My return to France after my 6 week holiday
So after having lots of fun travelling to Dubai, Italy, Spain, Germany and Austria finally came the time to get back to reality and go back to France and search for an apartment and a job etc. I returned on the 4th January but I actually ended up having the most stressful return ever.
I thought I had found a reasonable apartment in a nice neighbourhood and really close to the Arc de Triomphe and close to the Eiffel Tower. I had sent a man $2000 for the first months rent plus a bond, and then he disappeared and I lost all contact with him and the apartment wasn’t actually his, and he stole all my money!!!! I freaked out naturally...but the only thing I could do was try to get in touch with the bank and get them to give me info on this person/the transaction, but they wouldn’t as it was ‘confidential information’, and then that afternoon the police station was closed so I spent the whole of the next day at the police station giving a report in French of what happened. The lady who did it just was gonna pass on all the info to the ppl who are in charge of internet scams (thats how it happened) and said to get back to her in 6 weeks if I hadn’t heard of anything.
Meanwhile, that meant that I had no job or no apartment for the mean time!! I had issues sorting out my CV too coz the format on my computer is different to other computers so if I load it online, other ppl only see a whole lot of numbers/letters and nonsense. I had to do it all over again at this office place, and finally that was sorted.
Then I spent one day walking the street when it was the coldest day ever giving out my CV. I had also spent some time uploading it to other places online and searching for phone numbers etc for ppl searching for workers. I sent it to a whole lot of cafes/restaurants, English teaching places, Disneyland, tour guide companies, to a publishing agency, and even to the NZ embassy! I got a number for one place though searching urgently for waitresses so I rang the lady up and she said to go for an interview the next day anytime between 10am and 3pm.
I had a lil party in the hostel with a whole lot of randoms that night from Australia, Canada, Spain, Argentina and Brazil and well the next morning I wasn’t feeling too flash. I got up early as breakfast ends at 10am and went downstairs with my jacket. I didn’t even have an appetite after all so took my brekkie upstairs for later. Then I was like man, its snowing, I’m tired and I also felt like I had a cold so I was like stuff it, I’m going back to bed!
I went that day for the interview though and all went well and the woman told me to come the next day to work as a trial day. I had to start at 8.30 and be there by 8.15am so was a little difficult but all went well. I was rather slow obviously but she reckoned I did ok. Its soo hardout though, its not just a lil cafe, its really busy and 95% of the time I have to speak in French. I get about 2-3 ppl a day who speak English and usually one group of ppl who speak Spanish and one German. Its so complicated though for just one coffee I have to give a napkin and theres different spoons for different coffees and I have to give sugar and chocolates and water...and I have to put it all on the table before serving the coffee, even if its already ready to serve...kinda silly. I did one silly stuff up the first day when I thought one man asked for rum (it was only 11am), and even then I was shocked, but it turned out he was wanting a wine that sounded the same as rum in French. Luckily he thought it was funny though. The hard thing though is that I cant write down ppls orders, I have to remember it all, and like 5 ppls foods and drinks in French is not easy to remember, especially when theyre fussy and for example don’t want tomato, or no ice in their glass etc! Theres about 50 tables in the restaurant and at lunchtime the rush is insane!!! The manager is so particular about the cutlery being on the right hand side of the table and serving bread and olive oil, salt and pepper and all the sauces too. The good thing though is that I get to practise lots my French and most ppl I’ve come across so far haven’t minded if I had to ask them to repeat their order coz I didn’t remember or understand right. Only one man got in a grump coz I forgot his glass when I brought his tea to the table (and I knew I had done do as soon as I got to the table).
The hard thing though is that I have to use a platter to serve everything and it gets so heavy and tiring, and sometimes I feel like I’m gonna drop everything when I have to lean over people.
I’ve done 3 full shifts so far, was supposed to work yesterday but I have bronchitis now which is lame so I didn’t go in. Then today I went to work coz I didn’t want the manager to tell me to disappear if I’d only done a few shifts and then I called in sick. However after 2 hours she told me to go home as it was obvious I wasn’t well, and not to worry, that for the moment i’m doing fine, just a few silly things I forget (like the straw and a spoon in a cup of coke (I still don’t get why on earth ppl need a spoon in their coke!)). Then she said to rest tomorrow as thats gonna be my normal day off (Sunday), and that I’d return on Monday.
I get paid pretty reasonably though, coz apart from the normal wage which I even get paid on trial, I get tips from ppl which I take at the end of each day, and every day I get a full meal from the restaurant on my breaks. Theres only one lady thats a bit bossy and I have to watch it a bit round her coz it was a different lady who hired me, but I think its up to her if they keep me on or not. The normal story here in France is that theres a trial period of 2-4 weeks and in that time you have a temporary contract, but if they don’t want to keep you they can sack you at any time.
Other than work though, I now have an apartment. I moved in on Monday night after work. My old host family from here in France have a son who was renting out their apartment here and he’s gone off to Switzerland so they were looking for someone. I took it, and the mum spent Mon-Fri here with me in Paris before returning back to Pau yesterday. Its a nice place though and has pretty much everything I need. Its in a fantastic location too, just across the river from the Louvre, like 200m or so, and its in one of the best (and usually most expensive) neighbourhoods). The only lame thing is that my apartment is on the 6th floor of the building and theres no elevator so I have to walk up a ton of stairs, but hey i’m gonna get mighty fit!!
I still haven’t met many ppl here yet, just people at the hostel when I was there, and I met a guy named Jessie from Canada who is doing the same kinda thing as me here in Paris. We met up last weekend but I had to go clothes shopping for the new job, and I felt stink coz it was the first weekend of the major winter sales here so there were ppl everywhere. We went out for dinner though which was nice.
I’ve been to Hillsong Church here a couple of times too, and its rather crack up coz everything is said first in English and theres an interpreter who then says it all in French. All the songs and everything else is in French though and I’ve had a few random conversations with people there. I really like it, and am gonna go tomorrow as I’m not working at all, and I have a proper address now so can get into a lifegroup.
Moving here though is so complicated. Like for example, I tried to organize internet and a tv and phone for my apartment via my computer. They gave me the wrong stuff though and now I have to go back net week to fix it all, and it cant be installed straight away, they have to send passwords etc all in the post. Then I had to get apartment insurance, and opening a bank account is more complicated than I thought as now theyre charging me for something they said was free so I had to go fix that today, then organizing a/p’s for my rent, and to go to the doctor yesterday I had to make an appt, you can never just turn up, and it was Friday right, and the first doctor I called said the next appt was Monday! Fat load of good that was! Luckily another one could give me an appt that same day though. And theres lots of pharmacies round, but theyre not always right next door to the doctors...would make sense right? And the tax system here is strange, you don’t get tax taken out every pay packet, but just a massive bill of how much you have to pay at the end of the year. I was super confused when my boss was trying to explain this but now I understand.
I have 2 interviews I’m supposed to go to in Tuesday too just incase this job here doesn’t work out, ones for looking after toddlers and teaching them English, and the other is in an American restaurant. I had one lady ring me 4 times on my cell too about another restaurant job, but I decided to turn her down as I didn’t want to be mucking her round too much.
So yeah, nows the weekend, its raining but im quite content in my apartment (having to go to maccas to get free wifi for the moment though), and I gotta find the nearest laundry place to here. I get to see the Louvre and the Eiffel tower and the giant ferris wheel thing everyday in Paris though as its all right by my work...pretty as!!!