines that I used in most other cities.

Anyway this post isn't supposed to be a rant about Paris.

If you go over some of my past posts (or if you've already read them and can actually recall what I wrote, about 'the issue') I was really stressed because I went for a job interview for a job I really wanted. The interview lasted almost 4 hours (and included various tests) and we have since exchanged many phone calls and emails and I spent a fortune on calls, having to make international calls from my mobile! I have spent many many weeks and lots of lots of money and effort to get this job, even after I was offered it.

Why? Because I'm not French, I'm not Swiss and I'm not European.

I already knew that going into this it would be hard. However, I never let that stop me before. In fact I didn't even meet all the criteria for the teaching job in France, and yet I applied and got it anyway :) I believe that if you tell yourself you 'can't do something, YOU are the one putting limitations on yourself, noone else is. So what the heck... I applied for some jobs in Switzerland anyway. It was the second job I applied for, the only interview I got, and I got it!

However getting it was actually the easy part. It was actually getting the right to reside and work in Switzerland that was the hard part. There was the possibility that perhaps I'd have to to back to Australia (which would have been a nightmare for me given the high cost of last minute airfares, the jet lag, the stress, the waiting and really just not enjoying going back home at all not knowing if I could even come back) etc...

Luckily I didn't have to.

All I had to do was go to the Swiss Embassy to Paris to get a Swiss residency visa, since I am/was technically a resident of France. Sounds pretty easy but having to go to Paris TWICE last minute was rather stressful and costly. And the nightmare of nightmares occurred when I turned up with what I assumed were all my papers and they told me that HALF my dossier was missing. I nearly fainted from shock. I subsequently had a 40 minute phone call with my boss (luckily she called me as there was no way I had enough phone credit for a call of that length) about all the other papers I still needed (that someone previously told me I did NOT need - ugh). So then that afternoon, evening and the next morning I was frantically getting all this stuff together and my boss and the company itself also had to email all this stuff to the embassy. Luckily I did NOT have to submit it in person and could just do it over the internet so at least I was thankful for that. (keeping in mind that I was still teaching at the school during this time too and still had lessons to prepare and teach).

Basically the company has to prove why they need to hire you instead of a similarly-qualified European. And that, I wasn't even sure of why myself but I had to now write a lettre de motivation (cover letter) explaining why the company needed me. And as much as I don't like to do it, I had to brag about all my qualities and skills.. blah blah blah...

Then, I had the pressing problem that I really needed this Swiss visa before the end of April and was told it would take 8-12 weeks to get. Well... I didn't have 8-12 weeks so it was stressing me out to no end. In fact, I didn't even tell many people I got the job (including my family) because I didn't really feel like I 'had' it till I'd gotten the visa. I really only told people that HAD to know, people in the school.

After no news from the embassy for a week and a half (waiting those 10 days nearly killed me already wondering what was going on?!) I decided to contact them again and they told me that I had to get my employer to submit some MORE information... and they couldn't have told me this earlier? Ugh.

Luckily it was done without too much fuss and then FINALLY I was told I could go to Paris to collect my visa. Yay! I was actually going to do it through the mail but that would've meant stressing about it during my entire Italy trip (not to mention I actually NEEDed my passport for the trip) so I decided to go in person (and see my friend at the same time). :)

The irony of it all is... I thought that it was all over when I finally got it, but.... it's only a temporary one and I still have to get another permanent one (that lasts one year and can be renewed)!

(and there is even a lot more to the story that I didn't write about but I didn't want to drag it out too much and besides, a lot of it is too personal).

So now I live and work in Geneva :) It's been a dream of mine for the last few years to live in a(nother) top 10 city (the first being Sydney) so I'm pleased. When I tell/told French people that I'd gotten this job in a rather important place in Geneva their first thought or question is that I must be making a bucketload of money. Well compared to my poorly-paid job in France, it is much more but for the high cost of living here I don't feel like it's that much. I used to think that things cost a lot in Australia but that was before I came to Switzerland. The cost of housing and food is particularly very high :( but it's something I'm gonna have to deal with! I actually prefer to have more free time over more money but that's just me... however for the moment I'm very happy with what I've got. :)

And before anyone suggests to me I should live in France for lower living costs (as has already been suggested to me by dozens of people!) I do not currently have the right to reside in France (anymore) so I have to live here. Not that I'm complaining. I like living in the heart of the city where I don't need to rely on cars.

So now the title of my blog no longer applies as I no longer live in France :( However I'll still blog about my adventures in retrospect of course, and about my travels. But for now I still have loads more to do getting started with a new job and having to find permanent accommodation.

Ciao for now!

On French boys

2011-05-01T10:06:00.000+02:00

I found this girl on YouTube some time ago when I was looking for videos of French people talking. Unfortunately it turns out she speaks English in most of her videos and not French but anyway... this is her latest video and a detour from her usual make-up tutorials. Quite amusing to watch, I actually didn't find any of it the least bit surprising given my own experiences and stories I've heard...

On carrying passports in France

2011-04-30T23:15:00.001+02:00

This is a bit of a reflective post...

At the start I was not aware that I had to carry around my passport EVERYWHERE I go... This is just not done in Australia. My friends here later told me that I could be stopped in the street anywhere and anytime by customs officers to check if I'm legally allowed to be in the country (France).

French people don't need to carry around a passport because they have a laminated identity card stating their French nationality.

Trust me... the very first time I get stopped I didn't have my passport on me. I decided to on the spur of the moment take a train to Lyon for a day trip. Prior to that I thought I only needed my passport to go to Switzerland or another country so I didn't think to carry it on me. I was stopped by customs officials and inside I started panicking. "Remain calm" I told myself. These people have been trained to smell fear. I remained totally calm and polite. And honest. I told them I thought I only needed it to travel to another country and then they told me I need it everywhere I go, even if I'm not going on a train!

They asked me where I was from (I said Australia) and what I was doing there. I said I'm a teacher at the lycée (name) and that they can call the school if they wanted, to verify. Funnily, they didn't take me up on that offer. They were actually very nice and not mean at all but just reminded me to ALWAYS carry my passport on me from now on! I don't really like doing so because it's such an important document and also I don't want to get it damaged but I guess I have no choice :(

The only other time I was stopped (in France) was AGAIN in my town and again at the train station! But I was actually not in the station part and on a nearby street. They actually walked passed me earlier and didn't stop me but then I think they asked to see my ID only because there was noone else around and it was just something to do - ha! I don't know if they remember me but I certainly recognised them from before, even if it was almost 3 months ago.

The third and most recent time was when I went to Italy. Unbeknownst to me, I was getting a bus and not a train for the second leg of my trip. I'd booked it through the SNCF website and didn't see this little detail. Anyway, the much scarier looking customs officers got on and looked at everyone's passports and identity cards and it took FOREVER and made the bus depart late. The woman sitting next to me was black (from Angola) and I noticed he was much more stringent with viewing her passport than mine. I conveniently gave it to him with the page already opened to the one with my photo on it, observing to see if he'd actually check either the date of when I entered France or that I had a long stay - visa. Nup! Bit of discrimination eh? Oh well. I was happy with that especially I was sitting right at the back and the last person to be checked and just wanted to leave already!

The Prayer - Celine Dion Andrea Bocelli

2011-04-30T22:34:00.003+02:00

When I was in Rome last night I happened to pass by an awesome looking toy store and ventured in. While I was in there I noticed the song that was playing in the background (I always do when I'm in a shop or a restaurant etc) and couldn't quite put my finger on what song it was. At the time I didn't think to ask someone what it was... I was sure it was by Andrea Bocelli and sure enough I found it.

It's The Prayer by Celine Dion Andrea Bocelli. The version I heard was solely by Andrea though. I'm not religious but I think it's such a beautiful song. Especially in both English and Italian. I used to think that French was the most beautiful sounding language in the world but after having spent a few days in Italy I'd say now it has to fight it out for the title with Italian :P

The Prayer (duet with Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli) lyrics

I pray you'll be our eyes, and watch us where we go.
And help us to be wise in times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer, when we lose our way
Lead us to the place, guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe
La luce che tu hai
[I pray we'll find your light]
Nel cuore resterà
[And hold it in our hearts.]
A ricordarci che
[When stars go out each night,]
Eterna stella sei
Nella mia preghiera
[Let this be our prayer]
Quanta fede c'è
[When shadows fill our day]
Lead us to a place, guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe
Sogniamo un mondo senza più violenza
Un mondo di giustizia e di speranza
Ognuno lo dia la mano al suo vicino
Simbolo di pace, di fraternità
La forza che ci dà
[We ask that life be kind]
È il desiderio che
[And watch us from above]
Ognuno trovi amor
[We hope each soul will find]
Intorno e dentro sé
[Another soul to love]
Let this be our prayer [Let this be our prayer],
Just like every child
Need to find a place, guide us with your grace
Give us faith so we'll be safe
È la fede che
Hai acceso in noi,
Sento che ci salverà

and a version by the young Charice and Gianluca Ginoble

Somewhat related: Vivo per lei / Je vis pour elle (a song in both Italian and French).

The end of one chapter and the start of another...

2011-04-29T22:02:00.002+02:00

Tonight is my last night in Rome and in Italy. Tomorrow morning I will take a very long train ride (actually 3 in total) back to my home town in France. It was a whirlwind trip that I'll never forget. I had so many fun adventures, both alone and with others. I learnt so much about Italy and also about life in general and about myself (as clichéd as that sounds). I wanted a biggish trip (and big it was because I went totally over budget! oops!) because it would probably the last holiday I will take for a while...

I don't work at the school anymore and I'm not a teacher anymore and soon I won't be living in France anymore! Stay tuned... all will be revealed very soon :)

(Image from here)

First Impressions of Rome, Italy

2011-04-28T23:00:00.000+02:00

Second day in Rome... Apart from some light showers yesterday the brilliant weather continues and I couldn't be happier. Warm and sunny but not too hot. The large and historical monuments scattered all over Rome are beyond impressive. They rock my socks off! I can't believe it. I am having such a great time here. Everything is going great except that Italy is seriously lacking in maps. Compared to France where I see maps everywhere... it's kind of shit. That'd be one of my number one complaints about Italy!

I am also suffering from some minor physical/health problems: tiredness/exhaustion, feet absolutely killing me and hayfever allergies from hell. Apparently it's the pollen from the cypress trees I've been told and not so much the pollen from the flowers. Whatever it is, it has been making my ENTIRE trip absolutely miserable. I hope when I return home the symptoms go away! And don't bother suggesting drugs to me because my body is immune to them. Antihistamines and nasal sprays do NOTHING for me. I just have to bare the 'pain' of it all till the pollen dies down (and it stops being windy) or I go to a different place.

Tomorrow is sadly the last full day of my holidays :(

A full and travel report will be up when I get back to my normal (or maybe not so normal?) every day routine...

First Impressions of Florence, Italy

2011-04-25T23:09:00.000+02:00

Remember when I said I didn't want to go to Venice because it'd be too sad to go to such a romantic place alone? Well now that I've been in Italy for 5 days I can say that that was a stupid comment because it's romantic EVERYWHERE in Italy dammit! In France I felt that it's only like that in Paris but in Italy I feel like it's like that everywhere you go.

And being Easter school holidays, everywhere I go and look there are couples and families. I would be lying if I didn't say I didn't feel sad and that I miss my family and friends greatly. I see things and think that my mother or sister or one of my friends would just LOVE that and what a great time we'd have eating and shopping and sightseeing together. Alas, they are not here with me :(

However, I'm never sad for too long because I actually walk around with a great big smile on my face. I'm in fact quite overcome with emotions all day long whilst walking around this beautiful and historical city. I have now walked past the Duomo probably 10 times already but today I finally went inside and I almost cried! I have NEVER had such a reaction to a church before! Italy sure does strange things to you :)

Part of the reason I'm having such a great time is the unbelievably perfect weather. I couldn't ask for anything better.. low-mid 20s. Not too hot and not too cold. I don't think I'd like coming in May or in the summer. Far too hot and even more crowded, I hear. A lot of places are NOT air-conditioned and it's bearable now but obviously not later.

Apart from that I wish I could do more but I am just dead. I booked a hotel here (as being Easter it was impossible for me to find either Couchsurfing host OR cheap accommodation as I left it too late!) and it was quite a splurge - a 3 star hotel so I'm enjoying every minute of staying here and coming back at least once in the middle of the day just to sleep! It's because my first day was so tiring. I left the house at 6:45am and then had a dinner/party up until 1am. This included multiple bus/train changes and journeys totalling more than 8 hours and I could barely move the next morning but still, I managed to walk around for 7 hours straight in the quite strong sun all day long and now it's had a cumulative effect on me where I can barely do anything for more than 3 hours now without stopping for a nap! Not to mention that Italy has far 'worse' cobble stone paths than in France and even wearing the most comfortable pair of shoes that I own, my feet are dying. I'm contemplating buying another pair of shoes just to see if that will help!

I don't know how I'll be able to handle all that walking to come in Rome but we'll see! I admit in hindsight it was so unlike me to be this last minute about this trip, especially since it's Easter AND school holidays... but I think as long as I'm enjoying myself that's the main thing. I don't feel like I need to be a typical tourist just checking off things on a big list to see/do... that's how I used to travel but not anymore! I'd rather soak up the atmosphere and if I can, spend time with the locals... I have to admit, almost all of the Italian men that I have dealt with (at the train station, in random places, at the hotel, in shops and food eateries etc) have been extremely good looking. I don't know if I'm imagining or what... perhaps I have this subconscious attraction for Italian men that I never even realised... LOL. This morning I got my first Ciao Bella which I found amusing.

anyway it's au dodo for me!

