Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Shall I hang it up?
I thought I'd made it through a day with no comic relief. But, I guess it will be awhile until that happens. I needed hangers. I went to the famous Parisian store that is cheaper than our cheapest----it's called Tati. An employee smiled at me when I went in which doesn't seem to happen that often, so I accidently said, "Buonasera" (good evening in Italian) because I'm used to them smiling at me in Italy. Rather than ask immediately where the hangers were, I made a lap. I didn't find them, so I went back to the smiling man. He was more than happy to help. I brought him with me. When we came to some random items on hangers, I pointed to the hanger and asked if they had any. He brought me to the women's fashion to find the lovely blue sweater with rhinestones that was hanging on the hanger. I said that wasn't what I wanted and tried to demonstrate again. This time he wanted to sell me a Hello Kitty t-shirt. This is when I got frustrated and started speaking Italian again. (that seems to be what comes out more naturally) I finally made my point and he led me to an aisle and I could see the hangers sticking out at the end. There was a small group of employees in the aisle. He told them what I wanted and one of them answered that I couldn't buy them until tomorrow! Have you ever heard of this? Fortunately, I have, so I didn't have to ask them what on earth they were talking about in French. I'm sure I would've thought they were kidding. When I tried to buy the black heart-shaped footstool at Tati last week I took the time to read the sign with my dictionary. It said, "Don't touch, s'il vous plait, these items can't be purchased until tomorrow." Okay. No hangers. So Mr. Smiley walks me back up to the front and asks me how to say hanger in Italian. I said I didn't know. He said, "You're Italian and you don't know how to say hanger!" I told him I'd know tomorrow.
Monday, September 27, 2010
The waiter didn't kill me, but you might
Mamma Mia! I couldn't get to the page to type! So I think I sent a blank page. (or two) Sorry. Anyway, to finish last night's adventure. I'm sorry I didn't sign off properly and left you in such a hurry. Could you sense my stress? I didn't really think the waiter would appreciate watching me continue to type on my iPod when I had just explained to him that I forgot my wallet! But I did stay long enough to write the final sentence and hit publish and I think it worked. (keep in mind how long it probably took me to do that!) Anyway, I forgot my wallet. This is Rainman, who seldom forgets anything. Now I guess I see what a little stress can do to a person. So, try explaing to a waiter when you don't speak French, "REALLY, I live around the corner! I'll just run home and up 110 stairs to get it." Actually, had I really said the 110 stairs thing he probably would've believed me. A tourist would never have known that people really do have to go up 110 stairs everyday to get home. So, I left my bag with the waiter, ran home in the rain, ran back in the rain and finally, enjoyed a nice walk home on the shiny, slippery cobblestones laughing all the way. And now, j'ai finis. Au revoir.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
I just told the waiter I'm dead
Someone corrected me last week and I still can't remember. Je suis finis or j'ai fini?? (those are spelled incorrectly) One of them means that I'm finished and is the right thing to tell a waiter and the other is close to saying, "I'm dead." Yes. I remember now. It's supposed to be, "J'ai finis."
I'll catch on sooner or later. Did I tell you about the taxi driver that I thought asked me where I was from so I said, "Chicago." then he said that was too far. He really
asked where I was going.
Okay. Now maybe I really am je suis finis. To be continued.....
I'll catch on sooner or later. Did I tell you about the taxi driver that I thought asked me where I was from so I said, "Chicago." then he said that was too far. He really
asked where I was going.
Okay. Now maybe I really am je suis finis. To be continued.....
"I won't give up" was lost. This is titled, "I quit"
Is there blogger school? There are three posts missing. So, the one from Sunday that appears makes no sense because it refers to the one from Sunday that is lost! For now, lucky for you, I quit! Sorry.
Give me a pen and paper please
I can't seem to proofread until after it's sent! Help me Mike. Don't worry, I know you can't. I just wanted you to know you're needed.
