(image from here)
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est shopping. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est shopping. Afficher tous les articles
vendredi 15 novembre 2013
A Cartier Christmas 2013
Check out this cute (animated) short film set in Paris in the 1920s to promote Cartier for Christmas... pour Noël ! Now is that a Winter Tale or a Winter Tail? hehe
(image from here)
(image from here)
mercredi 8 août 2012
Why I don't like the Longchamp Le Pliage handbag
Pourquoi je n'aime pas trop les sacs à main Longchamp le pliage...
This is a post that's been in my head for months, no, years... Ever since I moved to France I started to notice that almost every woman between the age of 15-65 seems to have one of these bags! ARGH. Not just in France, but all over Europe and I'm sure in Australia and the USA too.
You know those people that succumb to peer pressure and buy something because all their friends have one or because the media says you have to have one? Well I am the total opposite of this! When everybody has something it makes me want the item LESS, not more. Call me strange but that's just the way it is. Why wouldn't you want something rare, special and unique rather than something that the whole world has?
So, first things first... Longchamp translated literally means 'long field' and 'pliage' actually means 'folding' in French, so 'Le Pliage' means 'the folding' or rather, 'the folding bag' as bag is implied.
Longchamp designed an ingenious way to fold the handbag into a neat little pocket (with only the leather handles sticking out), a design that's been copied over and over again by other bag manufacturers. I even saw a copy in Migros (a supermarket!)
There are a few reasons I don't like this bag:
I do confess, however, that during a moment of weakness, I almost succumbed to this invisible peer pressure (I say invisible because only one of my female friends owns one of these bags)... I was doing some research and wanted to get one of the adorable limited edition Longchamp Le pliage Christmas 2011 editions.... (and now you realise how belated this post is... oops!)
(pics above)
As you can see, they are pretty cute but when I realised:
I decided not to get one.
I'll stick to my trusty Lancaster handbag that I got in a nice handbag boutique in Nantes for only around 60€ which has plenty of pockets both inside and out, and after almost 2 years it still looks brand new! AND it has leather handles too (which are much better quality and are not 'hollow'). I often bring an SLR camera in it and it's strong enough for that too. Not a single seam, stud, etc has popped. Plus the fabric is waterproof and much more hardwearing than Longchamp's nylon. I've noticed, too, that they have an updated, similar design n the stores. However, there are some cost cutting aspects in the design (that's another rant for another day how in the world of fashion you keep on getting less and less and paying more and more).
Over Christmas I was on a plane leaving from London. I was travelling by myself as was the girl sitting next to me. I wanted to buy something from the duty free catalogue and so did she. I asked her what she was getting and she told me the Longchamp Pliage. I was a bit confused because she already had one on her, even in the exact same size and style! so I asked her why she was getting a second one (thinking maybe it was for a gift) and she said she wanted it in a different colour! Ha!
Meanwhile, on another flight to/from Asia, I noticed in the duty free catalogue (different airline) that there was also a Longchamp Pliage bag but this was an exclusive "inflight duty free" only design (and only onboard flights going to/from Asia)... oohhhh... the exclusivity. I must admit I was tempted to get it just for bragging rights but again, I did not succumb. Too small. Short handles. Don't want to be a lemming. Pass!
If you insist on getting a Pliage, get it in France, or elsewhere in Europe. Much cheaper than in other countries. And it's not like they are hard to find, sold in practically every department store or handbag store in their myriad of colours.
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| Sac Longchamp Le pliage - Noël 2011 - Bonhomme de neige (€235) |
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You know those people that succumb to peer pressure and buy something because all their friends have one or because the media says you have to have one? Well I am the total opposite of this! When everybody has something it makes me want the item LESS, not more. Call me strange but that's just the way it is. Why wouldn't you want something rare, special and unique rather than something that the whole world has?
So, first things first... Longchamp translated literally means 'long field' and 'pliage' actually means 'folding' in French, so 'Le Pliage' means 'the folding' or rather, 'the folding bag' as bag is implied.
Longchamp designed an ingenious way to fold the handbag into a neat little pocket (with only the leather handles sticking out), a design that's been copied over and over again by other bag manufacturers. I even saw a copy in Migros (a supermarket!)
There are a few reasons I don't like this bag:
- Everybody has one and I don't want to be like everyone.
- It's way overpriced for what it is, especially since they are now made in China and Tunisia where labour is cheaper. Of course it's saving a lot of money for them, but does it save us (the customers) money? Nooooooo.
- There are no compartments inside. You need something like a Tintamar (another French invention that's been overcopied) to organise the inside of your bag. But even worse than that, there are no zippered compartments or pockets outside.
- The short handles look cuter but are an absolute PITA when you need to be hands free (if you have a child, if you are on a bus, if you are just busy, etc). Meanwhile the long handles are more user-friendly but on the smaller-sized bags just look plain weird.
- Sure the handles and the flap is leather but the rest of the bag is just nylon. Why people pay so much for a nylon bag is beyond me.
I do confess, however, that during a moment of weakness, I almost succumbed to this invisible peer pressure (I say invisible because only one of my female friends owns one of these bags)... I was doing some research and wanted to get one of the adorable limited edition Longchamp Le pliage Christmas 2011 editions.... (and now you realise how belated this post is... oops!)
(pics above)
As you can see, they are pretty cute but when I realised:
- They cost way over 300 Australian or US dollars and only the handle and flap is leather.
- They are pretty tiny (21x21cm with a 14cm wide base), way too small for me.
- The handles are way too short and it's impossible to get anything in/out of the bag if both handles are hanging on your arm.
- The fabrics and trims are way too delicate and not really suitable for every day use (IMHO) and would get worn and dirty easily, making your new and beautiful bag be not so new and beautiful.
I decided not to get one.
I'll stick to my trusty Lancaster handbag that I got in a nice handbag boutique in Nantes for only around 60€ which has plenty of pockets both inside and out, and after almost 2 years it still looks brand new! AND it has leather handles too (which are much better quality and are not 'hollow'). I often bring an SLR camera in it and it's strong enough for that too. Not a single seam, stud, etc has popped. Plus the fabric is waterproof and much more hardwearing than Longchamp's nylon. I've noticed, too, that they have an updated, similar design n the stores. However, there are some cost cutting aspects in the design (that's another rant for another day how in the world of fashion you keep on getting less and less and paying more and more).
Over Christmas I was on a plane leaving from London. I was travelling by myself as was the girl sitting next to me. I wanted to buy something from the duty free catalogue and so did she. I asked her what she was getting and she told me the Longchamp Pliage. I was a bit confused because she already had one on her, even in the exact same size and style! so I asked her why she was getting a second one (thinking maybe it was for a gift) and she said she wanted it in a different colour! Ha!
