Days 38-48
Ok yes, I have been neglectful, you guys had gotten used to basically daily updates on here, but now that I am actually working it is hard. And I can only really do this outside working hours, which isn't fun, because I have like 45 minute commute. Plus technically I am not supposed to come in on the weekends, something to do with insurance not covering us stagaires (interns).
So lot to cover. In a short amound of time.
Conference on Biodiversity
It was ok. Great place to meet guys. They have to be smart in order to attend. There is one guy who is living here in Paris, haven't contacted him though. He's name is Corentin. And then there is this cute German guy named Thomas, who is living in Barcelona, Spain. He offered to show me around, so I am going to try and go to Barcelona next month. He speaks I think four languages, and and speaks spanish with a castillian lisp. Very cute. He rarely smiles, but one day, he actually smiled when he saw me. I will get a pic if I can.-
Speaking of guys got a really sweet e-mail from Gawan, but it mysteriously got erased with some other e-mails, boo-urns. In it he said that is was great having me in Vienna, and he hoped that there were some strong LADIES, to help me with my bags. He also offered to kick Guy's butt for me.
-Anyways back to the conference.
It was ok. Lots of free food. On the Monday night, I went out to dinner with my supervisor, his wife Marie (who is French), Jenny, Annette, and one of our workshop speakers Teddy, who is from the Philipines. He used to be a governor. It was a really posh dinner, I had escargot (they don't put cheese or mushrooms caps here though, just garlic butter and parsley),scallopes and creme brulee (why did I just discover this now?). It was expensive, but my supervisor paid for it. It was at least 35 euros a plate. Which is about 50 -60 Canadian, although with yesterdays exchange rate of a canadian dollar being less than .50 euros, it is even more expensive. I checked online tonight, and it said it's gone up 10 cents, but I don't know.
The tuesday night there was a reception at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The French Minister for F.A. is Michel Bernier. It was ok, it was really crowded. The President of Madagascar was there. Which was neat. This is incendently where I spoke to Thomas for the first time.
There were alot of foreign dignitaries at the conference. Government officals and the like, heads of the World Health Organization, World Wildlife Federation. I meet some Quebec MPPs and this nice guy named Jake Rice, who works in the Cdn. Dept of fisheries and Oceans.
Nothing really much else to say about that.
My departments workshop on indigenous knowledge and biodiversity went well. We had a booklaunch as well, and they served dried reindeer, in honour of Norway, which is the nationality of the author. I didn't really feel like eating rudolph though, so I passed on that one.
New friends
I have become really good friends with Steph and Jenny, it feels like I have known them forever, actually, it feels like I have always been in France. We go for drinks and dinner alot. Some times this can be expensive. I paid 7€ for a drink one night. It is really important to look at menus, and not just order, other wise, you end up paying 4€ for a glass of pop, like I did my first weekend here.
We've been to this cool underground place, that has all stone walls. It is run by an american. We also went to this great Chinese place, where we had Bo bun (kinda sounds like Baboon), it is a yummy thai salad.
I got to meet Steph's sister, she is such a sweetie, and they look so much a like. Steph has 5 brothers and sisters, her oldest brother is a year older than my mom!
I am the baby of the group, unless you count Lindsey the other intern from Canada. We have talked a bit. She is getting more money than I do, she is younger than me, she has travelled more and she has been here longer, plus she has gotten hired on.She got to go to a conference in Maritus in the south Pacific, I am so jealous. She doesn't really hang out with us though.
I forgot to mention ther is Khalissa, she is a little older maybe in her mid to late thirties. She is Algerian. She is one of the girls though, and always has lunch and coffee with us. Poor thing though she just broke up with her boyfriend.
Annette is ok. She doesn't really feel like one of the girls, you can just sense that she doesn't fit in. She never lets her hair down so to speak. I think part of the reason, I don't feel that close to her is because she had to go back home to Sweden for five days for her grandmother's funeral.
So basically I have been sociallizing with Steph and Jenny's crew. Which sometimes includes the cute British guy Ben who office is next to mine (Yes I have an office, more on that later).
Steph and her boyfriend Michael -who used to live where I am living now, and recommended the place to Annette when she was looking for accomodations for me- had a housewarming party last weekend, and I meet a girl from Barcelona (Georgina), and she invited me to stay with her. So now I will have to make an effort to see her and Thomas when I go to Spain.