Anyway, I believe I actually wrote something in that last one that would have led you to believe I knew what I was doing! The sentence was missing a "not" or a "can't" or something to make it negative. No, I can't put this on hold and go see exactly what the mistake was because I don't know how! I hope you will enjoy watching my progress! Don't worry. I'll check my followers every now and then and when you've all signed off, I'll stop writing. Sadly, I'll probably just about had it figured out by then!
Anyway, I believe I actually wrote something in that last one that would have led you to believe I knew what I was doing! The sentence was missing a "not" or a "can't" or something to make it negative. No, I can't put this on hold and go see exactly what the mistake was because I don't know how! I hope you will enjoy watching my progress! Don't worry. I'll check my followers every now and then and when you've all signed off, I'll stop writing. Sadly, I'll probably just about had it figured out by then!
Friday, September 24, 2010
first week
ok. This will not be very creative or clever, but here goes. I started in on my ipod, but I cant figure it out. So, I will start again.
first things first. The lovely French keyboard. If I worry about all of these typos, I zill never do this thing.
--in the place where the *a* should be, it is a *q*.
--to make a period you have to hit control
--the place where the *m* should be is the comma
--i cqnt find the apostrophe ( there is that *q* that should reqlly be qn *a*)
whatever. here is what I have been up to if you care to continue reading.
day 1.
flight from miami to paris had to be redirected to NYC. They didnt say why, but you can imagine that i wasnt terribly calm. we were greeted in NYC by a parade of firetrucks. but, we everything was fine.
day 2.
one of my favorite students from the summer class in chicago picked me up at the airport. that really means that he just met me on the train to help me carry my three bags. he asked if i wanted to go to my hotel or to go meet my boss at school and go for lunch. since i didnt have a hotel, i opted for school. so my introduction to new colleagues and old students was straight from the airport after being on the go for 25 hours.
we got there too late for lunch and my boss was already busy. so, I think I got on Paris Craigslist to search for aparrtment. there were loads of choices when i looked in july and august, but very few now. A girl in the office helped me and we answered a few. but, since i dont have an email connection, they had to answer her. if they did answer, they were booked. thats the beginning of the apartment search. i know i am not used to having a boss, but if everyone else wqs telling me it was too late to find an apartment, shouldnt he have known?
he found me a place for a week while i looked for an apartment. that meant that we would go to dinner and then he would deliver me there with my bags. but, he has a mini and only two of the bags would fit in the car! off to dinner. (i am in hour 27.5 at this point). where do you suppose he takes me for dinner? SUSHI. thats all i will say.
the mysterious man with the guy was unavailable. we killed time with a chocolate crepe and then set out to get the key. we met two men in a car in an alley. one got out and kept talking to the other and the only zord (apparently the *z* is in the place of the *w*.) that i understood was "madame." then he came to us. he talked to my boss and gave us the key and me his number in case i needed anything. and i am sure he would really come to my rescue and understand what i needed in french!
got to the apartment on hour 31.5. my boss left and i ran out to mcdonalds for wifi and to email lance. i could see the Arch du Triomphe from my front door! in all the excitement, i didnt pay attention to my surroundings. i figured if I could see the Arch and it was five minutes away, how could i get lost? well........i got lost. there is a big circle of rods thqt come off the Arch. id assumed i would just look for mine. whqt i didnt know was that the roads had one name at the top of the hill and another at the bottom. my place was at the bottom. after two hours circling the Arch (its really quite impressive) and asking 10 people thqt couldnt help me, i asked a prostitute and , voila!! got to bed after 34 hours.
day 3.
woke up to the sound of bells. one of my favorite things in foreign travel and in Old Town. but, there were no towels. should I call my mysterious alley man for that? no. i used a dishcloth.