Ciao....

PS Prior to coming to Italy I didn't know any Italian apart from Ciao, Buongiorno, Grazie and food words but now I know how to count to 10 and I figured out myself what Prego means just from usage (it's like the French Je vous en prie). A lot of the time I can guess meanings of words when they sound similar to French or English. Part of my whole last minute easygoing attitude was not learning any Italian before I came but so far so good! Miming and drawing helps too! haha.

Italy - Pros and Cons

2011-04-23T21:37:00.002+02:00

I will do my wonderful glowing travel report later (complete with photos...) but for the moment here are my 'cons' about my Italy trip so far... Well, my first impressions after 2.5 days.

Cons
• I thought the French smoked a lot but the Italians definitely outdo them!
• Because of this or maybe there are a lot more cars (?) the air pollution seems to be much worse.
• Because of that (or something else? I don't know what) I have had a serious allergic reaction to Italy. I just sneeze and have a runny nose non-stop and my eyes and throat itch like crazy too. Histamines don't work for me.
• Not only that, I had an allergy to the sun (link here to all the various forms and names of this 'disease'). It was super hot and sunny the last 2 days and today it became cold(er) and cloudy. Not that it is specific to Italy but I never had it in any other country besides Australia before... I have these horrible little red itchy bumps on my arms (which look and feel like shaving rash - not that I've ever shaved my arms but you get what I mean!) My skin is so white it's embarrassing. However I don't tan OR burn, I just get this horrible itchiness!
• Queue cutting! If there is one thing that gets my goat (is that a saying?) it's queue jumpers!! ARGH. I don't care if you are old, or in a hurry, or whatever... at least, ask if you can jump the queue instead of just pushing in surreptitiously. Ever since I was really young I despised this awful rude habit.
• The shopkeepers are not very nice. I tend to judge a city a lot by how I am treated by people in shops or places like train stations or restaurants or wherever. I have met some kind and helpful strangers but noone who actually works in the service area has been like that to me.

I think that's about it...

Pros
• Well if one thought French had it all in terms of architectural beauty, I'm sorry to say that Italy sure outdoes them. So much so that the French (as I have been told) LOVE to take holidays in Italy. When I first arrived in Turin/Torino (my first stop) I got goosebumps by the sheer size and awesome of all these buildings and the history carried on them. There is just so much beauty and history I can't comprehend it all. My friend told me about Stendhal Syndrome and I can't say that I've had it yet but I can see where they are coming from when I think about Italy...
• The food of course! The food is not only amazingly good but it's even cheaper than in France (when I thought that that was already heaps cheaper than in Australia).
• The shopping/fashion. It's a female shopaholics dream. I find all the clothes, shoes, underwear, swimwear, and handbags just utterly amazing and beautiful and for their quality and style, not even that expensive. I want to buy everything but I have no means of carrying it.
• The shops seem a lot more 'international' than in France too meaning you get all the cool brands.. not that it means anything to me since I don't have much time or money to go shopping! All I've bought really are little souvenirs and food to eat.

Cons about travelling
Not that I have a child but I have friends that do and for me, I feel that having a child is kind of similar to travelling in that there are bad parts to it but you don't really think about them or dwell on them or talk about them much and only celebrate the good parts of it. Because I travel alone I have way too much time to dwell on my thoughts and if you could read my mind.. well I'm sure I'd bore everyone and sound like a great big whinger so I prefer to just talk about the positive things about my trips and decorate them with happy shiny photos :) However there are some things which I realise piss me off and will continue to do so for a long time...
• People who walk really slowly and block pedestrian traffic, OR people who suddenly stop (usually to send/read a text message on their phone) right in the middle of a very crowded and busy footpath! THAT shits me. If they were a car they'd cause a major accident.
• Having noone to mind my bags when I just need to do something quickly like go to the toilet. Even worse when there are stairs involved which, being Europe, there usually are. So I have to drag my bags with me everywhere I go which is extremely tiring when I'm already tired. I think that's my number one pet peeve of travelling alone. Figuring out how to deal with my bags/property.
• No signs or maps. Oh this doesn't need explanation!
• Smokers who smoke at the train's door so that the smoke all comes inside the train anyway. Smokers in general :P

I think that's about it actually. I don't complain that much afterall.. hahahaa...

There are probably loads of typos in this but meh... I am so tired I arrived in Florence 5 hours ago and didn't do a single thing apart from buy something to eat for dinner.

I only realised too late that perhaps it wasn't exactly the smartest thing to decide to go to Florence and Rome right in the middle of Easter! HAHAHA

In any case, Happy Easter Everyone / Joyeuses Pâques à vous tous !

Paris, je t'aime

2011-04-19T23:29:00.005+02:00

Related post you may want to read first as I refer back to those events when I went to Nice and Paris two weeks ago

My super awesome day... My fifth visit to Paris...

Well to be honest I did not want to go to Paris today but I HAD to go and I'll explain soon in an upcoming blog post. For the moment I just want to say that I had a mammoth day - 16 hours worth and despite feeling a bit tired at the start after getting up at 5am I feel great now and it's 10:30pm. For some strange reason I actually feel quite energetic despite such an early morning and long day. Why?

I HAD THE BEST TIME IN PARIS TODAY. The Gods were certainly looking after me. It was the most perfect weather you could ever imagine and it was a shock to me because EVERY time I've been to Paris (4 times prior) the weather was either unpredictable or cloudy or rainy or windy or freezing or all of the above! This was the FIRST time I'd ever seen Paris completely sunny with no clouds and with hardly a hint of wind at all. It was 26°C.

I had to take the earliest train that left from my town because I had to get there as early as possible to finish up with "the issue" (yes I can say with a huge sigh of relief it's FINALLY done and I can reveal the whole saga soon). They said I had to wait while it was being done or I could come back in an hour , hour and a half. So I chose to get some things done during that time....

I arrived in Gare de Lyon in Paris (my old friend now I've been there so many times as it's the gateway to the south and south-east of France) and wanted/needed to change the time of my return ticket however I couldn't find the office/shop where to do that and I was getting impatient so I forgot about it for the moment and high-tailed it to where I needed to go.

So during this 1.5 hour window I went to the nearest SNCF/Grandes Lignes station which was Gare St Lazare to do this. I also had some problems collecting all of my tickets for Italy from the machines this morning (and being so early, the SNCF office in my town wasn't open) so I had 2 things to do there. I had planned to meet my friend in Paris again but it didn't feel like it would be worth just spending 1.5 hours together so I decided to take a later train 2 hours later and pay 8 euros for the privilege of changing this ticket.

Then, I had some other errand-y thing to do. My cousin asked me to buy her a Longchamp bag (that is, she'll pay me back) because she says they are so much more expensive in Australia. Since I couldn't do it on my last trip to Paris I thought this was the perfect opportunity and how coincidental that all the big department stores were right near Gare St Lazare!

So I bought it from the nearest department store Printemps (which means Spring in French, aptly) and then I needed to find a post office to send it to her. I thought I'd only go if there was one nearby otherwise I couldn't be bothered. Then again I don't want to carry more than I have to all day either. So I found one - at 56 Rue Cler, Paris, corner of Avenue La Motte Picquet (7th arrondissement). Massive RAVE for this post office! OMG. Remember before (in various posts) I said I lived in China? In China and most Asian countries the stores are overstaffed and there is always someone to help/serve you but in Australia and most Western countries it's the opposite and it's certainly the case in France. However I had quite a unique experience here. There were SO MANY STAFF and all so friendly and helpful. It's as if they had been trained by someone.... not in France. Hahaha. At first the lady that helped me (altogether there were 3-4 people that helped me!!) said there was only ONE box that I could use to send something to Australia and it was HUGE and cost a whopping 34 euros (that's with the shipping fee included). There were no bubble-lined envelopes like we have in the post office shops in Australia nor anything smaller but eventually she did find something smaller, luckily so I used that. All done. I felt it was my good deed for the day to 'chase' this thing for my cousin.

And for my reward I got a gorgeous green Longchamp paper bag to put my trench coat in! This morning it was freezing and then during the day I was sweating like crazy and had to take off my layers. It's always such a challenge figuring out what the heck to wear. Either I freeze in the morning (which I did anyway) and be comfortable later or be comfortable in the morning and have to carry round a big heavy coat. Luckily I only wore my autumn/spring trench coat and not my winter one (which some people still wear!!)

Actually I just realised my story got convoluted. After buying the handbag I went back to the office to pick up (something) and then I started walking towards the Eiffel Tower because I could see it and thought I might as well go there since I had almost 3 hours to kill before meeting my friend. That's when I stumbled across the post office by accident. Then, I happened to accidentally pass by the exact same café that my friend and I ate at too last time, only 2 weeks go. I didn't even realise I had walked the same path - what a coincidence!

I passed a small Carrefour so went and popped in to buy some lunch and a drink. I was starving but I had had no time to eat or look for something cheap to eat until then.

Well Printemps pissed me off because they wanted me to pay 1 euro to use the toilets (considering I just spent a large sum of money in their shop!). I refuse to pay for public toilets unless I'm desperate. Since I wasn't I held it in. So as I was walking I came across a free toilet in the street. One of those automatic self-cleaning ones. You have to wait a while after each person for them to clean it...

While I was waiting in this queue (yes there was a queue!) This taxi driver guy (youngish) looked at me and it kind of weirded me out a bit so I looked away. Then I looked back at him and as he drove away he gave me a big huge smile. Ah it was kind of nice... ;)

It was soooooooooo sunny. OMG it was so beautiful. And also, I have never really seen the Eiffel Tower in the day time either. Only in the late afternoon or evening. I couldn't stop taking photos of it from every angle and distance possible. To me it's like Sydney's Opera House or the Pearl Tower in Shanghai. Photos will never do them justice because it's only until you see them in real life that you realise how incredibly HUGE they are and how awesome they are, wonderful pieces of architecture!!

I did it all backwards compared to my trip during Christmas. I started at the little park next to it and ended up in Trocadero. This time I also bought some Eiffel Tower keyrings just for the heck of it. Last time they offered 6 or 7 to me for 1 Euro and this time the guy offered me 3 for 1 Euro. I should've said 6 at least but I said '5' and he goes '4' and I said 'no' and he was like 'Ok, 5'. I couldn't believe how easy it was (and kicked myself for not saying 6 or 7 haha).

Unfortunately it's the WORST possible time for taking photos, in the middle of the day with the strong sun and lots of harsh shadows.

I had lunch in the park and I could not believe it had only been a little over 3 months since I was here and absolutely freezing in the snow, rain and wind!! Plus it was almost empty then and now, it was teeming with crowds, holidaymakers and tourists.

Anyway it took me so long to get to the top of Trocadero I realised I would be a little late meeting my friend at 2pm so I texted him...

After 2 line changes I eventually made it to our meeting spot, Abbesses métro station. He said it's close to where he lives so he knows it well but the reason he suggested meeting there is because it's one of the highest points of the city so it boasts spectacular views. The first thing we did was look at the "I love you wall" right next the métro exit. (Oh, by the way, luckily he advised me beforehand to take the lift/elevator and not the stairs since there are soooo many. That is one of the biggest lifts I have ever seen in that métro staiton).

It's also near where the Basilique du Sacré Coeur is. Now, a few years ago when I went to Paris for the first time I did see the Basilica (but I got off at Montmartre station instead). However it was an extremely short visit. I don't even know what possessed me to tell him this but because it was such a strong memory for me I just blurted it out. I was with my ex (my longest relationship) and I really wanted to see Moulin Rouge and the Basilica but we didn't have much time. He didn't want to come and see them with me so he went back to the hotel whereas I rushed around like crazy trying to see both in a short space of time. So I didn't have time to climb all those stairs but no such problem today!

I had a whopping 3.5 hours to spend with my friend. OMG the view was utterly breathtaking from up there. But not just of the view but just the buildings, the paths, the stairs and even the tourists themselves.. everything just made Paris even better than what you could imagine. I can't describe it. It was just so amazing and beautiful. He gave me ideas and tips about what I could take photos of (that weren't your typical touristy shots).

The funniest thing was when this old guy (trying to sell some little handicraft animals) started talking about me (something nice but I can't remember what exactly) to a customer in French, assuming I couldn't understand and I looked straight at him and said, "I speak French!" And we got talking and he asked me the typical question of where I'm from, etc etc.. then he asked my friend if I was his fiancée! OMG that was pretty embarrassing and hilarious. Then, as so often happens these days he started flattering me saying how pretty I am and then telling my friend he should get together with me... ahem... I remained silent as it was nice but really embarrassing.

That reminds too, that back at the park next to the Eiffel Tower I asked a random guy to take a photo of me for me. He was pretty young and reminded me of one of my students. This random (American?) lady walked past and asked if we'd like her to take a photo of us together! That is hilarious that she thought we were together?!

Since it was so hot and sunny I had an ice cream craving again. My friend said not to buy it there as it's touristy there so costs more but also he knows where the BEST ice cream in Paris is and that we should go there instead. At first I thought we wouldn't have enough time but we did.

After walking around the Basilica and seeing the funiculaire (cable car) AND all the places around there where the film Amélie was filmed (the pay phone is not there!) etc... He had a suggestion. Oh this was going to be good!

