It's finally over

At least for now the strike is over. The different unions and the government are currently in negotiations and will be for the next month; when there is a chance the strikes will resume in case they do not come to an agreement. But for now I’m extremely happy and relieved they are over. This means I will be able to go places, tour the city, visit other cities and most importantly I will be able to travel by metro to school without feeling like a sardine. Believe me that the experience of being in a jammed packed wagon at the metro in Paris is one that I don’t really look forward to repeating. Since the strike I haven’t been able to do much sightseeing fearing I would be stuck somewhere in the city and not be able to return home. Besides going to class, I only ventured to go out a couple of times during the strike. Last weekend I walked to Montmartre. It took me 1 hour to get there at a regular pace and about 40-45 minutes to get back at a faster pace. It got so cold as the sun started to set that all I wanted to do was to get home as soon as possible. I also went to visit a friend after school during the week and we then went together to have dinner at another friend’s house. We had to take a taxi to get to his place. What would usually take about 10 minutes to travel by taxi took about 30 minutes due to the traffic jams in the city. And this was at 10 o’clock at night. So you can picture how the traffic conditions where here during this week. I had to sleep over at my friend’s house because there was no way I could get home using public transportation. So this afternoon I’m all ready and set to travel to Saint-Germain en-Laye (by train) to visit Pilar (Libia’s sister) a friend who lives in this small town right outside Paris with her husband and kids and where tonight we will be enjoying a delicious Raclette with some of their friends.

Pictures to come soon!

La Grêve Part II

I have developed this bad habit of going to sleep very late at night. That’s why when the alarm went off at 5AM this morning I really had difficult waking up. But I was determined to make it to school no matter what; so after snoozing for about 15 minutes I finally got out of bed. Last night I had made my master plan for this morning: wake up really early and try to catch a metro sometime between 6AM and 7AM. 7 o’clock was more or less my cut-off time if I needed to walk to school. I made it to the metro station at around 615AM, when the temperature was around 1 degree Celsius (31-33 degrees Fahrenheit), thinking it was going to be quite full. See, on a regular basis the wagons on this line are always full; no matter the time of the day. This was my main concern, not being able to get inside the metro if in fact one showed up. I get there and it was like a ghost town. No attendants and no ticket control. I saw 2 women getting out and asked them what was going on but they replied that there were no trains running. I looked at the monitor at the entrance of the station which had what was supposed to be the latest information on the operation of the different metro lines and it stated that for this specific line 1 out of 6 trains would operate. Based on what I know on the frequency of this particular train on a regular basis I quickly calculated more or less how often they would be running today: I’m sorry, I’m an engineer. These things are part of my nature. So as the women exited the station I decided to ignore them and find out for myself whether or there was a metro I could take. I went down stairs to the platform and found some people waiting. Not too many…but there were still people waiting. I said to myself: if they are waiting maybe is because they also waited here yesterday and they were able to get on a metro. I decided to wait. About every 2 or 3 minutes a message was being repeated over the loud speakers. It said something to the fact that due to the strike the metro line was heavily “perturbé”. Since no one moved after the announcements I continued waiting. 15 minutes later I see a metro approaching on the other direction. I saw that as a sign of hope. I continued waiting. Another 10 or 15 minutes later another metro: on the other direction. Finally, a train shows up at around 7AM on the direction I needed to take. The train stopped but it was impossible to get on. It was totally full. I attempted to look for a place from the outside but forget it. So this lady who was standing next to me told me not to worry because another train was coming in 2 minutes. And she was right. Thank God another train showed up 2 minutes later and on this one there was plenty of space. Once I got on I knew I was saved and at least if I had to walk today it was going to be only one way. The 30-35 ride took an hour and 10 minutes this time around. The train was going very slow, it would stop for a longer period of time at each station to allow passengers to get out, get in, and accommodate. 2 or 3 stops after mine the train was already packed. Talk about total violation of your personal space. As some of you know I tend to be somewhat claustrophobic so this ride seemed like an eternity to me. I had to close my eyes and visualize that I was somewhere else: just forget about the place where I was standing. At some stations there were employees from the metro system standing around the platforms and whose job was just to help manually close the doors from the outside by pushing and squeezing the people inside the wagon if they had to. You know how when you have too many things in your suitcase and it does not close you squeeze the suitcase with one hand and then pull the zipper with the other to try to close it? This is exactly what was going on.
On any given day I change trains along the way in order to end up at a station which is about 1 to 2 minutes away from the school. This time around I did not want to risk my luck so I took this one metro all the way to a station that is about 15 minutes by foot from the school. Not bad at all. I made it to school about 30 minutes before the class which gave me then time to have a coffee and a croissant.
After class I went straight to the metro station instead of my usual walk to somewhere interesting in Paris. I was not sure once again how often the trains would be operating and thought it was better to catch the train right after 1PM and not later in the afternoon when everyone was trying to get home after work. Once again I lucked out. I waited about 10 minutes until a train showed up; and it was one which still had sufficient space. As I was getting home they started making announcement that my line was going to start operating 1 train every 45 minutes. So yes…I was very happy with my decision to attempt to get back home right after school. Tomorrow I’m going to go through the same drill and hopefully I will be able to once again catch the metro to and from school. According to the news things are improving. Both regional/suburban trains as well as the metro system increased the number of trains which operated and 40% of the buses operated as opposed to 10% yesterday. They are also saying “la gréve” will only last until the weekend. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

