The Francophilette

European Tour 2011: 18 Nov - Travel and London

2011-11-19T18:08:00.008-05:00

On our way to Paris we decided to drop by London. We are in London to celebrate the 80th birthday of my mother-in-law Marie, and to visit Westminster Abbey.

Click here to view these pictures larger

My mother-in-law is a real world traveler. She's been to Japan, Hawaii, Australia, Ireland, Paris (for someone's wedding) and Egypt to name a few. She has even been to London a few times. In fact, her first time in London was at the same time as the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June of 1953. Unfortunately, Westminster Abbey was closed to prepare for the ceremony and Marie was not able to go in and see it. Throughout the years she returned to London, most recently in 2005, and each time Westminster Abbey was closed for one reason or another.

So, Fred and I thought that it would be cool to try again. We decided to make a trip of it. Fred, Marie, Bianca - Fred's daughter- and I hopped on a plane, which was delayed due to a "Suspicious" Man, and went to Europe.

Here are some pictures of our European Tour 2011-18 November - Travel and London

We did get to go into Westminster Abbey, but there is no photography allowed, so no pictures of the inside. BUT we do have the ticket stubs to prove it!

Enjoy,

Johnette

Visiting Paris: Things You Will Need Before You Go

2011-08-14T21:15:00.000-04:00

Paris...the mother ship...I am often asked by friends and family who are going to Paris - or who have friends and family going to Paris - to recommend things that they might need, see and do while in the City of Light. I've compiled a pretty good list that I'll share below.

Takeoff over NYC from JFK International

Airplane tickets: Of course you should start with airplane tickets. I recommend taking the Air France Airbus A380 which currently flies from CDG Paris to New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Johannesburg and Tokyo. There is a link to the Air France A380 website below so you can see how awesome it is. We first took this airplane in November 2010 from JFK-CDG. We sat in the cheap seats, which weren't so cheap. We were cozy and squished, and I sat next to the window as usual. There are ten seats across each row (3/4/3), with little to no leg room and we really felt sorry for the giant sitting in the aisle seat across from us. It's good to be short sometimes. We did get a chance to see how the other half lived. Since we were all the way in the back of the plane, we were able to run up the back staircase...yes, the back staircase... to the peek at the second floor business class cabin above.

Sunrise over the Atlantic flying East to Paris

The food on Air France is pretty darn good for airplane food - especially when flying out of Paris. There are even snack and beverage self service areas for the passengers conveniently located throughout the cabin. BUT... this convenience comes with a price. Sadly, the service on the A380 left something to be desired. If you want a drink in the middle of the flight, you have to get up and get it yourself. The air hosts/hostesses no longer serve food or drink outside of the designated serving times. They don't walk up and down the aisles anymore between meal services with their drink cart, a bottle of water or even a small plastic garbage bag. They also don't clear your tray if you are a slow eater - not that I"m talking from experience... twice on the same flight!

Safe landing at CDG Paris

Not such a glowing review you say, well besides being a very smooth and FAST ride, there are CCTV cameras mounted on the nose, belly and tail of the aircraft. During takeoff and landing all of the TVs on the airplane show the video from the tail-mounted camera. The pictures above are of our actual flight, but not taken by me... I was kinda nauseous watching. Puketastic!

On the #69 with our Rick Steves' Paris 2008

Guidebooks : Preparing for our Paris wedding back in September 2008, I bought a lot of guidebooks. As a pre-Paris welcome gift, I sent a different guidebook - and notebook- to each couple or person who was coming to our wedding. We thought it would help our friends and family take better advantage of their time in Paris, but secretly I was super excited about it for another reason. Not only did I get to spend a lot of time in bookstores buying these guides with discount coupons, BUT...I also quickly read each one of them before I sent them out. What????... I secretly wish to do this for each of my vacations ;)

So, that is how I realized that Rick Steves' Paris is one of my favorites. This guide is very user friendly, easy to navigate and to understand. There are suggestions for what to see and do broken down by length of stay as well as some great walking tours in certain neighborhoods and near most monuments. There is even an entry for the "BUS #69 SIGHTSEEING TOUR From the Eiffel Tower to Père Lachaise Cemetery". Besides riding with locals, as many tourists take the Metro, this bus passes by the Bastille, the Louvre, and many other cool destinations on the way. In fact, Rick suggests that at the Bastille you "hop out and begin our walking tour of the Marais, page 263)." Convenient and thoughtful! Rick Steves also offers walking tours by podcast for free on iTunes. http://www.ricksteves.com/

Notebook: Along with the guide books that we sent out, we also included a small notebook for...notes. Your notebook can be as simple or as fancy as you want. It can range from a small monochromatic spiral bound notebook to something fancier that has a pocket for the business cards you take from each place or restaurant you visit. A pocket-sized notebook is a great way to help you stay organized and gives you easy access to important information.

