Yesterday I experienced a 'first ever' moment in my life. I had my first ever real fire alarm!! That's right, yesterday at 4.58pm the familiar sound of a fire alarm went off in the offices at work. As normal, we thought it was a fire drill or a false alarm - although we soon realised that they wouldn't do a fire drill 2 mins before the live news bulletin, so it was obviously the latter conclusion - a false alarm. However, as we exited quietly using the fire escape we soon smelt the most pungent stench of smoke. As we walked outside we noticed that there was indeed smoke coming out of the roof of our offices.
The news presenters insisted that there couldn't be a worse time for a fire alarm - there was breaking news of an attack in Lebanon and they were determined to go to air at 5pm - we practically had to drag them kicking and screaming from the set, explaining that the building was in fact on fire, and if they didn't leave, soon they might be the very subject of a new 'breaking news'. Though you have to admire my colleagues dedication and commitment to informing the world.
So, after assembling on the footpath for a while, it became evident that as the fire was in the roof, no one had been injured - very good news! The French fire brigade was surprisingly efficient for a French organisation and quickly put the fire out which meant that within an hour we were back to work. I never thought I'd be annoyed by a fire alarm because I still had things to do in the office and it was interrupting my working day - my God I'm becoming a professional working woman - somebody help me!
mercredi 19 septembre 2007
J'entends un petit accent
Living in a non-english speaking country means that I hear the sentence 'j'entends un petit accent' several times a month. Literally translated as 'I hear a little accent' this is the polite way of the French asking 'Where the hell do you come from? You are clearly not French!', or in some circumstances it's an attempt at a marvelous pick-up line. Apparently my accent is mignon (cute), charmant (charming) - whatever! I'd prefer not to have an accent and prove to myself that I can speak this language properly. All in good time perhaps. However, if this should never happen, which I'm almost certain it won't, I am quite happy to accept my imperfect French given the fact that I'm NOT French. The thing which is more difficult to accept is the problem people seem to have with my accent in ENGLISH!
So, when I'm speaking English, I'm not one to kick up a fuss if a French person doesn't know where I come from - the fact that they can distinguish the language as English is a big enough step, they don't need to be able to hear the subtle (or glaringly obvious) difference between accents from various english-speaking countries. I was slightly offended when some students guessed that I was from Sweden before suggesting Australia, given that I don't look at all Swedish (unfortunately!) and that the first language of Swedes is of course Swedish and not English. Apparently it doesn't even sound like I'm speaking my mother tongue to some of my students. Moving on though to the other culprits. I am incredibly used to people thinking I'm British, which I guess I can understand - although it's slightly strange when it's coming from a British person - can't they hear that my accent is different to their own? But, what the hell is the world coming to when even Australians can't tell where you're from? That's right, I asked my fellow Australian at work where she came from, to which she replied Australia (no shit sherlock), so then I asked her where exactly, to which she replied Adelaide. Continuing with the niceities, she asked me where I came from, to which I replied Sydney. She then said 'But you're not Australian! You're American!' I couldn't believe it! The nerve of her! And as if that wasn't enough, she proceeded to make things worse by then listening to me speak and highlighting the very words that sounded American to her - talk about digging yourself into a deeper hole. After this lovely incident, the newsreader comes over to me and says that she overheard me speaking to my colleague and that she had never spoken to me as she had assumed I was American (seems some people have strange standards when deciding who to strike up a conversation with), but now that she knew I was Australian she wanted to talk about her 6 year stint in Oz. Incredible!
These are just some of the hundreds of comments I have received about my accent. Others tell me I sound European - one of those mixed up accents that's all in all a bit neutral, some say I sound like I'm from anywhere BUT Australia and then there are those who say I speak English with no accent whatsoever - whatever that sounds like!
And that's only the accent, don't get me started on people telling me my sentence structure, phrasing and word order is all a bit strange!
However, having said that, being surrounded by Australians for the past month has brought back my aussie accent considerably and I don't think there were any complaints from my friends this month about being incomprehensible.