La Grêve

This is unbelievable. Today I was not able to go to school thanks to the striking employees of France’s National Railway System. And with the threat of several protests going on in the city I stayed home thinking it was more prudent to monitor the news on the TV than to witness them in person. I’m not sure how much coverage this story is being given overseas but basically what is going on is that the different unions that represent the train drivers in all of France, as well as the metro and bus drivers in Paris, have decided to strike as of last night. This time around they are striking against the president’s (Nicolas Sarkozy) plan to reform their retirement/pension plan. A couple of years back, France raised the number of years an employee has to contribute to their pension plan in order to obtain full pension benefits for the private sector from 37.5 years to 40. This reform was also applied to some employees of the public sector; however, it did not affect the union employees of the transportation sector. Now his plan is to apply the same reform to these union employees thus making the retirement age for France’s entire workforce the same. This is one of the main reasons for the strike. But they are not the only ones who are striking. The utilities employees, such as electricity and gas, have decided to join them. And as the saying - “The more the merrier” - goes, students from universities all over France have also joined in the strikes/protests due to the government’s plan to make the universities autonomous. The students had called today not only for protests, but also for blocking the entrance to the main train stations…something that fortunately did not end up taking place. Knowing how revolutionary the French can sometimes be (the French Revolution and the riots 2 years ago are just some of the things that come to my mind) I’m pretty sure you understand why I decided it was better to stay home and keep an eye on how things would develop throughout the day.
So what is the result of all of this? Today, only 20% of the metro and buses in Paris operated. Some of the suburban trains did not operate at all and some did, but only at about 10% of their normal capacity. There is a total chaos in Paris. People are either walking to school/work or going in bikes or scooters. The people who live in the suburbs had to drive their cars into the city causing horrendous traffic jams: worse than the ones formed when it rains in Miami or when there is an accident on the Turnpike. And then there are others who are simply staying with friends who live near the city center or who just have decided to stay at a hotel to be closer to their jobs. Thank God the effects of the electricity and gas employees strikes have not manifested themselves yet; but just in case I have a candle and some matches right on my night table…ja ja ja!!!! And as if this was not enough, as I’m writing this post I hear on the news that the postal workers, teachers and some judges are planning to join in the strikes.
Even though negotiations have begun between all of the parties involved, the government is standing very firm on their plans to continue with the reform and they are saying they won’t back down. And guess what??? The unions are saying the same: they are not backing down!!! The last time the government tried to make some sort of reform to the pension plan for these employees was back in 1,995. Back then the strike went on for 3 and half weeks until the government had to finally back down due to the citizen’s pressure to stop the unbearable and chaotic situation. This time around it seems to be different. The citizens in general are being more supportive of the government than of the union workers. On a poll conducted today, 84% of the people believe the government won’t back down and 71% of the people don’t want the government to back down. So we’ll see how everything develops.

As for me…tomorrow I’ll wake up very early to try to catch one of the 20% subways/buses which would get me closer to the school (maybe it is wishful thinking in my part, or me just being too optimistic but I guess it is worth giving it a try). If not I will have no other choice but to put on some very comfortable shoes, make sure my i-pod is charged and walk the almost 5 miles between where I’m staying and the school. So once again I have to ask if someone could please remind me that it is the 21st century and I’m living in a developed country in the first world; one that is a members of the G8: the group of the 8 major industrialized countries in the world. I swear that sometimes I feel I never left the early 80’s of my Colombian-third-world-country when the strikes in Itagui (a municipality right next to Medellin) would prevent us from getting to school and we would avoid certain areas of the city because of the students and teachers strikes at “La Universidad Nacional”.