Meanwhile, on another flight to/from Asia, I noticed in the duty free catalogue (different airline) that there was also a Longchamp Pliage bag but this was an exclusive "inflight duty free" only design (and only onboard flights going to/from Asia)... oohhhh... the exclusivity. I must admit I was tempted to get it just for bragging rights but again, I did not succumb. Too small. Short handles. Don't want to be a lemming. Pass!
If you insist on getting a Pliage, get it in France, or elsewhere in Europe. Much cheaper than in other countries. And it's not like they are hard to find, sold in practically every department store or handbag store in their myriad of colours.
mercredi 29 février 2012
Laduree Boxes
If you have been a long-time reader of my blog you'll know that I'm a macaronaholic! The thing is, I liked them more when they weren't so common and every man and his dog didn't start up a macaron shop somewhere (or even in their own kitchen), just like I liked Apple Computers more when everyone didn't have something that is made by Apple.. but I digress.
Luckily for me, even though I don't live in Paris, I have a Ladurée so close to me (within walking distance!). I notice the beautiful and ever-changing window displays and I have been meaning to buy a beautiful keepsake limited-edition gift box for so long but they are only in the stores for about a week or so.. and by the time I actually get around to it they are always already sold out! ARGH.
You can check out their Facebook fanpage for all the latest news... meanwhile here is their latest box by Japanese fashion designer Tsumori Chisato (to be released 1 March):
and here is the previous one they had for Valentine's Day:
Nice, huh? :)
Luckily for me, even though I don't live in Paris, I have a Ladurée so close to me (within walking distance!). I notice the beautiful and ever-changing window displays and I have been meaning to buy a beautiful keepsake limited-edition gift box for so long but they are only in the stores for about a week or so.. and by the time I actually get around to it they are always already sold out! ARGH.
You can check out their Facebook fanpage for all the latest news... meanwhile here is their latest box by Japanese fashion designer Tsumori Chisato (to be released 1 March):
and here is the previous one they had for Valentine's Day:
vendredi 2 décembre 2011
KanaBeach Revolution
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 ?
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 ?
vendredi 14 octobre 2011
Le Petit Prince agenda 2012
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 :)
jeudi 21 juillet 2011
There are no fat or ugly people in Paris
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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| 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!
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| I was really glad to see this sign after my bag was pickpocketed in Geneva |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
lundi 21 mars 2011
How I got myself an impromptu interview
On Geneva, How I got myself an impromptu interview, and Random Ramblings
Being a lovely day and all and not needing to work I decided I needed to go somewhere. I actually originally had this crazy idea to go to Chamonix-Mont Blanc. Why? Because I'm obsessed with snow and it's melting away - fast. And just because I can. However, I checked out their webcams and it was already patchy and not lush and COMPLETELY covered in white. Plus, it's not exactly that close to me and I would feel like it would be one big huge rush if I tried to get there and back in one day. Plus I wouldn't be going skiing so what's the point? So I changed my mind.
So last night at midnight I was hastily looking at the giant 1.3 metre map on my wall of my region trying to decide where to go. It had to be reasonably close (as I only had one day and wanted to be back before 6pm, and I didn't want to spend too much on the train tickets) and somewhere easily accessible by train of course. Everywhere that I COULD go I'd already been to before and everywhere else was just too small. I always check out the population size thanks to Wikipedia and anything smaller than about 30,000 is just not worth the effort. I mean, I may as well stay at home! Unless it's really well-known or something.
Then I suddenly remembered! That's right! I needed a new hard disk. I somehow managed to fill mine up with all the photos and videos I've taken and movies I've downloaded (shhhh). I brought with me a 2Tb HD from Australia... I know it sounds excessive but it was already over half full when I brought it over (because I'd copied all the files from my computer as well as my former HD). Yes, I'm a geek and I'd never know when I'd need something from the past (and it's happened many times already) and it's not as if I can tell someone to go through my computer to find some obscure file. It'd never happen. I'm too private about my files and besides, they'd never find it anyway since I would've forgotten which folder I put it in!
I know I'm getting off the topic but anyway, the other day when I was with my friend I mentioned this to him and he said to go to Geneva! Why? Because computer stuff is cheaper in Switzerland. Hurray! Something that is cheaper over there compared to France. I actually compared prices on fnac.fr and fnac.ch and he was right. He also gave me the tip to go to Interdiscount which is cheaper than Fnac.
I went to both just so I could compare prices (not because I didn't believe him but for my own research purposes for future use) and yes, Interdiscount was cheaper for the same products. But both stores sold the same and yet different brands/models as well so it just depends on what you want, really.
So anyway I get back home, keen to try out my new external HD (which is the same brand and similar model to my current one) and clear out my computer and existing HD only to find out I had to reformat it to a Mac version. No problem. But then I had all sorts of problems copying data from the old HD to the new one and realised the problem lay with the old one and not the new one! And after furiously Googling what the heck the problem was (it would only copy a little and then stop and tell me there was a disk error - quelle horreur !) I suspect that I have a virus. Yes yes, everyone says that Macs don't get viruses. But I'm reminded of a week or so ago when I clicked on a search result for Google and that warning page come up (I think you might have seen it before?) that says not to go to that page but I was being stubborn and determined to go there anyway and I think that I may have caught a virus that way. I don't know. Maybe I don't have one? But things are certainly slow and weird. My computer seems to be fine except it's slow to start up and Safari seems to be crashing a lot more than usual. My external HD has problems too and right now I can't do much with my files since my computer's HD is full as well. Anyway I won't bore you anymore... Ugh. What a nightmare! (If you don't hear from me for a while you'll know why).
So where was I? Oh yes, a gloriously sunny day. Nice and warm. Well it would have been if it wasn't so windy. Almost every time I go to Geneva it seems to be windy. I was feeling rather happy because of the lovely blue skies and sunshine though. It was just that I still had to wear long johns and boots and a big coat and gloves :P
Well I should have known it'd turn out to be an interesting day when this happened on the train platform. A random guy sitting next to me on the bench asked if he could borrow my mobile phone since his was (I assume) out of credit. Now whenever a male stranger talks to me, my defences will automatically go up at the start. It's just a natural instinct to keep myself safe. It doesn't matter who they are, what they look like, how old they are, etc. It just happens without me even thinking about it. If a guy tries to talk to me, my first thought is, "What does he want from me?"
