Vundabar!

My friend Alex was the first person to see my exciting new place. He was here for 4 days. We got up to some adventures. On Friday night after work, we went to his friend's work near Bastille. It's a restaurant called "La Fee Vert" = absinthe. I have only seen the drinks in the movies. It was really green. Then I hear that drinks aren't gonna make you that crazy these days unless you have a heap...I avoided that even though I was tempted and we just had civilized nice dinner. Alex had the steak... and I had a lovely lasagna with lots of cheese...


It was beautiful. Just what I felt like... then I ate way too much...

La Fee Vert
108 rue de la Ruquette, 75011 Paris
M:Voltaire

Then, after that we went to this bar called Le Motel. It's a cute little bar with many tour posters including, the smiths, Belle and Sebastian, Stone Roses etc. and they played the indie classes along with pop favourites. The bar girl was a Nick Cave fan. I wanted to stay for longer but then 3 pints on Friday after work sent me to sleepy mode so I had to go home before I fell asleep on the metro.

Le Motel
8 passage Jossette 75011
M:Ledru-Rollin



Today, I met up with my friend Mel who I met last year in Paris. Turned out that her new place is 2 stops away from me. We had a hot chocolate accompanied with chocolate fondue!! A-mazing. Then we went to see Alex's friends play in this little gallery like venue. To be honest I couldn't figure out what the place was used for during the week. It was cute though. The bands were really good but I totally couldn't find the myspace page. I'll ask them again next time.


OFT Liblairie / galerie
20 rue Dupetit-Thouars, 75003
M: Temple

Finally

After 3 weeks of living in hostels... I finally moved into my own apartment!! I love it. So much. It's warm, good size and good shower. Nothing fancy but all I need is here and lots of storage space. Before I left the hostel, I thought I had a lot of things but now that I moved in, the studio looks kinda empty... I need things to decorate my room. I need do some cheap interior design work this weekend.

There's lots of shops and restaurants on my street and gets quite busy around. I really love the neighborhood. There are a few bistro near me too. This is the one near the metro.

Montmartre town hall, opposite the metro. Still have Xmas trees...

This is a great bistro just outside my apartment. Tandoori chicken with risotto. Weird combo I know but YUM. It was great!

Weekend 2

I found out that there was a A.P.C surplus shop in the 18th within walking distance from my hostel... dangerous. I had to go and "have a look".

Oh dear, we meet again. There it was. This cape that I wanted for a year. Last year when I was here, I really wanted it but didn't get it.

It was just hanging there right in front of me. There was no way that I could've

afford it full price. It's now at the outlet boutique. (mind you the store is as sleek as the full priced ones. Couple of cute French boys being tres helpful. I had to try on a few things and yes...

I bought the cape. IT IS TOTALLY AMZING! If I like it after a year, that's telling me something. It is so beautifully cut and there are room for my hand to come out. It's very dangerous... There are full of gems from last year's collections. Shoes, bags etc. Be careful.

http://www.apc.fr

A.P.C Surplus

20 rue Andre Del Sarte

75018

M: Anvers, Chateau Rouge

I was so happy all day... I still am I guess. But, I'm forgetting about the fact that I have to move out of the hostel soon... Wish me luck on carrying everything. It's gonna be quite difficult with the montmartre hilly streets.

I also had to get some pencils for my drawing. I really like this stationary shop near the station. It's little but extremely adorable. I bought 2 pencils.

Christine Buropro

17 Avenue Trudiane

75009

I did this during the week. Next one will be with my new pencils! Exciting.

I'm moving to my flat on Wednesday! I am tres excited! I can't wait to cook actually. All I've been eating is microwaved dinner. So sick of it... Must say though, "Uncle Ben's" rice range is pretty good. There are pajella and fried rice ones as well as risotto range. It save me last week. Thanks uncle Ben.

Le weekend.

Here are the photos form last weekend...

This guy was just so cute and ready to be photographed. He's either real intelligent or stupid. He's just waiting for some bread bought for him.

I found a couple of good vintage stores around the corner from my hostel near Anvers station.

Chez Mamie

73 rue de rochechouart 75009 Metro: Anvers

www.mamie-vintage.com

Very cute but quite expensive for my bank account.