He said he'd come by scooter and he could take me to this island (Ile Saint Louis) to find this ice cream parlor. Sounds great except... I have a fear of riding motorbikes or scooters. It's rather a personal reason why but I thought I'd better get over it. I already refused an offer from another friend for a scooter ride. And these past few years I'm all for challenging myself to do 'hard' things or trying to get over my fears.

I actually said both in French and in English: Je vais mourir / I'm going to die . A tourist passing by heard me and laughed. Seriously deep down I was SHIT SCARED yet excited at the same time. Here goes nothing. At first it was very very scary. You have to sit up very straight and hold on really tight. He said NOT to lean with him when he leans and remain upright. At first I kept knocking my helmet against his. My palms were sweating like crazy and also bright red from holding onto the handlebar things so tightly. It was a billion times better than that bus ride last time. I wanted to film the whole trip but I couldn't bare to let go of the bars meaning I had no hands to hold the camera!

I think the ride went for a total of about 30 minutes and afterwards it became easier as I got more confident so I could hold on with only my left hand, and film with my right :) It was sooooo thrilling. I can't begin to describe it. Also with the sun and also the cool breeze it was just so comfortable and nice. He explained all the buildings and monuments as we drove past although I couldn't really hear much.

I actually had visions of me flying off, no kidding. I was still scared the whole time I think but I just had to pretend I was not because I was just having too much fun and couldn't keep the smile off my face. I toured Paris on scooter.

And the scariest part? When he drove into that massive huge roundabout where the Arc de Triomphe is! The one that's notorious for accidents. I think I screamed out of both fear and excitement.

So we made it to Ile Saint Louis in one piece and luckily didn't have to wait 30 minutes in the queue for the ice cream like he assumed we would. That place was filled to the brim with tourists (all eating ice creams or drinking coffee). I offered to shout him this time but he refused. The ice cream was nice but I wouldn't say it was as good as the one I had in Nice. When I told him I went to a fab ice cream place in Nice he knew EXACTLY which one I was talking about!

By then we only had a little bit of time left. We did a quick walk and crossed those little bridges... that's when I came across those padlocks on the Le Pont des Arts which I only know about because of the TV show The Amazing Race. The locks that lovers put there, 'sealing' their love. Awwww.... It was so beautiful I wanted to take so many photos of it but he reminded me we didn't have much time left.

Towards the very end and right after we had talked about a very personal subject, I asked about his girlfriend. I don't even know why I torture myself like that. The worst part of all of this is that I really like him and I'm pretty sure he knows it but he already has a girlfriend. But even if he didn't, I tell myself it's a totally dumb idea anyway since it'd be a long-distance relationship and I'm terrible at those.

Anyway, then he dropped me off at Gare de Lyon again, like déjà vu from 2 weeks ago. Except this time it was lovely and warm and not cold. I thought I'd sleep on the way home (it was nice and quiet on the train- yay!) but I was so hyped up I was not tired at all and watched the gorgeous landscape outside the window transform from dead flat to mountainous. Also all these bright fluorescent yellow rapeseed flowers had blossomed everywhere in the fields. I couldn't believe how beautiful it was and I cannot believe that it is light until 9 pm these days.

For me, you'll always remember your 'firsts' and that scooter ride was my first and to say that I did it in Paris, well that was like a dream come true. :) I just cannot believe what a lucky week this has been for me. Everything has been going so well and also having perfect weather today was also lucky and for that I will be eternally grateful to the Gods above!

Paris again

2011-04-18T23:10:00.001+02:00

I'm off to Paris yet AGAIN and this time I really don't want to go. I would prefer to spend the day doing relaxing things, everyday chores (and I have lots more than usual right now) and saying goodbye to people but alas.. I HAVE to go and soon I will be able to reveal what "the issue" was and my very exciting news!! :D

Guess who's going to Italy?

2011-04-18T11:33:00.002+02:00

Guess who's going to Italy? Me! AH I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. It was a last minute decision and I do regret that a little because one of my train tickets (the one coming back home) was hideously expensive (it cost more than the other 4 tickets combined!). Still, even if they take longer, I much prefer trains and they are also a lot cheaper than planes if you want last minute tickets.

I'm off on a 10 day trip to :
Genoa, Pisa, Florence and Rome
or in French: Gênes, Pise, Florence, Rome
or in Italian: Genova, Pisa, Firenze, Roma

A bit off topic but it kind of annoys me why they bother to change the city names! I think they should just stay what they are in their native language and not be 'dumbed down' for foreigners! All of my students pronounce the city Lyon as Lie-on because they think that's how it should be pronounced in English! (instead of the French Lee-yon) Grr... I never say Lie-on. It sounds awful.

I have always had an affinity with Italy, I think. There is a really personal thing which I can't share here but there is a very specific reason why I MUST go to Rome.

Also, from a very young age I discovered that Italian was my favourite cuisine and still is. From the ages of around 8-15 I was obsessed with Garfield, that big fat lazy orange cat. I collected all the comic books and various Garfield memorabilia. I related to him because I adore Italian food and I despise Mondays. And Garfield likes to annoy Odie like I used to annoy my little sister.

When I was in high school I had many friends of Italian origins as there was a small community of Italian people in a suburb not far from our school.

Then, thinking about recent events, I discovered that it was a coincidence that my ex in Sydney, my ex in France, and my new best friend here, C, ALL have Italian or part-Italian origins too.

When I was in Nice recently, I couldn't help but notice there was such an Italian air about that place. It made me want to go to Italy more and more. In fact, I've been wanting to go there for the longest time and had planned to go there a few years back with my ex but it never eventuated.

A note about Venice. They say it's the most romantic city in the world and perhaps that is true. That's why I don't want to go there... alone. Maybe it's dumb, maybe it's corny, maybe it's superstitious, but I don't want to go there until I'm with 'the one', the one that I want to be with forever. I only want to go there with him, whoever that may be and whenever that may be that I meet him. So that's why I'm not going to Venice now.

I also ummed and erred about going to Turin/Torino and Milan/Milano and the beautiful La Spezia/Cinque Terre region too but they'll have to wait until next time (as will the south of Italy!)

Reading Eat Pray Love (Elizabeth Gilbert) and The Promise (Lisa Clifford) also made me want to go to Italy badly.

And the last reason I want to go to Italy is a practical one. It's the closest foreign country to me apart from Germany and Switzerland, both of which I've already been to. I cannot stand flying and try to avoid it where possible. It's not a fear, I just hate all the waiting and queuing and stupid rules about luggage. I can't travel to anywhere I want to, it has to be reasonably close to be affordable and so I can get there within the same day.

I have my accommodation (Couchsurfing, of course) lined up for Genoa and Rome. I just need to find one for Florence now!

Unfortunately, at the back of my head, I'll still be wondering about "the issue" and am still waiting and waiting for more news...

Eh ben, Voilà !

Just before I wrote up this blog post, I noticed on Skype that Luca was online. I 'met' him around 21 months ago in July 2009 (through YouTube) when I first started to learn French and haven't spoken to him for over a year. He's from Rome so I said a quick "Hello" and told him I'm coming to Rome and it would be so cool if we could meet up. He wrote back that he doesn't actually live in Rome anymore but in.... Paris! haha (because he has a French girlfriend and I guess the long distance thing was too hard).

We got talking and he tells me he teaches languages online now (quitting his job in Rome as an engineer) and makes quite a good living from it. If you haven't checked out his YouTube videos you should. In fact, I'll put a link to it in my sidebar now. The earlier ones aren't great quality but anyway, he is a very talented polyglot (someone who speaks many languages) and shares his methods for learning foreign languages. The most incredible thing to me is not that he speaks several languages (which many many people do) but the fact that he has a close to native-like accent for each language that he speaks!! Even though we won't get to meet up it was still cool to talk to him again after a long absence from both our parts.

How to add Subtitles to Films French films

2011-04-17T10:08:00.000+02:00

How to add Subtitles to Films / Comment incruster des Sous-titres dans un film

OK it seems like recently a lot of people are coming to my blog looking for info or subtitles to Le Nom de Gens (The Names of Love) and Rien à déclarer (Nothing to declare).

Something one of my very geeky exes taught me (see, boyfriends are useful for something ;) ) is how to put subtitles onto foreign films. I was so happy when he told me about that as it basically opened up a whole new world of possibilities...

How to add subtitles to films

Steps:

Download VLC media player if you don't already have it. It plays almost any sort of media file you can imagine and it's free!
Go to allsubs.org or Open Subtitles and search for the subtitle for your movie in the language of your choice. Note that not all languages exist and the file is of type .srt
Note where you've placed the movie on your computer (I'm not going to tell you where to get the movies from, I'm sure you can figure that out yourself) and copy the filename of this file to the srt file. So now the two files have exactly the same file name with only the 3 character extension that is different. Make sure they are placed in the same folder/directory.
Open up VLC media player and load the film.
Voilà ! It should work automatically. If not, something has gone wrong... (sometimes though, if the subtitles are not done well they are not quite in sync with the movie, maybe a few seconds ahead/behind what they are saying).

The main problem I find is that I want to watch both English and French films with French subtitles but generally it's difficult to find subtitles that's in the same language as the film is (ie French subtitles for a French film). Still, give it a try though! It's pretty easy to find English subtitles for French films.

Hope that helped!

Orangina and Rivella

2011-04-17T08:45:00.090+02:00

Orangina and Rivella

I would say that 90% of the time I just drink water. Yeah, pretty boring huh? I actually LIKE the taste of water. However every now and then my sweet tooth gets activated and I need something sweet like a soft drink or fruit juice.

I do not like normal soft drinks (soda) and haven't since I was about 16 so I never drink them but I LOVE Orangina and Rivella! They are so different to Coca Cola, Sprite or Fanta. For one thing, they both have a lot less gas and they also seem less artificial/chemical and sweet. To me it's like they are halfway between soft drink and fruit juice.

According to Schweppes, Orangina is a French carbonated fruit drink first created in 1936. It is the largest selling carbonated fruit drink in France. It is well-known for its funny shaped bottle, the 'real fruit pulp' content, containing no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and funky advertising. It tastes halfway between Fanta and orange juice. There isn't a lot of pulp but enough to give it some 'texture' and extra flavour kick. I buy it here in 2L bottles.

The ingredients are:

       • Carbonated water,
       • High fructose corn syrup and/or sugar,
       • Orange juice concentrate,
       • Pure orange pulp,
       • Tangerine juice concentrate
       • Natural orange flavours.
It has no artificial coloring or flavoring, no caffeine, and is marked kosher.

Here's a video (in French) all about the history of the company and the drink. Towards the end, the actor Jamel Debbouze (featured in Amélie) is shown appearing in a tv commercial. Also there is a risqué ad featuring computer-generated humanised animals.

and one of the tv commercials featuring a laughing hyena:

Rivella is a carbonated drink from Switzerland first created in 1952. I can't quite put my finger on what flavour it is. It is sweet and fruity but also different to anything I've ever drunk before. There are three varieties but I've only ever had the original (Red).

Ingredients - The exact recipe for Rivella Red is a well kept secret, these are the known listed ingredients:

Water
Whey (35 %)
Sugar (76g of refined sugar and 14g from whey per liter)
Herbs
Fruitextract
Carbonation
Acidifier (L(+)-Lactic Acid)

Given the list of ingredients, to me it tastes like something halfway between carbonated fruit juice (with maybe a hint of strawberry flavour) and the Japanese fermented milk drink Calpis/Calpico (ingredients: Lactose, Glucose, Sugar, Skim milk powder, Lactic acid (with a lactic acid cultver), natural and artificial flavours).

In any case, all three drinks have unique flavours and I love them all! Every time I go to Switzerland I try to get me some Rivella.

Here is a Dutch tv commercial for Rivella:

The Ex

2011-04-16T16:42:00.003+02:00

During my break-up with my ex (in February) I was feeling extremely emotional but eventually got over him to the point where I no longer thought of him. And I realised that any nice feelings or thoughts I had about him weren't about him at all but more about the moments we shared and the stuff we did together.

Prior to us getting together today I had already pictured in my head how it would go down (because I think I know him well enough) and it went pretty much EXACTLY how I thought it would. It made me realise that I am completely and utterly over him and there are just too many bad qualities about him and I'm so glad I'm not with him, but also that I'm so glad I'm not with anyone! Relationships do my head in.

I did have some fleeting gushy feelings for him upon seeing him today after two months but then I realised that those were feelings of nostalgia, of our happy times together and not necessarily happy thoughts about him. I asked if he was seeing someone new now and he said he was and to be honest I feel a bit sorry for her. I don't think of my ex is a super nasty person but I do think he's a bit 'confused' about how relationships work and also I think he's too busy for a girlfriend anyway. He's one of those people who have all their free time booked up...

I did also learn that he changed jobs (and the city for the job) a month ago and earns more than he did before (but he says he is still looking elsewhere for a better paying job!). I also learned that he's going to Paris with his family to see an aunt during Easter and that's about all the information I got out of him in the 2 hours we spent together. In the car going back he did casually ask if I effaced (deleted) some photo albums of mine on Facebook and I said "No?" He said he was looking for a particular album of mine and couldn't find it. In all honesty I change my privacy settings so often I forgot who can/can't see what. When I got home now I had a look and yes, I had blocked him from seeing certain albums after he dumped me - ha! Wow, I admit I was somewhat flattered and shocked he was looking for a particular photo of me after dumping me....

