Oh To Be In Paris (Part II)

I have decided to add to the list I made earlier on the note-worthy things about Paris and the French.

• The French REALLY do love their baguettes. Many of them go to the bakery every morning before they go to work to get their morning baguette fix. Others go in the evenings so that they don't have to wait in the long lines at the bakery in the morning. At the very least they buy their baguette fresh from the bakery on weekend mornings. You know you're in France when you find that all Chinese restaurants sell a sandwich made with the baguette bread and porc/chicken instead of just the staple rice dishes. In fact, many of the small take-out Chinese places, called a traiteur in French, often have more sandwiches and salads on the menu than other dishes.
• There is dog poo everywhere in Paris. Like a British classmate of mine noted, the worst thing is that so many people have a small dog that they walk everyday but no one picks up the poo. This is despite the fact that there is a law in place for people to clean up after their pets.
• I find the traffic signs here much more confusing than the ones in Québec and that is saying a lot. I swear the location of the traffic lights make it seem like they are trying to hide them from public view. Also, the central meeting point of intersections here are much bigger than the normal 4-way maximum smaller ones in North America. In addition, the centre of the intersections here is usually shaped like a circle so that the road area that serves as the meeting point of all the cars approaching from the intersection is a huge circle. I've seen 4- or 5-way intersections where 3 or 4 of the cars approaching from the intersection from different directions all press forward in what seems to be a race of first-to-reach-the-centre-gets-right-of-way but none of them ever really slow down. I don't think I will be driving in France anytime soon.
• On the subways here, musicians are allowed to get on the train and sing, play or do both. Often, they have a contraption in which they've plugged a mike or their instrument to boost the sound of their music. This contraption is usually firmly secured to one of those small wheeled carts that I see a lot of people pulling around when they go grocery shopping. I know there must be some proper name for the contraptions that increase the sound but I dont know it. Anyways, so far, I've really enjoyed all the musicians that happened to get on the train car in which I was sitting. Today I found myself tapping my feet to the lively singing in italian being done by two men who got on the train. They had background music that they were blasting from their contraption, no mike, but cheerful faces AND they were clapping.
• This past weekend, thanks to my cousin knowing people in the film industry, I found out about and went to the 2008 European Independent Film Festival. It was in its third year and I guess that in order to increase attendance and visibility the event was free . I love watching foreign films so it was the perfect event to attend. I liked meeting the people, actors, directors and film-makers trying to make a name for themselves. My only regret is that I didn't take better advantage of the situation and watch more films.
  Oh, during the closing ceremony, they had an independent artist perform. She played the guitar and the instrument that looks like a very small guitar and she sang. It was her singing that I loved. She only introduced herself as Melissa so I have to go find her name in the program. Melissa had a great voice. Her singing and me appreciating it made me remember that there are a lot of excellent artists out there who may not be as well known as Christina Aguilera or Amy Lee but they are just as talented. Also, I should make the effort to discover and start listening to some of the excellent indie artists out there.

Life's Little Moments

Hmm, this past week I learnt that my family's kitchen was basically destroyed by a fire. Luckily it didn't spread to the rest of the house. The damage is a bit less, thanks to my pig-headed father refusing to leave the kitchen until he put out the fire, although it was almost completely in flames and they had called the fire truck. He's very lucky he didn't get burnt. We have insurance so I trust it will get fixed soon and all will be OK.

In other news, don't you love those little moments you observe in life which leave you with a smile playing on your lips? Like the time I was on the subway in Toronto...It was a late summer morning so it was nice and sunny. The train was above ground and passing by a slighly wooded area when I SAW A DEER. It was one of those deer that looked like Bambi - brown with white spots. It looked fairly young and must have been because it was standing right by the train tracks. I don't think an older deer would have stood so close by as the train passed. When the train passed by, the deer looked up and seemed to look right at me before turning and bounding away. I felt awed - it was the first time I saw a real live deer. I turned around excitedly to look at the other passengers and see if they had also seen it. However, no one else seemed to have noticed. They were all doing something, whether sleeping or reading the paper or talking. I remember wishing they had gotten the opportunity I had. That would have livened up their morning. In that one second when the deer looked at me, I felt a huge connection to nature. That really made my day. I arrived at school in an excellent mood. Even now when I remember I feel a smile tugging at my lips.

