Busy, busy, busy (finally)

I know I promised some more news a few days ago but I have been very busy. I have had heaps of job interviews lately. Yesterday I had one way out of Paris, which was an adventure, taking the train (ie not the metro or the RER which service paris) in the 36 degree heat (no air conditioning) wearing business clothes! It took me 2 hours to get out there, partly because I didnt really know what I was doing (I had never taken the suburban train network before), and partly because it was so far away. But at least I got to see a bit more of the surrounding areas of Paris and luckily the job is not actually out there. I have another interview today and one tomorrow. So hopefully something will come out of all this, although I have been through all this many times just to be told at the end that want an EU citizen. Anyway at the moment I am doing a bit of contracting work for my old company in Sydney so at least that should cover the rent for a bit longer and is keeping me busy. I have to admit I was getting a little sick of not working and just kind of hanging out around Paris. Most people I know here work during the day and there are only so many museums, galleries and sights you can see.

I have also had a very busy social life lately. When I first arrived I started going to "Language meetups" where french poeple come to speak english and foreigners go to speak french. We try to speak half the time in english and half in french and help each other and correct mistakes. We usually meet in a bar or have a picnic and it is more of a social event than a learning one, and I have met lots of cool people through the group. So last thursday I went to the language meet up and had fun speaking french and drinking (too much) wine. The meetings are only once a month but I often meet up with people I met there. Last night I had a drink with a friend I met through the group and on friday night I am going to a dinner party with a couple of people I met there. That is also how I met the group of people I watched the world cup matches with and the tour de france.

On friday I meet up with Vanessa (sue's friend) for dinner and drinks and had a great night catching up and drinking a bit too much wine (that seems to happen alot here). And on tuesday night I went out with her again for dinner with some of her friends. It was a fun night and the food was great but I hardly understood a word anyone said because they were speaking french (of course) and it was really noisy, as it was a bar/restaurant place. But everyone was nice and stopped every now and then to explain stuff to me when it was obvious I had no idea what they were talking about. And Vanessa told me that used to happen to her all the time in pubs when she first moved to England. So I didn't feel TOO bad about it, although I really wish I could speak french better. It can be very frustrating sometimes.

Saturday night I went to a jazz club in the marais (a trendy part of Paris) and had a fabulous meal with Alison (my Irish friend). It actually had heaps of vege food which is quite rare in Paris! I had gnocci in cheese sauce with ginger jam. It sounds like a weird combination but it was really good. We didn't even end up seeing the jazz band in the end as it was expensive and in a different part of the venue to the restaurant and we didn't finish eating till late. But it was a great night. Afterwards we went to another bar for a digestif, which is very european but really does make you feel better when you have eaten too much! We need to start this trend in Sydney. It is great.

So that is about it. Between doing the contracting work, job interviews and going out I haven't had much spare time at all. What free time I do have I usually spend trying to improve my french by watching french films with french subtitles (they speak so fast) but watching with the french subtitles really helps, and reading french books. At the moment I am reading l'etranger (the outsider) by Albert Camus. I read it years ago in english and it is one of my favorite books so it is great to be able to read it in the original.

Tour de France

Yesterday was the final stage of the Tour de France. I am not really that into it but is pretty big deal over here, so I decided to go and watch the finish of the final stage with a group of friends. We decided to get there early, at 9am to get a good spot and we did get a very good spot, right on the corner coming into place de concord. It didn't have a view of the finish line but those spots are VERY hard to get as most of that area is made up of grandstands, but they had big screens around so we could see the finish. It was a long day in the sun, but we brought umbrellas, folding chairs and lots of food and there was about 15 of us so we had a chance to go away and sit in a near by cafe to have a break every now and then while others manned the spot.


The riders make 9 laps before finishing so we got to see them go past each time. We met an Australian girl there who lives in London and comes every year to watch the final and knows everything about it, so she told us all about who had the yellow jersey (the best time so far), the green jersey (the most points) and all the rest of the jersey's and the rules and pointed out the Australians as they went by. The finish was quite exciting with an aussie out in front until the last second. In the end an Australian came second and third for the stage, and an Australian won the green jersey for the whole tour so we did pretty well really.

Now I am tired from my busy weekend, so I am going to bed but I will post the rest of my (not particularly exciting) news tomorrow.

General Update

Well I guess by now you have all heard about the devastating defeat in the World cup. It really was a shame. We went to parc des princes, a huge stadium just outside of Paris, to watch the game. We couldn't actually get into the main stadium as it was packed so went to a smaller next to it. It was a fun afternoon, we got there early and brought a picnic, and the atmosphere was great until the end.