So because I must've had this frozen stupid blank look on my face, he assumed I didn't understand him and tried speaking to me in his (very bad) English. That's when I relaxed and smiled and said that I do speak French. So he repeated again if he could borrow my phone because he wanted to call his mother. Automatically I start jumping to (negative) conclusions and have images of him raking up a big phone bill. I don't know why I did that but anyway, I just asked if she's in France and he said yes and then I said OK. Afterall, I'm not a total bitch ;)
So he calls his mother and tells her to call him back on his phone. I was nice of him not to have the entire conversation on my phone, I suppose, so he was decent and honest afterall. He then asked if I was going to Geneva ("You are go to Geneva?") and while he was dialling on my phone, he started to tell me he used to have that exact same phone and we both had a laugh about it because my phone is so old. I kid you not, it's more than 6 years old (but it looks like new because I keep it in a case so it's in excellent condition). I had this weird feeling that he wanted to keep talking to me but obviously he couldn't since he obviously had something really important to talk about with his mother, and then soon after the train came...
Given it was about noon I was surprised the train was so full. I hate full trains because it means I can't get a window seat! I'm lucky if I can get a seat at all. So I found a seat and sat down and as soon as I did so, the guy sitting on the window seat got up (to look for the toilet I assume). Then, soon after, the guy I was previously talking to asked if he could sit next to me (in the now empty spot). I got this weird feeling that perhaps he had actively sought me out because there was no way he could have known whereabouts in the train I ended up as there were people everywhere. I mean, the train is pretty big too!
Because I had all these weird thoughts going around in my head I didn't answer him immediately and the lady sitting opposite me answered my behalf LOL. She said that the seat was already taken. So then the guy left, obviously disappointed. Now I was in two minds. If I had continued a conversation with him, I suppose it would've been nice but then I wasn't that disappointed either that it didn't happen. It's just one of those things! Hmm...
I actually saw him again when I walked through customs (douane) and saw that he had been stopped and so were a bunch of other random people (mostly men with backpacks). I was tempted to go and say Hi again but I didn't. Don't get me wrong, I didn't find him attractive in that way and nor was I 'interested' in him. I just think random encounters like that are so rare (for me) and I felt that our conversation could've gone somewhere... or something. I dunno... perhaps it wasn't to be.
Once upon a time when I was younger and watched romantic comedy movies I used to think that all the scenarios in which people met up were bullshit. Seriously. I mean does that kind of stuff really happen in real life? But during the last few years of my life I have experienced a lot of things which I think would make interesting storylines in movies and I have also spoken to other people with interesting stories about how they met certain people in their life... I have definitely changed my tune. I now believe that the scriptwriters who write those films often base it on (their own) real life events.
But, onto more adventures!
I decided to check out some new parts of town that I hadn't seem before. Actually make that the old parts (haha), meaning the old town (vieille ville). I just walked and walked until a sign caught my eye. It was pink and white and gold (so rather eye catching) and it said to find the entrance of the office around the other side of the building (in a small narrow-ish lane). So I did. I thought to myself... hmm... this could be a nice company to work for! Do I dare go in? I never planned to do anything job-hunting related today so I didn't have anything on me like my CV or a business card (not that I have any business cards)...
I knew there was someone or something telling me I had to go in there and talk to these people but I was as nervous as all heck. The butterflies in my stomach were going nuts. Actually, I already had butterflies in my stomach from some mild period pain (sorry for TMI) so now I had a whole farm full of butterflies in there! I paced up and down that small narrow lane for about 10 minutes. I looked at my reflection in a window to make sure I was decently presented (luckily I was). Finally, I just thought I'd do it. It was actually kind of below street level and when I went in it wasn't quite what I expected at all.
There was only one person there (the rest were out at lunch or in other sites/with clients) and I started to say what I had already memorised and practised in my head (which is what I always do when I need to say something in French and it's important)... « Je m'appelle _______ . Je suis _______ et je suis à la recherche du travail dans le domaine de ______ . Est-ce que vous êtes actuellement .... » and she interrupted me with a "Do you speak English?" and I said something like, "Yes... even better."
Turns out she was Swedish and didn't speak any French at all. She said her boss was out of town, in London, but he'd be back tomorrow. I got both of their business cards and was about to leave when... right at the entrance/exit I ran into a colleague of hers. Without even hesitating, I introduced myself and told him what I was doing there. He asked me if I had a CV on me and I said No but I could get it online and show/tell him whatever he wanted to know about me... So he invited me to sit down and we looked at my stuff on his computer and that's how I managed to get myself an impromptu interview. :)
Turns out he's Australian too. He said he'd speak to the boss and will get back to me. To be honest, even if no job comes out of this I'm still happy that I had the guts to do what I did. It was a real ego and confidence boost too when he told me he was impressed that I was being so pro-active and asked me how many other companies I had approached in this way! Ha. (answer: zero). I think he's onto something there though...
Then I continued my aimless wandering and self-designed discovery tour and came across this really interesting looking temple/mosque thing (Russian Church). I asked the only person there what it was. In French of course until he interrupted me and asked if I spoke English. Turns out he was English! He was with his baby and was really nice and even suggested some other areas nearby that I should have a look at. When I said I didn't have a map on me (which is so not like me) he even got out his iPhone to show me. He asked me where I was from and I said, "Guess" and he guessed Australian (based on my accent) and told me that my accent wasn't that strong. I jokingly said that I've probably lost it.. hahaha.
Then, I found myself at the top of a hill with a gorgeous view looking back down to where I'd come from. I asked an old man if he could take a photo for/of me. The same old spiel I've said 100 times before.. "Pouvez-vous prendre une photo de moi, s'il vous plaît ?" (and then thrusting my camera into their hand and pointing to the shiny silver button where they should click, or press/appuyez in French). I know it's not the most elegant way of saying it ("Can you take a photo of me, please?") but it's such a habit now I never bothered to learn another better way of saying it until he gave me the idea... To confirm what I wanted, he said something that ended with "...photographier ?" That's it!, I thought. That's a verb! OMG why didn't I think of that before? OK, next time I'm going to ask, "Pourriez-vous" (afterall, "could" is more polite, so "Could you") "...me photographier, s'il vous plaît ?" ("...photograph me, please?)"
I noticed that there were trees sprouting gorgeous white cherry blossoms! Spring is certainly in the air. Seeing those trees made my heart fill with joy.
Overall I felt it was a very successful day. And I feel/felt happy. I just love talking to strangers, especially nice ones!. It may sound strange but it's something I've always loved doing and today I had several random encounters with strangers...
Image: Wild World Wiki
mardi 15 mars 2011
I want a car and random thoughts
If I end up staying in Europe and getting a decent job, and if I don't end up living in a biggish city, the first thing I'm gonna do (after finding accommodation) is to buy a car! I wanted to buy one when I first arrived but then I told myself it would cost too much and be too much hassle, plus I didn't know how long I'd be staying. It was just too much work to find a car that I liked, in my price range as well since, annoyingly, I needed a car to be able to go and look at cars!!