Being particular, I like to organize my notebook in a specific/chronological way. I put our travel information first with the airline name/phone number, date and time of our flight...including the reservation numbers. The names and numbers of the pet camp where our dogs stay is usually next. Any necessary transportation information such as car reservation number, phone number of the car service or even the bus info*. Our lodging information next, name, number, address of the hotel or door code/ entry directions when we rent apartments. I always include any places we would like to see, anything we would like to do, and places we would like to eat. Don't forget to include their closest Metro stop and their days/hours of operation. I also use this notebook through out the trip to jot down any notes or suggestions you might get while still in Paris. Plus, this is a great way to jog your memory when people ask for recommendations for stuff they might need, see and do in Paris.

Bon voyage! Paris is always a good idea!

Air France Airbus A380:

http://www.airfrance.us/US/en/common/guidevoyageur/classeetconfort/A380_presentation_airfrance.htm

*Another Air France bus that we like is their bus service between CDG and Paris.

Waking up to French confusion

2011-07-14T06:18:00.001-04:00

Waking up to French confusion - I wonder if this is how the few prisoners felt when the Bastille was stormed?

We are renting an apartment in Paris for the second leg of our "Winter European Extravaganza" - not the official title- and I let the apartment owner know that she can call me any time after 5:00am Eastern to process the credit card deposit. Well I forgot! and so this morning I was not only woken up at 5:00 sharp by our hungry and barking dogs, but by the telephone. On the other line was a very sweet French woman who might just be thinking twice about renting her apartment to some crazy drunken American.

The conversation went something like this:
Me: What? Hello? What's wrong?*
Florence: Bonjour Johnette. This is Florence from France.**
Me: What? Who? Where? Huh?*
Florence: Oh, is this too early? I am sorry but you told me that you wake up early and that I can call you after 5:00am. My husband is here with his iPhone and I can now call to the US and we can process the credit card for the deposit on the apartment. Is this ok now? Are you awake or have I woken you? Hello? Johnette are you there? **
Me: What? Huh? Oh, yes. I'm sorry. No, no, I'm awake (drop the phone), I'm here, It's no problem. I just have to find the phone. *
Florence: Excuse me? Yes, I am calling you on the phone.**
Me (talking on the standard corded phone): No, no... I just have to find the...can you hold?***
Me (wondering to myself): How do you say cordless in French?

*In groggy English
**THIS WAS ALL IN RAPID SUCCESSION FRENCH - which is usually no problem as I would like to think that I am fluent, but just not at 5:15am!
***Talking now in the hybrid language of French-English-Sleep

I found the cordless phone and we were able to get through the transaction quite smoothly after that. My French even improved a bit, but really, I can't be held responsible for my grammar in my mother tongue before 6:00am let alone in a second language.

Taking the Airbus A380 EV1

2011-01-04T19:46:00.001-05:00

Flying is always an adventure, an adventure in anxiety. I hate flying so much that I even get anxiety when I buy the airline tickets. This past trip was no exception.

Flight 007 JFK-CDG

In November - December 2010 we took a two-week trip, including Thanksgiving, to Europe to see some friends in Switzerland and Germany, and to chill out in Paris. After much hesitation and hemming and hawing, I booked two tickets on the Airbus A380, operated by Air France, flying from NYC to Paris Charles de Gaulle.

The massive wing and tail wing. Crazy big!

Since we were flying from JFK on a Friday afternoon, we didn't want to ask our friends or family to take us to the airport. I booked us a private car with one of Fred's customers who is a private chauffeur to the stars - Danny DeVito and George Carlin when he was alive. This should have been my first clue. The trip to JFK which, at 3:00am, is a 45 mile/50 minute trip door to door. Since it was a Friday afternoon, the trip to the airport took us about 1.5 hours, it was no big deal as we built in enough time for typical traffic. I figured it should cost about $300.00 round trip, and it wound up costing 1.5 times that. Note to self, when the driver quotes you a price per hour, remember the price includes the time it takes him to get to you and to get himself back home, i.e. too expensive, so next time we just might ask a friend or family member to drive us.