Then there was the time, I was walking to church, angry at my family because, like always, we were late for church but that time we were really late and no one seemed to care. I had left them all at the house. I left in a huff because they were in no rush to leave...
On my way to church, I approached an old man with a little girl no older than four who I assumed was his granddaughter. They were walking towards me and holding hands. Because I think that young children are God's cutest creation I slowed down so that I could get a better look at the girl. In so doing I was able to better observe them...Although the old man was shuffling along slowly, the little girl, because of her size, was taking quick, bouncing steps and chatting excitedly. She would look up at him every few seconds. As they came closer I realized that they were talking in Ukrainian or Russian. To be honest, I'm not sure which language it was but it was most definitely an Eastern European language. I could also tell that the little was questioning the old man every now and then because she would chatter for a few seconds, then say something and look up at him. He would then lovingly look at her and respond with a smile. I felt touched to witness the interaction between someone who was just starting life and someone who was nearing the end. I know it is a very cliché thing to say, but it truly was beautiful to see and I felt my anger quickly dissolve.

Little Mosque vs. Aliens

Before Aliens in America (final pic in this post) there was Little Mosque On The Prairie (cast pic on bottom left). In fact, I just finished watching the last few episodes of Season Two of this Canadian sitcom. While it still has the feel of a Canadian comedy, it has definitely improved from Season One and I find myself looking forward to Season Three in the fall. The show is about Muslims living in a rural community in Canada. It follows a young imam from Toronto who trades life as a lawyer to go the religious route in a small town. It deals with how the Muslims and the rest of the community interact. When the show started I watched the first few episodes because I really liked the concept of the show. I'm all for sending a message, etc. I also believe that, as a practising Christian, I would identify with some of the issues young Muslims face as I am also bound by rules and commandments. Plus, the creator of the show went to my uni.

I found the show to be ok, not very funny but no worse than some other sitcoms on TV. As I mentioned before, it had a distint Canadian feel to me, much like Corner Gas, except with Little Mosque... I actually got the jokes. I am glad that the show at least tries to show all the different types of Muslims, like the immigrants, the very traditional, the moderate, the converted, Canadian, etc. Anyways, the show didn't garner my attention enough for it to be must-see TV so I missed quite a few episodes. However, this past Christmas it was heavily advertised as having two episodes on one night for the holiday season and I started watching it again. I just caught up completely and I am impressed. It's still not the funniest thing out there but it's gotten much better. I was glad to find out that as of this season the show was being broadcast in over 80 countries including some in French-speaking Africa, the Middle East (such as Gaza) and several European countries (Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, et al).

I still hear people say insensitive things about Muslims, even in Toronto with all its diversity. Heck, I'm sure I have some misconceptions about Islam too and I sure don't know a lot about the religion. Little Mosque... clears up some misconceptions and also serves to inform. Dare I say that I've learnt some things about Islam from watching this show. I mean, I honestly didn't know that, in Islam, it is forbidden for women to dance in front of or with men who are not their husbands. Nonetheless, I think the main point of the show is not to highlight differences but to show that regardless of religion, we are all the same. Thus, there are a lot of everyday sitcom situations that are explored.

I know there was hope that Little Mosque... would get picked up in the US but alas they had to come up with their own series and I'm sure they'll talk about Aliens in America like it is a completely original idea. There are a few differences but the premise of a Muslim integrating into North American life and the social message that the show sends are the same. However, with Aliens... being an American show, of course, the main Muslim is not American because it would be too much for him to be Muslim, brown AND American. But I guess I should be commending them. Baby steps are always good. Actually, I quite like Aliens... I think it is funny. And hey, it is filmed in Vancouver!

