Waking up to French confusion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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