Aussie! Aussie! Aussie!!!

Go Australia!!! Aussie Aussie Aussie!! What a game! I watched the game in my Canadian bar because I knew it wouldn't be too crowded, easy to get drinks and a great view of the game (and it turned out to get into the Australian bar to watch the game it was $10, very unAustralian). I was both happy and sad, excited and nervous, it was explosive. I jumped off my seat so many times my ass thought I was riding a camel. There were a few Australians in the bar too and the owner is Australian so it was a great environment. Jesus! What a game. Australia was down from the word Go and then fought back, then was down again and fought back. It was inspiring. There were many mistakes throughout the game and by the end the ref was handing out red cards like they were flyers for pizza hut. But it worked out and we are through to play the Italians in the next round. Historic.

After the game I went with some Australian friends and a Swedish dude to CafeOz, a large Australian bar in the centre of town. It was pumping and was perhaps filled with every Australian in Paris. Everyone was happy and relaxed. It was so much fun.

Over the next few days I will prepare for Europe and my departure from my appartment and Paris. And people are coming from all around to visit Paris and hang out. It is gonna be fun.

Where the Hell is Matt?

This is a cool video from a dude who travelled all around the world dancing.

Fete de la Musique

On the night of the 21st of June Paris hosts the Fete de la Musique, a huge musical event where on streets all over Paris live bands play all kinds of music and there is drinking and many festivities. So last night was big. It is the summer soltice so everyone was out having a good time. Everywhere I went there were live bands playing, I think I saw about 20 in my travels, and along with each band there were heaps of people listening, dancing and drinking. This video doesn't really do the night justice but you can sorta get an idea of the amount of people there. Boulevard St. Germain was so packed with people that it was closed to traffic, along with many other areas of Paris.

The Movers

OK, super quick post becuase I need to go watch the Soccer. Yesterday I got a call from a friend in the afternoon to ask if I could help him move some of his stuff from a friends house because the friend is going back to Colombia. No probs I said, but figured it wouldn't be too far or difficult a job. I took my metro line, changed, took another line, changed, then took a third line to the last stop. From there I was then instructed to take a bus and finally after 1.5 hours of travelling I made it. The area was a little bit ghetto but family oriented so not that unsafe or scary. We then helped back my friends stuff as well as his friends, we then grabbed a sandwich grec and then went back and finished packing. There were four big boxes in all so we decided a taxi was the only option. After no luck hailing one, we went and called one and the flagfall when you call one is about 7 euros. I was astonished. I was lucky enough to score a raggedy pair of rollerblades out of my adventure, so I'm gonna try and fix them up then head out for a roll at some point in the near future.

Tappa Tappa Tappa

Yesterday, winter returned and it rained and the heat cleared. At the time I was worried summer might be over for a little while again, but it has happily... the typing guy is here again and came and sat right next to me and he breathes so heavily through his nose, the only thing louder in the room is his typing. Here's a quick video of the sound i hear.



Last night I went out and met up with some friends in the Marais. We went to a favourite bar of a friend of a friend. It was a nice place but obiously a little for those of the gay persuasion. The place was small but full, with about 30 people. I was in a group of about 6, and of that group the three guys including me were the only hetero guys in the place. It was a little strange but it was a cool place.

The night got stranger because we left there to find somewhere to dance. One of the barmen told my friend of a little club around the corner where she could take us. So we left the bar and headed to this club. I was very weary of where we might be going so I was not too surprised when we walked in. I followed my friend in, and our group was behind. As I stepped in I was the only man in the place. It was a lesbian club. Again it was a little strange but I had a fun night and that's what matters right?

Today we should be leaving our appartment because we have only paid a month and we have told the landlord that we plan to leave. But he has not come to our door and we haven't been able to find him so for the time being we have to wait and see. My aim is to try and see if i can pay some rent and stay until the end of the month in the appartment, but I will have to see. I cannot read the landlord, I dunno if he likes us or he hates us, so I have no idea how my chances are.

Two IMPORTANT Points to mention:


1. Please sign up with Flickr and select me (avecmatilda) as a contact so you can gain access to all of my photos that are specific to my friends. It is free and easy so please don't be lazy.


2. Please check out my Jack Bauer facts section and if you think of any good ones please comment.

"If you don't tell me what I want to know, then it'll just be a question of how much you want it to hurt."

3-1

I was going to give an interesting post but I have a sore throat and as a result can't be bothered to talk for too long. I think I am getting a bit of a cold so it is a good opportunity to start eating better and perhaps do a bit of exercise. Yesterday was a great day for the country of Australia. Godamn I was pumped. I hope everyone saw the game. Woo Hoo. Australia beat Japan 3 - 1 yesterday, just in case you didn't know. Oh what a game! I was sitting in the Canadian bar with a Fosters in one hand and my heart in the other.

This guy sitting next to me is one of the smelliest men I have ever had the displeasure of sitting next to. Today we are going to see Xmen 3 at the nearby cinema. I am really looking forward to it.

TRIVIA about Australia in the World Cup: No other team has scored three goals in the last seven minutes in World Cup history.

Fed Square After 1st Goal

AUS v JAP 3 - 1. I got this link from The Age website and although I was not there I wish I had been. Awesome!!

After the Party

The party was a great success. It started a bit slow but once people started to arrive it got pumping. Oskar was about 2 hours late to his own party so all the purchases and setting up and cleaning was done by myself. It wasn't that big of a party but the guests were rolling. Ie, some guests left and more came. During most of the party there were about 10 people, and in total we had about 20 people. A couple of times towards the end of the party when there were about 5 people in the appartment two different people from the same appartment came and told us to be quiet. I was very tempted to tell them where to go but i kept my cool. It might be unfair but it is one of my pet hates when people complain about noise in nearby locations. Especially when it is reasonable noise coming from a reasonable amount of people. Our neighbours have been noisy before and what i do is put on a little music or read a book and ignore it or let it go as a part of life. I don;t go searching then knock on a door at 11:30pm at night.