The rest was a blur as we didn't say much and just admired the scenery/landscape (he drove me to a place we'd never been to before, near one that we had). Actually that was the weirdest thing for me and brought me a huge sense of nostalgia. I remember vividly the night we drove through the forest in the snow with a thousand twinkling stars in the sky. It was so damn cold and pitch black. Today it was day time, and 16° and sunny and reasonably warm for somewhere that is 1100m altitude. In fact, it looked pretty ordinary to me and I preferred the wintery scene... I said that it looked like we were in some dinosaur place with upended bits of dirt and grass and weird rocks of all sizes everywhere. It was so weird and he explained that because we had had such a dry winter (and also with snow covering the ground) it affected the grass/ground/plants which is why everything looked kind of weird, and dry and dead...

So it was and wasn't quite the 'conclusion' I'd hoped for between us but in the end I remain neutral. I definitely don't want to get back to him nor do I hate him for dumping me. I don't really feel anything at all. I forgive him for 'wronging' me. It was just something that happened in the past and I'm over it now. I'm glad we saw each other today to at least say goodbye for what would probably be the last time we ever see each other...

So why are you single?

2011-04-16T08:17:00.002+02:00

It still amazes me how many comments and questions I get relating to my relationship status. I've been asked:

1• Did I come here because of a man?
2• Did I come here because of a relationship breakup back home?
3• Do I want to stay and marry a guy (and therefore can stay longer)?
4• Did I get a boyfriend recently?
5• WHY am I single?
6• Why do I travel alone everywhere?

Then, I've been propositioned and hinted by various men that they are interested in me (and I am NOT interested in them)! etc etc..

Gosh, it's so bizarre.

I'm not overly offended (and sometimes even find the comments funny) but at the same time I think my private life is MY business and if I wish to share those details I will. (on my blog here :P ) I am also surprised by the number of times someone has told me I should marry a French guy if I want to stay longer.

For the record, it actually isn't that simple and as far as I'm aware, isn't that simple for ANY desirable Western country. You don't just marry someone and automatically end up a French (or English or German or Australian or American whatever) citizen! There are many criteria to fulfill and you have had to live legally in the country for x number of years and proven your relationship is genuine.

And to answer the questions above:

1• Definitely not. I came here for ME. What a concept, eh?! (sarcasm). Actually, my father did not want me to come and he suspected someone had put me up to it as well. He asked, "WHO told you to come to France?" and I was very shocked by this statement but he's obviously over it now, well he had to get used to the idea as I wasn't changing my mind about coming!

2• Not at all. At the time I was in a (newish) happy relationship (which ended because the long-distance thing wasn't working for us).

3• If I end up marrying a guy it would be for love and honestly, I don't think I will get married for quite some time!

4• I did get a boyfriend here in January and it sort of happened really quickly before I realised what was happening and we didn't last very long but I think/hope/assume we are friends now (well I'm seeing him today for the first time after the break-up so I'll see how it goes).
So recently? Definitely not! I'm pre-occupied trying to sort out "the issue" which is completely doing my head in with all this waiting...

5• What a stupid question! Although I suppose I should be flattered because if someone asks that I assume it means they think that someone "like me" should NOT be single (as if that's a bad thing). To be honest (and as I've mentioned on this blog numerous times) I really enjoy my 'me time' and 'quiet time' and silence and meditation and all that. I think I'm quite independent now and whilst on one hand I'd love to be in a relationship, on the other hand I always feel like my emotions are in knots (particularly at the first few months of a relationship) and I don't feel quite right, and I'm quite strong-minded so I like to do what I want when I want and how I want... in a relationship I have to learn to compromise all over again... it's difficult but for the moment I'm quite happy where I am and do not feel any overwhelming need to be tied to/with someone. I do, however, feel like I need to make as many (platonic) friends as possible so I can have a nice social life to keep me occupied :)

6• It's just easier that way! When I ask someone if they want to go with me they usually stuff me around and don't give me definite answers. It's a billion times easier just to make some plans and go! Plus since I like to take photos, 99% of people (unless they are also really into photography) get extremely impatient and then I feel stressed and don't enjoy my time there OR take good photos... However, I do enjoy company for the day once I'm in that city. But to organise dates/transport/accommodation with others just feels like too much work these days.

Meanwhile, on the subject of taboo topics, I've heard time and time again that French people don't like to talk about money yet amongst most people I know they seem to talk about salary somewhat easily. People seem to ask and tell each other their salaries... I don't know if it's just the group of people I hang around or what! But as an Australian, I feel extremely uncomfortable talking about what I earn unless that person is very close to me. I have no idea what my friends earn back home (although I could make an educated guess based on their fields of work and years of experience). Since I heard that French people don't talk about money full stop I thought it might also be weird to ask how much they spend on certain things but I've asked various people how much they spend per month on rent (I like to compare between each city for reference's sakes) and they didn't seem offended.

People and personalities

2011-04-15T17:02:00.002+02:00

You know, I am CONSTANTLY thinking about what makes a good person and a good friend. I would say that the majority of my friends are wonderful and kind people otherwise I wouldn't be friends with them (duh). I mean they are generous (with either time or money or both) and giving. Lately I had a bit of a falling out with my sister which saddens me as I tried my best to be a good sister and a friend to her (and we have no other siblings) but she continues to either ignore me and hold grudges (over things that happened 10 or 20 years ago!) and all in all just be an negative pain in the butt. So as sad as it is I have to kind of pretend she doesn't exist at the moment.

Now, here at the school and in my town I've met some wonderful and kind people and yes I know that everybody says that French people are hard to 'crack' but once you 'crack' them they are soft on the inside (if you like my egg analogy ;) ) which I think is very true. And given that it usually takes YEARS to get to know them I think I've done pretty fabulously well for less than 7 months!

Today, I was thinking about some of the people at the school and that no matter what I say or do to them they just don't want to be my friend. I treated everyone the same when I first came and how I subsequently treated them depended on how they treated me... afterall I'm the guest and the stranger to their country.. *I* don't know the 'rules' but surely they must? Not that I've had a falling out with anyone but I do find many people don't like me or ignore me (for whatever reason I can't and won't understand) but now I'm so over it I honestly am glad I won't have to work with and see them anymore. That may sound nasty but that's just how I feel!

Besides, there are far more people who are nice to me and actually look forward to seeing and talking to me for me to worry about the ones that don't!! There is one teacher that I work with and I can't quite figure out which category he fits into. He seems to be nice but then some things he does suggests he's not. One of the number one criteria a good friend (and partner) must have is: Mean what they say, and do what they say they will do. This particular teacher has said many times we should catch up outside of school hours but never managed to arrange it. Now that I'm leaving he's STILL talking about it... Frankly I'm not that fussed if it doesn't happen but in my mind if you don't plan on carrying something out, don't talk about it!! Straight away, my opinion of someone goes way down if they do that to me.

Meh. I really have to stop thinking about this crap so much!!

Meanwhile, I will dearly miss the majority of my students. This morning I first had a very small class so I couldn't do much with them (in terms of celebrate my leaving). Then, after the class, two of the girls came up to me and asked me which would be my last day here as they'd like to give me something. I was so touched with even just the thought of it.

Then, in my next class I had a mini "party" with one of my favourite classes. It was so much fun and that one hour just flew by! When I told them my future plans, just the good part and not stressful "the issue" part.. they all applauded me. I was so happy and touched I could've almost cried. I also took many photos and videos that I wish I could share with you here (but won't for privacy reasons).

A few weeks back, I had my dad ship to me (by express EMS mail which cost a fortune and I'm lucky that my dad didn't kill me for that) some Australian things to show my kids. In hindsight, I could've brought it with me when I came but considering my luggage was already overweight it would've been impossible.

The funniest moment was when I introduced them to Vegemite, that dark brown famous Australian spread (for bread). It's definitely an acquired taste. I remember when I was really young I hated it but then I grew to love it and find it addictive sometimes!

I know that French people have a very sweet tooth so I could've guessed that they wouldn't like it and I think only one person did. They all admit they liked the smell of it (and many said it smelt familiar but they couldn't quite put their finger on it what that was) but hated the taste and one girl said she couldn't even swallow it. I heard dégueulasse too. I found the whole 'experiment' rather amusing and it's all captured on video for posterity :) I also let them try some delicious Tim Tam chocolate biscuits and some cute Caramello koalas (photo credit). I was quite touched when I noticed some students kept the empty sticky chocolate wrapper as well for a souvenir (as that is exactly something *I* would do!!).

At the end I had one girl come up to me and say that I was the best English teacher she ever had and that I was so much better that the other ones in the school. Although I don't think I'd agree with her I was very surprised and flattered by that sweet comment.

I went through a phase (in February, that horrible month for me) where I absolutely hated teaching and I actually thought of it as a crap job. No kidding. But after feeling a bit more confident now I realise it's not too bad a job at all and like any job there are many pros and cons. One of the biggest pros is when you have a sweet student tell you something like that. It just feels my heart with joy. :) Another thing I like about working with people who are younger than me is that they are so fresh and so innocent and haven't been screwed around by 'life experience' so they aren't negative and bitter (and therefore unfriendly) like I feel a lot of adults are.

I just had a look at my timetable and due to exams and school excursions and various other things I only JUST realised that I do NOT have a whole week left but only one day! I believe I only have one class, on a Tuesday. I could probably get it off if I wanted to and start my holidays one week earlier! Hmm... decisions...

(image from here)

Titeuf le film 3D

2011-04-15T08:03:00.001+02:00

One of my internet chat buddies worked on this film. I've known about it for months! And when I went to visit him he showed me some of his work and I have to admit he has a super cool job working on various projects and with different clients in the media. He was invited to attend the grand opening of the film in Paris on 6 April (but he didn't go). I'm actually kind of jealous of his job and his life!

He also told me he's a good friend of Zep's which is how he got the gig working on the film. For those that don't know, Zep is very well known (Swiss) illustrator/cartoonist in France and in French-speaking countries, and his comic books are sold everywhere, even in railway station shops.

The film, Titeuf, is based on the main character in one of his series of comic books.

Ever since he told me about the film, I started seeing it everywhere. When I was in Nice, Cannes, Paris, and now my own town I saw/see the movie posters EVERYWHERE. I just can't avoid it!!

Anyway, I don't claim to know anything about the film so this is not a review of it, sorry! But if you like his comic books I'm sure you're bound to like the film.

I'm famous!!

2011-04-14T21:47:00.001+02:00

The tidal wave of emotions continues today and this week...

I only found out too late that I won't be seeing some of my students next week because they're having exams meaning that THIS WEEK is my last is my last week with them and I wasn't prepared :( Still, I tried my best to organise what I could with what little time I have left. I'm particularly looking forward to tomorrow when I'm going to have a little farewell party with one of my favourite classes.

Meanwhile... I wanted to talk about Thursdays. Thursday mornings I had the worst classes ever. Two of them back to back. The teachers who organised those classes for me weren't even English teachers and would change the classes on me without advance notice which shitted me. The students even knew more than I did! So the last 2 Thursdays I turned up to classes with no students! Talk about a waste of a morning. Well no more. This time I made sure I wasn't needed so I didn't need to go.

Last Thursday I had a series of random events that led me to the town market. A few week's ago I went to my town's market for the very first time and last Thursday I went for the second time.

First I stopped by Carrefour to do some grocery shopping. Then, annoyingly, I really needed to use the bathroom except I had no idea where the public toilets were (I later realised there are some just nearby). So I called my friend who lives in town and works from home if I could quickly come over to use the toilet. By the time I'd finished buying the groceries I couldn't really wait any longer so I asked the cashier lady if there was a toilet I could use in the store (TOTALLY expecting her to say no, that they are for staff only). To my surprise she said there is a toilet out the back. I got lost along the way and then was directed there by another member of staff. Then when I came out I got lost again (it happens often to me when I use public toilets in unfamiliar places with lots of corridors!). I realised that it wasn't actually a public toilet at all as it was very out of the way, and that that lady was being nice to me by telling me where it was and letting me use it!

Since I no longer needed to use the toilet I didn't need to bother my friend anymore and so I went to the post office to post the little present to my friend in Paris that I forgot to bring with me. Then, randomly I decided to visit the town hall to enquire about who I should speak to about selling my photos to them.

THEN, I noticed that some roads were blocked off so I went to see what was happening. I should note that the weather that day was glorious. Sunny and warm. Ahhh the markets! I'd totally forgotten the markets were on and I was SO glad that I found them. I had so much fun browsing them this time in the sun (as opposed to the first time with my friend in the horrible rain and grey drizzly weather)... I thought I shouldn't be rude and go see my friend anyway (since he seems to enjoy my company and truth be told, I think he's interested in me which now makes things very awkward)... so after my market shenanigans I was kind of 'late' visiting him but we had a nice time talking anyway.

So with that in mind, and with no class this morning I was determined to go back to the markets again. I enjoyed it so much this time I just HAD to go back! And what happened was unbelievable. I had a smile on my face the whole time and my heart was singing. And dancing. I can't even explain it. I can't explain why. It just happened.

The weather these past 3 days has been awful. Grey, cold, windy, rainy. Awful. I had to drag out my winter coat again and felt like my hands were going to drop off in the mornings without gloves on.

Despite the cold and grey weather though, I was in a good mood. I arrived at 9am on the dot and the market was in motion. As good as the stuff is, I don't like to buy too much fresh food as I have nowhere to store it and I have to eat it pretty much immediately. I was on a mission to go and take photos only since I realised the ones I took last week weren't good enough!