Who's game?

A Korean Air Boeing 747 parked next to us.
Our plane's bigger! (scary)

This is the first post in the European vacation series.

La Ferme du Champ de Mars - in English

2010-10-31T22:05:00.000-04:00

I'm ready to buy an apartment in Paris; I wish my bank account were ready too. The picture that is at the top of my blog is actually a picture from an awesome apartment in the 15th Arrondisement on Avenue de Suffren. This is literally right across the street from the Eiffel Tower. Although the neighborhood has the potential to be a little too touristy, there is really a nice mixture of souvenir shops and local stores.

One of those local stores is a cheese shop right around the corner from the "Eiffel Tower Loft" - the name we gave the apartment - called "La Ferme du Champ de Mars" located on rue Desaix. This fromagerie has no website, no fancy storefront, it's just a place to buy authentic cheese

Only being in Paris a few hours, we were a little intimidated to go into the shop, but we were hungry and we wanted cheese. We had just bought a steaming hot baguette from the boulanger down the street and our mouths were salivating from the smell of the bread and the look of the cheese.

When we walked into the shop, we were greeted by the warm smile of the woman behind the counter. She spoke no English and I had still not gotten my sea legs, so our transaction took a little longer than it maybe should have taken. We all did a lot of pointing, a lot of smiling and a lot of tasting.

So, we walked out of there with a small wheel of Camembert and pepper Brie. After tasting the Camembert, we went back and bought 14 more wheels - one for each of our wedding welcome bags. The pepper Brie has become an obsession of ours. We have not been able to find anything like it here in the US and can't wait to get back to Paris to eat it again. We leave in less than three weeks and I know that there are a lot of fromageries in Paris, but La Ferme du Champ de Mars is on our list of first stops!

Fred and I rented this apartment for our last trip to Paris in September/October 2008 (for our wedding).

Paris is always a good idea

2010-07-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

I am not sure who first said it, or who coined it, but Paris is always a good idea.

10 years ago I left my heart in Paris and ever since I have been thinking and dreaming of that amazing city. As you may know, we were married in Paris in September 2008 (see picture below - by the way, the carousel was moving when the picture was taken) and we plan to move there in 4 years I am always thinking of ways to support and sustain our life when we are in Paris and I think that we have stumbled upon a pretty darn good idea.

More details to follow soon.

Just know that I was put on this planet to help people and if I can combine that with Paris, then we all are winners.

A full work week

2010-02-26T12:24:00.001-05:00

Speaking of my new job, since starting on Monday, February 8th, I have not yet worked a full 37.5 hour work week. The first week we had off on Wednesday due to snow, the Monday of the second week was President's Day and now the office closed early yesterday due to inclement weather and they are closed again today due to snow.

So I have to give up some freedoms like making my own schedule and being my own boss, but less than three weeks into it, I don't miss the pressure that comes with owning your own business. After working for myself for the last 5 years, it's nice to be paid even when you don't work.

The one thing that I never really got used to was being alone in the "office". I would sometimes have to turn on the TV for company when I didn't have students, or when I was at home doing administrative work. I do miss my former "colleagues", but it's nice to have human colleagues again, and it's even nice to hear the white noise of people talking on the other side of the cubicle.

My hours are pretty sweet. I get out of work at 4:30pm and then have the rest of the day to myself- well, I have the rest of the day to go to class at WPU Monday - Wednesday nights and teach Thursday and Friday nights.

One of the hardest things about this job has been the French part. I work on the Air France account and we speak French within our team, the AF Account Management Team, and with the French Team. I understand almost everything that is said, but I am having a very hard time expressing myself. Practice makes perfect and I know that with time, patience and practice, my speaking will improve :)

Who knows, maybe next week I will be able to work a full 5-day 37.5-hour work week.

TTFN

Picture: Cleopatra driving down the parkway on her daily commute to work.

A New Job - a pre-blog blog

2010-02-21T13:37:00.000-05:00

After most of my students finished their contracted lessons and went back to their home countries, I was pretty much out of work and out of money. It was tough in November and December of 2009, so in January 2010 I decided I was going to get a new career. Here is the intention that I put out to the Universe- typed as written:

I am going to ~~find~~ get ~~a job~~ a career that I love and that pays well, by March 1st 2010 so that we can pay off all of our bills and debt by the end of 2010 and save money ~~for when~~ to help facilitate our move to, our endeavors in and our life in France.