The other day at lunch, just as we were leaving to go for a coffee, this lady dropped her tray and spilt stuff all over the bottom of Jenny's trousers, so she had to go home and change them. Poor thing. Last night, when the two of us when out for a drink, this guy at the table beside us, knocked over the salt and pepper shakers so I told Jenny she was a magnet for making things fall.
Sightseeing
I have seen alot of the big Parisien things: the champs elysees, the arc d'triomphe(284 stairs later). Binnie and I went there one night after work, because the museum up there has a world war one photo exposition. Binnie (my landlady in case you forgot) is really into the world wars. She treated me to gourmet pizza. I am dying for a yummy Pizza Pizza Canadian. The pizza here is different, there were slices of ham on it, as opposed to pieces. Its just not pizza unless its greasy.
I have been going to the Louvre every Friday night, because it is free to go after 6 if you are under 25. So I have seen the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo. To be honest, it was kind of like oh is that it? I got more excited seeing the pyramide inversee - which if you read or know about the Da Vinci Code, you know the signifigance- and walking into the Louvre, I actually hyperventilated a bit. Sad I know.
In the Da Vinci Code, they list all the grand masters of the secret sect Priory of Sion, and Victor Hugo is on there (so is Da Vinci), but today, with out really thinking, I went to the Victor Hugo museum, in his old apartment. It was alright. I was going before just because he is Victor Hugo,author of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (which I haven't read). Alot of my sightseeing has subconsciously been about the Da Vinci Code, hehe. His place kind of reminded me of the Hofburg, in Vienna, because there was this one room that is decorated in rich red fabrics like most of the rooms in the Hofburg.
The decorations in the Louvre have reminded me of the Viennese palaces, because they are so oranate. There is this Apollo room in the louvre, where the crown jewels are and the ceiling is just covered in frescoes, and gold. The Napoleon III apartments did have some nice furniture in it, but then there were some rooms, that just blew my mind, like how can people live like that?
I have to admit I haven't been sightseeing as much as I would like, but my mothers voice in my head saying see it all while you can has encourged me a bit. Although Thomas says that notion is very north American.
Today, is the first Sunday of the month so most of the museums are free. Annette and I went to the Picasso museum. That is some screwed up stuff. I don't understand it, and I don't think much of him. Incedently Unesco has a huge Picasso painting at Fontenay building (I am in the Miollis one). It actually says in my guide book to go check out Fontenay just for the art. After that we went to the Hugo museum, which I had already mentioned.
Language
The french is broken, but not bad. I can basically get my point across. It was quite the culture shock at first switching mental gears, from using my limited German and then suddenly having to switch to French. Plus, one of the participants in my departments workshop Marcella was Peruvian, and she didn't speak any English, so I also had to remember my Spanish. My poor brain, I mix them up once in a while. When I was at Steph's housewarming party, I said danke, out of habit from being in Austria. I am doing my best, and will try and look for language lessons soon.
Binnies daughter Aurelie (who is 19) came home on the weekend, and her friends were all over, and they don't speak english, so it was a challenge. But it is good for me in the long run.
My housemate Jose Luis moved out, so now I can't practice my spanish on him, but he works on the same floor, and I didn't see him that much anyways.
I think after I am done reading George Orwell's 1984, I am going to try and read Le Fantome de l'opera in French. I read the intro of this book on the Da Vinci code in french, but I needed the dictionary. Reading will help my language though.
WORK AND OFFICE
As I mentioned before I have an office. Finally. I was supposed to move into one office, on Monday, but Mike wanted that office, so he is getting it, I was going to move into his, which he shares with Khalissa. It would have been ok, but it is an office within a larger office.
When Annette was gone I was using her desk, and office, which she shares with Steph. Steph and I got along so well, that she talked to Doug about us sharing, and we talked to Annette who has agreed to move in with Khalissa. She likes quieter offices. She had the option of which office she wanted, so its not like we kicked her out.
The work is interesting, I am transcribing interviews about Cree traditional stories. It is long days though, from 9- 9:30 to 6 at night. I wouldn't mind working here full time, Doug doesn't know, budget wise if I can get a 3 month contract after though, but I want to work hard to prove myself. So that's everything in a nutshell. I am tired and ready to go home. I will try and write more, although the weekdays will be a little boring with work and stuff...
