stay away from neuf telecom

Yes I know it's been a while. I STILL don't have internet at home, and work is so busy, I either don't have time or the motivation at the end of the day to post.

I have a modem from one of the many competing internet companies in France (Neuf Telecom) is this case, and supposedly teh ADSL line is ready to go. But oh no. Either the line or the modem is not working. I have made several calls to the tech support, at 34 centimes the mintue, and I "should" be receiving today something in the mail with a toll-free number i can call so they can test the line. Why they couldn't do that on the phone with me even though is s mystery.
Rather tough, dealing with tech support in FRench. The first time was a disaster, and at the time I didn't realize it was a ADSL problem, I thought it was my computer. The guy couldn't understand me, said i should call back again with a French speaker, it was horrible and demoralizing. The 2nd time days later when i screwed up the courage was better, but they were having a system problem and said i had to call back. The 3rd time was when they said they's send the thing in the mail. ARGH.

I should have opted for Wanadoo, France Telecom's (national phone service provider) ADSL, they are by far the most expensive, but best service. And biggest, so more chance of english speaking staff.

Well it's a gorgeous evening so i'm going to jet, and go for a walk and try to find a closer dry cleaner.

berries

Ok, it's getting really annoying not having internet in the apartment. I've ordered it, but it can take a few weeks to set up.
So here i am staying late at work to update the blog, bc i care about you, the reading public. so put some comments up, dammit.

There is a market right by my apartment (on the street underneath the metro) on Wednesdays and Sundays. I went yesterday and got fruits, green beans, cheese, bread, a muffin. It all looked so good! There were also meats, and fish, and seafoods, and wine, and candies, and a few non-food items.
I stopped at a particulare fruit stand bc I was drawn by the color of the strawberries (in the photo), they were the most vibrant joyful red. Other strawberris seem so dark by comparison. And they are delicious!
OK i'm going home now to eat an awesome dinner.

Oh, and i finally have a cell phone! My provider is Bouygues Telecom. I can't even friggin pronounce it.

More apt pics

Forgot to add the kitchen pic in my earlier post. You can't see the table, but it's there, in the back there's more space to the right.
Also a pic of my living room view, metro included. :)

La Bise

So far at work I have gotten away with a handshake to greet co-workers, even though several male and female co-workers greet one another with la bise , the kiss greeting.
But now P has decided it's time for la bise. People never kiss when greeting in the Midwest where I grew up, and though I lived almost 10 years in New York, where it's more common, I never really quite got used to it, or was comfortable with it. But at least then, it's just one kiss, and you don't really touch your lips to the cheek. In France, it could be 2, 3, or even 4 kisses, and sometimes it's a fake air kiss, sometimes you touch cheeks, sometimes you do kiss the cheek...utterly confusing!!
So apparently with P I did it wrong (I should have touched, but didn't) so I fumbled to explain why, and said in the Midwest Personne ne baise which literally means "No one kisses"....except the verb baiser is now more commonly a slang term for to screw or to fuck. So what I said was "No one fucks"!! All my co-workers were lauging and P was all excited, "No, no, must not say that, unless it's true and no one reproduces". What I should have said was Personne ne fait la bise.
So that was my French lesson for the day.

Bonjour Madame

When I studied in Paris 12 years ago I was always referred to by the French as Mademoiselle. In subsequent visits it could be either Mademoiselle or Madame. Now, I am always Madame.

Sigh.

Though Madame and Mademoiselle have nothing to do with marital status, the way Miss and Mrs do in the States, it still makes me feel like I'm someone with a husband and a mortgage and childern. I want to shout at them "I'm a mademoiselle! I have no kids nor husband! I'm single! I'm young at heart! Last time it snowed i went outside and made a snow angel!!"

My Parisian flat

I'm finally moved in!! Still no internet (that actually won't be installed for a few weeks), but have found another wireless network to hop onto.

As I type this, I'm waiting for the owner's husband to come by, unfortunately there are a few problems! Turns out when the water is turned on to the toilet, it leaks from the bottom of the toilet seat, but only at night. Also, neither the oven nor the washing machine work, even though the little light turns on, which is supposed to indicate that it works. It could be that the dishwasher (which is in between the oven and clothes washer) doesn't work either, but as I've never used one before I'm not about to start now. What is strange is that the stove top does work.

Hopefully he'll be by soon, they don't actually live in Paris, I'm not sure how far their town is. He did say he was coming by today, but not what time.

Other than that, I love the place. The pictures are from before moving my stuff in, currently it is a complete mess, though everything is unpacked from the boxes (the movers did that, along with me), it's all lying around or arranged haphazardly.

When you first enter, there's a long hallway. There's bookshelves lining the hallway that came with the place, which is good, because there's no closets! So I also use them to store linens, towels, sports equipment, etc. The kitchen is off to the left when you enter, and though you can't tell from the pic, there is more space in the back of the kitchen off to the right, where thankfully my dinette table just fits! Then the WC (toilet) is just past the kitchen, then near the end of the hallway is the bedroom, and the bathroom (tub/shower and sink) is off of that. The bedroom also includes an armoire (to make up for no closets). There's still not enough hanging space, so I'll probably by a cheapo armoire from Ikea for a bit more hanging space and put it in the hallway by the entrance.

The end of the hallway has room for my desk and filing cabinet, a little mini office. It's good it worked out that way, because there was no other room for it.

The hallway veers to the left, then there's the living room. You can open the French windows and step on to a little terrace! While the bedroom looks onto the courtyard and is very quiet, the living room faces the street. And actually there is an elevated metro line that runs along the street. While I know this would bother a lot of people and would make them not consider the apartment, it doesn't bother me at all. I think I'm used to it already. And if you're ever staying with me and don't want the noise, you can have the bedroom, and i'll take the sofabed (though metro doesn't run all night)!

Ok owner's husband, please come soon so I can cook, do some laundry, and not worry about the leaky toilet...

Allright, I saved the above as a draft b/c blogger wasn't posting my pics, and it's now the evening. Though the husband didn't come by, one of the building maintenance guys did. The toilet does need to be replaced, it the meantime i just have to shut it's water off at night or when out during the day. The oven apparently you have to turn the timer all the way to 120 minutes to get the over to turn on. ?! ok, whatever. And the washer, um, the water supply to that was shut off, a twist to one of the valves under the sink did the trick. Um, excuse me, the washing machines i've used were always in community laundry rooms, i never had to ponder the mystery of where the water came from. It was just there. :)

I am still just wandering around my apt in awe of how much i love it. Since i was a kid i've alwasy been fascinated by old houses and buildings. I'll take my mouldings and heavy wooden front door, and fireplaces, and doorknobs with the original iron keys in them, and French windows, and yes, creaky wooden floors and loud plumbing and weak radiators over a sleek modern place anyday. Well, maybe next winter when all 5 radiators are turned to the max and i'm still cold i'll be singing a different tune... :)