So, when I'm speaking English, I'm not one to kick up a fuss if a French person doesn't know where I come from - the fact that they can distinguish the language as English is a big enough step, they don't need to be able to hear the subtle (or glaringly obvious) difference between accents from various english-speaking countries. I was slightly offended when some students guessed that I was from Sweden before suggesting Australia, given that I don't look at all Swedish (unfortunately!) and that the first language of Swedes is of course Swedish and not English. Apparently it doesn't even sound like I'm speaking my mother tongue to some of my students. Moving on though to the other culprits. I am incredibly used to people thinking I'm British, which I guess I can understand - although it's slightly strange when it's coming from a British person - can't they hear that my accent is different to their own? But, what the hell is the world coming to when even Australians can't tell where you're from? That's right, I asked my fellow Australian at work where she came from, to which she replied Australia (no shit sherlock), so then I asked her where exactly, to which she replied Adelaide. Continuing with the niceities, she asked me where I came from, to which I replied Sydney. She then said 'But you're not Australian! You're American!' I couldn't believe it! The nerve of her! And as if that wasn't enough, she proceeded to make things worse by then listening to me speak and highlighting the very words that sounded American to her - talk about digging yourself into a deeper hole. After this lovely incident, the newsreader comes over to me and says that she overheard me speaking to my colleague and that she had never spoken to me as she had assumed I was American (seems some people have strange standards when deciding who to strike up a conversation with), but now that she knew I was Australian she wanted to talk about her 6 year stint in Oz. Incredible!
These are just some of the hundreds of comments I have received about my accent. Others tell me I sound European - one of those mixed up accents that's all in all a bit neutral, some say I sound like I'm from anywhere BUT Australia and then there are those who say I speak English with no accent whatsoever - whatever that sounds like!
And that's only the accent, don't get me started on people telling me my sentence structure, phrasing and word order is all a bit strange!
However, having said that, being surrounded by Australians for the past month has brought back my aussie accent considerably and I don't think there were any complaints from my friends this month about being incomprehensible.
dimanche 16 septembre 2007
Aussies come to Paris
So where have I been for the past month? Why haven't I blogged? Because the whole world has been coming to visit me in Paris and I haven't had the time to stop and write about it - which is a good thing I think! So, when I say the whole world, maybe this only entitles - Sophie, my aunty, uncle, lucy, jessica, matt, joel, jess and bethaney. But you have to admit - that's a fair number of people within 4 weeks.
I had a great time with everyone and am so pleased that people could come over to visit. It's nice to be reminded of home every now and then. So the family (aunt,uncle and cousins) made a quick stopover in Paris - 2 nights is apparently enough for this great place. We had a fab time, seeing the sights, climbing the sights, eating and catching up. It was a shame it was so short but we certainly packed it full of stuff!
Matt and Joel made a great 4 day trip which was probably filled with as much alcohol as I have drunk since the beginning of this year in Paris. I forget how you aussies drink! Such a different culture, it was a real readjustment to make. Their visit happened to co-incide with the opening of the Rugby world cup (check blog later for all the rugby highlights), so we spent our time cheering on the wallabies in an aussie pub in the centre of Paris. Jess was also able to join us from Reims for the festivities and a good time was had by all.
Christian and the aussie ladies
Sophie, who knows what Paris has to offer, decided to stay for 3 weeks. It was so great to see Soph and to catch up on her life in oz. We had a really nice time and just being around her made me remember so much of what is good about Australia. We also caught up over a coffee and crêpe with Bethaney, which was lovely.
I had a great time with everyone and am so pleased that people could come over to visit. It's nice to be reminded of home every now and then. So the family (aunt,uncle and cousins) made a quick stopover in Paris - 2 nights is apparently enough for this great place. We had a fab time, seeing the sights, climbing the sights, eating and catching up. It was a shame it was so short but we certainly packed it full of stuff!
Matt and Joel made a great 4 day trip which was probably filled with as much alcohol as I have drunk since the beginning of this year in Paris. I forget how you aussies drink! Such a different culture, it was a real readjustment to make. Their visit happened to co-incide with the opening of the Rugby world cup (check blog later for all the rugby highlights), so we spent our time cheering on the wallabies in an aussie pub in the centre of Paris. Jess was also able to join us from Reims for the festivities and a good time was had by all.
Christian and the aussie ladies
Matt, Jess and Joel - Rugby World Cup opener
Sophie, who knows what Paris has to offer, decided to stay for 3 weeks. It was so great to see Soph and to catch up on her life in oz. We had a really nice time and just being around her made me remember so much of what is good about Australia. We also caught up over a coffee and crêpe with Bethaney, which was lovely.
Sophie and I (the day she bought Chanel - ooh la la)
Lunch in Soph's fave district - the Marais
Picnic in the gardens of Château de Versailles (hands off Marie-Antoinette - they're for us!)