Tonight I got invited to a soirée in another town not far from me. It's only about 15 minutes drive away. I could take the bus but it's still a hassle since I'd have to get myself to the train station, then wait for the bus, catch the bus. Of course if I had a car I could just drive myself home afterwards but since I don't and the last bus is at around 8:30pm I'd have to stay the night (which these people (Couchsurfers) generously agreed to let me without me even having to ask), BUT then I start work at 8am tomorrow so I'd have to get up before 6am to make sure I got to class on time and I can't stand early mornings (particularly when they are still cold), so I decided not to go. :( And I'm upset because if I had a car I could've easily gone.
Oh well. Hopefully there'll be another time.
One of my friends here at the school invited me out for a girls' night out Friday night. Woohoo, can't wait!
Well, I've been speaking to someone from Shared Talk for only 8 days (which started because I was bored out of my brains here during the school holidays) and it's rare that from the very beginning we got along really well. We had so much in common, I couldn't believe it! He had travelled all over the world (which I find is rare for people I know around here as they just stay in Europe) and we had so much to talk about and this weekend he invited me over to spend some time with him and some friends (bonus: he only lives 30 minutes away by train). At first I was hesitant. I mean... we've only been speaking for 8 days, actually less than that since we obviously don't speak every single night. We've only known each other for 8 days but spoken around 5 times. I said sure, "I'd love to come over and meet you all but my last train is at..." (the usual story).... and he said, "Don't worry, you can stay over here."
Now, I have actually stayed with people I met through those language exchange websites before (but that was because I knew them fairly well. I'd talked to them for over a year!) Normally someone inviting me only after 8 days would've freaked me out and I would have had to decline, but luckily, he also does Couchsurfing and has a profile there so I checked out his comments to see that he's trustworthy. Since he doesn't live too far away he actually knows of my town (most French people don't as it's small and not well-known) and from the beginning would constantly make jokes about how it's the ugliest and worst city in France. Now I don't know if that's true or not... but when I tell people where I live and if they happen to know this town, they say that too (yes they are very blunt!! The French are not PC at all!!) It's a running joke and I just play along. Seriously, I'm not offended but I do NOT think it's the ugliest town in France by a longshot. Sure it's small and really boring but it's certainly not that ugly!
So anyway, that's THREE things I've been invited to in one week. This is all without me asking or hinting or anything. These people are just kind enough to invite me. 3 in one week, that's just too much!! ;)
Random but I've reached 100 contacts on LinkedIn (connecting me to almost 1.5 million people) - woohoo!
I can't believe how fast the time passes. I know it's a clichéd thing to say but still, it's true!
I have absolutely no hope of it snowing anymore. It's just getting too warm. There are only tiny patches/remnants of snow high up on the mountains that I see here and melting rapidly day by day. Gosh it seems like a lifetime ago where I saw my city covered in fluffy whiteness and felt like I was dreaming...
Ah yes.. the magical summer. I think a part of the reason why I've been a bit down lately is because everything just looks dead at the moment (I mean landscapes). There's no more beautiful snow, just dead trees and dead grass. In fact, the grass reminds me a lot of Australia. It's extremely dry and a yellowish shade. Often I've wanted to do something (a tourist attraction) whilst visiting a particular city but discovered it was closed due to the season being winter and everywhere I go people tell me to come back during summer because "It's beautiful during summer". So in my mind I imagine that EVERYWHERE in France and Europe just becomes super duper amazing during summer. Of course I know that that's not entirely true. For one thing I've already experienced huge mosquito bites and it wasn't even during summer, it was during autumn (and they don't have flyscreens, nor air con nor fans in houses in Europe!). However, I'm still very much looking forward to spring, and flowers, and colour... and the joy of feeling the sun on my bare skin!
On Saturday I went on a mini shopping spree and bought some spring-y clothes! Bit sick of wearing drab colours all the time and a big, heavy coat. I bought a cheery nautical-print shirt and navy blue cardigan from Mango, a denim skirt and pair of black work pants (down to 6€!) from Pimkie, a white cardigan from H&M (down to 10€), and a professional-looking short-sleeved striped shirt from Zara (down to 7€!). I didn't actually know there was some special sale on (as I heard that France is only allowed to have sales twice a year) so I got lucky as most shops had some sort of sales rack.
I'm loving the fashions at the moment. I love the red/white/navy blue stripey nautical theme and even 'collected' clothes like that back home... In winter I hated the French fashions (too many drab colours and weird designs) but loved the shoes (boots) and now I love the spring/summer fashion range but hate the shoes! I can't win. The summer shoes are just not nice and not comfortable at all. I tried on lots and couldn't find anything much that I liked. Just as well. I remind myself I am supposed to be saving... oops!
I'm such a nomad at the moment. I wonder if I'll ever settle down. Perhaps I'm just immature. I do not look forward to having a mortgage and spending my weekends cleaning the house at all. I feel like I can't relate to a lot of my friends and co-workers because apart from work all they talk about is home stuff and child(ren) stuff (neither of which I have). I don't want to settle down. Or maybe I just don't want to settle ;)
lundi 14 mars 2011
Blogs: What I'm reading
I might do this regularly if it turns out to be interesting for my readers...
Marianne en France: On Humility
Marianne does the same job as me (I don't know her). I could definitely relate to this post a lot!
Francey Pants: Land of Funny Names
Funny city names in German.. this post had me in stitches!! Fricken!
Francey Pants: Your daily WTF (Welcome to France) moment
I can't say my adventures at the laundromat are half as interesting as hers but I related to this part: "I have a fear of making telephone calls in French because it's approximately 43 times harder to understand and be understood than when you're talking in person."
Crumple-proof and waterproof City Maps via Detours
Pretty cool, huh? Although I have to say that they seem to take up a lot of room! I thought of another use for them too... when you want to sit on something wet or dirty they might come in handy - haha.
Marianne en France: On Humility
Marianne does the same job as me (I don't know her). I could definitely relate to this post a lot!
Francey Pants: Land of Funny Names
Funny city names in German.. this post had me in stitches!! Fricken!
Francey Pants: Your daily WTF (Welcome to France) moment
I can't say my adventures at the laundromat are half as interesting as hers but I related to this part: "I have a fear of making telephone calls in French because it's approximately 43 times harder to understand and be understood than when you're talking in person."
Crumple-proof and waterproof City Maps via Detours
Pretty cool, huh? Although I have to say that they seem to take up a lot of room! I thought of another use for them too... when you want to sit on something wet or dirty they might come in handy - haha.
mardi 1 mars 2011
Random stuff about today
Random boring stuff about my day...
