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| Protests or Manifestations |
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| Traffic or Buchon (I prefer Bordel) |
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| At the Beach for Vacation (Sur la Plage pour les Vacances) |
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Parisiennes; Toujours Ensemble
I was watching the news with my wife tonight when they showed a piece on all of the traffic and accidents from everyone leaving the cities in France during the months of July and August. I just thought it would be funny to share these photos. (No, I did not take them personally)
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Living in Paris!...Well, Close
As you all may have noticed, I have been somewhat inconsistant with my blogging. Sorry. I and my lovely wife have moved just south of Paris by about 25km, which for you Americans is roughly, 15.5mi. We have installed ourselves in a pretty little village called Orsay. We were fortunate enough to come here thanks to my wife's new position working at the local syncrotron (anyone have one of those nearby?) where she has taken the role of "Beamline Scientist"!
Bracing myself for another season of Being Depressed and Home Alone, I figured at least being depressed near Paris might be more enjoyable. Well, my wife wouldn't have it.
"Cameron!" she'd say. You need to get a fucking job so we stop eating all of my damn savings and so you get off your ass and stop being depressed!"
Now, to those reading this and not having met my wife, you might ask yourselves, "man, is she brutal or what?" But honestly, this, I had coming. I had indeed, a really tough time finding work in Grenoble but I did kind of drag my feet as well. I wasn't really sure of what I was going to find up here in "la region parisienne", but I knew that my chances of finding SOMETHING were much better.
We moved in on a Thursday evening and on the Friday rode our bikes from our place to "Le Palais de Versailles" or Versailles. Yes, yes, King Louis XIV who had built the palace but then his jackass grandson Louis XVI used it as a hide out while all of Paris was suffering, getting himself dragged back to the city to be imprissonned and then eventually having his head removed from his torso...(this sounds a lot like the French Revolution, hmm). Did anyone ask for a history lesson? Didn't think so.
Anyway!
Versailles is b-e-a-UTIFUL! And boy, is it grande?! We enjoyed our Saturday and Sunday getting ourselves situated. On the following Monday, I gathered up the little courage I had in my reserves to maybe go and find myself a serving job somehwere or perhaps even babysit. Before even getting on the train to go to Paris (30min trip, cool right!?), I found a little private afterschool that teaches in English. In short, I took down their email, went home, wrote to them about my interest, got a call 10 minutes later, interviewed 10 minutes later after that and started the next day. Eglantine was much pleased and very surprised, may I add, that I found a job on my first day of searching. This place is 15 minutes walking distance from the house, 7 mins by scooter (yes a "razor type) and about 3 minutes by bike. Is it convienant? Yes! Does the job involve a bunch of crazy little kids? Yes!
So having such a gap since our last time together, I want to say, I am sorry. There are so many moments of lost hope, excitement and uncertainties that blogging and communicating just don't get into the front of my brain and I really just, forget. I hope that my experiences so far and time here will encourage others to get out there and travel or just move somewhere different. Whether it be out of country or 100 miles away, change is change and change is always challenging.
That is where my journey really began was moving from the Sacramento Valley to the Bay Area and boy was that different! Shake up your environment! Since then I have met a beautiful French lady who has become my wife. I have traveled to numerous national parks. I have started running, alot. I have in case you haven't noticed, moved to France! In turn, I have learned a new language which has drastically opened up my world. So, what are you waiting for? Try something new.
I am going to start and try to take this blog a little more seriously and post more frequently. I will try to upload videos and other fun things. Please leave me comments, I love comments! And don't forget to add your email to subscribe to my blog so you can see when I add new content of my journey abroad. And while you are add it, why not subscribe to my Youtube page if you haven't already?
Cameron's Youtube Page
As always, Ciao for Now and miss you all!
Cameron
Bracing myself for another season of Being Depressed and Home Alone, I figured at least being depressed near Paris might be more enjoyable. Well, my wife wouldn't have it.
"Cameron!" she'd say. You need to get a fucking job so we stop eating all of my damn savings and so you get off your ass and stop being depressed!"
Now, to those reading this and not having met my wife, you might ask yourselves, "man, is she brutal or what?" But honestly, this, I had coming. I had indeed, a really tough time finding work in Grenoble but I did kind of drag my feet as well. I wasn't really sure of what I was going to find up here in "la region parisienne", but I knew that my chances of finding SOMETHING were much better.
We moved in on a Thursday evening and on the Friday rode our bikes from our place to "Le Palais de Versailles" or Versailles. Yes, yes, King Louis XIV who had built the palace but then his jackass grandson Louis XVI used it as a hide out while all of Paris was suffering, getting himself dragged back to the city to be imprissonned and then eventually having his head removed from his torso...(this sounds a lot like the French Revolution, hmm). Did anyone ask for a history lesson? Didn't think so.
Anyway!
Versailles is b-e-a-UTIFUL! And boy, is it grande?! We enjoyed our Saturday and Sunday getting ourselves situated. On the following Monday, I gathered up the little courage I had in my reserves to maybe go and find myself a serving job somehwere or perhaps even babysit. Before even getting on the train to go to Paris (30min trip, cool right!?), I found a little private afterschool that teaches in English. In short, I took down their email, went home, wrote to them about my interest, got a call 10 minutes later, interviewed 10 minutes later after that and started the next day. Eglantine was much pleased and very surprised, may I add, that I found a job on my first day of searching. This place is 15 minutes walking distance from the house, 7 mins by scooter (yes a "razor type) and about 3 minutes by bike. Is it convienant? Yes! Does the job involve a bunch of crazy little kids? Yes!
Having been pretty comfortable at Stanford serving out cappuccinos and what-not for four years, this was a gigantic step outside of my comfort zone! Little kids, screaming and ARTS AND CRAFTS! What!? I had a knot in my stomach for the entire first two weeks. But, I guess this is normal in starting a new little journey. I overcame and tought the hell out of those kids...well I spoke to them in English, which I do very well. Then, was given the crazy idea to start my own business in tutoring English privately. I must give credit to my wonderful wife for encouraging me to actually think that this is possible. The American, starting the "American Dream", in France...huh? It actually doesn't seem like it will be too complicated and I already have three potential clients who are very interested to start in September or October, all I have to do is pull the trigger on this thing and get to work.
So having such a gap since our last time together, I want to say, I am sorry. There are so many moments of lost hope, excitement and uncertainties that blogging and communicating just don't get into the front of my brain and I really just, forget. I hope that my experiences so far and time here will encourage others to get out there and travel or just move somewhere different. Whether it be out of country or 100 miles away, change is change and change is always challenging.
That is where my journey really began was moving from the Sacramento Valley to the Bay Area and boy was that different! Shake up your environment! Since then I have met a beautiful French lady who has become my wife. I have traveled to numerous national parks. I have started running, alot. I have in case you haven't noticed, moved to France! In turn, I have learned a new language which has drastically opened up my world. So, what are you waiting for? Try something new.
I am going to start and try to take this blog a little more seriously and post more frequently. I will try to upload videos and other fun things. Please leave me comments, I love comments! And don't forget to add your email to subscribe to my blog so you can see when I add new content of my journey abroad. And while you are add it, why not subscribe to my Youtube page if you haven't already?
Cameron's Youtube Page
As always, Ciao for Now and miss you all!
Cameron
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