Apart the world cup, I have been visited quite a few galleries lately. I went to the museum of modern art, which is my favorite gallery in Paris so far. It has a section for contemporary art as well as heaps of really amazing modern art works from artists like Picasso, Matisse, Gris, Braques, Klien, and tons of others. I really loved it. I spent hours there and didn't finish it. I have also been to the Palais de tokyo which is a contempory art space which was OK but I wasnt that into the current exhibition, and also the Rodin Museum which was great. It has a huge park with lots of his statues spread through out the gardens and a gallery for the rest of his work.



On saturday I meet up with May-Lin, an half aussie, half french girl I met here and we had afternoon tea at Laduree, which is a famous Salon de Thé. It is famous for it's macaroons so we ordered a plate with several different flavours like dark chocolate, raspberry, lime and ginger, rose, licorice etc. They really were amazingly good. And they also have fabulous hot chocolate made from melted chocolate and cream! We stayed for a couple of hours chatting and eating. It is a great way to spend an afternoon.

Apart from that I have mostly been hanging out with my Irish friend, Alison, who is not working either. We have mostly been having coffee, going to bars and just hanging out. On friday night we drank a bottle of wine on Pont des Arts, a bridge overlooking ile de la cite, and pont neuf. I really love sitting there looking down the Seine, it is really gorgeous.



I am still not working. I have found a job in a shop but unfortunately due to problems with my visa I have been unable to start. Apparently the type of contract I have is not allowed with my kind of visa, and I have been going back and forth between my boss, who has now left for summer holidays, and the department of employment, trying to sort it all. It has been very frustrating but I am hoping that it will be resolved soon

Allez Les Bleus

I have caught world cup fever! It is hard not over here at the moment. I have been going out with a bunch of friends (half French, half Australians) to watch all the french matches (and originally the australian ones too). We went to a large Irish bar to watch the last match. The pub (along with every other pub in France I suspect) was packed to capacity. After the match everyone went completely crazy. It was insane, all the streets were completely blocked with people cheering, singing, lighting fireworks, letting of flares, blowing horns etc. Any cars that did try to drive down any main street ended up stopped in the crowd and often ended up with several french football fans standing on the roof, jumping. One of the favorite football chants here is "Qui ne saute pas n'est pas Français" which means, "he who doesn't jump isn't French". And of course whenever anyone starts this chant it is obligatory for everyone to start jumping around like crazy. This continued on the metro, which meant at every single metro stop everyone had to start jumping, causing the entire train to shake.



We finally battled the crowds and made it the Champs Elysees to join the party. The entire street, from the Arc de Triomphe all the way to Concord, was packed with people singing, dancing, shouting, blowing horns, playing music, letting off flares and fireworks and basically going nuts.



We decided to leave in time for the last metro and I had a bit of a walk home as my line was already closed. For the entire walk home all I could hear was the chanting of "Allez les bleus" and car horns and parties everywhere. Every square was filled with chanting fans for most of the night.

So now I am eagery awaiting the final on sunday. We haven't decided on a venue yet, possibly one of the many outdoor big screens.

Allez les bleus!

Les Banlieues

I made my first trip out of Paris and into the banlieues on saturday. For those of you who don't know, Paris is actually quite a small area which is made up of 20 arrondissements and is surrounded by a ring road. The other side of this ring road is no longer Paris but is made up of many banlieues which are essentially suburbs of Paris but are not considered to be Paris.

I actually made 2 trips outside the ring road on saturday. The first was to Bois de Vincennes, which is a large park with a nice lake, not far from where I live. It is similar to centenial Park in sydney but, in true european style, is packed with people sunbaking.

It is really amazing how different it is on the other side of the road. Almost all the way up to the ring road everything looks like the Paris from the movies. Tree lined streets with cute old appartment buildings with the dercorative grills filled with potted flowers, patisseries, cafes and little shops. But as soon as you cross the road everything changes, suddenly there is modern achitecture, space between buildings and wide roads. The area right around the ring road is not particularly nice. Most of the architecture is post war, high rise housing, and I believe quite a few of the banlieues are like this. But there are also alot of very nice affluent banlieues as well. And that is where I went on saturday night.

As well as being my frist trip to a real banlieue it was also my first french soirée. It was just a small dinner party at a friend's house but it was lots of fun. The banlieue she lives in is very nice, it is a little like a suburb in Sydney, in that there a bunch of shops and cafes along the main street near the train station and then streets and streets of housing with no shops or anything. The housing is still mostly appartments but the buildings are quite small and very nice and new.

Anyway we ate heaps of amazing food, drank wine and watched the football, in which France made a surprise victory over Brazil, and then had some champagne to celebrate the victory of course! Afterwards us Parisiennes caught the RER back to Paris where everyone was going completely crazy over the game. I am looking forward to the semi final on wednesday night!