Musings

Sorry about the photos for thos of you who have dial up. I do myself in Auckland, but completely forgot that it would take a while to download the blog when it has photos. Having said that, I have just added another!
It has been an interesting day. I mentioned to Sophie, my prof, this morning, that i still hadn't heard anything from the Carte de Sejour people who were going to email me as soon as they received the faxed birth and wedding certificqtes that Jane was sending. And i know she did it some time ago. So Sophie sent me to the office where there was a great deal of misunderstanding but finally they understood what I was saying and rang the place. Oh yes, the certificqtes were there and they were waiting for me to come in! But in fact I needed the real ones as the Prefecture would not accept faxed copies. However, I was to come in and go through all the stuff and all i would then need would be the original copies. Sophie said i should miss the afternoon uni session and go into town and do the business. Anna, my friend the Polish nun, said she would come with me. I have been before to this place but had no recollection of how to get there. So Sophie drew a map. Great stuff. Anna and I got the bus home to my place to get my paperwork, and by an amazing stroke of luck, or was it because I had a nun with me? :-) - the certificates were in my mail box! Wonderful! So I gathered all my stuff together and off we went into Centre Ville. And I forgot the map. Blast. Well, we got a street map from the tourist place and did our best. We walked around and around, and were even helped by a very gorgeous Frenchman with beautifully accented English. But no luck. So I came home again. In fact I have found out that I have to have a chest X-ray so would have had to go back again anyway. But it just goes on and on. And on.... Every day brings a new challenge.
Just a word regarding my difficulties here. A nice quote from my old teacher George, once again! "It is a shame that many bright people feel things more vividlly than others. You are one of those." :-) What can I say? 1960 was a good year!
A few random jottings:
*I still have trouble knowing which way to look when I cross the road. I am regulqrly in serious danger of being run over.
*I thought there were a lot of faulty toilets until I discovered that you pull the little knob UP!
*People really DO speak very quickly and run it all together.
*Smoking is very big here! The high school students aren't allowed to smoke in the school grounds so the footpqths outside the schools qre always crowded with groups of students smoking.
*I hadn't realised how hopeless I was at the 24 hour clock. They use it all the time here, and I'm forever having to do little calculations in my head.
*I had a very romantic notion about Brasseries, but the ones here are populated by very shifty looking characters indeed!
*In my uni class we have 7 students from South Korea, 2 from China, and one each from Japan, Poland, Spain, Syria, Libya, Bellarusse (sp?) and of course NZ.
*Things seem to cost the same, or twice as much, depending on how you look at it i.e. something that costs 7 dollars on NZ will cost 7 euros here. So in fact it is double, but it would mqke life a misery if you were constqntly making conversions. (Although I confess that I actually do. But then try to get over it!)
That's probably enough reading for today. Oh yes, I went to the market on Sunday morning and I saw Albert Tatlock again! Speaking of which, I hear thqt Leanne has a job in a restaurant. It's good to keep up with these things.
Take care.
Love Alison.