I move in two days to the apartment I mentioned in my last post. I can't wait!
In addition, on the same day I found that apartment, I found out I got an interview with a Dutch software company, based in Paris, for a technical writer position. I only sent my resume out to 2 companies on a whim after seeing their ads on the Paris craigslist. So you could say that I was pleased.
After another interview with the same company I was offered a part-time job! I will be doing technical writing in english. However, while my co-workers are all bilingual, they prefer to speak french. So I hope I talk in french at the office here more than I did in Quebec. The job may turn full-time in May and the initial contract is until the end of the year. However, I only planned to be here til June and I'm not sure I want to stay until the end of the year so I told them for now I can only stay until September.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Time To Get Out Mah Camera!
I still haven't found a place yet. I got close a few times this week but no dice. Oh well, hopefully the one tomorrow will be it. The pics looked nice enough but I'm trying not to get my hopes up.
Since I've been worrying about finding a place, I haven't really gone sightseeing much, at least not in the sense of bringing my camera and popping it out at every turn like a good tourist. In fact, I still haven't got used to the fact that I have a camera. The first time I took out my camera was, a week after arriving, on one of the days my cousin was giving me a grand tour of Paris. She brought me up to the top floor of a building to a little known spot where I could get almost as good a view of the city as from the Eiffel tower. Anyways, I had the sense to take out my camera then to record the sights. Dusk was just arriving, so the Eiffel Tower was just lighting up and the road leading to the Madeleine looked splendid. I took about 5 minutes of footage before realizing that I forgot to hit the record button. I was too lazy to do it all again.
Anyways, yesterday I decided to go to the Chinese New Year's Parade in Paris' Chinatown. I was supposed to meet up with some new friends for the first time. However, surprise surprise, I arrived late for this meetup. It wasn't my fault though, my train just didn't come.
My meetup was at 1pm. I forgot that the trains come only every 1/2hr on Sundays instead of every 15 minutes. It takes me 45 minutes to get downtown so I should have taken the 11:45am train if I wanted to be a bit early and the 12:17pm train if I wanted to be exactly on time. I was aiming to catch the 12:17pm train. It usually takes me 15-20 minutes to walk to the train station. I left the house at 12:05pm so had to run part of the way to the station. I managed to reach the station at 12:11pm (there was some serious running involved). 12:17pm arrived and no train. 12:20pm came and still neither train nor announcement. In fact, the intercom was eerily silent. We all noticed that the board said that the next train was coming at 12:47pm. Thus, everyone on the platform was asking around to see if we somehow missed the train because we couldn't believe that we would have to wait another 1/2 hr for the next train. It seemed that the mysterious train operators just decided to change the schedule with no warning or apology to the passengers. I knew there was no way I would make it to my 1pm meetup in time but I decided to go to the parade anyways and take in the sights and sounds.
I reached Chinatown at around 1:45pm. Following the crowds, I had no difficulty finding the parade. When I saw a well-decorated float I excitedly remembered that I had a camera. I wanted to be one of those tourists flashing away at any and everything. I took one pic. Then saw a flashing red light on the camera. I took one more. Immediately, I saw a notice on the LCD saying 'Battery exhausted', before the camera completely shut down.
Oh la la.
Since I've been worrying about finding a place, I haven't really gone sightseeing much, at least not in the sense of bringing my camera and popping it out at every turn like a good tourist. In fact, I still haven't got used to the fact that I have a camera. The first time I took out my camera was, a week after arriving, on one of the days my cousin was giving me a grand tour of Paris. She brought me up to the top floor of a building to a little known spot where I could get almost as good a view of the city as from the Eiffel tower. Anyways, I had the sense to take out my camera then to record the sights. Dusk was just arriving, so the Eiffel Tower was just lighting up and the road leading to the Madeleine looked splendid. I took about 5 minutes of footage before realizing that I forgot to hit the record button. I was too lazy to do it all again.
Anyways, yesterday I decided to go to the Chinese New Year's Parade in Paris' Chinatown. I was supposed to meet up with some new friends for the first time. However, surprise surprise, I arrived late for this meetup. It wasn't my fault though, my train just didn't come.
My meetup was at 1pm. I forgot that the trains come only every 1/2hr on Sundays instead of every 15 minutes. It takes me 45 minutes to get downtown so I should have taken the 11:45am train if I wanted to be a bit early and the 12:17pm train if I wanted to be exactly on time. I was aiming to catch the 12:17pm train. It usually takes me 15-20 minutes to walk to the train station. I left the house at 12:05pm so had to run part of the way to the station. I managed to reach the station at 12:11pm (there was some serious running involved). 12:17pm arrived and no train. 12:20pm came and still neither train nor announcement. In fact, the intercom was eerily silent. We all noticed that the board said that the next train was coming at 12:47pm. Thus, everyone on the platform was asking around to see if we somehow missed the train because we couldn't believe that we would have to wait another 1/2 hr for the next train. It seemed that the mysterious train operators just decided to change the schedule with no warning or apology to the passengers. I knew there was no way I would make it to my 1pm meetup in time but I decided to go to the parade anyways and take in the sights and sounds.
I reached Chinatown at around 1:45pm. Following the crowds, I had no difficulty finding the parade. When I saw a well-decorated float I excitedly remembered that I had a camera. I wanted to be one of those tourists flashing away at any and everything. I took one pic. Then saw a flashing red light on the camera. I took one more. Immediately, I saw a notice on the LCD saying 'Battery exhausted', before the camera completely shut down.
Oh la la.
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