i cant remember anything terribly significant about day 3 other than the call i got from my boss saying that i wasnt his responsibility anymore and i should deal with sylvestre and patrick. i told him that it would have been nice if he had introduced me to them! continued the apartment search with no luck. decided to walk towards home and go through some neighborhoods that i know.
day 4.
it was saturday. another morning of drying off with the dish rag. decided to find my own hotel. took one bag on the metro. checked in and returned for the other. that was a three hour adventure. got a call from one apartment and looked at it en route, but even if I wanted it, it wouldnt be available until october 16. it was small, dirty, and 790 euro. got to hotel and talked to the guy at the desk a little and then i went upstairs and cried. he called the room phone and told me to come back down. he said that the owner of the hotel had an apartment that she would rent to me. i could meet her the next day.
day 5.
shopped for a bike. walked around my new possible neighborhood. looked for a running route. got the call that the lady had to cancel our meeting. i am sure that botthered me at the time, but it seems like nothing now. had pizza for dinner. no one came to seat me so i sat down myself. when the lady appeared she kind of laughed. oh well. there was one good sign. everything was decorated with italian photos and then right over my table there was an old, stained print of a little girl with a headband and flower in her hair and a strand of beads in her mouth. i think i had this same picture in my bedroom when i was a little girl.
after dinner i must have asked the wazitress a question and we started talking. i asked why she laughed in the beginning and she said because i wasnt supposed to sit down. we talked for an hour. she is egyptian and i think i have a new friend. decided to end the evening with a walk to the seine. decided i would be happy to live here!!!! had a sundae at mcdonalds and skyped lance and got kicked out at 1a.m. went back to my ripped wallpaper room and went to bed.
day 6.
days are blurring. at some point i saw the apartment. it is on the 6th floor, which is really the 7th. no elevator. toilet in the hall (but private) and a shower plopped in the apartment like a london telephone booth. and.......i kinda liked it.
day 7.
met another teacher from spain. she has been here for ten days and still no apartment. i decided to take mine! nuts? school will be interesting. feeling like they all have to cater to me because i dont speak french. met my office mate. a short little man that wears red shirts and black ties!
day 8.
first day of school. got tea at a cafe and loved the quirky barrista! had a meeting to sign a contract for my apartment. i actually had to sign it for a different apartment that this lady owns. she only rents the one that she is renting to me. it just sits there empty. She only has it so her kids can go to school in that neighborhood! (to my chicago friends, that will be funny) so, she pays rent to one lady and i pay her but pretend that i am really paying for a building that she owns.
day 9.
went to the same cafe as yesterday and was greeted by the quirky one with "tea with lemon?" in French. made my day. until i got to school and got the double kiss from my new office mate! that was a treat. got the keys to the apartment and tried to hurry there at 5 pm to clean a little before it got dark, because there was no elecctricity; I never got the code for the outside door, but fortunqtely someone was leaving. so, i went in but couldnt go back out again to buy supplies. so, i sat there and daydreamed. its so small; will send dimensions later. you wont believe me. had dinner with the hotel guy and his 12 year old niece. spent one more night here because i hadnt checked out on time.
day 10; what???? i havent been here for ten days. oh well. just follow along. took a taxi at 6 a.m. with all three bags to my new place. i think there are 119 steps. I wasnt sure the difference between buzzers and lightswitches, so i made three trips up by the light of my cell phone!! after school i bought cleaning supplies and zorked until dusk. then i lit candles! dinner at the pizza place looking for the egyptian. she wasnt there but the owner knew who i was. he said, mi casa su casa, when i left!
day thursday.
cold shower. no electricity, remember? walked an hour to school because the metro is on strike! what a walk. i really live in paris! more cleaning and candlelight.
day friday. that is today. i am sure there were other things i wanted to tell you and didnt, but i am happy to have started this. i will continue tomorrow. i am afraid i have to post this as is with no proofing becaquse i am at qn internet place and not even sure i knoz hoz to post!!! i promise i zill get shorter and more accurqte. keep in mind, i have the same keyboard at work with all the x=screens in french!! i will have to learn. my address is 40 rue monge if you want to google the neighborhood. it is the 5th arrondissement, the Latin Quarter. i feell like Mary Tyler Moore ready to throw my beret. home now to the broken apartment door. i broke it. i got my key stuck and now it has to be rekeyed. in the meantime, the door is propped open. fortunqtely its an interior door. i am sure my neighbors zill love me. i like my new accent when i reread "zill"!!! au revoir.
first things first. The lovely French keyboard. If I worry about all of these typos, I zill never do this thing.