I have to find out the name of the place later. It's on rue Gerando near metro Anvers.

This one is more reasonable and good quality stuff... I actually couldn't wait 'till the pay day... I had to go back today and get them...

Good hard wooden soles. Bronze colour. I love them.

They also had good range of great 60's winter coats.

The lady who own this shop is very little and nice. She game me 5 euro discount. For me at the moment, 5 euro goes a long way.

I also did this on the weekend. I only had a trash mag to draw...

I like...

rainy days when I don't have to do anything. Today is a big bog day.

There is a cute little wine bar around the corner from my hostel. I didn't eat this lamb dish but it looked amazing. I just had a couple of glasses of nice red. 3 euros a glass. You can also buy take away bottles. I think I just like to be in an environment with a lot of bottles of wine... Makes me happy.

Le vin au vert

70 rue de Dunkerque 75009

Metro: Anvers

I love those dogs that come inside shops. This dog's just casually hanging at Starbucks.

I also found an vintage clothing store just near my hostel. Found this nice pair of Italian shoes but 55 euros... I really should wait until the pay day...

5 rue Gérando Paris 75009

I tried to find this op shop that Jarvis likes:

Woch Dom

72, Rue Condorcet 75009 Paris, France 01 53 21 09

But, it wasn't there! I don't know if I'm going blind but it certainly wasn't there. Boo.

For lunch, I went to the Rose Bakery in Montmartre. Not the one in Marais where Charlotte worked but the other one. The owner was so sad that you were gone, Charlotte (if you're reading this.) and wouldn't stop talking about you even though it was busy.

Rose Bakery

46 rue des Martyrs

75009

Metro:Pigalle

I failed to mention that the prince Adie looked after me when I was sick... (refer to previous posts.) He walked me home in the snow and made sure that I got to the hostel safely. Thank you Adie xx

Ihagee Camera

My photos are back after 2 weeks of this old man being real lazy. The film was ripped inside as the camera is old and not screws and hinges are not working properly... It's really hard to focus as you just have to guess... view finder won't tell you by looking at it. I like how the photos look though. I'm gonna do colour ones next.

Work Begins...

I am now a teacher at a small early learning centre, teaching a bunch of 3 year olds. There are very very small. They're about half of the size of the kids that I'm used to. I thought grade 1s were small... wait till Japanese 3 year olds... SOOOOOOO CUTE. They like to cry and fight with other kids... A lot. There are also lots of Franco-Japonais kids. THEY HATE VEGETABLES. I remember when I was little, I didn't like cabbage but I still ate it. But then these kids in my class would be sitting near the teacher for hours trying to eat their carrots and peas... I have to do that now... Sit there and try n feed the little ones. It's not easy. I don't know who thought of this aeroplane trick, but it surely doesn't work... Doesn't matter if I cut them up or hide the lettuce under the rice, put it in the soup, they just won't eat it. It takes hours... and after that I have to play the piano and sing and dance with them. It's very difficult to watch kids, play the piano and attempt to sing all at the same time. It is very tiring... but I'm sure I get used to it. It was my second day and was a lot easier than yesterday. I'll put the photos up soon.

Paris - Day 4 = write off and Day 5

Ah man, being healthy only means something when you actually get sick... It really sucks. Most Paris hostel has a lock-out time from about 11am to 3, 4 or sometimes 5pm. I had an argument with the arrogant front desk man who treated me like a snotty tissue and refusing to let me stay in the hostel even though I'm sick. All I wanted and needed was a good day of staying in and rest. I argued my way through so that I could come back into the hostel a little earlier. I killed sometime in MacDonalds... then I came back to the hostel and slept and slept.

Today, I finally felt like human again... went to the snowy sacre coeur again, went to a meeting for work and went

out to dinner with a girl I met at the hostel. My first French cheese!

Je suis content...

Paris - Day 3

Good news, I now am employed. I am daycare teacher now. Kids are younger than what I'm used to but they're cuter and lighter to carry.