Anyway, it wasn't too much of a big deal. So I cleaned up my room after the party and it was lucky i did because the landlord came in this morning with his own key while i was sleeping because of a problem with the toilet. It was leaking or something to the floor below. I took him at his word at the time, but looking back i can't help but think that someone had spoken to him about our little soiree and he'd decided to come and check on his appartment. But it was all fine.

I pushed my language lessons back another week because of one reason or another. This week I chose the reason "because we are moving house, and also because they don't have my correct class so i'd have to be in the wrong class". So this week I've gotta study up and move my stuff.

"Trust me, you don't wanna go down this road with me..."
"Oh Hell.."
"That is exactly where I am going to send you. By the time I finish with you you're gonna wish you felt this good again."
>> I love 24.

Je ne comprend pas

Is anyone visiting the site? How can there not be a single comment for those cool pictures I took and then included in my post. That wasn't easy and took some extra work. I'm sitting between two weirdos at the moment and I have to be careful because if they can read english than they can see what i am typing about them. to my right there is a guy who hammers the keyboard as he pays some electricity bills or something. he is surrounded by paperwork on these very small desks that we have here. to my left there is a computer nerd looking up warez informatin and being bombarded by adds. On these warez sites once you close one of the adds, more adds pop up. I do not like being between these two.

Tonight we are throwing a "leaving our new appartment" party. It is basically an excuse to have people around and drink some wine and be merry. Oskar and I are also throwing around the idea of simply packing up our stuff in 2 days and leaving the appartment at night. The thing is that we have paid for the time spent in our appartment, and we are both planning on leaving. We haven't left any deposit or additional months rent, and there is no guarantee, so we are thinking that we might as well leave. I have already moved some of the less important stuff to a friends so he can look after it while i am travelling in July.

I've gotta go and buy some stuff for tonight, such as munchies and perhaps a bit of wine. We expect this party to be a little bigger than the house warming so I think that i'm going to go and buy some disposible cups so that we don't have any people drinking out of their hands.



Click here to check out my favourite 25 photos. Please, tell me what you think. I need to know you are there because this guy next to me is pissing me off so much i wish he would stop hitting the damn keyboard, i feel like picking up the keyboard and showing him how it feels.

The Sun!

It is a truly superb day in Paris and Summer has most definitly arrived. The last few days and today the sky is bright blue without a cloud and the sun is shining like it is the star performing on the opening day for the musical that is Summer. Today I am quickly dropping in to the internet cafe to let you know how it is all going. Yesterday I spent the day with Oskar in the Jardin du Luxembourg just enjoying the sun and having a chat and a drink. By about 6pm I'd drunk about 2 litres of Kronenbourg and I thought I should go home for a nap. Instead I went with Oskar to his work and was given a pint, and like magic whenever it was starting to look empty, it would magically refil. So who knows how much beer I consumed. Before I knew it the time was 10pm so i headed to the Hostel to catch up with my friend Rachid where I had a few more drinks. Oskar met us there when he finished work early and we had a fun conversation with a heap of a americans, and then some interesting German guys until the sun was coming up. We took the first train home in the morning and met two american girls on the train who were just on their way home from the Chilli Peppers concert. We slept and by the time we awoke, Oskar had to go to work and now I am here. Cool eh? I shampooed and apres shampooed today so my hair is out and wooly. It feels better but is a bit annoying. There are some supremely wierd people in Paris so I fit in fine with my crazy hair.

1am

I'm walking home after having a few beers with a couple of americans i met today. we went to the Moose, the canadian bar my roommate works at, because it is a nice relaxing place and good for a chat. i was walking home without enough change to buy a crepe so i stepped into my internet cafe, which is 24 hours and on the way home for a quick post. i know that i don't post enough so i hope this is appreciated as an attempt to give you a better idea of my time and how it is spent. although this is perhaps a poor example of how my time is spent. i was sitting at one computer just a minute ago, but i felt i had to move because the gentleman next to me was slamming his hands into the keyboard when he typed and it was very distracting. today on the way to the moose in the metro carriage i was in, there was a man who set up a black curtain between two of the poles in the centre of the carriage. he then played some music and as the voice in the music began to sing, a bright blue bird puppet appeared from behind the black curtain and sang. then when the duet voice joined in a bright pink bird appeared from behind the curtain. the two birds sang away as the song continued, and i decided this was the best peice of busking that i had seen on the train, however i never give money to buskers who insist on performing in the carriages out of principle. i believe that the audience should have the ability to leave the performance if it is not for them and trains forbid this without a fair degree of effort. so i never give them any money no matter how good. but this performance was original and vaguely entertaining.

The Complexities of the French

I have decided that there are too many little differences between the French and Australian culture (or perhaps English culture), so I have to make a list.

In no particular order:
1. toilets don't let you know from outside whether they are occupied
2. some toilets are in the ground and have no bowl but just a hole
3. police wear rollerblades
4. sirens are long and annoying
5. phone ringing tone sounds like engaged signal
6. Police detectives where casual clothes, often leather jackets
7. There are often heavily armed military walking around monuments
8. Customer service is non existant and servers are rude
9. Garbage bags have a thin bit of plastic attached to the bottoms so that after it is full you can tie it closed.
10. Washroom taps have a special mechanism so you push a button with your foot and you don't need to touch anything with your hands.
11. When they ask for your name, they mean surname.

I will continue to add more as they become apparent.

Place des Vosges video

This is my first video blog, so I hope this will work. Please tell me what you think. This day was a magical day in Paris. Perfect Paris.