I am happy to say that on Monday, February 8th, 2010, I got a career that fills the intention above. I am an Account Representative at O'Sullivan Communications in West Caldwell, NJ for their Air France account and my team speaks French.
So, I am surrounded by French about 75% of the day!

The first week was awesome. My spoken French was not so bad, but the second week was much harder. I realize that I am missing work specific vocabulary as well as the ability to express myself in detail or quickly. These are things that I am going to work on over the next few weeks. I am also going to report back with more intentions for the Universe.

In the mean time, stay cool and I'll be here at least once a week starting tomorrow, Monday, February 22, 2010 talking about different stuff.

Picture caption: Excuse me, I want to speak French with you!

TTFN

My Horoscope in English and French and the 2010 Census

2010-01-07T08:56:00.000-05:00

So here is my daily horoscope from the website http://www.astrotogether.com/ - Check out the website. It uses your Natal Chart to forecast for you and not just your sun sign. You can view this site in English and in French (now you know why I like it so much!)
Her is my horoscope with a little introduction:

The Daily horoscope is based on the transits of the faster moving planets (theSun, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars) through the planets of your birth chart. To know what kind of energies are at your disposal for the day, simply click theConstellation in which the transits are taking place. Here you will discover which part of your life is affected and the nature of events that you may encounter. These energies are short-lived.

"My energies are here for you today, I'm assisting you ! You can go quickly, feel confident, and strong. It is a good time for thinking about new actions and projects."

and in French:
L'horoscope quotidien individuel est basé sur l’étude des transits des Planètes du jour (planètes mobiles) sur les Planètes (planètes fixes) de votre thème astral et des énergies pouvant en découler.

"Je suis cent pour cent avec vous et vous assiste pleinement aujourd'hui, vous pouvez vous sentir confiant(e), sûr(e) de vous et envisagez de nouveaux projets et actions sans vous poser de questions, toute sorte de projets, familiaux, professionnels ou immobiliers."

Good horoscope today - I am always thinking about new actions and projects. For example, I am going today to take the "Test for Field Employee Position" for the 2010 Census. Isn't that interesting? My mom told me that the Federal Government is looking for temporary employees for the 2010 Census and I figured why not. If you are interested in finding out more information go to: http://2010.census.gov/2010censusjobs/

The next "new action/ new project" is that I am looking for a "normal" job - I am always on the lookout for something cool and exciting. The truth is that most of my clients are gone and I need something to make some more money to take the pressure off of Fred, to pay down/off bills, and to save for our move in a few years.
Don't get me wrong, he is doing a great job, but he needs help.

Keep your fingers crossed for me to find a job and I will be back later on tonight with an update on my super long acronym.

Remember: Don't look back. Live today and dream for tomorrow.

Merci et a bientôt

Work from Big to Small - FFFPPPALITP - how's that for an acronym

2010-01-02T21:35:00.000-05:00

I wrote in my journal that I had to blog tonight, so I am going to take 30 minutes to do this and see how it goes. I hope that I am able to wrap it up well at the end of 30 minutes. BTW - the last time I wrote in my Journal was on October 6, 2008. We were still in Paris and I was watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle from the honeymoon apartment (picture above). That is my motivation to not only get back to Paris, but to get back in style and not have to worry about money.

Don't forget to have your money work for you. $$$

The theme today is to work from big to small. In keeping with my France themed blog, or life, I have realized that this is what has to happen if we want to move to France in 4.5 years and have it work. The big is that we want to move to France in 4.5 years and the small is keeping us on the path to get there. This is where the acronym comes in: FFFPPPALITP
1. Future
2. Fitness
3. Finance
4. Planning
5. Preparation
6. Positive Attitude
7. Living In The Present

I am going to focus on and do all of these things listed above.

It is unbelievable that it has been 1 year and almost 4 months since we've been back from Paris and, it has been almost that long since we've consistently worked out. By the way - I am about 12 lbs heavier this December than I was last December - and I was at post-wedding weight to boot. I recently realized that I have been in some state of depression since October 2008 and this has got to stop. In order to conquer this depression, I am going to live in the present and plan for the future. I am very good at both of these things. I am also going to stop looking back at the past - it was awesome but it is over.

I have 7 minutes left and 8% left on the battery in my laptop - I'll continue.

