Hi.
It's day 3 and my first post! It's been a long and interesting 3 days. Paris is novel but I am a bit crotchety. Work has been very interesting. I'm feeling a bit macabre. Etymology: French, from (danse) macabre dance of death, from Middle French (danse) macabré, (danse de) Macabré, from Macchabées Maccabees, 2d-1st century B.C. Jewish patriots; probably from their being associated with death because of a passage in 2 Macc (12:43-46) that is important in the development of the concepts of purgatory and prayers for the dead. Hmm. Ok, maybe that wasn't the right word. Anyway, it has been both exciting, amazing and difficult. C'est la vie!
Where to start? To summarize previous posts: Left San Francisco on Monday, 29 Nov 2004. Arrived on 30 Nov 2004. Cab'd it into Central Paris -- a fun ride in a tiny Mercedes. 3 people, 6 bags, and some fish (plus driver). We even went commando style through a terrific roundabout intersection. I had about 45 minutes to gather my wits before going to meet Aimée at the lease signing of our permanent apartment. After that, we had some fun and went to Onzeme Art, the infamous place of home made fois gras.
Work has been rather interesting. Even though I was assured that my complete lack of French was no problem, some people seem ok with an American in the office and some seem a little funny. There was a weekly staff meeting and they said that they would do it in French so that the meeting could happen in 30 minutes rather than 2 hours. It was probably a bit exaggerated and there is a lot of pressure on the group, but I was basically was staring at the wall and recognized a few words, but really had no clue what was going on.
It is very peculiar being the foriegner. Once again... c'est la vie! Some guys even had the Gaul (ha ha) to say: "Oh, in a couple of weeks, you should be able to understand everything." Apparently people other than Americans think very silly things. I would be happy to be fluent in French in a couple of weeks, but I not really expecting that.
I am battling with jetlag, and after a waking up around 2am after very questionable sleep, decided to take some sleeping medication around 2:30 or 3am I finally fell asleep about an hour later. The problem was that Aimée was trying to wake me up (she says) until she left at 8:30 or 9am. I got up and got to work late, by 10am and was sleepwalking until 11 or 11:30.
At 7pm we left work. I went to the very nearby market and picked up a couple bottles of wine for 10€ and Jim and Aimée went up and picked up some dinner bits: Pasta, tomato soup, steaks and fries (we prepared it all and it was delicious.) Oh! I nearly forgot about the Faggots! Some terrific thin grean beans, wrapped with some bacon that we prepared in the oven.
It's day 3 and my first post! It's been a long and interesting 3 days. Paris is novel but I am a bit crotchety. Work has been very interesting. I'm feeling a bit macabre. Etymology: French, from (danse) macabre dance of death, from Middle French (danse) macabré, (danse de) Macabré, from Macchabées Maccabees, 2d-1st century B.C. Jewish patriots; probably from their being associated with death because of a passage in 2 Macc (12:43-46) that is important in the development of the concepts of purgatory and prayers for the dead. Hmm. Ok, maybe that wasn't the right word. Anyway, it has been both exciting, amazing and difficult. C'est la vie!
Where to start? To summarize previous posts: Left San Francisco on Monday, 29 Nov 2004. Arrived on 30 Nov 2004. Cab'd it into Central Paris -- a fun ride in a tiny Mercedes. 3 people, 6 bags, and some fish (plus driver). We even went commando style through a terrific roundabout intersection. I had about 45 minutes to gather my wits before going to meet Aimée at the lease signing of our permanent apartment. After that, we had some fun and went to Onzeme Art, the infamous place of home made fois gras.
Work has been rather interesting. Even though I was assured that my complete lack of French was no problem, some people seem ok with an American in the office and some seem a little funny. There was a weekly staff meeting and they said that they would do it in French so that the meeting could happen in 30 minutes rather than 2 hours. It was probably a bit exaggerated and there is a lot of pressure on the group, but I was basically was staring at the wall and recognized a few words, but really had no clue what was going on.
It is very peculiar being the foriegner. Once again... c'est la vie! Some guys even had the Gaul (ha ha) to say: "Oh, in a couple of weeks, you should be able to understand everything." Apparently people other than Americans think very silly things. I would be happy to be fluent in French in a couple of weeks, but I not really expecting that.
I am battling with jetlag, and after a waking up around 2am after very questionable sleep, decided to take some sleeping medication around 2:30 or 3am I finally fell asleep about an hour later. The problem was that Aimée was trying to wake me up (she says) until she left at 8:30 or 9am. I got up and got to work late, by 10am and was sleepwalking until 11 or 11:30.
At 7pm we left work. I went to the very nearby market and picked up a couple bottles of wine for 10€ and Jim and Aimée went up and picked up some dinner bits: Pasta, tomato soup, steaks and fries (we prepared it all and it was delicious.) Oh! I nearly forgot about the Faggots! Some terrific thin grean beans, wrapped with some bacon that we prepared in the oven.
Well, its after 11pm and time for me to find a french class to sign up for. It's not really possible to take care of any personal business during the work day as I am struggling to become useful in a situation with a fairly extreme languange barrier. I'm sure it will work itself out soon enough!
Cheers,
-Dennis
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About me
- I'm off2paris
- From Paris, France
- off2paris at wonky point org
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