Soph's birthday - midnight outside the eiffel tower (we are so romantic!)
So all in all, a great month! Looking forward to seeing more of you guys in October and November.
dimanche 19 août 2007
Please Explain
I learnt something yesterday that needs explaining...
I was giving an English ''lesson'' (I was eating an amazing lunch, being spoilt, chatting and getting paid) at a student's home when she asked me if I could explain an English term she saw in a book she was reading. Of course, being the teacher, I was pleased to help her, and hoped that it wasn't some obscure word that I would have trouble explaining. When she showed me the book, it was none other than the abbreviation RSVP. Now for those of you who don't know (I'm hoping most of you do!), RSVP stands for Répondez s'il vous plaît - which is French for Please reply....So can someone tell me why in English we use a French abbreviation, when it doesn't even exist in France?!!
I was giving an English ''lesson'' (I was eating an amazing lunch, being spoilt, chatting and getting paid) at a student's home when she asked me if I could explain an English term she saw in a book she was reading. Of course, being the teacher, I was pleased to help her, and hoped that it wasn't some obscure word that I would have trouble explaining. When she showed me the book, it was none other than the abbreviation RSVP. Now for those of you who don't know (I'm hoping most of you do!), RSVP stands for Répondez s'il vous plaît - which is French for Please reply....So can someone tell me why in English we use a French abbreviation, when it doesn't even exist in France?!!
Paris in August
5 Things you should know about Paris in August
1) Ghost city - Paris is a complete ghost city in August as all the Parisians leave the city for the entire month to go on their summer holidays in the countryside. Everything is closed and there are no French people around....It is not unusual for the Boulangeries (who needs bread anyway?), restaurants, bars, hair dressers etc to be closed for 4 weeks whilst the owners are lounging around in the sunshine somewhere...
2) Tourist central - To make up for the complete lack of Parisians, the city is covered in tourists and you begin to forget that you are in France, as the national language becomes English for the month.
3) Sleazing season - As I've told you all before, Paris isn't the nicest city for a single girl, unless you are permanently in the company of others, because if you are alone and female you are often harrassed....but August is a joke - it's peak sleazing season! For example, last Friday after finishing work late I caught a taxi home. My taxi driver kept insisting on taking me for a coffee before dropping me home. I told him about 35 times that I didn't want a bloody coffee, I only wanted to GO HOME, and that this was actually a simple request and the definition of his job was to respond to such requests and take people to the destination of their choice (that being my home). In the end, he finally agreed to take me home, and after I refused to give him my number, he wouldn't let me get out of the taxi before giving me his number - as if I'm ever going to call you Jean-Louis - you bloody Psycho! And the very next day I had 3 guys walk past me in the street and stop to tell me I had beautiful eyes - now I know my eyes are stunning ;) but come on!
4) Crappy weather - I am one to accept, even expect, crappy weather in August when I'm in Sydney and it is in fact Winter, but when in Paris, where it is summer, this is frankly unacceptable. Last August it rained for 24 days, and this August the skies are competing to try and break this record. An umbrella shouldn't be a necessity in the middle of summer!
5) Festivals galore - August is the month of festivals and activities in Paris, to give those of us who stay around something to do, and all the tourists something to smile about (given that the restaurants and boulangeries are closed). This year the Quartier d'été festival had an Australian theme and there were nights of Australian cinema, music and didgeridoo playing - unfortunately this happened to co-incide with my only week of holidays and so I missed it all, but I'm sure it would have been good. There are also of course a few open-air cinemas (all of which are fabulous in the month of constant RAIN!) and then who could forget to mention the magnificent Paris Plage! That's right - an artificial beach in Paris for August - what a fabulous idea! The only problem with this little brain wave is that someone forgot to tell the Parisians that a beach actually consists of sand, the ocean, waves, and hopefully swimming. Apparently they define a beach by the presence of long deck chairs, the possibility of stripping down to your bikini, and a body of water of some sort (that being the Seine river). Now just because its called a beach, don't get any crazy ideas and try jumping into the Seine to go swimming - you'd die from all the pollution!
All I can say is BRING ON SEPTEMBER!
1) Ghost city - Paris is a complete ghost city in August as all the Parisians leave the city for the entire month to go on their summer holidays in the countryside. Everything is closed and there are no French people around....It is not unusual for the Boulangeries (who needs bread anyway?), restaurants, bars, hair dressers etc to be closed for 4 weeks whilst the owners are lounging around in the sunshine somewhere...