Had a few interesting adventures at the school this morning. Had to ask them to turn the school bell (which goes off more than 10 times a day) off because someone forgot to. Today's the last day where there are still staff around. Saw some students and teachers but have no idea what they were doing here because the school is closed.
Doing nothing much all day (yesterday) except sitting in front of the computer seems to make me not very sleepy so I stayed up till 2am... I went onto Skype to chat to this lawyer guy from Paris that I had spoken to once before... I told him I was looking for a job and he was so nice and encouraging (for a change). I'd read so much negative stuff online it was such a surprise to hear so much positivity and he actually gave me concrete examples of people at his work who were not European and who now work there full-time etc etc. What's interesting about him is... When I chat (type) to him online I notice that he uses HEAPS of words I do not know. I think I'm actually going to go through our chat and jot down all the new words (both proper words and slang) so I can learn them because when I chat to him I need to have wordreference.com opened at the same time to constantly look stuff up!
I thought about something else that I miss about my ex.. I realised that my French was improving heaps when I was with him, talking to each other, and reading his text messages. It's the constant input. It's why toddlers/children learn so quickly. Because they spend so much 1:1 time with their mother (or father or carer) who talks to them CONSTANTLY. It's something I miss heaps because we NEVER spoke English to each other. In fact, I found it cute, when he'd blurt out an English phrase once in a blue moon. As well as that, we listened to songs all the time when we were in the car (almost feels like most of our time together was spent in the car driving somewhere!) and he'd ask me if I understood the lyrics. If I said I didn't, he'd repeat it to me so that I'd get it. I could go on and on but it'll make me too sad. I really miss having someone to talk to constantly but it was just a bonus that I got to improve my French at the same time!
Anyway so around 1:30am I suddenly had this idea to look up people in my town on CouchSurfing. I have no idea why I did not think of this earlier?? I don't think I have looked it up since June 2010 when I first found out I was coming here. Why didn't I think of it before?!
So fed up with not having anyone to hang out with (all my friends seem to have disappeared on me now that it's school holidays)
• I clicked first on my own profile
• Then I clicked Show nearby Couches (100 K)
and that brings up everyone in your town, followed by everyone in the next closest town and so on and so forth. I can't remember how many people I messaged (maybe 5) but today I got 3 replies! So hopefully in the near future I'll get to meet up with them. Yay!
Today I decided to go to Geneva because I meant to go yesterday but couldn't get my CV finished in time. Being the first day of spring it was a lovely sunny day... nooooooo I'd love to say that but it was actually freezing! It was about 6° with strong winds and felt so cold. It didn't do much for my mood but the good thing is that I did manage to find the exact type of suit I wanted (for my upcoming job interviews of course :P ): black, with skirt AND pants and not hideously expensive and a decent fabric and in my size, etc. The blazer should ideally have a 'flap' at the back to aid movement.
I don't know how many shops I looked at but it was so hard to find a suit period. Now that spring's coming up all I saw were trendy colourful clothes in pastel colours and with flowers all over them! In Sydney I know exactly which shops to go to but here I have no idea... Eventually I went to one of my old favourites, Zara, and found one there. I was so lucky because it was the last one in my size. At first I found a nice 3-piece suit in H&M for a cheaper price but it was grey and I wanted black. I really wish female clothing stores would sell 'staples' sometimes instead of just weird trendy stuff like skirts and dresses with that horrible exposed metal industrial zipper (hate that!)
I tried to find shoes too (even though I already have the perfect pair at home back in Sydney) and it was an impossible task because my feet always fall out of shoes with no straps/buckles and I couldn't find any nice ones with straps/buckles that didn't look like something a kid or a granny would wear.
After walking around for 4 hours I am so tired. Found 2 employment agencies but I will have to go back later as I wasn't dressed for the part and I was not in a good mood to be 'selling' myself. Plus my hair was a great big mess from that wind.
I stumbled across, by accident, a big bookshop that has 2/3 of its books in English! Payot Librarie (a librarie is a bookshop in French, and a library in English is a bibliothèque). Gosh what a luxury to see English books in a bookstore. At first I didn't even go in because I thought Payot was a skincare brand (a quick Google image search shows me the logos are somewhat different) and the bookstore was for skincare related stuff.. but I went in and realised it was HUGE. 2 storeys and lots of nice books. With big Australian-style pricetags to match ;) But hey, beggars can't be choosers.
Every time I get on a train (which feels like hundreds of times now) I notice things about the train, about the landscape outside the window, but also about the passengers and their rituals and so many thoughts go through my head so next time I'm gonna do a post on my SNCF adventures! (SNCF stands for: La Société nationale des chemins de fer français (the national French railway company)).
PS I uploaded some Grenoble pics onto my Facebook too if you want to take a peek.
Had a few interesting adventures at the school this morning. Had to ask them to turn the school bell (which goes off more than 10 times a day) off because someone forgot to. Today's the last day where there are still staff around. Saw some students and teachers but have no idea what they were doing here because the school is closed.
Doing nothing much all day (yesterday) except sitting in front of the computer seems to make me not very sleepy so I stayed up till 2am... I went onto Skype to chat to this lawyer guy from Paris that I had spoken to once before... I told him I was looking for a job and he was so nice and encouraging (for a change). I'd read so much negative stuff online it was such a surprise to hear so much positivity and he actually gave me concrete examples of people at his work who were not European and who now work there full-time etc etc. What's interesting about him is... When I chat (type) to him online I notice that he uses HEAPS of words I do not know. I think I'm actually going to go through our chat and jot down all the new words (both proper words and slang) so I can learn them because when I chat to him I need to have wordreference.com opened at the same time to constantly look stuff up!
I thought about something else that I miss about my ex.. I realised that my French was improving heaps when I was with him, talking to each other, and reading his text messages. It's the constant input. It's why toddlers/children learn so quickly. Because they spend so much 1:1 time with their mother (or father or carer) who talks to them CONSTANTLY. It's something I miss heaps because we NEVER spoke English to each other. In fact, I found it cute, when he'd blurt out an English phrase once in a blue moon. As well as that, we listened to songs all the time when we were in the car (almost feels like most of our time together was spent in the car driving somewhere!) and he'd ask me if I understood the lyrics. If I said I didn't, he'd repeat it to me so that I'd get it. I could go on and on but it'll make me too sad. I really miss having someone to talk to constantly but it was just a bonus that I got to improve my French at the same time!
Anyway so around 1:30am I suddenly had this idea to look up people in my town on CouchSurfing. I have no idea why I did not think of this earlier?? I don't think I have looked it up since June 2010 when I first found out I was coming here. Why didn't I think of it before?!