It brings back memories of how I was in prep in Japan... On a question paper, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" almost everyone wrote "Prep teacher" because that's the only occupation they knew. I did too. I thought there were us, my parents and prep teachers. That's it! what else would you do? plus I loved my prep... it was so much fun. I remember we got to have a nap... man, how good was those times... My class (I have less than 15 kids!) is called "Sumire Group"

I'm excited to meet the little ones...

Bad news... I'm sick. Not that bad for you. just for me. It sucks. Man, who needs to get sick... it's awful.

Paris - Day 2

It snowed today in Paris!

I absolutely hate the cold but it was very pretty. Paris looks so goo

d with snow. I wore, 2 pairs of stockings, leggings, thermal top, a cotton dress, knitted dress and a denim shirt. Oh, that's underneath my massive coat.

Today's tasks:

1. Check out Japanese restaurants in rue Saint-Anne.

2. Be out of the hostel for 4 hours from 11am - 3pm.

Okay, I did more that I thought yesterday that I didn't really have to do today. More so that I don't have any money to be wasting...

Task 1 was easy. Walked down to Avenue de l'Opera and went down to rue Saint-Anne where all the Japanese restaurants are. On the way there, there was a Xmas tree... made from many sprite bottles.

I quite like this tree. I would like one for Christmas this year. Kinda nice those red ones every here and there.

But anyways, back to my original mission. I found the street and YES! I found a Japanese grocery store. I will be needing that later when I have my own place... It seems so far away... I move in there on the 1st Feb. I won't dwell on how bad this hostel is... maybe another time.

As I walk down the street, I see this line of people in front of this Japanese restaurant. "Higuma". My friend Jarome was telling me about this place. Good Japanese ramen Is very difficult to find outside Japan. I went in after 5mins of waiting in the cold and I got sat down.

I ordered "Miso Ramen". Well the French calls it "Lamen". It was great!!!! I loved it. It's 6.50 euros and get a big bowl of goodness. A Bunch of Japanese ramen

chefs are sweating away in this open kitchen and it set up like a real deal ramen joint. Two thumbs up. Yum Yum. They're all reasonably priced. For Paris anyways. Highly recommended. It was lovely to have a nice feed after eating bread after bread. Yes, I did choose to eat donuts in Berlin but no, I don't want it everyday.

Donuts in Berlin reminded me of this German exchange student that I hosted in year 10. This is back in Japan. It was a stupid idea... Neither of us spoke English! Our hands and face expression were only way of expressing Good! Bad:( etc. I

remember she was over 6 ft. tall, and ate Mister Donuts like there's no tomorrow... Going to Berlin explained to me. It's not just Americans that loves donuts. Germans too! Donuts everywhere!! Bless...

Paris - Day 1

Alright, in Paris now.

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.

London, Berlin and All. Happy 2010!

Happy New Year to you all. My adventure has started. First stop, London. Next Berlin, then Paris. Here are some photos through out the festive seasons.

Buckingham Palace... I didn't mean to go there. I somehow ended up there. I got lost and thought, "wow there's a big apartment..." and it was that. It was quite pretty but look, I just got through 21hour flight with 11hour time difference, no brain room for that kinda stuff.

Jet lag is a terrible thing. Lucky for me, it only lasted for a week. But the first night, AWFUL! I am dramatic but far out, I am so tired but can't sleep. When you sleep, you get waken up by the slightest noise. Sleeping on a hard floor did not help at all...

The second day in London was also the first day in Paris and the first day in Berlin... I get to Paris at 9.30am, get into the city drop my suitcase off, back to CDG the flew into Berlin. As I got off the plane, SNOW! It has been so long since I saw substantial amount of snow. Maybe when I was 9 years old. Back in the days, my home town in Japan used to snow like this. AMAZING. However, don't forget, it's very very cold. Novelty kinda wear off after a day or so, then all you can feel is the cold. I would wear 3 pears of socks but toes were still numb. NYE was very interesting... It's a long story even as a blog entry so I won't touch on that today.

Berlin was great except for the cold. It got colder and colder as the day passed after NYE. Yesterday's max temp was -7C. It is the coldest I experienced. I waited for the bus for the airport for 3 mins. If not less, and my toes were ready to fall off. Fortunately, the airport has the heater pumping so after 5 minutes inside, you'll warm up again.

Bye bye cold Berlin.