2) Tourist central - To make up for the complete lack of Parisians, the city is covered in tourists and you begin to forget that you are in France, as the national language becomes English for the month.
3) Sleazing season - As I've told you all before, Paris isn't the nicest city for a single girl, unless you are permanently in the company of others, because if you are alone and female you are often harrassed....but August is a joke - it's peak sleazing season! For example, last Friday after finishing work late I caught a taxi home. My taxi driver kept insisting on taking me for a coffee before dropping me home. I told him about 35 times that I didn't want a bloody coffee, I only wanted to GO HOME, and that this was actually a simple request and the definition of his job was to respond to such requests and take people to the destination of their choice (that being my home). In the end, he finally agreed to take me home, and after I refused to give him my number, he wouldn't let me get out of the taxi before giving me his number - as if I'm ever going to call you Jean-Louis - you bloody Psycho! And the very next day I had 3 guys walk past me in the street and stop to tell me I had beautiful eyes - now I know my eyes are stunning ;) but come on!
4) Crappy weather - I am one to accept, even expect, crappy weather in August when I'm in Sydney and it is in fact Winter, but when in Paris, where it is summer, this is frankly unacceptable. Last August it rained for 24 days, and this August the skies are competing to try and break this record. An umbrella shouldn't be a necessity in the middle of summer!
5) Festivals galore - August is the month of festivals and activities in Paris, to give those of us who stay around something to do, and all the tourists something to smile about (given that the restaurants and boulangeries are closed). This year the Quartier d'été festival had an Australian theme and there were nights of Australian cinema, music and didgeridoo playing - unfortunately this happened to co-incide with my only week of holidays and so I missed it all, but I'm sure it would have been good. There are also of course a few open-air cinemas (all of which are fabulous in the month of constant RAIN!) and then who could forget to mention the magnificent Paris Plage! That's right - an artificial beach in Paris for August - what a fabulous idea! The only problem with this little brain wave is that someone forgot to tell the Parisians that a beach actually consists of sand, the ocean, waves, and hopefully swimming. Apparently they define a beach by the presence of long deck chairs, the possibility of stripping down to your bikini, and a body of water of some sort (that being the Seine river). Now just because its called a beach, don't get any crazy ideas and try jumping into the Seine to go swimming - you'd die from all the pollution!
All I can say is BRING ON SEPTEMBER!
dimanche 12 août 2007
How's your general knowledge?
So one of the interesting* features of working for a world news TV station is that everyday is a general knowledge quiz of some sort. Now I'm not one to say no to a bit of trivia every now and then (as long as it involves questions on early nineties music, useless celebrity gossip from 10 years ago, or sporting events that Australia has won) but lets just say that middle eastern cities, and world leaders are not my forté.
Belonging to the generation of NSW students who only had to do one year of history and geography in highschool (anything more was the student's choice), I was one of those wise students who chose to do the absolute minimum and hence finished geography at the age of 14 and history at 15. I decided to choose subjects like music, textiles and French instead. This means that I have quite a crap background in geography and history- quiz me on countries i have travelled to, the aboriginal people, or Captain Arthur Phillip and I'm your girl - but if you're looking for a broader, more detailed knowledge of the history and politics of numerous countries, then unfortunately I'm probably not the best person to ask.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a dumb ass, I have a fair idea of what is going on in the world, but I'm definitely not up there on remote cities, or foreign politicians.
Fortunately, during my 2 interviews for the position that I currently hold, both interviewers told me they would come to the general knowledge quiz at the end of the interview and conveniently for me, they forgot. I like to think it was due to my completely calm and confident expression which gave off the 'don't even waste your time testing me on my immaculate general knowledge' impression, even if on the inside, I was kicking myself for never being home to watch the news, not owning a radio, and not having bought a newspaper since arriving in France over a year ago.
I soon recognised the problem in my first week when I was asked how to spell 'Tyre' in French. My initial reaction was to ask why we were doing a story on an uninteresting topic like tyres, but then something told me to check wikipedia just in case there happened to be other forms of tyres I wasn't aware of. This turned out to be a good plan of action when I read that Tyre, as well as being something found on the outer part of a wheel, is in fact a city in Lebanon - and the French spelling is 'Tyr'. Without exposing my ignorance I was able to reply in a matter of minutes with the correct French spelling - very professional of me I know. This however was only the first of many close calls that I have since experienced. Everyday I pretend as if I know exactly what everyone is talking about and so far no one has found me out. Fortunately I have a good memory and so my plan is to continue to bluff for the next few weeks and hopefully by then I will have learnt most of the foreign cities and politicians names in both English and French and no one will ever know of my early days of shame. Having said that, if anyone wants to help me out with a list of remote cities, a detailed world map, or a list of foreign politicians with spelling and pronunciation included, feel free!