Loving The New Place

I moved into the apartment last night! See the entrance pic, i.e., the one with the door. That's my window on the bottom left. The same one behind the green curtain in the pic with the TV. I live in the rez-de-chausée aka the ground floor apartment. Did I mention that I absolutely love the fact that there is a washing machine, WIFI internet and a TV in the apartment? Because I do. I really do. Trust me when I say most apartments in Paris don't include these amenities North Americans take for granted.

I only brought my carry-on luggage as my other two big suitcases were too large to bring on the metro and my uncle offered to bring them to me next week. Nonetheless, though I'm not fully settled yet, I love it! City life is most definitely the life for me. I like that I can walk up the road and find a pharmacy, at least 2 supermarkets, at least 1 ladies' fashion store, at least 2 bakeries, a butcher shop, at least 2 bars, a café, 2 banks, numerous little stores and at least one each of a Chinese, a French and an Indian restaurant.

I went grocery shopping today. I love going grocery shopping on my own. I get to decide what to buy and what I want to make for dinner and it's all very exciting. I like trying new recipes. I haven't bought much meat to cook yet because I believe I brought some seasonings like a huge container of curry powder and one of jerk seasoning and maybe some others but I left them in the big suitcase. Since I can't verify yet and I don't wanna spend more than necessary, I will wait and live off dumplings, pasta, bread/baguette/crêpes and noodles this week.

God is good!

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.

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.

Oh To Be In Paris (Part I)

I'm not sure if this will be the first in a series or just a one-shot dedicated to comments I HAVE to make about Paris and France. So far, here's what I can think of:

• Coffee machines, similar to soda machines, can be seen all over the place especially on the metro. These things make brewed-on-the-spot little cups of a very wide variety of coffees. I've seen similar ones in North America before but not ones that have such variety (i.e. long Italian names, sounds hard to make and elaborate descriptions) and are so abundant and actually not expensive
  
• One has to actually do work to enter or leave the metro trains because the train doors don't automatically open like the ones in the Toronto, Montréal or New York. Plus, each train seems to have a different system to open the door. For example, for one train, you have to press a button while for another you have to pull up a lever. These mechanisms are located on both sides of the door. Both the commuter waiting on the platform and the ones in the train need not both do work but one of them have to do something for the door to open. The beauty of this sytem is that all the doors on the trains don't all open at every stop. A particuliar door on a train doesn't open unless someone wants to enter or leave from that door.
  
• The metro stations where one can transfer to another train have the longest walking distance between connectiong trains that I have ever seen. In fact, today I got off one train to transfer to another train and the walk was so long that although they had one of those moving walks (like the ones at big airports) it still took me almost 10 minutes to get to my other train, and this wasn't rush hour AND I was walking fairly fast.
• This morning, I had a stranger ask me to allow her to follow directly behind me to get into the train station. So we both squeezed through the turnstile together. Then from there I went to take a train headed for a different zone where one would either need to buy another ticket or have a metro pass valid for the zone like I did....only to find said lady at the turnstile pretending to search for her nonexistent ticket. Her face lit up when she saw me and she asked again to have us both squeeze into the turnstile. So I got another reason for the conductors doing random ticket checks.
• When people go to restaurants and cafés here, they can literally stay at their table chatting for over an hour, after finishing their meal, without the waiter even glancing their way to rush them out of the restaurant like they tend to do in North America. This is even if all that was bought was a glass of orange juice.
• Above mentioned orange juice can easily cost 3,50 Euros BEFORE taxes and this being from a very small bottle.
• The buildings ARE as beautiful as they look in movies and on TV. Even ordinary stores are in, what to me look like, magnificent buildings.

My uncle told me that my metro pass will allow me to go to Versailles! A place oft mentioned in my European History 'A' Level classes. Uber-cool!