So lot to cover. In a short amound of time.
Conference on Biodiversity
It was ok. Great place to meet guys. They have to be smart in order to attend. There is one guy who is living here in Paris, haven't contacted him though. He's name is Corentin. And then there is this cute German guy named Thomas, who is living in Barcelona, Spain. He offered to show me around, so I am going to try and go to Barcelona next month. He speaks I think four languages, and and speaks spanish with a castillian lisp. Very cute. He rarely smiles, but one day, he actually smiled when he saw me. I will get a pic if I can.-
Speaking of guys got a really sweet e-mail from Gawan, but it mysteriously got erased with some other e-mails, boo-urns. In it he said that is was great having me in Vienna, and he hoped that there were some strong LADIES, to help me with my bags. He also offered to kick Guy's butt for me.
-Anyways back to the conference.
It was ok. Lots of free food. On the Monday night, I went out to dinner with my supervisor, his wife Marie (who is French), Jenny, Annette, and one of our workshop speakers Teddy, who is from the Philipines. He used to be a governor. It was a really posh dinner, I had escargot (they don't put cheese or mushrooms caps here though, just garlic butter and parsley),scallopes and creme brulee (why did I just discover this now?). It was expensive, but my supervisor paid for it. It was at least 35 euros a plate. Which is about 50 -60 Canadian, although with yesterdays exchange rate of a canadian dollar being less than .50 euros, it is even more expensive. I checked online tonight, and it said it's gone up 10 cents, but I don't know.
The tuesday night there was a reception at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The French Minister for F.A. is Michel Bernier. It was ok, it was really crowded. The President of Madagascar was there. Which was neat. This is incendently where I spoke to Thomas for the first time.
There were alot of foreign dignitaries at the conference. Government officals and the like, heads of the World Health Organization, World Wildlife Federation. I meet some Quebec MPPs and this nice guy named Jake Rice, who works in the Cdn. Dept of fisheries and Oceans.
Nothing really much else to say about that.
My departments workshop on indigenous knowledge and biodiversity went well. We had a booklaunch as well, and they served dried reindeer, in honour of Norway, which is the nationality of the author. I didn't really feel like eating rudolph though, so I passed on that one.
New friends
I have become really good friends with Steph and Jenny, it feels like I have known them forever, actually, it feels like I have always been in France. We go for drinks and dinner alot. Some times this can be expensive. I paid 7€ for a drink one night. It is really important to look at menus, and not just order, other wise, you end up paying 4€ for a glass of pop, like I did my first weekend here.
We've been to this cool underground place, that has all stone walls. It is run by an american. We also went to this great Chinese place, where we had Bo bun (kinda sounds like Baboon), it is a yummy thai salad.
I got to meet Steph's sister, she is such a sweetie, and they look so much a like. Steph has 5 brothers and sisters, her oldest brother is a year older than my mom!
I am the baby of the group, unless you count Lindsey the other intern from Canada. We have talked a bit. She is getting more money than I do, she is younger than me, she has travelled more and she has been here longer, plus she has gotten hired on.She got to go to a conference in Maritus in the south Pacific, I am so jealous. She doesn't really hang out with us though.
I forgot to mention ther is Khalissa, she is a little older maybe in her mid to late thirties. She is Algerian. She is one of the girls though, and always has lunch and coffee with us. Poor thing though she just broke up with her boyfriend.
Annette is ok. She doesn't really feel like one of the girls, you can just sense that she doesn't fit in. She never lets her hair down so to speak. I think part of the reason, I don't feel that close to her is because she had to go back home to Sweden for five days for her grandmother's funeral.
So basically I have been sociallizing with Steph and Jenny's crew. Which sometimes includes the cute British guy Ben who office is next to mine (Yes I have an office, more on that later).
Steph and her boyfriend Michael -who used to live where I am living now, and recommended the place to Annette when she was looking for accomodations for me- had a housewarming party last weekend, and I meet a girl from Barcelona (Georgina), and she invited me to stay with her. So now I will have to make an effort to see her and Thomas when I go to Spain.