So fed up with not having anyone to hang out with (all my friends seem to have disappeared on me now that it's school holidays)
• I clicked first on my own profile
• Then I clicked Show nearby Couches (100 K)
and that brings up everyone in your town, followed by everyone in the next closest town and so on and so forth. I can't remember how many people I messaged (maybe 5) but today I got 3 replies! So hopefully in the near future I'll get to meet up with them. Yay!
Today I decided to go to Geneva because I meant to go yesterday but couldn't get my CV finished in time. Being the first day of spring it was a lovely sunny day... nooooooo I'd love to say that but it was actually freezing! It was about 6° with strong winds and felt so cold. It didn't do much for my mood but the good thing is that I did manage to find the exact type of suit I wanted (for my upcoming job interviews of course :P ): black, with skirt AND pants and not hideously expensive and a decent fabric and in my size, etc. The blazer should ideally have a 'flap' at the back to aid movement.
I don't know how many shops I looked at but it was so hard to find a suit period. Now that spring's coming up all I saw were trendy colourful clothes in pastel colours and with flowers all over them! In Sydney I know exactly which shops to go to but here I have no idea... Eventually I went to one of my old favourites, Zara, and found one there. I was so lucky because it was the last one in my size. At first I found a nice 3-piece suit in H&M for a cheaper price but it was grey and I wanted black. I really wish female clothing stores would sell 'staples' sometimes instead of just weird trendy stuff like skirts and dresses with that horrible exposed metal industrial zipper (hate that!)
I tried to find shoes too (even though I already have the perfect pair at home back in Sydney) and it was an impossible task because my feet always fall out of shoes with no straps/buckles and I couldn't find any nice ones with straps/buckles that didn't look like something a kid or a granny would wear.
After walking around for 4 hours I am so tired. Found 2 employment agencies but I will have to go back later as I wasn't dressed for the part and I was not in a good mood to be 'selling' myself. Plus my hair was a great big mess from that wind.
I stumbled across, by accident, a big bookshop that has 2/3 of its books in English! Payot Librarie (a librarie is a bookshop in French, and a library in English is a bibliothèque). Gosh what a luxury to see English books in a bookstore. At first I didn't even go in because I thought Payot was a skincare brand (a quick Google image search shows me the logos are somewhat different) and the bookstore was for skincare related stuff.. but I went in and realised it was HUGE. 2 storeys and lots of nice books. With big Australian-style pricetags to match ;) But hey, beggars can't be choosers.
Every time I get on a train (which feels like hundreds of times now) I notice things about the train, about the landscape outside the window, but also about the passengers and their rituals and so many thoughts go through my head so next time I'm gonna do a post on my SNCF adventures! (SNCF stands for: La Société nationale des chemins de fer français (the national French railway company)).
PS I uploaded some Grenoble pics onto my Facebook too if you want to take a peek.
jeudi 17 février 2011
The French are ethnocentric...
• The French are ethnocentric...
• Buying skincare and make-up in France...
• Shopping for your favourite products from home is almost impossible in France
(wasn't sure what to title this blog post)
ethnocentrism (ˌɛθnəʊˈsɛnˌtrɪzəm)
— n
belief in the intrinsic superiority of the nation, culture, or group to which one belongs, often accompanied by feelings of dislike for other groups
I loathe to use that word racist because as soon as you accuse someone of being racist, they deny it vehemently and then give you various eye-rolling examples of why they are not.
After 4.5 months of living in France I have definitely come to the conclusion that the French are very very VERY ethnocentric. That is, they truly believe that their culture is superior to that of others. Unlike many neighbouring countries which have become far more 'anglocised', the French are still very... well, French.
They also like sticking to the past. This is obvious by how well-preserved their cities are. Going to any French city is like taking a step back in time. I loathe all the cars I see because if it weren't for them I actually feel like I've gone back in time 100 or 200 or more years ago. Living in France also feels like living in Australia 30 years ago with their restricted shop opening hours. There are other examples I could give.. there are just so many. Not that I'm complaining that much. I actually dislike the fast-paced modern lifestyle.
When you ask an expat what sort of things they miss from home most people will mention some kind of food but I actually didn't miss anything much from home (as in supermarket type food), well, maybe Tim Tam biscuits. The things I missed were random things that I couldn't find here!
I am very particular about skincare and make-up brands and the things I used at home I could NOT for the life of me find here. For example, I used a Maybelline foundation called Mineral Power. I bought it one day in Target and I was onto my 3rd container (they are small). Could I find it here even though Maybelline is widely sold everywhere? Nope. Does not exist here. I was going crazy trying to find it, even online, then I gave up and bought something similar here by Loréal - Poudre Accord Parfait Minéral (which then of course does not exist in Australia or the US so I couldn't even read reviews about it!) It was a spur of the moment decision and I bought it at a supermarket without even testing the colour. Luckily for me, it was perfect.
The weirdest and most frustrating thing was... The make-up giant Sephora is a French company. Yet, the US Sephora sells far more brands and products! Figure that out. I like to read reviews before I buy stuff but it was useless because the stuff sold in the US was mostly not available here except the high end stuff like Chanel. As much as I'd like to, I don't really want to spend that much on make-up and prefer mid-range brands/prices.
Then I have another favourite product that I've been using forever and nothing else even comes close. It's Blistex lip balm. It's the only thing that works wonders on dry, chapped lips (the original in the round white container, not the lipstick-shaped ones). It does not exist in France. I ended up buying it from an online pharmacy in the UK.
Then, whilst travelling during the Toussaint holidays I lost my beloved Polaroid sunglasses. I like this brand because it's mid-range and mid-priced and I know the polarised lenses are really good. I know EXACTLY where to go to buy them in Australia. I was going out of my mind trying to find a replacement pair in France. They don't exist. I had a funny incident where I went into an optometrist and asked if they sold Polaroid sunglasses and he said, "No, but we have Polo Ralph Lauren!" Ha. Once again I contemplated buying them online from the UK, US or Australia but it would have been a dumb idea to buy something like that without trying them on first.
Eventually I realised that the brand is sold in Switzerland so I bought a pair when I went to Geneva. Later when I went to Germany I saw that brand sold widely there as well.
Then, I went through a phase where I was obsessed with buying a handbag that fitted all my requirements - size, style, colour, fabric, price, etc. No matter how many stores I went to, they only had the same brands. Almost all FRENCH BRANDS. Not saying French brands aren't good but for me the choice just isn't wide enough. There was either the expensive like Longchamp or the cheap and crappy. I eventually bought one by the brand Lancaster which is mid-priced and very good quality.
Do you see where I'm going with all this? Whereas Switzerland and Germany ('next door') are very open to Anglo brands.... The French are really obsessed with only selling French brands. This is apparent in almost every store and for almost every sort of product. Of course if you go to Paris and go to a big department store you can find other different brands but I'm talking about a general feeling.