The sellers were very curious about what I was doing. Now I should mention that in Sydney and most big cities, people get the shits with you when you try to take photos of them or their goods. I don't know why. People are so damn paranoid! I hate that. But these people were sooooo nice. They asked if they could help me or what I was after and I said I just wanted to take a photo. Instead of being annoyed or angry they were still as friendly as ever. Mais allez-y (go ahead) they said. And then they'd start a conversation with me. I got asked many times which newspaper I worked for! Haha. Actually that happened last week too. I said the photos are not for a publication, they are just for myself.

I got asked where I come from, if I was a tourist, what I'm doing in this town, why did I choose to come to this town, etc etc.

I even got asked if I wanted to take a photo of THEM which surprised me and I gladly did. Then they asked their neighbour to let me take a photo of them! There was such a happy, friendly, charming community vibe to it all. There was no hostility or sense of 'competition' between sellers and noone got annoyed if you didn't buy anything from them, even after tasting the delicious goodies. And they actually asked about your day and your life and take interest in it.

All I could think about at the back of my head was: If only I didn't have those classes each Thursday morning I could've done this a LONG time ago and make more friends quickly and easily.

I actually only planned on staying 30 minutes but ended up staying 1.5 hours! (well the bus only comes once an hour so it was one or the other). I ended up talking to a really nice guy who was more around my age (since most of the sellers are quite old) and I told him that I'm in the local paper today. He asked to see it but I said I haven't seen it myself yet! It was the second thing I planned to do this morning. Go to the Tabac Presse to buy several copies of the paper! He seemed really keen on seeing the article and asked me to show him once I'd bought it so I said OK. Then we got talking and he said he's from Morocco and came to France when he was 10. I talked about how the snow mesmerised me when I first saw it and he said the same thing happened to him during his first year in France!

At the Tabac Presse I bought 4 copies of the paper. 1 to keep pristine. 1 to show people and look at. 1 to send to my father and 1 to send to my mother (my parents are divorced). I proudly said to the shop owner, pointing to the cover (realising that my photo was on the freakin' COVER of the newspaper!) "Ca, c'est moi"

I was in a mega good mood when I left the market...

The last thing I did was - since it was so nearby - was visit my keycutter/bootmaker friend, to say hello AND goodbye :( He seemed SO happy to see me since it'd been months since we'd seen each other. We spent quite a while talking and he said I should come around next week and we can have a drink...

Then whilst I was waiting for the bus to go back I got a lovely surprise phone call from Karine. I found her blog sometime last year. She's a French girl now living in Sydney (so basically the opposite of me). I really liked her blog posts and wrote to her. I had no idea she'd be so enthralled by my blog. In fact, I didn't even give her the URL so she must've looked for it herself. She said she wanted to chat to me some more over the phone or on Skype. Then I also found out that she blogged about me on her blog. Thank you Karine! :)

Then, I got a text message from C asking to have lunch with me so we had a very early lunch at 11:30am. Then I started gradually showing various staff my newspaper article. Ahh I was on a high and C was so happy for me too! Then after lunch I went and made lots of photocopies for everyone :P

The loveliest moment was when I spoke to the woman in admin. She seemed SO happy for me she said she wanted a copy for the principal too (who I wanted to see but wasn't around) so I gave her 2 copies. And then she said she will buy the paper tonight to have it in full glorious colour :)

I also put it on Facebook and emailed my photos the article to my friends and I got lots of nice comments on the photo too (which I took myself).

In my afternoon class I showed my students the article too... Ah, my 24 hours of fame. :D

And tonight, the staff member who wrote the article on me said he was at the train station and he bought me 2 copies! So nice! I honestly can't believe how many nice people I've met in this school and in this town.

Also today, I decided to organise a last minute farewell party for myself. I believe that there are certain events in life that need celebrating. I don't like party poopers who don't celebrate anything. So anyway, I decided that I WILL have a small farewell party afterall. So I frantically started asking and texting my friends here in this town...

On Saturday my ex sent me a text message. On Sunday I replied. Then after that I got nothing. I was meh about it.

I ummed and erred all afternoon about whether or not I should invite him to my farewell party. Considering it may be the last time we ever see each other I thought it should be the right thing to do. Afterall, I'm over him and I'm ready to be friends. And I harbour no negativity towards him. So tonight I sent him an invitation too. Since there would be others there too that would make it less awkward and personal too. He asked me what we're going to do and I said I'm not sure yet, hopefully eat out somewhere and do something else afterwards depending on what everyone feels like doing. I'm pretty open to ideas. To my surprise not only did he say, "ce serait avec plaisir" (with pleasure) he asked if we could see each other this weekend! (after I deciphered his heavily abbreviated textos). I said I'm not sure yet. Even though I'm over him I don't know what he's thinking or planning by having us get together alone.

Tonight I went to speak to one of the surveillants and saw him testing himself by trying to learn and memorise the departments of France . Hilarious!

Anyway, that's my exciting day. I actually feel quite OK about leaving now and not too sad. And I feel like I've accomplished a shitload (excuse the language) in my almost 7 months here! and I've definitely feel that I've made the wheel come full circle.

(image from here)

Anywhere by Evanescence

2011-04-14T08:30:00.000+02:00

One of my all-time favourite songs ever!

"Anywhere"

Dear my love, haven't you wanted to be with me
And dear my love, haven't you longed to be free
I can't keep pretending that I don't even know you
And at sweet night, you are my own
Take my hand

[CHORUS:]
We're leaving here tonight
There's no need to tell anyone
They'd only hold us down
So by the morning light
We'll be half way to anywhere
Where love is more than just your name

I have dreamt of a place for you and I
No one knows who we are there
All I want is to give my life only to you
I've dreamt so long I cannot dream anymore
Let's run away, I'll take you there

We're leaving here tonight
There's no need to tell anyone
They'd only hold us down
So by the mornings light
We'll be half way to anywhere
Where no one needs a reason

Forget this life
Come with me
Don't look back you're safe now
Unlock your heart
Drop your guard
No one's left to stop you

Forget this life
Come with me
Don't look back you're safe now
Unlock your heart
Drop your guard
No one's left to stop you now

[Chorus]

[Silence]

Yeah yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah

[Fades out]

The wheel is come full circle

2011-04-13T20:05:00.002+02:00

When I was in my final year of high school, I studied Shakespeare's King Lear and remember the quote well: "The wheel is come full circle" and I really feel that my time here has "come full circle".

Following from my experience with the French teacher yesterday, today in the staffroom, another teacher with whom I've had almost zero contact and don't even know the name of, wanted to shout me a coffee from the coffee machine. Ha! When I politely declined he asked if it was because I thought it was bad. I laughed and said, "No, I don't drink coffee" (je bois pas de café) and he offered me a tea instead (which I also declined as I'm really fussy with my hot drinks)... But the thought was really nice.

It's funny but I only know of him because he spends a lot of time hanging around a female teacher who lives in the internat down the hall from me. I think a lot of teachers/staff suspect there is something going on between them because they are always together and yet seem like such an unlikely match as well. He seems quite nice but to be honest I find the girl really weird. The first time we met she was over-the-top friendly towards me and suggested we could go out after work and have a pizza but it never eventuated and then she kinda ignores me and barely even says "bonjour" and seems kind of anti-social and weird.

So bizarre but it's true. It's almost always the males I meet that are super nice to me. But not always...

Anyway, tonight, I bumped into that person (and one of his mates) again for the first time in months. 2.5 months to be exact. I actually remember the last time we saw each other because it was the last time it snowed at the school (and even then it wasn't much). I've tried to put it all behind me and forget about him/them/the incident... and I admit it did feel a bit weird seeing them again and making plaisanteries with each other but I do not harbour any negativity or anything towards them anymore. I think I've actually gotten over the whole thing. I haven't actively avoided them but then I hadn't seen them for so long either.

He was actually being very nice and normal to me (like you would with someone you've just met for the first time)...

I told them I was leaving as soon as the school holidays start and one of them asked, "Tu quittes ?" I said quite defiantly, "Non, je quitte pas. C'est la fin de mon contrat. C'est que pendant 7 mois" (No I'm not leaving/quitting. It's the end of my contract. It's only for 7 months). I was kind of annoyed by that comment. Note that it was said by the other person and not the one that wronged me. I felt that there were undertones that I was "giving up" and leaving, much like the English verb "to quit". Quitter is an interesting word (French verb) because it means to leave. It can often mean to leave on your own accord, ie a job or a relationship as opposed to just leaving a place/event, eg leaving a party which is partir.

Anyway, I told them my plans (which truthfully I don't even know myself yet) which are to stay around at the school for a bit during the holidays (as in, the school will still be "my home") and travel during that time... I also told them about "the issue" lalala. I guess/hope/assume they are happy for me. But meh. I'm kinda over it all and just wish to remain neutral about the whole situation and them. I don't like to make enemies or hold grudges.

And to end this post here are two more quotes : Let bygones be bygones.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it is called the PRESENT.

( Image from here )

Paris by bus video

2011-04-13T16:07:00.002+02:00

This is a really basic video of my recent Paris bus trip (the last 5-10 minutes of it). It's nothing flash but hopefully you'll enjoy it!

Careers, exams and waiting

2011-04-13T16:02:00.000+02:00

It just occurred to me that SO many people I know are in the middle of a career change or doing exams and going to interviews to improve their career prospects...

My friend 1 - applying for dozens and dozens of jobs hoping to get something soon. I really hope she gets something too because she really deserves it considering the amount of effort she has been putting in. I also helped her translating her CV and cover letter into English

My friend 2 - he recently went to a job interview and has yet to hear back from them. It's for the same job he's currently already got but this one a permanent full-time position (which is the holy grail) instead of part-time/temporary/shift type one. I helped him with his CV and then after the interview they sent him this huge online test by Adecco to do to test his personality traits and his English level. We were a bit naughty because I helped him with the English part (which consisted of something like 150 questions!!) I admit that for a non-native speaker some of them were extremely tricky. We were smart though and didn't want to make it look suss so I purposely clicked on some wrong answers so he wouldn't get 99 or 100%. So he is waiting to hear back from them...

Our mutual friend, 3 - he recently did an intensive series of exams in Lyon that went for a week I think (!!) to become a customs officer. A bit like being a teacher in France you could end up almost anywhere in the country (on the borders or at an airport). He's waiting to hear back from them...

The school nurse - I saw her studying intensively for some special exam that is mandatory involving first aid and emergency care. Something happened (I couldn't quite understand since she was talking at at a million miles a minute but I think she said that the examiner didn't like her and there was a disagreement or something) and anyway she said she failed the exam and she has to take it again in month's time.

My friend in Paris - currently studying for his exams that he'll take in September to become an avocado. OK stupid joke. The French word for lawyer/solicitor/attorney, avocat, is the same as for the fruit avocado! He is currently a juriste and wants to change fields.

Someone I was speaking to on Skype (that I found through a language learning website) - he said he's currently studying for his upcoming HSK (Chinese language) exams in June. Then he wants to go to China and live/work/travel there.

A long time friend (from a language learning website) - he's a pharmacist and bored and says he wants to go back to university to do something different!

One of the teachers I work with - during the last school holidays in late Feb he went down to Lyon for a week to do a course to get some special teaching certification.

A surveillant at the school - He says that once he finishes up here in June he wants to go to Lyon to look for work.

It feels like so many people around me are in the midst of change in their lives relating to their careers...

Honestly, whether it's for necessity or by choice, I really admire people who have the guts to make great changes in their lives. It's all too easy to just live within your 'comfort zone' but I'm all for pushing yourself and being the best person that you can be and living the best life that you can live!

And as for me? Well I'm still waiting for this important piece of news and the wait is killing me because I worry that by the time I find out it may be too late to tell people here since I only have one more week to go after this (and then it won't be a proper goodbye).. And also there are a lot of things I want to do and plan but without this news I can't really go ahead. Grrr...

Waiting waiting waiting...

2011-04-12T23:00:00.001+02:00

I am waiting to hear some news which will decide the fate of my future... The suspense is killing me! Without knowing the outcome I can't share my news with everyone including my family, my friends back home and my readers. I just want the suspense to be over already so I can celebrate the good news!!

I really hope I hear by Friday or early next week at the latest.

Fingers crossed!!

Meanwhile, I want to SCREAM "NOooooooOooOooOoooo. Please stop time." I've only got 1.5 weeks left of teaching here. I will miss the teachers, the students and the other staff like crazy. I'll also miss the school itself. Waaahhhhh :`(

On French Guys

2011-04-12T15:30:00.002+02:00

This isn't just about French guys but also guys living in France (of any origin) really... It is so bizarre. At the moment I seem to just attract guys wherever I go and all of them seem so nice, complimentary, flattering and chivalrous.

I guess in Sydney I never hung around guys as friends (and would attract a random guy in the street maybe once or twice a year) and I feel that it's much harder to meet people there than in France or Europe. Of course it was very hard for me initially to meet people but now I found I'm that snowball rolling down the hill gathering more snow and gaining momentum... life here just gets easier as time goes on (and makes me all the more sad that I'm leaving so very very soon). :(

This morning I sat in again on a French class taught by one of the teachers at my school. Last time I sat in on a class in the lycée which I think was première (11th grade) and today it was in the collège, 5ème (7th grade). What a difference it was!

First of all, last time I was almost falling asleep because I couldn't keep up. The level was far too difficult for me but today it was more at my level and I was able to understand everything. Even so, the teacher and the kids speak soooo fast. And there is no way I can write French at that level yet.

