I love Paris, I really do. But moving to the city is another story. Everything is a challenge... After making all the effort to save last year, Euro is eating my back account inside out. Where does all the cash go? All I've been eating in the last week and a half is bread and pastries... soups and pasta salad if I'm lucky. To get things done within budget in a new country is quite difficult as you have no idea what's normal... but today, I have figure out some of the norms in Paris.
Today's tasks:
1. Get my suitcase back from my friend's place
2. Get my film developed
3. Get my washing done
4. Go to the supermarket
Task 1 seemed easy, until my phone went dead. I had their address but I forgot what level they were at. Of course, I knocked on the wrong door... This guy that I've never met answered. Oops. But second time lucky I got the right one. Thank god.
Task 2 requires a background story... On Sunday, Berlin shops are ALL closed, including the big department store. I went down to Rosenthaler Platz, however, they were all shut... so I decided to go to this outdoor market in Tiergarten. There, I bought Ihgee B1 Exa. 50's German camera for 20 euros. It takes 35m films and the view finder on this thing is amazing. I've taken a whole role, but the camera is so old that rewinder wasn't working... I had to turn the room light off, covered the camera with blankets, open the camera then rewind the film manually. My mission was to find a photo lab but had no idea where but then, I happened to find a big professional photo lab around the corner from my hostel. French in photo lab situation... was never covered in my podcast lessons. I tried my best and thankfully the girl at the counter understood me. Turns out the lab was a digital photo lab. No developing there... She said there's one maybe down the road. Walked down for a little bit and there's another photo lab, with all the photo papers and black and white films. I asked the little old man if he could develop the film and he says yes. Phew. It'll be ready on Friday!
Task 3 needed to be done so so bad... More than a week worth of dirty socks and undies. The task seemed so easy. It's just the laundry mat, what can go wrong? Okay, a lot of things. I actually realised that I haven't been to many in Melbourne either. Again, French in laundry mat situation? not covered in podcasts... I don't know where the detergent goes nor how to work the machine... I managed to tell a gentleman next to me that I couldn't make the machine work and voila! The door was half open. Silly me. The rest was pretty easy, just wait till it stops spinning.
Task 4 took part while waiting for my washing to finish. I love supermarkets. Way to go monoprix. It is so much cheaper than cafes and restaurants. Same as any countries I guess. At the moment, I need anything cheap or cheaper. My dinner today is pasta salad with Mozzarella, tomato, olives, basil and ham. 1.95 euros. Yes! I don't really care about what's really in them.
What I realised today is that things that I love are a lot cheaper here. Alcohol, cheese, chocolates, biscuits. Ridiculously cheap! Got myself a 6 pack of Heineken, pick up my washing and made my way back to the hostel.
Day 1 was good, I think. Made good progress.
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