This morning, before I went to my office, I went straight to the multimedia centre to ask for internet access. To my dismay, they told me to come again on Tuesday (which is tomorrow) between 1pm to 3pm. This was the 2nd time that I was told to get something done on a Tuesday instead of Monday. The first time was to get my access card credited. I guessed some of the administrations here start work on Tuesday. The people here generally work very short hours as compared to those in Singapore. Minus away the time they spent in the cafeteria before and after lunch, it is amazing that any work is done here. This reminded me of poor Grace, who had to work at 4a.m. in the morning on Sunday. I once read a report that France had the shortest working hours per week. Merely 35 hrs I think. So that’s just 7 hrs per day. Moreover, the administration is also not very efficient but still France is one of the superpowers in the world. Perhaps they work smart but not hard here.
Anyway, I left the multimedia centre and would definitely return tomorrow to get it done because internet is a need rather than a luxury nowadays. I would definitely want to have it at all cost, unless I would have to be charged a bomb. But I guessed it should be free. So I went on to my office and found that my supervisor still had not returned. I was planning to show him my work today. Today, the guys seemed to be more hardworking and less playful in the office. They were testing out some machines and I guessed perhaps there is a project going on. These guys to me, are really IT freaks. Besides goofing around at times, they spent most of their times in front of the PC. I wondered what they do in their private lives.
Since Anatole was still not around, I didn’t plan to do much work today. I did send an email to him to update him on my progress and he replied that he would return tomorrow at 1130pm. Finally I could show him my work but tomorrow doesn’t seem to be a good day for I would be rather busy and have no time to entertain him. Anyway it was lunch and before I go to the restaurant, I went to the office in which I bought my food tickets. I asked the in-charge if there were any DVDs that are in French but with English subtitles. I was really determined to brush up my French. After some talking in my lousy French, she finally understood and started to find for me. She really was taking her own sweet time to find me a good movie because apparently there were other people waiting for her service. But she just didn’t care and continued looking for me. The admin here was always like this. First come first serve. So she would serve me until she was happy before proceeding on to serve the others. In the end, she got for me Forrest Gump. She actually recommended me another one, Lord of the Ring 2 Towers, but I guessed it would sound funny to have Golum speaking French. Anyway I brought the trilogy along for my IA.
Lunch was fries and steak and this time I tried using some French instead of just pointing at the food. As usual I was eating alone but soon a rugged-looking unshaven man joined me at my table. He had cigarette smell on his body and his face was so red, it was as if he was drunk. And he had an earring on his right ear. Gay! I don’t care as long as he doesn’t touch me. But despite his caveman-look, he ate like a gentleman, occasionally wiping his mouth with the serviette and placing the serviette on his laps. In fact I found him wiping his mouth too often. Gay indeed. For me, I was the barbarian for I ate hungrily and while cutting the stupid steak, I spilled some of my fries. Although he ate gracefully, he was fast in finishing his food also. I realized that the French eats relatively faster here. Big mouthful after another.
Before I left, I met Marie-Claude and told her that I was going to the bank to collect my blue card and cheque book. I took the same bus 16 and gave the driver 2.20 euros. He asked whether I wanted to buy 2 tickets but I only wanted one (each cost 1.10 euros). I did not intend to buy the return trip because I wanted to cheat. So I kept the change and took a seat. Soon I arrived at Republique and went straight to the bank. I did not have to wait too long in the queue before it was my turn to be served but just then, the phone rang and the lady at the counter attended to it. She talked for about 10mins and I just stood there waiting. This is the spirit of the admin here. They do not mind keeping the customer waiting. I had been practicing my lines in French for this trip to the bank but in the end I still spoke in English and there were people who turned and looked at me. Apparently, English was not very popularly used here. To my surprise, she spoke adequate English and I got everything that I requested for. Almost everything.
So I left the bank and walked around to take some pictures. I took picture of a big stray dog which was finding food near the dustbins. The dog looked strong and healthy. So are the beggars on the streets. I guessed people (and dogs) are well-fed in this country. The people here loved dogs I guessed because often I would see people walking their dogs. And they would just lead their dogs into the restaurants. I went on to try out my card at the ATM here. I wanted to check my account balance but the instructions were in French. So I decided to withdraw 20 euros and get a receipt after that. While waiting, I was afraid that my card would be “eaten” by the machine. Luckily all was well and I got the receipt which really was just a receipt. It said I had withdrawn 20 euros and that was all. So I decided to return to my office and use the internet to check my account. This would be much safer than trying out the ATM.
While waiting for the bus, I noticed a pretty young lady carrying a bagpack, a laptop and dragging her luggage. She was in the same situation as I was on my first day in Paris. Then she took out her packet of cigarettes and unwrapped it and carefully stuffed the wrapper into her pocket. I guessed the people here do not litter anyhow. However, after she had smoked, she just threw the butt on the floor! That was when I realized that I was stepping on a cigarette butt also and in fact, the floor was littered with them. I noticed that in this country, a lot of people smoke due to the weather perhaps. When I was in Paris, people were smoking on the platform while waiting for the train to arrive. In IRISA, people smoked inside their offices but not along the common corridor of course. My brother asked me to find out what was the price of a packet of cigarettes here. I had not done so and probably would on Wednesday when I go to the mart. But I guessed, regardless the price, people who are addicted would still smoke.
I boarded the bus without paying the fare and got back to my office. The first thing I did was to check my account balance via the internet. But, it said that my password was invalid! On last Monday, when I was there at the bank to open my account with the help of Chebourou the manager, she said that I needed 2 codes to use the internet. One was the Client Code which she passed to me on the spot. Another was a VOCALIA code which would be available to me in a week’s time. However, I wasn’t sure if this VOCALIA code would be sent to me by post or do I have to collect it personally. Before I went down to the bank this afternoon, I checked my letter box and sure enough there was a letter from my bank and in it, I found a 4-digit secret code. The letter was in French however. I used the 4-digit code successfully for the ATM and thought this must be the VOCALIA code. But when I combined it with the Client Code that I already had, I couldn’t access my account on internet. So I guessed I have to go down again tomorrow to get the code personally. But why didn’t the lady who gave me my card and cheque book do so in the first place? Anyway, before I go tomorrow, I would check my letterbox one more time.
So tomorrow is going to be a busy day because I have to get internet access at 1pm and thereafter go to the bank and then come back to the office to see Anatole. One thing good about working here is that the hours are flexible. You go and come as you like, at least so far it had been as such. With nothing much to do, I left the office at 4pm because I had to pay my rent which had been delayed for a week plus. In the office, I was told to wait awhile because I think the 2 clerks were having some problems with their work. So I waited and waited and waited. They just simply ignored me and carried on with their work. Finally I waited until they were free and ready to leave the office because it was almost 5pm. After paying my rent, I realized that I had spent 525.96 euros since the day I arrived in France. Out of this, 130 euros was the deposit for my room which will be reimbursed to me after I move out in June. Before I came here, Mathilde said that 500 euros would be enough to last me till the end of the month. Today is the 31st of January and if I had listened to her, I would have to borrow 25.96 euros from her. Anyway, she wasn’t around in office today because she was at another department the whole day. Lucky I was not around also for most of the time today.
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