Speaking of shopping, I hate to admit it but French fashion doesn't really float my boat. Only one of my favourite fashion shops/brands is French: Promod. The rest I like are: Zara (Spanish), H&M, Camaieu (Swedish), (Spanish) and Mango (Spanish). I've also bought stuff from UK online shops because their styles are much nicer. My favourites are: Topshop, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and New Look.
Not sure where I'm going with this post. It's just a feeling I get that the French are really resistant to change, and do not like other cultures infiltrating theirs. It's not all bad though. In some ways it's actually nice. I mean I lived in Shanghai, one of the fastest changing cities in the world. It was heartbreaking to see all the culture and history being destroyed in the name of progress and in the name of Westernising everything. Don't they realise that people go to China to see Chinese looking buildings from a time long ago, and not Western/Anglo looking modern buildings? That really saddened me. And it's because of that reason that Paris is so beautiful. All that gorgeous history preserved for generations to come...
mercredi 19 janvier 2011
A White Christmas in Paris I
View Paris Christmas 2010 trip in a larger map
A LONG diary entry about my time in Paris over Christmas (Part I)
22 December, 2010 (Wednesday)
... I was waiting for train which came one hour late, at Karlsruhe station (freezing my butt off since I was technically waiting outdoors even though there was a roof).
The train then stopped in Strasbourg (with technical difficulties) for 30 mins.
Then, the train must have been going slower than normal (with snow on the tracks) because it arrived TWO HOURS after the ETA. Luckily I didn't have another train to catch or anyone to meet or anything else to do...
I arrived in the Gare de l'Est (East Station) which I'd never been to before and was immediately struck by how dirty the underground métro looked and how freezing it was (it appears that none of the trains and stations are not heated, and there I was in Sydney complaining about our non-heated trains. At least it's not 2° in Sydney in winter). I eventually managed to find my line and my train. Once I got out of the station I felt like a little girl again. I had my small-medium backpack and my Zuca so it's not as if I had a whole lot of bags to carry but they were both rather heavy and... it was pouring rain... and.... what is that I see? White flakes? OMG it's snowing and raining AT THE SAME TIME. Never in my life had I seen snow and rain simultaneously. I had to juggle my backpack, my Zuca trolleycase and the umbrella. Oh, and I should mention it was windy as well so my umbrella was being blown left, right and centre, and as it was about completely dark it was very hard to read street signs. I had to find my street. I find rather 'lost' for a moment there yet I was so excited I still managed to take some photos (much to the amusement/amazement/horror? of passers-by).
Here's a handy tip when travelling:
Every time you see a map somewhere on the street, take a photo of it. That way you can refer back to it later. It's so handy! I mean you probably already have a map on you but in case you don't... In every Paris métro there are maps for the nearby streets (ie a zoomed-in kind of map) to help you find where you're going. I take a photo of this so that when I'm on the street level I can actually look at it and refer back to it! And with my camera I can store literally thousands of maps (and timetables and whatnot) so I don't need to physically carry all these heavy pieces of paper and books and stuff.
Luckily it was not a long walk to the apartment... I was lucky enough to be lent an apartment for 2 nights. In Paris!! During Christmas!! I thought I was sharing it with someone else but she wasn't there so I had the whole place to myself! It was a 1 bedroom apartment and quite possibly the smallest apartment I had ever seen in my entire life. Not that I was complaining. I was just intrigued that so much could fit into such a tiny space! You could not fit more than 1 person in either the bathroom or kitchen they were that small. I would call the interior design "eclectic" with bits and pieces of different styles.
I was so exhausted I just went to Monoprix (a supermarket) nearby and bought something to eat and looked at and sorted through my photos. I was too tired to even cook anything (despite having a full kitchen complete with coffee maker machine, toaster and blender even!) so I just bought a baguette and some instant soup and some fruit. How sad is that?! I tend to splurge on certain things and then scrimp on others and this was a time for scrimping hahaha. Despite my tiredness I recall going to bed quite late. Can't remember what I did. I could not get the internet nor the tv to work... I slept on a pull-out sofa bed which was comfortable and zonked out.
23 December, 2010 (Thursday)
I had big plans! I had decided to fulfil my dreams and my obsession with macarons and go on a "macaron marathon" around Paris. As well as that I wanted to soak in the Christmassyness of it all...
First of all though, I needed a map of the city! I had planned to get one at the Gare de l'Est when I arrived but somehow I immediately ended up in the métro underground as soon as I got off my platform (perhaps I went the wrong way I don't know. My brain was frozen from that 1 hour wait in Karlsruhe). It would be easier for me to get it at Gare du Nord instead so that was my first stop.
The night before, I'd bought a carnet of 10 tickets from one of the ticket machines. 1 ticket costs 1,70€ and a carnet costs 12,00€ so obviously you save... 5 euros! Some random guy tried to sell me one of his tickets (that he'd obviously bought as part of a carnet) for the regular price. Pfft... Not all tourists are stupid, dumb ass! Besides, I wanted the carnet and not a single ticket.
Well it worked out perfectly because the first night I used 1 ticket, then the second day (this day) I used 5, and the 3rd day (24 Dec) I used 4.
I'd been in the Gare du Nord the first time I visited Paris and remembered it was huge (as are all of the Grandes Lignes (main lines) stations in Paris). I made my way from the métro to the main lines part ASAP to find a info counter to get a map. I got 2 in fact. One to use (and write/draw/highlight on/destroy) and one to keep as a souvenir in pristine condition) - there's another tip for ya! The guy didn't seem too helpful or friendly despite the fact I was speaking in French - Parisians pfft! ;)
After 3 months of eating nothing but French and Western cuisine with the occasional Kebab, I was DYING for some Asian food! I thought I'd go to Chinatown to get some Chinese or Vietnamese. The guy at the info counter told me to go to the Place d'Italie station. So that's what I did. I basically went back to the same platform and got back on the same train/line and headed down south.
However, somebody was out to foil my plans. Or... for once in my travelling life I hadn't pre-planned anything and I was kinda lost. I mean I found some restaurants but they were not open. WTF? During lunch time? Then, it was really really windy and snowing and raining too remember... It was kinda hard to be walking great distances outside and I was starving (after eating nothing but bits of leftover baguette from last night for breakfast). So I made my way to the closest place I could find. An El Cheapo place (Gourmet Tang's) that was packed with people. However, in this case, packed doesn't necessarily mean good. I mean it wasn't super bad but it wasn't great. But for the price 4,50€ I shouldn't complain. I ordered a bun which is my all-time fave Vietnamese dish made with vermicelli noodles and spring rolls, and a dollop of fish sauce and alfalfa sprouts. It was OK but I was not that pleased with my choice of eating establishment. But I got over it.