--in the place where the *a* should be, it is a *q*.
--to make a period you have to hit control
--the place where the *m* should be is the comma
--i cqnt find the apostrophe ( there is that *q* that should reqlly be qn *a*)
whatever. here is what I have been up to if you care to continue reading.
day 1.
flight from miami to paris had to be redirected to NYC. They didnt say why, but you can imagine that i wasnt terribly calm. we were greeted in NYC by a parade of firetrucks. but, we everything was fine.
day 2.
one of my favorite students from the summer class in chicago picked me up at the airport. that really means that he just met me on the train to help me carry my three bags. he asked if i wanted to go to my hotel or to go meet my boss at school and go for lunch. since i didnt have a hotel, i opted for school. so my introduction to new colleagues and old students was straight from the airport after being on the go for 25 hours.
we got there too late for lunch and my boss was already busy. so, I think I got on Paris Craigslist to search for aparrtment. there were loads of choices when i looked in july and august, but very few now. A girl in the office helped me and we answered a few. but, since i dont have an email connection, they had to answer her. if they did answer, they were booked. thats the beginning of the apartment search. i know i am not used to having a boss, but if everyone else wqs telling me it was too late to find an apartment, shouldnt he have known?
he found me a place for a week while i looked for an apartment. that meant that we would go to dinner and then he would deliver me there with my bags. but, he has a mini and only two of the bags would fit in the car! off to dinner. (i am in hour 27.5 at this point). where do you suppose he takes me for dinner? SUSHI. thats all i will say.
the mysterious man with the guy was unavailable. we killed time with a chocolate crepe and then set out to get the key. we met two men in a car in an alley. one got out and kept talking to the other and the only zord (apparently the *z* is in the place of the *w*.) that i understood was "madame." then he came to us. he talked to my boss and gave us the key and me his number in case i needed anything. and i am sure he would really come to my rescue and understand what i needed in french!
got to the apartment on hour 31.5. my boss left and i ran out to mcdonalds for wifi and to email lance. i could see the Arch du Triomphe from my front door! in all the excitement, i didnt pay attention to my surroundings. i figured if I could see the Arch and it was five minutes away, how could i get lost? well........i got lost. there is a big circle of rods thqt come off the Arch. id assumed i would just look for mine. whqt i didnt know was that the roads had one name at the top of the hill and another at the bottom. my place was at the bottom. after two hours circling the Arch (its really quite impressive) and asking 10 people thqt couldnt help me, i asked a prostitute and , voila!! got to bed after 34 hours.
day 3.
woke up to the sound of bells. one of my favorite things in foreign travel and in Old Town. but, there were no towels. should I call my mysterious alley man for that? no. i used a dishcloth.
i cant remember anything terribly significant about day 3 other than the call i got from my boss saying that i wasnt his responsibility anymore and i should deal with sylvestre and patrick. i told him that it would have been nice if he had introduced me to them! continued the apartment search with no luck. decided to walk towards home and go through some neighborhoods that i know.
day 4.
it was saturday. another morning of drying off with the dish rag. decided to find my own hotel. took one bag on the metro. checked in and returned for the other. that was a three hour adventure. got a call from one apartment and looked at it en route, but even if I wanted it, it wouldnt be available until october 16. it was small, dirty, and 790 euro. got to hotel and talked to the guy at the desk a little and then i went upstairs and cried. he called the room phone and told me to come back down. he said that the owner of the hotel had an apartment that she would rent to me. i could meet her the next day.