In the whole time I've been at this school I've barely had any contact with this teacher at all, apart from the odd "Bonjour" or "Salut" here and there. It wasn't till I asked if I could sit in on his classes that we finally started talking...

I admit that I don't get along with a lot of the teachers. I think it's mainly because my French isn't good enough yet so when they talk in the staffroom or in the canteen I really have no idea what they are talking about! I can have a decent conversation with someone 1:1 since there is eye to eye contact and body language, etc, and I only have to focus/concentrate on one person but when it's lots of people and also with background noise, my brain just turns to mush.

Anyway so we talked a bit after the class (about the kids) and then he was like, "Are you coming to lunch?" I can barely remember a single time where one of the other teachers 'invited' me to come to lunch with them. I usually just go with the other assistant C or I go alone at a time which suits me. I mentioned that I forgot my swipe card back in the internat and needed to get it and he said not to worry, I can just use his. I thought it was really nice and always appreciate it when people are nice to me because at the beginning when I first arrived I admit that I felt that most people were mean and cold. I'm not actually sure if it's me that's changed, or them, or both or what.. probably both. I guess my impressions of them and behaviours towards them (everyone at the school) have changed a lot too since I've gotten more confident with the situation.

It makes me sad that I have to leave just when I'm feeling more at ease at making friends with the teachers...

Of course he let me walk through the door first too as has almost every single male I've come across. Then during lunch I was sitting at a table of about 10 other teachers. I couldn't understand what the heck they were saying of course but still it felt nice to be part of a group because I actually gotten used to eating alone or with only 1-2 other people.

After lunch and after a class, I went to administration to talk and ask about something. I'll miss the lady there too. She does all my paperwork for me and at first we were just on professional terms but then the day we started tutoyering each other it became a lot more like we were friends.

OK I didn't forget the title of this post... so where was I? Then I bumped into a teacher that I work with who thanked me for some work I did for a class last week. I was also dumbfounded by this as I thought what I did was honestly not that great... she said no, it was really helpful, etc etc.

Then, on my way back to the internat I had the strangest bizarre experience but then when I think about my other experiences in France, maybe it's not so bizarre afterall.

I was stopped by two random male students I had never seen/met before. They started gushing about how beautiful and attractive I was. "Mademoiselle, vous êtes ravissante." "Vous êtes magnifique." etc. One wanted my phone number so we could go out, etc etc.. I was laughing. Was I on candid camera? I asked, "C'est une blague, ou quoi ?" ("Is this a joke, or what?") They said no. Then to prove a point they asked 2-3 random strangers/staff members if THEY thought I was attractive etc and they all said "Well, yes she is..." OMG talk about embarrassing. Luckily I didn't turn bright red.

Then one of the students put his arm around my shoulders and started stroking my hair and saying how beautiful my hair was and kept persisting in asking for my phone number. I kept saying "Je peux pas..." (I can't...) His friend said, "Stop that, you're scaring her." I said, "You're not scarying me. I just find this all very bizarre."

They didn't even know I was a teacher at the school and I said that I was a prof d'anglais (English teacher) and then they were saying they wished they had me as their teacher... and, "Wow, you're from Australia?" I asked how old they were and they said 18 and 19. One had Turkish origins and the other Algerian.

OMG Honestly I didn't know what to think or how to act. I was very weirded out by the whole thing but at the same time flattered and found it highly amusing. I always thought that kind of thing only happened in big cities or to other people but I guess not!

I think as a female in France you just have to exist and eventually you'll get male attention (whether you want it or not!!)

And regarding the other stuff (teachers, life at the school) I really think it's the Law of Attraction at play. I guess negative things happened to me in the past when I was feeling down or vulnerable. But now that I feel much happier and content in general and somewhat more 'powerful' or 'popular' (although I loathe to use those kind of words because I don't want to sound arrogant and I hope I don't give the impression that I am!) I seem to attract positive people and situations...

It's not all good news though. My father just told me that his mother (my grandmother) is in hospital and is hooked up to various machines. :( She's in a stable condition but I hope she gets better...praying for her.

(image from here)

Nice, Cannes and Paris vacation

2011-04-11T23:11:00.005+02:00

Saturday - Cannes

I've had the most incredible and amazing weekend and that is only because of the kindness and generosity of some "strangers". It never ceases to amaze me how someone who doesn't even know you and who has never seen/met you before can be so nice to you, and would treat you as nice as your own family or long term friends would treat you.

Well I've been stressed with "this issue" (that is still ongoing so the stress is still ongoing too!) and anyway I decided to make a last minute decision to take a trip down south (as I stated earlier in this blog). I wrote an email to a friend of mine as I vaguely remembered that he told me he grew up down there. I thought maybe he could suggest some things for me to see or do, although I did not explicitly ask him this. I just wrote him a vague and short message thinking maybe he would be happy and/or excited for me, that's all.

What I did not expect was... He suggested that I could stay with his mother who lives in the hills of Cannes, in a beautiful town 10 minutes away. At the time of me writing to him I had already contacted quite a few Couchsurfers in Nice and Cannes about staying with them but had not received a positive reply yet so I was overjoyed that he said that and said "Yes! I would LOVE to stay with his mother!"

A few hours later I got a reply from him saying he had called his mother and that I could stay with her and she would love to host me. I also received a lovely email from her herself.

Now about this friend... He's French and I met him in Shanghai when we were both living there. I put a message up on a forum asking if anyone knew where I could buy such a such a product and he said that he had it and that he could give it to me since he didn't need it anymore. I thought that was very nice and we agreed to meet up. We only spent a few minutes with each other and then we never saw each other again! But, we managed to stay in contact over the last 3.5 years (!!) purely by email. I wouldn't exactly say it was a strong friendship but the fact that we're still friends and in contact says a lot I think... Anyway, he was the first French person I became friends with.

Then, around the time mid-last year (2010) when I was getting ready to move to France he contacted me asking me if he knew of anyone who could offer him a job in Australia as he was looking for a way to immigrate there. Since he's an engineer I put him in contact with my father and he went back and forth over several months weighing up all his options. In the end he thanked me but he said he decided to go with another company who said they could sponsor him but first he had to spend some time in Hong Kong. So he's currently still living in Hong Kong but he recently got his permanent visa for Australia and can move there after he marries his current partner so he can bring her over too.

I can't help but wonder if he was nice to me because I was nice to him and (tried to) help him out? It's funny how when you're nice to people without expecting anything in return, you eventually get it back. I really believe in karma and this is just one example, I think.

So, to say that I was tired when I arrived in Cannes was a complete understatement. I'd stayed up to almost 1am the night before stressing over this "issue" and then I had to get up at 6am to leave by 6:30am to catch my train. It was quite cold and I left a bit too late and basically had to run to the train station. It was still a bit dark when I left and the air going into my ears was really cold, giving me a splitting earache (which feels like someone put hot pokers in them) so by the time I arrived I was out of breath, sweating with a throbbing head/ears. I almost blacked out. "No worries!" I thought (in my Australian accent). I'll just sleep on the train. Easier said than done!

Seriously, I THINK EVIL THOUGHTS ABOUT PEOPLE WHO TALK LOUDLY AND NON-STOP ON LONG PLANE OR TRAIN JOURNEYS. Honestly, I just want to scream WOULD YOU PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP AND SIT THE FUCK DOWN?! God Damn it. Why do people have to keep getting up and walking up and down? What the heck is wrong with them? And a train is PUBLIC transport. It's not your own bloody private living room and the whole world does not want to hear your goddamn inane conversation at 100 decibels for hours and hours on end!

The first half of my 6 HOUR train ride was OK and I got some rest but the second half was just hell and I gave up.

Reminded me of Sydney...

Then, minutes before my train was due to arrive in Cannes (bad timing) I got:
1) an SMS from a guy in Nice who said he could meet up with me and show me the town.
2) a call from a woman regarding "the important issue".

Since I was then in a tunnel I couldn't respond to either of them and then I had to get off the train, and then my friend's mother (C) was there waiting for me, warmly welcoming me.

She was talking and asking me various things and telling me about Cannes and to be honest I was distracted as hell because I really wanted to respond to both of those people but I thought it'd be a bit rude since we'd just met for the first time and she was so welcoming and happy to see me, etc and talking at a million miles a minute... So I just forgot about it for while...

My first thought was when I arrived was.... I feel like I'm back home in Sydney! The weather, the sun, the sea, the plants/trees/flowers. It all seems so familiar. The only thing that's really different (as always) are the houses and the architecture. I couldn't have been luckier with an 18°C day, sunny and a light sea breeze.

As much as I wanted to explore and see the city I actually wanted and needed to sleep. My head felt like mush and I actually felt like I'd been on a plane and passed through different timezones or something! So she took me back to her house (about 10 minutes drive away) and we had lunch. Then I rested for a bit (actually I tried to but I was so hyped up and pumped up and soooooo excited to be there that I couldn't!). I told her I really needed to use the internet and a printer to sort out this "issue" and I felt soooooo bad that I had to bother her with that and I felt so annoyed that I couldn't enjoy my holiday in peace. The whole time I couldn't really relax because I needed to sort out this "issue" and that was the reason why I had to cut my holiday short and go to Paris.

We had some problems connecting my computer to the internet and couldn't figure out why and she said she'd call her son. We ended up talking to him (in Hong Kong) on Skype and it's funny because I have NEVER spoken to him on Skype before! I don't even know his account username. And the first time I ever talk to him on Skype is at his mother's place! I spoke to him in both French and English and he said that my French had really improved.

It's funny... I remember the very first email I ever wrote to him in French well. I said something about "votre photos" and he corrected me and said that I don't need to "vous" him and to call him "tu" and that because photos are plural I need to say "tes photos". I'll never forget that! Ahh... How far I've come in my French! :D

We didn't get the problem solved but I managed to solve it myself sort of by accident by trying a few different things with the buttons on the LiveBox. Hurray! I could finally get online to email the person about "the issue".

C and I had some tea around 4-5pm and then I really had to go and get some rest before her soirée! I knew there was no way I could stay awake if I didn't.

I slept till just before the guests arrived, at 7pm. God that sleep was heavenly. You have no idea how much I love staying over at strangers'/friend's places when they give me my own nice big room, with a big bed, and nice fresh clean crisp sheets. OMG it's heavenly compared to when I'm living in a tiny tiny room with a single bed. Every time that has happened I seriously don't ever want to leave! Also I often sleep better at other people's houses because it's much quieter than where I am at the school.

So her friends came over and they were all lovely. A lot of the time when you're at a party with people you don't know they often don't bother to include you in their conversation but they really made an effort with me, even offering to speak to me in English (but I said I preferred to speak French).

We had a delicious seafood Paella for dinner followed by a frozen dessert from Picard. Since my friend's mother is divorced and lives alone and has a busy social life (like all single people I know!) she doesn't have much time to cook so the Paella was bought and pre-made by a shop but it didn't matter because it and the dessert were both still delicious.

Her friends had been out sailing all day so were understandably very tired and it finished relatively early at around 10-10:30pm.

Sunday - Nice

The next day we were off to Nice! It worked out perfectly because by going with them I didn't have to worry about transport (lots of time and money saved - yay!), I get to spend time with them AND do my own thing because 2 of her friends (a couple) who had also stayed overnight at her place and her were going to see the opera.

Unfortunately, because I forgot to reply to this guy's SMS he told me he had changed his plans and was now doing something with some friends. I was a bit disappointed but had no hard feelings. I had so much fun exploring and walking around everywhere until I was even more exhausted than I thought possible. It was warm and sunny. C, being so motherly towards me, told me to bring my coat in case it got coat and I was annoyed I was carrying my winter coat in a backpack all day long when all I wanted to do was to put in a t-shirt. I was sweating like crazy in my long-sleeve top! I kept thinking and feeling I was back home in Sydney. It was a weird yet happy feeling and made me more homesick than ever. However I was extremely content to be in the beautiful south of France and was in no hurry to go back home yet.

This picture reminds me of California or Hawaii

Pebbly beach

Another (bad) thing that reminded me of Sydney was... I found my allergies returning! Strange. Or maybe not so strange. Because I noticed that the trees, plants and flowers were very similar to what we have in Sydney I also happened to notice my allergies starting to flare up (which I never got in the whole 6 months+ that I've been here!) Prior to that unfortunate event I actually thought that I would LOVE to live in Nice. In fact, I would die to live in Nice. It is gorgeous and and a good size. It has wonderful culture and restaurants. And of course the beach/sea. It's unfortunate that the beach is made of pebbles and not sand though.

One of the first things we did after we parked the car in the underground carpark was walk through a farmer's market. Now of course I'd been to markets before in various cities in France but for the first time... I don't know why... maybe because of the warmer weather... I could really smell everything. I could smell the olives, the tomatoes, the oranges, the strawberries... My nose was being assaulted by the most delicious of flavours and taste sensations I was probably almost salivating. It was just heavenly.

First time I noticed these funky tomatoes ("coeur de boeuf" / heart of beef)!

We walked through several gorgeous streets of Nice (you know the typically French ones with that are narrow and cobble-stoned) before settling down in a big restaurant (La Claire Fontaine) overlooking Place Rossetti, a fountain and an old church. It all looked so Italian. Even many street and building names were Italian!

This is what I ordered:

Farandale des Mais
Assortiment de pissaladière, tourte de courgettes, beignets de courgettes et d'aubergine, farcis niçois, poivrons au four.