A few things that I have to do:
1. Continue to gather the paperwork for possible EU citizenship is a good thing to start with.
2. Exercise
3. Turn down new student but get the ball rolling for substitute teaching - Do CARTUS paperwork
4. File on my desk
5. Schedule next French tutoring session
6. I can do this and I deserve this
7. Blogging and writing in my journal.

Thanks for reading!!!

Quelque chose d'autre

2009-10-16T08:04:00.000-04:00

J’ai des devoirs pour une classe ou je dois écrire mes buts de deux et cinq ans. En plus, je dois donne le planning pour ces buts. Ce n’est pas une tache très facile.

Une des mes buts est de parler, lire, et écrire couramment la langue française, donc je vais essayer quelque chose d'autre. Je vais écrire sur ce sujet quelque fois en français pour pratiquer l’écriture. Je vais essayer le fais trois de cinq fois par semaine. N’hésitez pas si vous avez de commentaire au sujet de ma grammaire ou usage.

How to Become Independently Wealthy or a Butt Pirate ?

2009-08-30T10:42:00.000-04:00

So I was trying to figure out how Fred and I could become independently wealthy so we could live the good life in Paris and not worry about money.

First thing's first, what exactly IS independently wealthy? What does it mean? Fred got a good laugh at that question. He said "how could you want to be something when you don't even know what it is? It's like wanting to be a Butt Pirate because you think it's the Pirate who is in charge of the back side of the boat." Well, he's got one thing right, they'd certainly be in charge of the backside.

So after checking the dictionary, well actually the Wictionary since it's not in Merriam-Webster, I found out that I was right! Vindication! A Butt Pirate no longer. To be independently wealthy is to have wealth enough so as not to rely on others or work for financial support. Sounds nice, right?

Back to the task at hand. How can we achieve this? We've come up with a numbered list below, in no particular order, and we think we could achieve one or maybe three of these things. Feel free to add anything you think might work?

1. Publish a book for lots of money and get royalties for life
2. Sell Mr. PC after building it up to be some crazy mega company that everyone loves
3. Sell Magellan (see above)
4. Win the lottery for like a lot of money - Fred suggested that we win at least 200 million dollars
5. Invent something really really cool and patent it (the whole royalties for life thing again)
6. Become real estate tycoons (just me, because Fred doesn't want to)
7. Inherit a ton of money (see #4 for amount preferred)

Oh and here is my horoscope for today courtesy of Yahoo! Astrology:
" It's funny how much will work out well when you assume that things will be fine, and how things can go terribly wrong when you assume that. Self-fulfilling prophecies can be thwarted when you're aware of exactly how you're setting your plans in motion. This isn't to say that blind optimism is the way to go in this situation -- you should definitely cover your bases while you can. While you're doing that, however, you should also expect the best. What have you got to lose? "

Positive thinking!

When I Grow Up- a look back at my future

2008-11-18T13:19:00.001-05:00

It's always so hard to know what you want to be when you grow up. I know what I don't want to be, but when what you don't want to be helps you get where you want to go faster, then it's a tough call.

These next few entries will be a look back at my future. I will revisit my most recent trip to Paris and work my way back to my first impulse to move to Europe. It should be interesting.

I lost.. but my country won

2008-11-07T17:40:00.000-05:00

oh, thank God I lost too. because if I hadn't lost, I would have had to do a lot more paperwork than I already do - oh, that reminds me, I have to fill out my "I'm not spending any money on my campaign" form. I guess that was due a few days ago.

So we are totally excited about the new President - Elect Barack Obama! I really was worried after getting my heart broken 4 years ago when Kerry lost, I so desperately wanted to win. And what's nice is that even the people who didn't vote for Obama don't seem to unhappy. I think it's a great victory for humanity - not just for Americans. And, I can't believe that I'm saying this, but this win kinda makes me think twice about moving to France. Maybe the US can be a place that I would be again proud to call home? One can only hope and help.

FYI - i was running for town council. On the NJ Presidential Primary sample ballot in June, I noticed that there was no Democratic opponent to the Republican incumbent on the Town Council so I decided to write myself in and convinced my husband ( at that time my fiance) to write me in as well. Well, need less to say, I got the nomination and am now forever on the Lincoln Park, NJ Ward 4 District 1 2008 ballot with Barack Obama. I didn't win, but I didn't loose by many votes - something like 44ish. Not too shabby for someone who didn't spend one thin, or thick, dime on her candidacy.