Parlez - vous Français mademoiselle?

So… here we are. I promise I like Paris, France and the French (starting to… lets say) BUT, from time to time, I have to say that they arrive to surprise me (thought that was not possible anymore, but it is) French politeness is widely recognized but I have just discovered that here I am rude..

• Situation 1. A man is peeing in one of the public toilets in the street. The door is open, which wouldn’t have surprised me considering how dirty people is. But instead of being peeing to the WC he is pointing the wall... why????

• Situation 2. Accidentally in the metro I move the leg of a man that is sitting down (he was as if he was sitting in his living room by the way). It is nothing, impossible that I hurt him. I whisper a pardon and sit in front of him. After having checked a few things in my bag I look at him and he is staring at me with the look angry and says out loud, PARDON EH??? In the metro again. 9am, not much space left. Some push and enter in a station. I have to move and accidentally again I step on a woman, beg for a pardon, out loud smiling embarrased. She looks at me and makes a little bit of theatre as if I deserved death penalty (I even wasn’t wearing high healed shoes) After being grumbling a while I decide to move a little bit (not much in fact). Two stops later somebody step on me with joy. I look behind and is SHE. No pardon, not even looking or worrying… AGHHH

• Situation 3. France Telecom rip me off so I try to solve the situation with another company: Free. We are trying to end my relation with France Telecom and I have to pay and bla bla bla, the girl on the phone of Free tells me: but you could have think it before, couldn't you??? (heyyyyy that's far too much, only my mother has the right to tell me off and she doesn't do it!!)

• Situation 4. Zara, my ZARA, the Zara of my country!! I am looking at a few things and finally decide not to take anything so I leave the things next to their place but not on the hanger. I am leaving and the girl there touches my shoulder and ask me to put it in the right place, no smile at all. I feel sooo bad!!

• Situation 5. I make a phone call to arrange an appointment. The person I am talking to is not French, that for sure, so communication is difficult, but we manage to say a few sentences and understand the situation. At some point he finally says: Parlez – vous Français mademoiselle? (Do you speak French mademoiselle?)

Need someone to explain me...

Read today in La Tribune

Salaries per year of:

• Nicolas Sarkozy 101.488 euros
• George W. Bush 277.000 euros
• Vladimir Putin 56.400 euros

Is it just me who thinks it is not much according to the responsability??

Just a thought...

(considering how much they earn the diplomates and other economists around here...)

y vosotros becarios qué me decis.. ¿cuánto gana el becario de Moscu? ;)

first month is gone..

Et voilà!!! guess start feeling home here... who would have said so...
sorry for not having posted any pic yet but my camera is on strike too, just the french way...
Here there are some of a couple of thursdays ago... thanks to the veterans here we are discovering the cheapest and coolest places in the city, jirafa 20 euros and couscous for free, we love it!! (but you can easily say so just having a look at our faces.. hehehe)
This weekend? just awesome... thanks again to Josu for the wild party yesterday night (my head's still aching but it worthed it)
more pictures coming soon...

first scale: Brussels

It took the same time to get out of Paris (sacred traffic) than to reach Bruxelles on a Thursday afternoon. But we never lost the faith and tried to enjoy a little bit of the music Javi had brought. I only knew three out of the 50 CDs he had, so there was a lot to learn ;) Anyway Amelie’s Soundtrack was played from the beginning to the end.
Warm welcome in Brussels at a friends house. They had prepared us the attic, an splendid 5th floor in their great house. Then, too late for dinner, we decided to start straight with the Belgian beer. We only had time to try three before getting drunk. Pas mal for a first attempt.
Second day. We walked around the centre and have some of the typical moules frites. It’s a small world, I found three friends from Madrid by accident. And then, no time for excuses, started with the Belgium beer again. After some more we moved to Jagermeister with Red Bull which was what made the night last till 8am. It was a great night, one of those that you don’t forget easily, nor us, nor the other interns from The Hague who found us by accident!
Third day. No need to mention the hang over (especially one of us..) so I spent the day having mojitos at a terrace in Bruxelles with some of the old friends, Joaquin, another expat in Brussels and Piet, a Belgian friend from Toulose (I didn’t have time to see Thijs but I expect his visit soon in Paris!)
Again, last chance for a belgium beer. This time, with more training, we taste many more in the Delirium Tremens, the touristic bar for people like us. It was a long night too, first a techno club, then a jazz club and finally a late dinner at a Greek restaurant (best ever after my visit to Greece four years ago) I know we should have start the night in the Greek, then the jazz and finally the techno, but, we are original, aren’t we?
Finally, on Sunday some surprises after the gauffres… it took us an hour walking around the district (colega, ¿dónde está mi coche?) to find out that they had taken our car... a taxi, a fine, and again the traffic to enter the city…
We were so lazy (or so in love with Brussels) than we didn’t go to Gant or Bruges…but, who cares!! it was an awesome weekend!

old habits / new habits

old habit - having a coffee and a cookie in Starbucks (same price here uuuuu)
new habit - moving into new surprising flavours (tastes even better here hehe)

old habit - going to the cinema last seance on weekday
new habit - watching a film in English subtitled in French (and not understanding any of them..)

old habit - driving around with my Fiesta
new habit - not missing the car and using a bike (uuuuuu)

old habit - going to Ikea and buying anything
new habit - paying for that and suffering!!