It was beautifully presented and totally yummo (and something I had never tried before!)

After hearing great things about this well-known glacerie (ice cream shop) I was dying to have some! I only very rarely eat ice cream and so when I do I wanna make sure it's GOOD. I was told they have 100 flavours including cactus! I wasn't game enough to try it though. I did however want to try about 20 different flavours... I opted for the pina colada flavour since it's a taste I really like.

Then they took me to the Place Masséna (photos below) and then went to the watch the opéra. Now, because I didn't manage to reply to that guy in time we couldn't meet up and I was a little bit disappointed but not overly. Afterall, I had MORE than enough things to do in the 4 hours that I had. In fact it would be a race against time to see everything since Nice is quite big and I was only going on foot.

I was actually still pretty tired but had to forget about that and just keep walking and walking and walking... I felt so stupid to be carrying around a big winter coat when I was sweating like crazy.

I passed through a gorgeous tropical looking park with a carousel.

I did a bit of research the night before and wanted to go to the Théâtre de la Photographie et de l'image because 1) I love photography and 2) it's free! Whenever I'm visiting a city I like to still keep costs down and do as many free things as possible and there is usually always some kind of museum or art gallery that is free. Plus it was such a beautiful day I did not want to spend it inside so it would've been a waste of time/money to go to a bigger museum/gallery.

I saw the photos of German August Sander and a cute collection of old cameras right in the lobby of the building. It was enough culture for me because I wanted to make the most of the great outdoors!

I kept walking and walking wanting to get back to the sea again not realising just how big Nice was and how the map I had on me was really crap. I'd taken the wrong map with me when I left the house that morning and this was a bus maps which didn't show clearly all the little roads. That's when I got a bit lost and a random elderly gentleman came up to me and offered to help me! That was the FIRST time anyone in France had offered to help me when I was lost. Sure lots of times if I asked someone to show me where something was on the map they were polite and helpful but this time it was different!

And let's not forget the two random people who offered to take my photo for me (with my camera). That has NEVER happened before either. (Then, later, when I left Cannes, a young man offered me his seat at the station and that has never happened before either).

It really is true that the people down south are more easygoing and friendly.

Park with lots of people playing Pétanque

Top French baby's names of 2011 prénoms

2011-04-11T07:56:00.000+02:00

According to this site they are:

Top 20 French girls' names 2011

1. Emma
2. Jade
3. Léa
4. Manon
5. Chloé
6. Inès
7. Camille
8. Clara
9. Sarah
10. Maëlys
11. Zoé
12. Louise
13. Lola
14. Eva
15. Lilou
16. Lina
17. Romane
18. Anaïs
19. Louna
20. Lena

Top 20 French boys' names 2011

1. Lucas
2. Nathan
3. Enzo
4. Louis
5. Mathis
6. Gabriel
7. Ethan
8. Jules
9. Noah
10. Raphaël
11. Maxime
12. Mathéo
13. Yanis
14. Tom
15. Hugo
16. Arthur
17. Clément
18. Thomas
19. Adam
20. Théo

Compare this to the previous year's

I have to admit there aren't a lot of French girls names that I like. I'm very particular about names.
I usually don't like girls names that end in 'ie' or 'y' (only because the majority of my female friends have names that end like this),
I don't like names that are too long that nobody calls them by their full name (ie I hate abbreviated names),
I don't like names that are hard to spell OR pronounce,
I don't like popular/common names,
I don't like double-barrelled names which once used to be common in French (but not so anymore, obviously, going by the lists above).

If I ever get around to having a kid I have already decided on a girls name (if the father agrees of course ;) ) that is very uncommon yet easy to spell and easy to pronounce, but am quite undecided on the boys one which seems harder to choose.

One of my students is called Nolwenn. It's a girl's name and I have to say it's my least favourite French girl's name I've ever come across!

I can't think of any French boy's names (of my students) that I really dislike but enough negativity for now!

Here are some names of my students that I like:

Girls:
Charlene
Angelique
Marie
Cynthia
Clementine (even though now it makes me think of the fruit!)

Boys:
Christophe
Maxime
Louis
Valentin
Olivier
Fabrice

Of Men and Women

2011-04-09T23:37:00.000+02:00

After some recent posts, I don't want to give the impression that I only hang out with men. I enjoy hanging out with both sexes, it's just that the opportunity to hang out with females doesn't happen as often. One thing with me though, I much prefer to hang out with someone 1:1 then in a big group/crowd.

For me, I feel like that's something you do when you are younger, or if you are more social or all in all just have a different personality type to mine.

Today I had the best time hanging out with one of my good girlfriends here, C. In my whole life I've never really had one best (girl) friend and for the moment and during my time here C definitely feels like my best friend. We can talk to each other about anything and we are there for each other. There is no bitchiness or competitiveness or anything nasty (which can often happen between girls). I feel so lucky that I have a good friend like that here!

She seems to be constantly having a lot of guy troubles and we spent most of today talking about guys and relationships!

She's in a relationship with a guy who treats her like crap (he doesn't live in this town...luckily?) and I've advised her time and time again to leave him after everything she's told me about him. She's far too good for him! I can understand that she knows that that's the right thing to do but she can't do it out of fear (of being alone, of not finding anyone else, etc). I know because I've been there.

It's funny how clearly you can see things when you are not IN the situation yourself and that those around you often know what's better for you than you know yourself.

Meanwhile, she's got this other guy who's 'after' her and who is obviously crazy about her. He offers to do everything for her. She says she thinks of him as like a brother though (ouch for him). They get along well and he's nice and all but she says there is zero chemistry.

Then, she also has a second guy who is after her and constantly bombards her with SMS messages, unable to take the hint.

She said something really interesting to me which I found extremely insightful and something I agreed with but she articulated it so well. With the first guy who is after her, he seems to have no friends and not much of a social life so he's looking for someone to 'complete' him and his life. With the second guy, he's got no job at the moment so he's kinda 'bored' and also looking for someone to complete his life.

She said she's someone who enjoys her 'me' time and needs time away from the other person too (ie being with someone who's not too 'needy'). I totally agree with this too. I go crazy if I don't have my 'me' time and at the moment my whole life is my 'me' time.

It's definitely true that the most interesting people are those that have full and interesting lives and aren't looking to someone else to 'complete' them, because for sure you need to be 'complete' yourself before you begin to look for someone else, otherwise you'll only attract someone else who is as 'incomplete' as yourself.

Me on the other hand.. I haven't escaped from all this craziness either. I only realised that after recent events that two guys (one in this town and one not) are interested in me (contrary to what I originally thought). For me that gets weird fast when they have feelings for me and I don't have feelings for them. It's kind of annoying because I don't want to be rude and ignore them but then I don't want to give them the wrong idea either, that their feelings are reciprocated (when they are not).

Then on the other hand, I admit that I have some feelings for a guy I've been talking to online since the beginning of the year and whom I saw whilst I was in Paris (this part won't make much sense till I do my post on my Paris trip) but I have to hide them since he already has a girlfriend and I don't want to jeopardise our friendship. To be honest I'd much rather have a guy as a friend anyway rather than a boyfriend. At least with a friend they'll be your friend forever.

I seem to have this problem throughout my whole life where there are guys interested in me but I'm not interested in them or vice versa.

Then, as if the timing couldn't be more perfect (that is sarcasm) I got a text message from my ex today. He broke up with me almost 2 months ago and this is the first time he's contacted me since. I decided not to contact him at all after the break up so this is the first contact between us and I'm not sure what to make of it. What does he want from me? What is going on? Is he just bored or what? Should I even bother to reply?

Meanwhile a few weeks back, my ex from Sydney decided to de-Facebook me. Ouch. He didn't even write me anything or explain anything. He was 'gone' just like that. I didn't do anything about it though. I wasn't gonna write and demand an explanation or what not and to be honest it's probably for the best.

Then I wondered why my ex here in France did not de-Facebook me. I admit I was tempted to do it to him but I thought that it would be best to remain 'friends'. If I wanted to I could easily hide my wall, status or photos from him...

I try not to think about guys or relationships too much but things like this just come up all the time that makes me wonder what the hell is going on??? Why does everything have to be so complicated, huh?

Size of Australia compared to Europe

2011-04-08T19:18:00.001+02:00

C'est un truc de fou !

From Matador

Time and Tide wait for no man

2011-04-08T18:46:00.003+02:00

(This post is sort of a continuation of and a bit of a repeat of this post here)

I'm just flooded with a whole mixture of emotions and thoughts right now...

Only 2 more weeks to go working at the school...

To say that I feel time is passing too quickly is an understatement. I actually felt that up until early January the time passed at a nice pace but after mid January it just went crazy and it was like I was on a runaway train...

Honestly, it only feels like yesterday that it was snowing and/or freezing but today, as I look up at the mountains surrounding my town it's as if I'm in that scene from The Wizard of Oz when the scene changes from black and white to colour. Only a few days ago I looked up at the mountains which were still a grey-brown colour as they have been all winter but now everything is turning green rapidly, starting from the bottom. It's quite interesting for me to see something like this, something I've never really witnessed before since I never lived near any mountains nor in a cold-ish place.

The other day I heard the familiar sound of a lawnmower right outside my window, and the familiar smell of freshly cut grass. The cherry blossoms that I love so much during springtime have not lasted long and now, with the wind, many have blown away already. I love all this colour and sun but there are some things I don't like too! The worst would have to be my springtime allergies which I seem unable to avoid no matter where in the world I am. Running nose, sneezing, itchy/watery eyes... Hopefully it won't last too much longer though.

The other thing which I was afraid of because I'd heard so much about from my sister who lived in Europe and various travel forums (people talking about hotels) is that.. Houses and buildings in Europe are extremely well designed for cold weather but are not at all well designed for hot weather. I already knew this and it was something I was NOT looking forward to. This afternoon it was sweltering in the classrooms being 29°C. And to think it's only early April!

As every day passes I feel sadder and sadder that I am leaving this school and my students, my 'kids'...

This afternoon I bumped into a staff member I hadn't talked to for ages and she seemed genuinely happy to see me. She also told me that my French had improved a lot since the last time we spoke (which made my day). She asked me about my photos (I showed her some on the internet) and as we got talking she suggested I should have an exhibition. To be honest it was something I had thought about before but I was not sure about how to organise it and I really didn't have the courage or confidence to do it so put it far far away at the back of my mind... I have taken thousands and thousands of photos of my school, my town and the area since I arrived. Then sooner than you know it, she was calling up the local art gallery and next thing I was (very nervously) speaking to one of the curators... He said he'd like to see my work and I may have an exhibition there in the near future!

The sad thing was though, that this lady said she wished she knew about my talent earlier and that I could've done a regular photo 'atelier' (workshop) with some of the students. It's times like that I realise how fast the time really went and that you should never put off doing anything in life because once the chance is gone, it's gone... I guess I'm a little bit regretful I didn't think to organise something like that but I guess it also made me want to be more pro-active in all areas of my life so it was a good wake-up call.

Yesterday I went to the mairie (town hall) to enquire about who I should speak to about selling my photos since I've taken a lot I think could be used for advertising/marketing/publicity purposes. We'll see how that goes...

All in all I'm quite overcome with emotions at the moment. I've noticed that with this warmer weather, EVERYONE seems a lot happier, not just me. My students are more awake and attentive in class and these 8:30pm sunsets are wonderful.

Still, I constantly feel a very strong sense of longing for that snow. I just can't explain it. It's something I think about every single day. Why couldn't there have been more snow during Jan-Feb-March? The one thing I really regret that I didn't do during my time here was go skiing. The right opportunity just never came up.

When I spoke to a staff member last night he told me he lives near Chamonix and if you go up high there is still snow there but I want it to be snowing EVERYWHERE plus I want to go skiing too. I guess I'll just have to wait at least another 7 months :( I'm not upset about the waiting though. Afterall, I feel that time passes too quickly and I'm sure it'll be cold again before I know it.

To be honest, before I came to France I absolutely DESPISED cold weather. When I used to think of the most ideal place to live, I wanted to live in Hawaii. I went there once for a holiday and absolutely loved it.

1 VIENNA AUSTRIA
2 ZURICH SWITZERLAND
3 GENEVA SWITZERLAND
4 VANCOUVER CANADA
4 AUCKLAND NEW ZEALAND
6 DUSSELDORF GERMANY
7 FRANKFURT GERMANY
7 MUNICH GERMANY
9 BERN SWITZERLAND
10 SYDNEY AUSTRALIA

According to the Mercer HR report these are the top 10 most livable cities for 2010. Out of all of them, Sydney is easily the warmest. I remember seeing those lists and always wondering why cold cities tended to do better than warmer ones. Who knows?

Anyway I used to have a huge FEAR of winter and cold weather and in November when everyone told me it would snow soon I couldn't believe it. I looked at the weather report online every day and on one hand I didn't want it to come (because to me it meant it would be freezing) but on the other hand I was excited to see it.

I remember it so clearly like it was yesterday... It was a Thursday night and I was having dinner in the school cantine with some of the surveillants (as usual). It was pitch black outside (now it looks like 3pm when we are having dinner at 7pm) and I could not believe my eyes when the snowflakes fell down and they continued to do so right into the next day. Then the next morning I looked outside my window and it was a beautiful white fluffy wonderland, like a bubble bath. It was so surreal. That was one of the most beautiful and precious memories for me and something that I'll remember for the rest of my life.