day 5.
shopped for a bike. walked around my new possible neighborhood. looked for a running route. got the call that the lady had to cancel our meeting. i am sure that botthered me at the time, but it seems like nothing now. had pizza for dinner. no one came to seat me so i sat down myself. when the lady appeared she kind of laughed. oh well. there was one good sign. everything was decorated with italian photos and then right over my table there was an old, stained print of a little girl with a headband and flower in her hair and a strand of beads in her mouth. i think i had this same picture in my bedroom when i was a little girl.
after dinner i must have asked the wazitress a question and we started talking. i asked why she laughed in the beginning and she said because i wasnt supposed to sit down. we talked for an hour. she is egyptian and i think i have a new friend. decided to end the evening with a walk to the seine. decided i would be happy to live here!!!! had a sundae at mcdonalds and skyped lance and got kicked out at 1a.m. went back to my ripped wallpaper room and went to bed.
day 6.
days are blurring. at some point i saw the apartment. it is on the 6th floor, which is really the 7th. no elevator. toilet in the hall (but private) and a shower plopped in the apartment like a london telephone booth. and.......i kinda liked it.
day 7.
met another teacher from spain. she has been here for ten days and still no apartment. i decided to take mine! nuts? school will be interesting. feeling like they all have to cater to me because i dont speak french. met my office mate. a short little man that wears red shirts and black ties!
day 8.
first day of school. got tea at a cafe and loved the quirky barrista! had a meeting to sign a contract for my apartment. i actually had to sign it for a different apartment that this lady owns. she only rents the one that she is renting to me. it just sits there empty. She only has it so her kids can go to school in that neighborhood! (to my chicago friends, that will be funny) so, she pays rent to one lady and i pay her but pretend that i am really paying for a building that she owns.
day 9.
went to the same cafe as yesterday and was greeted by the quirky one with "tea with lemon?" in French. made my day. until i got to school and got the double kiss from my new office mate! that was a treat. got the keys to the apartment and tried to hurry there at 5 pm to clean a little before it got dark, because there was no elecctricity; I never got the code for the outside door, but fortunqtely someone was leaving. so, i went in but couldnt go back out again to buy supplies. so, i sat there and daydreamed. its so small; will send dimensions later. you wont believe me. had dinner with the hotel guy and his 12 year old niece. spent one more night here because i hadnt checked out on time.
day 10; what???? i havent been here for ten days. oh well. just follow along. took a taxi at 6 a.m. with all three bags to my new place. i think there are 119 steps. I wasnt sure the difference between buzzers and lightswitches, so i made three trips up by the light of my cell phone!! after school i bought cleaning supplies and zorked until dusk. then i lit candles! dinner at the pizza place looking for the egyptian. she wasnt there but the owner knew who i was. he said, mi casa su casa, when i left!
day thursday.
cold shower. no electricity, remember? walked an hour to school because the metro is on strike! what a walk. i really live in paris! more cleaning and candlelight.
day friday. that is today. i am sure there were other things i wanted to tell you and didnt, but i am happy to have started this. i will continue tomorrow. i am afraid i have to post this as is with no proofing becaquse i am at qn internet place and not even sure i knoz hoz to post!!! i promise i zill get shorter and more accurqte. keep in mind, i have the same keyboard at work with all the x=screens in french!! i will have to learn. my address is 40 rue monge if you want to google the neighborhood. it is the 5th arrondissement, the Latin Quarter. i feell like Mary Tyler Moore ready to throw my beret. home now to the broken apartment door. i broke it. i got my key stuck and now it has to be rekeyed. in the meantime, the door is propped open. fortunqtely its an interior door. i am sure my neighbors zill love me. i like my new accent when i reread "zill"!!! au revoir.
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