old habit - wishing and hoping for the last episode or a new album to download
new habit - going to bed and wake up with four brand new episodes to watch and two new albums in my ipod!

old habit - having my friends around
new habit - missing them...

shit happens

yes.. once again here is the opportunity to smile (if not laugh) for my optimistic view of life (afterwards, always comes the dissapointment..)

yesterday. some dancing in a 80s music pub and some drinking.. arrive home late

today. strike again

just after leaving my building, I was run over by a bike, no damage, just scared

guess I was not in the mood to walk again (oh yes, my foot hurts because of the bike) so try the underground

first train, full, cannot enter, second train, full, don't dare to enter, third train... I like number 3

if you have a nightmare where anything can happen.. just try this one...

you cannot breath because of so many people (and when I say so, I mean it), guys that tries to approach too much, people making stupid shitty comments about the strike, sarko and politics and why going to work on a friday morning is so shitty.. people having a row, but a BIG one. A poor chinese woman than cannot leave the train (and for sure she was about to fade) and finally another more stupid than the others that makes as Superman and finally makes the train stop for 15minutes because of an alert...

hate hate hate

on strike

You cannot say you have been in France till you suffer a strike. French love to demonstrate and complain about anything... and they get to stop a city like Paris.

But I love it

It was the perfect excuse to wake up late, have a coffee in Starbucks and walk to the Office.

Luckily it was one of those mornings with no clouds and the one hour walk au bord de la Seine was absolutely wonderful :)

This time I manage to see Notre Dame (in the distance), the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower...

So... OLE for the strikers cause they made my morning (even though I don't agree at all with their complaints..)

the city

Yesterday I was walking down the Champs Elysées and I realized I am living in a different city from what I thought.

I haven't been in any turistic place yet, but I have been in many bars I never thought could exist in a city like Paris. No museums at all, no Sacre Coeur, no Notre Dame but I have walked more than ever in my life :) I have eaten a couple of crepes but not only! I have been in a thai, in a japanese, in an indian, in a chinese... (who needs to be in asia!)

I have found you can drink and have dinner here at the same price or even less than in Madrid, which is awesome!! and that you can even have party till 5 and eat churros!

You can find a Noche en Blanco, different than the one in Madrid (never forget that one!) but the Nuit Blanche was also fun :)

So... in the time being, till I get used to this new city, I need more time... cause even though you don't believe me.. I am still trying to get all the things done and I still haven't found the right time to write an appropiate post. Bureacracy here is CHAOS and I am still arguing with France Telecom, Free, Virgin, EDF, RATP.... and of course, don't dare to mention work!

But soon, you will be updated more often.. promise

(salvo si la ciudad hace que me pierda, como muy bien me dijo hoy Pedro... pero que pensais? salir todos los días o qué?????)

closed for holidays

Cris is going to be out the weekend cause it's been a long-hard-busy week (LOL)

Leticia, Marta, Javi and me will be having fun for 3 days in 10 minutes now...

If you need something, if you are bored or if you just feel like talking, just come!!

If not, I will be back on Monday

PS. Luckily it won't rain the weekend and the sun will shine!!

Escher was here

Do you know Escher, a dutch graphic artist of the 20th century? He used to paint stairs going nowhere, giving a feeling of impossible reality.
I’m sure ESCHER was inspired by the LEFUEL staircase in the Richelieu’s aisle of the Louvre...

(Homenaje a Esther que pronto estará volando a Helsinki para vivir un año genial, un beso!)

monday 9am

It's been a hard weekend, sun was shining like in Madrid in June and we made party the spanish way (I promise it's true!!) so... everything is under control :)
I had some nice memories cause it was au bord de la Seine where I spent they day after getting drunk, just like the old times, hang over + sunbathing = best plan for a sunday afternoon
But let me say that the sunset by the river.. uuuauuu!!
And... I am not sharing the apart with anyone, or not yet ;) and I am not desperate at all, so no girl seeks boy (yet)
And now lets try to get some things done...

looking for an apart

Are you looking for an apart to share? that's the kind of things you can find...

Bonjour, je suis une nana qui cherche uniquement nana pour cette coloc. Je suis très sympa, fêtarde à certains moments mais aussi très grande bosseuse. Je suis donc calme chez moi. Je suis une nana bi, mais pas pour la coloc... !!! Sinon je ne fume pas ou très rarement. Je suis aussi à tendance de vivre nue totalement dans l'appart et qui aime être vue, regardée.Je bosse dans l'esthétisme et le bien être. Je ne suis pas très souvent à l'appart mais cela dépend des périodes.

Briefly:
Girl seeks girl. Nice, likes partying but also working. She is bi (sexual) but not for the roomie, and she likes hanging around naked in the apart and being observed..

En resumen:
Chica busca chica, simpática, fiestera, pero también trabajadora. Bisexual, pero sin interés en que su compañera de piso sea su pareja. Le gusta pasear desnuda por la casa y que la miren...

busy...

First day of work: The Chief gives to all of us some advice about the work, the place etc. After, he looks into my eyes and says: "we will have to have a talk later..." (should have seen my face...) Then just laughs with the colleagues

Second day of work: my desk looks like that one of the picture. French Economy doesn't help, their forecast is as bad as mine.

But happy after all!!