The other day at lunch, just as we were leaving to go for a coffee, this lady dropped her tray and spilt stuff all over the bottom of Jenny's trousers, so she had to go home and change them. Poor thing. Last night, when the two of us when out for a drink, this guy at the table beside us, knocked over the salt and pepper shakers so I told Jenny she was a magnet for making things fall.
Sightseeing
I have seen alot of the big Parisien things: the champs elysees, the arc d'triomphe(284 stairs later). Binnie and I went there one night after work, because the museum up there has a world war one photo exposition. Binnie (my landlady in case you forgot) is really into the world wars. She treated me to gourmet pizza. I am dying for a yummy Pizza Pizza Canadian. The pizza here is different, there were slices of ham on it, as opposed to pieces. Its just not pizza unless its greasy.
I have been going to the Louvre every Friday night, because it is free to go after 6 if you are under 25. So I have seen the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo. To be honest, it was kind of like oh is that it? I got more excited seeing the pyramide inversee - which if you read or know about the Da Vinci Code, you know the signifigance- and walking into the Louvre, I actually hyperventilated a bit. Sad I know.
In the Da Vinci Code, they list all the grand masters of the secret sect Priory of Sion, and Victor Hugo is on there (so is Da Vinci), but today, with out really thinking, I went to the Victor Hugo museum, in his old apartment. It was alright. I was going before just because he is Victor Hugo,author of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (which I haven't read). Alot of my sightseeing has subconsciously been about the Da Vinci Code, hehe. His place kind of reminded me of the Hofburg, in Vienna, because there was this one room that is decorated in rich red fabrics like most of the rooms in the Hofburg.
The decorations in the Louvre have reminded me of the Viennese palaces, because they are so oranate. There is this Apollo room in the louvre, where the crown jewels are and the ceiling is just covered in frescoes, and gold. The Napoleon III apartments did have some nice furniture in it, but then there were some rooms, that just blew my mind, like how can people live like that?
I have to admit I haven't been sightseeing as much as I would like, but my mothers voice in my head saying see it all while you can has encourged me a bit. Although Thomas says that notion is very north American.
Today, is the first Sunday of the month so most of the museums are free. Annette and I went to the Picasso museum. That is some screwed up stuff. I don't understand it, and I don't think much of him. Incedently Unesco has a huge Picasso painting at Fontenay building (I am in the Miollis one). It actually says in my guide book to go check out Fontenay just for the art. After that we went to the Hugo museum, which I had already mentioned.
Language
The french is broken, but not bad. I can basically get my point across. It was quite the culture shock at first switching mental gears, from using my limited German and then suddenly having to switch to French. Plus, one of the participants in my departments workshop Marcella was Peruvian, and she didn't speak any English, so I also had to remember my Spanish. My poor brain, I mix them up once in a while. When I was at Steph's housewarming party, I said danke, out of habit from being in Austria. I am doing my best, and will try and look for language lessons soon.
Binnies daughter Aurelie (who is 19) came home on the weekend, and her friends were all over, and they don't speak english, so it was a challenge. But it is good for me in the long run.
My housemate Jose Luis moved out, so now I can't practice my spanish on him, but he works on the same floor, and I didn't see him that much anyways.
I think after I am done reading George Orwell's 1984, I am going to try and read Le Fantome de l'opera in French. I read the intro of this book on the Da Vinci code in french, but I needed the dictionary. Reading will help my language though.
WORK AND OFFICE
As I mentioned before I have an office. Finally. I was supposed to move into one office, on Monday, but Mike wanted that office, so he is getting it, I was going to move into his, which he shares with Khalissa. It would have been ok, but it is an office within a larger office.
When Annette was gone I was using her desk, and office, which she shares with Steph. Steph and I got along so well, that she talked to Doug about us sharing, and we talked to Annette who has agreed to move in with Khalissa. She likes quieter offices. She had the option of which office she wanted, so its not like we kicked her out.
The work is interesting, I am transcribing interviews about Cree traditional stories. It is long days though, from 9- 9:30 to 6 at night. I wouldn't mind working here full time, Doug doesn't know, budget wise if I can get a 3 month contract after though, but I want to work hard to prove myself. So that's everything in a nutshell. I am tired and ready to go home. I will try and write more, although the weekdays will be a little boring with work and stuff...
posted by Kristin @ 2:26 pm
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