I was too fascinated by the snow. THE SNOW. It had snowed in my town just before I left but when I was in Germany (just before) there was none. All along I had wished that it would not snow in Paris before I got there, but after. Not before so it wouldn't foil my plans and after because I wanted a white Christmas! I was overjoyed because I got my wish pretty much. Although I arrived in Paris 2 hours later than planned it didn't really ruin my plans.
I could not believe it.
The whole time I was in Paris, I could not believe it. I seriously felt like the luckiest girl alive. I was in Paris. The city most people dream about going to. It was (almost) Christmas AND it was snowing. It's the kind of thing people wish to experience but almost never do because you cannot control Mother Nature. Apparently it doesn't even snow all that often in Paris.
Everyone seemed kinda stressed what with last minute gift buying and all. There were few people outside due to the extreme weather however I was loving it all. OK maybe not the wind and the rain, but I was just loving the snow and praying it would stick around (literally).
I had planned to go to at least one Christmas market (Marché de Noël) in Paris but I didn't realise that I'd find lots of them simply by doing what I was going to do anyway. I saw some markets right near the métro entrance, and then I saw a big shopping centre (centre commercial) and decided to go in (to warm up and to have a look around since I love to window shop). I wandered in and got lost for a while before deciding I better get on with my "macaron marathon".
I took the métro to Saint-Sulpice station, where, according to my map were 3 macaron places nearby. I had already researched on the internet and found the addresses of all the places I wanted to go to and purposely chosen those close to each other (to save time obviously).
Around there I'd find Pierre Hermé, and a bit further north, Ladurée (website plays music), and a bit further south-east, Dalloyau.
The macaron review is in another blog post so I'll just mention where I went without talking about the macarons themselves here.
Before I got started though, I first had a look at the
1. Christmas markets at Saint Sulpice
2. Pierre Hermé
The story is tiny! There was a queue outside but that didn't deter me. I queued up and it moved reasonably quickly. I don't know why they make it difficult to choose the flavours. It would be good if you could look at a board or something before it was your turn to be served to save time. Almost every flavour I wanted was sold out. There were people stocking up for Christmas I guess.
3. Jardin du Luxembourg
I like to try to see/do as much as I can without wasting time backtracking across Paris on the métro... I would be passing by the Jardin du Luxembourg and what perfect time to visit one of the most famous scenes in the learning-French video/book series, French in Action! As well as that, I'd pass by Rue de Vaugirard where the fictitious family of Mireille lived. Apparently their house number doesn't exist so I didn't waste time going in search of it, but I just looked at the road and then wandered into the park. I have heard everyone rave about this park. I never saw it during my last visit to Paris so I was keen to check it out.
Let me remind you it was not the kind of day where one says, "I know! Let's go to the park today." It was practically EMPTY. There were a few strollers (as in people strolling and not the things that babies sit in. The French word for this is flaneur, I believe.) and tourists around but not many. I asked a nice American family (from Los Angeles) to take a photo for me because I was so happy to be in this park and it was snowing furiously now (although the ground wasn't completely white everywhere yet, there were patches of concrete and grass seen still).
So with them gone, I was left alone and let me tell you it's quite difficult to take photos of yourself and then all you ever see is your big fat head and none of your body...
So there I was trying to take another photo of myself in a picturesque location (comme d'habitude/as usual) when I saw another young photographer alone. We both kind of eyed each other with an expression of curiosity like, "What are you doing here?!"
I asked if he could take a full length shot of/for me and he agreed. We got talking immediately and I even took out my SLR camera. Up until that point I had only been using my compact camera (yes I have two) because it's just so much easier to be able to slip it into my coat pocket. It's actually kind of hard to take photos with gloves on but then as soon as I took my gloves off my fingers would freeze...
So we walked, and talked, and took photos. I told him I wanted to see the pond thing (bassin) where Marie-Laure (the 10-year old sister of the protagonist, Mireille, from French in Action) played with the toy boats. It was so funny and weird to see snow everywhere and hardly anybody around when the FIA series was obviously shot during summer.
The guy told me he's a law student in London and he came to Paris to escape the bad weather there. We both had a good laugh about that considering the extreme weather we were experiencing at that time!
I told him I'm from Australia but currently living in France and teaching English. I told him I was on a "macaron marathon" and he kind of rolled his eyes at me saying he couldn't understand why girls were obsessed with these things. He told me he was staying with friends in a huge apartment in Montmartre (which he couldn't pronounce because of the 'r' which was kind of funny).
After each snapping a few photos near the bassin (pond) we headed towards my next macaron stop.
He wanted to use his iphone to help us get there. The strangest thing happens to me whenever I'm with other people. I seem to lose all sense of direction yet when I'm alone I can find any place I need to go easily with just a map (no fancy phone/gadget for me! I'm 'old school'). When I am with someone it's as if I can just 'let go' and relax and let them take care of it... so he laughed when I had no idea where I was now and which direction we should head in.
4. Dalloyau
The window displays were jaw-droppingly gorgeous. They even have a nice tea room upstairs which we wanted to go to, but unfortunately it was closed for a party or something. So I just bought 3 macarons and left.
5. Some restaurant/café I forgot the name of (I think it was Café le Rostand)
We then went to a nearby restaurant to get a drink (and to sit down and warm up) and chat. After that, I had to get to the third macaron place before dark and he had to meet some friends so we exchanged email addresses and then walked back to where I started from, Saint-Sulpice métro. Along the way the wind and rain were just going like crazy. Most people were walking very quickly to get out of the weather and get inside but we were both like crazy people taking photos and laughing the whole way. I was a little bit paranoid of the rain getting inside my camera (but it was fine) and the wind kept blowing my umbrella inside out. At the back of my head I felt kind of insane to be stopping every 5 seconds to take photos in that weather (and hoping I wouldn't get sick being in it) but I knew this kind of thing does not happen often. Like seriously, who gets an invitation to have an apartment in Paris all to themselves (for FREE) during the busiest time of year (Christmas), and have it be snowing? ME. I had to make the most of it. I'm sure most Parisians were whinging and complaining about the 'horrible' weather but I was LOVING it! :D
We passed by the Saint-Sulpice Christmas markets (my second time now since I'd already seen them after Pierre Hermé) and then bid farewell to each other and parted ways. I am sure he was dying to find somewhere warm and dry again to go to. Me on the otherhand was off to the mothership, Ladurée!
6. Saint Germain Christmas markets
Les Deux Magots (which also features in FIA)
Stay tuned for Part II tomorrow!
View all the pics on Facebook here