*the word 'interesting' can equally be replaced by 'stressful', 'disturbing', 'worrying', 'exciting' or anything else that might take your fancy...
Belonging to the generation of NSW students who only had to do one year of history and geography in highschool (anything more was the student's choice), I was one of those wise students who chose to do the absolute minimum and hence finished geography at the age of 14 and history at 15. I decided to choose subjects like music, textiles and French instead. This means that I have quite a crap background in geography and history- quiz me on countries i have travelled to, the aboriginal people, or Captain Arthur Phillip and I'm your girl - but if you're looking for a broader, more detailed knowledge of the history and politics of numerous countries, then unfortunately I'm probably not the best person to ask.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not a dumb ass, I have a fair idea of what is going on in the world, but I'm definitely not up there on remote cities, or foreign politicians.
Fortunately, during my 2 interviews for the position that I currently hold, both interviewers told me they would come to the general knowledge quiz at the end of the interview and conveniently for me, they forgot. I like to think it was due to my completely calm and confident expression which gave off the 'don't even waste your time testing me on my immaculate general knowledge' impression, even if on the inside, I was kicking myself for never being home to watch the news, not owning a radio, and not having bought a newspaper since arriving in France over a year ago.
I soon recognised the problem in my first week when I was asked how to spell 'Tyre' in French. My initial reaction was to ask why we were doing a story on an uninteresting topic like tyres, but then something told me to check wikipedia just in case there happened to be other forms of tyres I wasn't aware of. This turned out to be a good plan of action when I read that Tyre, as well as being something found on the outer part of a wheel, is in fact a city in Lebanon - and the French spelling is 'Tyr'. Without exposing my ignorance I was able to reply in a matter of minutes with the correct French spelling - very professional of me I know. This however was only the first of many close calls that I have since experienced. Everyday I pretend as if I know exactly what everyone is talking about and so far no one has found me out. Fortunately I have a good memory and so my plan is to continue to bluff for the next few weeks and hopefully by then I will have learnt most of the foreign cities and politicians names in both English and French and no one will ever know of my early days of shame. Having said that, if anyone wants to help me out with a list of remote cities, a detailed world map, or a list of foreign politicians with spelling and pronunciation included, feel free!
*the word 'interesting' can equally be replaced by 'stressful', 'disturbing', 'worrying', 'exciting' or anything else that might take your fancy...
mardi 7 août 2007
Une semaine à la campagne
Last week I stepped outside Paris and went somewhere else in France for the first time since I arrived here last year - I know I'm hopeless - France is the country I have seen the least and I live here! Anyway, I went with some friends to a small town called Nogent-le-Rotrou in an area called Le Perche, which is about an hour and a half south-west of Paris.
I had a fantastic time doing absolutely nothing!! Its been a long time since I have been able to just relax and laze about. It was a week of sunshine, food, drink, french and english lessons, setting lawn mowers on fire, more food, cards, music, badminton, more food, friends, good times, reading and did I mention food? Florence and Matthieu are amazing cooks and I was spoilt all week with incredible meals for breakfast lunch and dinner.
There were 4 of us who stayed in my friend Florence's country house.
I had a fantastic time doing absolutely nothing!! Its been a long time since I have been able to just relax and laze about. It was a week of sunshine, food, drink, french and english lessons, setting lawn mowers on fire, more food, cards, music, badminton, more food, friends, good times, reading and did I mention food? Florence and Matthieu are amazing cooks and I was spoilt all week with incredible meals for breakfast lunch and dinner.
The meals were the tastiest ever because they were made with fruit and veggies from the garden.
Although, when the gas ran out on the last night, we had to use the fireplace as a makeshift BBQ - it took a long time but the food tasted great!!
When we weren't eating (a rare event) it was nice to just breathe in the fresh country air, remember that stars do in fact exist (not in Paris people) and admire the view of the endless wheat fields.
It really was a heavenly week! I'm looking forward to going again within the year.
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