Whereabouts - Paris

Since I haven’t written in a while I thought I first bring you up to date with what I have been up to in the last week and a half: apartment hunting, apartment hunting, and apartment hunting. After a couple of stressful days thinking I was not going to find a place where to live in Paris and making plans of going to live under a bridge next to the Seine River (just kidding) I finally moved to a studio on Thursday afternoon. I ended up taking one of the studios at an apparthotel which has a working partnership with the school I’m going to. The place is really nice. The building itself together with the studios were remodeled recently so they all have new and modern furniture and equipment. Just like in Munich the place is a little matchbox but it has everything that I need and even more: I have finally access to the Internet. They are located about 2 minutes by foot from a metro station on the north part of the city but they are also located on the outskirts of the city (about 2 miles north of Montmatre for those who know Paris). However with the metro it is only a 15-20 ride to the city center. I would’ve rather stayed closer to the center (who wouldn’t, right?) but the thing is that it is very hard to find a place in the city center with the characteristics I was looking for: furnished, for only 3 months and at a decent price. To live in the city center is very expensive, especially when you need something short term.

This past week I also started school (on Monday) and surprisingly enough I was “promoted” to the next level. After not taking French for about a year and after spending the past 6 months concentrated in learning German I did not feel very comfortable with my French skills. However, I got to my class on Monday morning (the one they assigned me after taking the placement text) and after introducing myself to the class and answering a couple of questions from my teacher she tells me that I speak French very well for that level (I almost flipped or made PLOP like Condorito) and she recommended me to go to the next level. I decided to follow her advice and on Tuesday I started attending the other class; where I do feel very comfortable and feel that I’m learning a lot. I think I was also very lucky because in this new class I have an excellent teacher. Even though I have only been going to her class for 4 days I do feel that I’m learning and that my French is improving….and I couldn’t be happier about that (I know…I’m such a nerd!!!). Although I have to confess that I miss a lot, and in a way it saddens me not to have it anymore at this moment, all that contact I had with the German language for the past 6 months. But now that I’m here I have to concentrate on the French. I have to take it one language at a time or otherwise I’ll go crazy.

View of Paris from Montmartre - Basilica of Sacre Coeur

And as the days go by I continue to fall more and more in love with this city. I actually haven’t gotten tired of repeating the same thing: Paris is a wonderful city. I do feel so blessed, fortunate and extremely lucky to have the chance to live here. I can’t explain why or pinpoint the reasons why, but for me, being here, living here, and knowing I will be here for the next couple of months is all an overwhelming feeling of happiness. Living in Paris is a whole different experience from coming here on vacation for a couple of days. It changes your whole perspective of the city. I’m thrilled for example with the fact that I can go places and just enjoy them for however long I want to without feeling I have to rush out. On Saturday for example I spend the whole day at Montmartre (the mountain of the martyrs) which is probably my favorite spot in Paris. Montmartre is a small mountain located on the northern part of the city where the monumental Basilica of Sacre Coeur (sacred heart) is located. On a clear day the mountain and the Basilica can be seen from almost anywhere in Paris and on the same token you can see all of Paris form its summit. This neighborhood has always been known for being filled with painters and artists of the like who still gather at the main square with their paintings and drawing tools trying to sell their art to the thousands and thousands of tourists who visit it. So I spent the whole afternoon just walking down its narrow streets, visiting the little shops and also making a self-guided tour of the basilica. Afterwards I sat down on the steps that lead to the top of the mountain and the basilica to enjoy one of my favorite activities: listen to a couple of street performers who where playing the guitar and singing on the most part pop hits (in English) from the 80’s, 90’s and today (just like 97.3). However, all of them had also the ability to sing songs in other languages (French, German, Spanish and Italian) which they played as they interacted with the people. One of them was actually very funny because when a group of people told him they were from Latin America he started playing a song in Spanish. I did not recognize the song at first but I knew I had heard it before. It took me some time to realize what he was singing because it was a popular Regaetton song which he had adapted to another rhythm I guess to be able to play it on the guitar…and no, it wasn’t “La Gasolina”. I couldn’t believe it; but like I said on a previous post, I guess I cannot get away from Regaetton no matter how far I am from Miami. There were actually 3 different performers and each one of them sang for about 1 hour. One of the performers was an Italian guy who I had seen singing around the Latin Quarter when I was here last year with my family. As a matter of fact we liked him so much when we first saw him back then that we decided to go back the following day to listen to him one more time. So I’m very happy with my discovery of where this guy is now playing. I really like him. More than how good or not he can play the guitar or sing he is really charismatic and draws a lot of people to his performance as you will see. I’m officially one of his groupies. And as you can see, the place was full of people who just like me where delighted listening to the music, singing a long and enjoying the gorgeous background: Paris.