I remember the following weekend, the Saturday. It was the first time in ages I decided not to do any travelling because I was still getting over my cold and I spent an hour Skyping my father and an hour Skyping my sister and her boyfriend and I remember pointing my webcam out the window to show them. I was so proud of the fact that I had this beautiful snow right outside the window that I wanted to show the whole world!!

So after all these cold months honestly now I can say that I am NOT scared of winter or cold weather at all (except when it's windy. When it's windy it's hell). And the reason for that is because European buildings are so well heated it's always comfortable and let's face it you're not outside for that long anyway. Plus for me the snow is just a big big bonus and something to look forward to. Which is funny because most people I've spoken to tell me they hate(d) the snow and was so glad when it all melted.

I've been looking forward to warm weather for so long but didn't realise it would happen so quickly. It is wonderful right now where it's usually in the low-mid 20s. I am not really looking forward to the crowds of summer. One good thing about travelling in Europe during winter (except Christmas) is that there aren't that many crowds around.

This experience (of living in France, particularly in a small city, and teaching high school students) has had a profound effect on my outlook on life and on my opinion of myself.

I remember when I first came and how I was filled with wonder and joy of discovering all these new things but also with fear and sadness of the unfamiliarity of it all and leaving my former life and family/friends behind... I think about how far I've come in such a short time and how I've done things I never thought were possible.

I remember thinking my sister was out of her mind when she told me she did this Couchsurfing thing and now I've done it around 10 times and think nothing of it and have had the most wonderful experiences with some lovely, kind and hospitable people.

I've visited so many cities in such a short space of time. I've had so much free time to do what I wanted and having all these paid school holidays has been great.

I guess you never know how strong you can be unless you put yourself 'out there' and jump into the deep end and do something really really 'hard'. Although I think I give people and my friends an image that my life is all fun and games it truly wasn't and hasn't been (at least not all the time). I don't think most people can imagine what it's like to be so far away from home and have very very little contact with your family/friends or anything that is familiar.

I was also thrown into the deep end with the French language. I had only taken 6 months of classes prior to coming to France!! (it's all documented here on this blog if you've been following ;) ) I think that's a bloody huge achievement to go from that to talking and using it every day. Talking on the phone still makes me really nervous (it does even in English because I hate talking on the phone to strangers) but I'm getting better with practice.

To be honest a large part of my motivation of wanting to come to France and do the Teaching Assistantship was because of my sister. She studied in Germany and I was in Sydney living a pretty ordinary life and I was regaled with stories of all her adventures and travels and even though she was a dirt poor student, she managed to send me sweet letters, postcards, and little gifts that wouldn't cost too much to send or buy.

I never did the study abroad thing when I was a university student and it's something I always regretted but I guess I've made up for it now. In a way I think the Teaching Assistantship is even better than being a student because you actually get paid to be there and you don't have much homework to do and you have just as many holidays and time to travel...

I actually felt like I'd won the lotto when I found out I got in (as I didn't want to get my hopes up and thought I only had a 50% chance) and to say it's been one of the most amazing experiences of my life is an understatement.

I'm truly sad to leave but I have other wonderful things to look forward to on the horizon...

If there is one important thing I've learnt in life it is: "Time and Tide wait for no man." If you REALLY want to do something, just do it. Today. Stop making excuses (of time or money). Just do it. Stop wasting time and complaining about how you can't do it. Find a way to make it happen if you REALLY want it badly enough. Honestly, I don't get paid much at all in this job but I'd rather have my experiences a million times over compared to more money or material things. In the end when you're old and grey you'll only remember the happy, wonderful experiences and memories that you had in life. You won't remember the other stuff.

Le temps passe trop vite !

(Image from here)

Paris Disneyland Video Tilt-shift

2011-04-08T07:49:00.003+02:00

Happy Friday! Have a good weekend!

Bon vendredi ! Bon week-end !

Boys are silly

2011-04-07T00:02:00.000+02:00

Ever since the day I decided I really like being single strange things have happened. This is just crazy nuts. Ever since the day I decided I didn't need a guy to be happy, I have somehow become a guy magnet. Now I'm not saying at all that these guys are interested in me (they probably aren't and in fact I'd prefer it if they weren't) but now I get them contacting me left, right and centre. It's truly weird and I don't really know what to make of it.

There is this classifieds website I go on as I'm looking for something in particular (no, it's not a car boohoo) and there is also this chat thing on there (which I never use). Always within a few minutes of being on there I'll get some guy wanting to chat to me. I usually do it for a few minutes just to be polite but all I want to do is go on that site to look for this thing... Then, they try to find my contact details through the site and email me!

Today for example... I got a call from one of my CS friends saying he hadn't heard from me in a while and asked me what's up and if he can help with "the issue" and that I can come over and use his phone (he can make free calls to anywhere within Europe even to mobile phones) or his printer if I want. He contacts me often wanting to 'hang out' and I would if I had the time... but I don't right now.

Then I had another male friend wanting to catch up with me since normally he works at the school but now he won't for some time and he also wanted me to help him with his English. I guess I felt 'special' because last week he confided in me something that he hadn't really told anyone else yet. Not that it's a big huge secret. He was going for this important job and wanted my advice and help with his CV and want to wear, and what to say, and especially with the English part. Which is kind of funny because not so long ago I was asking HIM for the same advice!

This afternoon I got a total random call from someone I was suppose to meet in Nice but didn't end up doing so (more will be explained when I do a post on my trip there). We ended up talking for a while (he is also a high school teacher) and it was so nice (haha punny) of him to say he was really sorry we missed each other and that next time I come down south he'd like to show me the area...

Then there was the guy in Cannes (who I saw on Monday) who asked me how I was doing with "the issue" and that he'd like to catch up again soon (Cannes film festival - I wish!!)...

Then there was my friend in Paris (who I saw yesterday) texting me thanking me for yesterday even though I was the one who thanked him in the first place..

This was just in one day!

Then of course with all the recent encounters combined where they show me around their town and pay for everything and refuse to let me pay for anything. Well that I could get used to :P

I could go on and on but I don't want to make it sound like I think I'm really good because I'm getting all this attention. Truly, I don't. I just think it's really bizarre and keep wondering why it's happening right now. In fact, if it goes too far it could be a really bad and annoying thing. I can't make head or tail of it at the moment. I don't like to be rude or bitchy and ignore people but yeah... there is only so much attention a gal can take! Not to mention I don't have a lot of free time at the moment at all and have a lot on my plate. I barely have enough time to sleep.

Zzz......

On French politeness and chivalry

2011-04-06T23:36:00.000+02:00

Random thoughts...

I wrote about French politeness before but it still continues to amaze me. To be honest I don't consider myself that rude but I guess to the French I may sometimes seem rude and lazy. I've slowly changed my ways though ;)

For example, in Australia, it's very rare to find shopping trolleys with coin-slots. Aldi, the German supermarket has them but that's about it as far as I know. The supermarkets hire people to go around to all the parking lots and nearby streets to collect them which I think is a truly dumb idea as it just encourages people to be lazy and selfish, not to mention criminal (for those that steal them). This would never happen in France (or other nearby European countries) because they would NOT hire someone to collect the trolleys when they can implement something mechanical/electronic that costs much less. So anyway, I ALWAYS bring the trolley back to the trolley bay.

I remember one of my earliest experiences of this French politeness think-of-others thing. It was November 2009 and I had just started my first French course (at an adult evening college). I met this French guy (through Couchsurfing) for conversation practice. After my class we met up and went to Darling Harbour (which is a touristy spot not far from the heart of town in Sydney). We had something to eat in the food court and he went to put the tray back where it belongs and I mentioned that I usually just leave it on the table (for the cleaners to collect). I suppose you could call it laziness or selfishness but depending on my mood, I guess I do it half the time and the other half I don't.

A similar thing happened in the airport when I was in Singapore. When the passengers go to the x-ray machine everyone has to leave their water bottles behind and most people just left theirs on the stainless steel benchtop. However, since I was flying to Paris most of the passengers were French and I noticed that most people made the effort to walk all the way around the benchtop to put it in the bin.

Then there was another time a few weeks ago, I was with one of my French Couchsurfing friends and I put my hand into my small/tight pocket in my coat (it was cold). I had a tissue or two in there and then as I lifted my hand back out the tissues accidentally came out with my hand and fell to the ground. I left them on the ground (afterall, the ground is filthy - ew) and thought nothing of it but my friend actually made me go and pick them up and put them in the bin! I was mortified. I thought it was rather hypocritical considers he smokes and litters cigarette butts all over the place but I just did as asked and then nothing more was said about that.

Then there was another time only very recently when I was taking some photos in a park and accidentally walked in too far... The French have a 'thing' about walking on certain lawns and without realising it (because I was so focused on the tree with pretty blossoms I wanted to photograph) I'd walked onto a 'forbidden' part of the grass/ground (not that there was even any signs about it!) but I guess I was being rude/naughty/bad according to my French friend so he told me to get back!

There was another time not long after I arrived and I was looking at some hair accessories in the toiletries aisle in the supermarket. There was something on the ground (which was there before I got there) and this man just came over out of the blue and with a big huff put it back on the shelf and gave me a really dirty look! It wasn't even me who had dropped the thing on the ground but I guess it was deemed rude because I didn't pick it up! (or he assumed it was me who'd dropped it).

They're the main examples I can remember but I am sure there are others. I feel terrible if others think that I'm being rude and I'm quite conscious of this fact and always observing others and trying to copy their behaviours. But then again I'm only human and nowhere near perfect...

There's one thing I really don't like doing though. When you go to a French clothing store and try on something in the change room, more often than not you have to put the clothes back yourself! Exactly where they came from. And if you want another size/colour etc they won't get it for you. I really really hate that.

Now, onto French chivalry. Prior to coming to France I'd read a lot of books, blogs, websites, articles etc about the culture here. After being here now for over 6 months and being a single woman I can definitely say - without a doubt - that the average French man is far more chivalrous than average Australian man (I know I could open up a whole can of worms about the Anglo culture and gender equality blah blah blah but I won't).

I have a very clear memory from about a year ago, in Sydney, where I with a bunch of people I didn't know well but we were working together volunteering one long night... We came across some beers and helped ourselves to them (after all our hard work ;) ) I don't even drink but I was in the moment and thought, "what the heck".. except I couldn't open it and I asked the guy next to me if he could open it for me and he said something like, "OK but don't think I'm doing it for everyone" and he had a real attitude about it. I was really shocked and remember clearly my thought at the time that I doubt a French guy would act like that!!

Here in France everybody holds the door open for everybody and when I'm with a guy he'll let me walk through the door first the majority of the time (depending on who it is). I cannot remember that happening back in Sydney. I don't know. Maybe I'm imagining it since back home I didn't exactly spend a great deal of time hanging around male friends like I do now!

Something else I can't remember if I've mentioned on my blog before... One day I was getting a key cut and eating a baguette that I had just bought (afterall there are never any seats anywhere except in a restaurant and I finally had a seat whilst waiting for the key).. and the guy said "Bon appetit" to me. At the time I thought it was really nice but now I realise it's normal. The other day I was on the train and the train conductor said "Bon appétit" to a passenger, not because the passenger was special, not because he was especially polite (I don't think..maybe) but simply because the guy was eating!

What else?

The language! OMG where do I start? The French language itself is overly formal, stuffy and super super polite. If you were to translate it into English and say that to someone they'd laugh in your face.

I'm so used to using all the French greeting words now that I think if/when/once I go back to Australia I'm gonna miss it a lot. I will also miss hearing French like crazy. Even now when I hear people (strangers) speaking English I don't like it. I only want to hear French!! To be honest, I have to admit that the day when I won't get to hear French all the time will be one of the saddest moments of my life. The longer I stay here, the longer I want to stay...

Everything's coming up roses

2011-04-06T13:03:00.001+02:00

Spring has sprung!

I can't tell you how happy I am that it's sunny and Spring (and today I'm not wearing any sort of cardigan or coat!) and how sad I am to be leaving my job, this school and this town. It's all happened so fast. I think it's mainly the weather but lately I've just been feeling a lot more content with where I am (literally and figuratively) and now I have to leave!

On Friday, one of the staff at the school told me he also writes for the local 'paper and would like to do an article on me! How exciting. :) Perfect timing too since I'll be leaving soon. Then, today, I had a staff member tell me that the school nurse told her she saw me taking photos of the blossoms outside the school and that they were really good (the photos that is). What a nice compliment!

Then, I've had people texting and calling and emailing me left right and centre asking me how things are going with "the issue". I feel so happy that I've made so many nice friends who care about how I'm doing. :) After all that horrible stuff that happened before I'm glad to put it behind me and now, everything is literally coming up roses! Timely!

(picture from here)

Whirlwind weekend

2011-04-05T19:48:00.003+02:00

Just got back home after a whirlwind 4 days away.

I have sooooooo much to tell you guys and I have written up 3/4 of my post but I'd like to illustrate it with pictures (so I don't bore you with my rambling) so it might take a bit of time to get up here. I have had the best best best time in the south of France, with stunning views and perfect weather - not too cold and not too hot.

I have so many stories to share.

However, it wasn't all fun and games. I had to make a rush trip to Paris to take care of some very important matters and all shall be revealed very soon!!

I am unbelievably exhausted and have a billion things to do tonight on the computer, including planning lessons for classes tomorrow which start at 8am :(

À tout à l'heure !!

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11:20pm: ARGH I think I'm gonna be up till 1am. So much to do... :( So f'ing tired...