My favorite Street Performer in Paris...(so far)

First Impressions

Some of my first thoughts and impressions after arriving Paris.

I’ve been in Paris for 4 and a half days now and I continue to be in love with this city. Paris is such an amazing city: I love it, I love it, I love it, I love it. It is such a lively, vibrant and in some instances chaotic place that landing here after being in Munich for almost 6 months is somewhat of a cultural shock; but one which I’m enjoying. Munich is a very quiet, calmed and tranquil city where people are on the most part very proper, they talk very low, everyone follows all the rules, and everything works the way it should. In Munich the streets are impeccable, the metro stations are clean and you can hear a needle drop after 10 o’clock at night on any given day (unless you are in the area around Mariendplatz or Kulfabrik which is where all the clubs are located). In Paris on the other hand there is always something going on. Cars and motorcycles make a lot of noise as do the masses of people walking up and down the streets…no matter the time of day. The metro stations, and in some instances the wagons themselves, always have some sort of street performers playing all kinds of instruments or just singing to a tune played on their portable audio/CD player…with the intent of “making every ones trip on the train more enjoyable”-according to them- and of course to collect some money at the end.

On Monday I get out of my hostel/hotel and walk towards the closest suburban train(RER) station to head to the city. I’m currently staying in the suburbs about 25 minutes from the city center by train. I get to the train station and I thought I was walking past the Haunted House in Disneyworld. “How appropriate” I said to myself, thinking that Halloween was only 2 days away. The place is somewhat run down and creepy….but I’m making this judgment based only in looks: the place does not feel unsafe at all…it’s just that it would appreciate some pressure cleaning and some paint. I guess I had gotten used to the train stations in Bavaria which all look like a house taken out from the tale of Hansel and Grethel. So I purchased my weekly ticket and insert it into the reading machine that gives you access to the train’s platform and I put it away in my wallet. I get off on the “Invalides” station to connect with the subway. To get out of the RER section of the station I have to once again get my ticket out of the wallet and insert it in a machine so that it lets me get out and I put it away. I walked, and walked and walked through all the underground hallways which connect the RER line with the subway line until finally reaching the entrance to the subway…and guess what….I had to once again get out my ticket and insert it in a machine to gain access to the subway. At that moment I remembered this is the modus operandi of the train system in Paris and I was going to continue going thru the same exercise of getting out my ticket and then putting it back into my wallet. It was then that I realized how much I was going to miss the honor system in Munich. See…in Munich you do not have to insert your ticket into any machine in order to gain access to the trains. You just get on the train without any type of control because you are honest enough to purchase a ticket before getting on and not riding without one. Of course there are random controls done by employees of the Munich Transportation System who dressed in civilian clothes get on a wagon and start asking for tickets. If you do not have a valid ticket you are fined 40 Euros on the spot, no excuses accepted.

So what have I been up to this week other than trying not to loose my wallet or my train ticket from all this taking out and putting it back in? I chose the language school I will be attending and took the placement test. I will be starting school on Monday morning and at least for the next 3 weeks I will be doing an intensive course from 9AM to 1PM Monday-Friday. The teacher then recommended that once I finish the 3 weeks to take a combination of a less intensive course with some writing, grammar and pronunciation workshops depending on how I progress. So we’ll see. I’m really happy and excited about the school. It has a great atmosphere and everyone seemed very nice. I spent most of the afternoon there on Tuesday (taking advantage of their free wi-fi) and I already met a couple of people with whom I’ll have lunch on Monday. I’ve also been looking at places to live but I still haven’t found one. The ones I’ve seen are extremely expensive for what they are. I know this city is very expensive but I think if I give it a couple more days I should be able to find a better place. In the meantime I’ll continue to stay at the hostel/hotel.

And then I’ve also managed to do a little bit of sightseeing: I went to the Eiffel tour and walked to the Arc de Triomphe, the Pantheon, spent some time at the Champs Elysee yesterday (it was a holiday here but all the stores along this street were opened) identifying the stores I will shop in once I win the lotto, the Opera house, and taking advantage of the good weather by walking through some typical Parisian neighborhoods.
The weather thus far has been great, definitely a big improvement from Munich were the temperature was between o and 4 degrees Celsius on my last 9 days and where I did not see the sun during those same 9 days. Here it has been a mixture of sunny and cloudy days. However during the day I can survive with no problems by just wearing a sweater and then only wearing my coat at night.