super quick

super quick post cos im at work and i know boss will be here soon: all is well in paris: oskar has headed off to austria however he changed his plans last minute and has gone to torino in italy: appartment has food again which is good and i have tidied it up thanks to some time and money: greatly looking forward to the end of the month so i have some money to do things at the moment i am basically living off shitty tips: last night i went to the weekly quiz at a scottish bar we always visit on monday: this quiz is a weekly thing and heaps of fun: last night there was a section of ten celebrities who have appeared on the simpsons and their pictures and we had to guess who was who: i managed to get all 10 and be the only one with a perfect score so it was pretty cool: anyway gotta run and finish work: very tired gotta get home and sleep: miss u all and melbourne: let me know what uv been up to:

Working in a strange Anglo vortex...

I'm living in Paris, the heart of France and the Franco world but I'm working in a strange Anglo vortex where everyone speaks English including the French, where the music is Australian, American or English and the people are from those countries, except for a sprinkling of Spanish speakers. I think the point i'm trying to make can best be summarised in a moment the other day when an Australian asked me for a beer. Powderfinger was on in the background and the hostel bar was 80% Australian. I said to the bloke, we've travelled 16,780 kilometres around the world to find ouselves in a pub in Australia. Paris is a strange place.

There is this guy who lives nearby the hostel where i am working who is a film director in Paris. He's lived here for 6 years and at the moment is filming a documentary of Aussies working and living in Paris. When I talk with him i discover just how big the aussie expat community is here in Paris and it reaches into all areas of society, business people, musicians, djs, barmen, dancers, singers, artists, academics, you name it. Every monday night i do a trivia quiz with all my friends. It is an old boy quiz so its pretty tough for us younguns buts its a challenge. Its become a very regular event and it is difficult to join our team because we are quite selective. Its held at a typical Scottish bar that feels like it is in Edinburgh and last week there was a guy walking around in full kilt garb. I also met all the guys that work at Cafe Oz, another team of Australians.

My lifestyle is pretty plain at the moment as I am poor and desperately waiting for my first real month of work's cheque to come through. It won't be until the end of the month so I have to hold on and not spend anything except the essentials. Until then I pretty much do all my drinking at private parties or at work and avoid clubs and bars. Work takes up most of my time during the week, but I fit in time to catch up with friends and have a chat. Then the weekend consists of my cleaning the apartment, reading, relaxing and wathing CSI in french. Oskar was supposed to be out of France by now with a job in Austria but he is still in Paris. I don't envy him. With no concrete reason to leave on a certain day, he keeps putting off his departure in order to do things in Paris he forgot, or to catch up with friends before he leaves. I have a good feeling that he will go tomorrow, but who knows?

OKTOBERFEST

Ok, ok. I'm at work so I have to be super quick. I'm doing the morning shift and I have done all the jobs that I need to do so I have a little time for a much needed post.

I have started working at a hostel and I have finished my training so I am now working on my own and it is a lot of fun. I've already met a lot of nice interesting people and i really enjoy helping people and answering their questions. The hostel isn't too big and it has a good bar with an excellent selection of beer.

Speaking of beer, on the weekend I went to Munich with two american and one canadian friend. We drove together and in an heroic effort, my american friend Brad drove the entire nine hour trip (with breaks) on his own. The trip started really well because we got a free upgrade from our Renault Megane to an Audi A4 stationwagon. I wanted to drive but my manual abilities are limited, especially when driving on the wrong side of the road at 150 km/h on a German autobahn. The drive was a lot of fun and we drove all night and arrived at 6am. We were staying in Garmisch, just south of Munich, with another American friend I met in Paris who now lives with her family there. They were really nice and accomodating and we had some delicious meals there.

After a nap friday morning we went for a drive around the town then went to the lake. This lake was huge and beautiful, with water so clean that you could drink it. The water looked like it was straight out of an evian bottle. Then surrounding the lake were trees which came right down to the water, and behind the trees were a series of huge mountains. The place was extraordinary. We then went home for a huge feast for dinner then chatted til late.

We woke early saturday so we could get to Munich and Oktoberfest reasonably early. We arrived at the beer halls at about 9.30am, but they were already full and closed so, as it was a beautiful day, we found a seat outside. However even this seemingly simple action was dfficult as the place was packed. We found a nice table and one of the girls went and sat down where there was a tiny bit of space and slowly edged towards one of the strangers at the table. Once there was enough room another one of the girls moved into the spot and started to edge the other direction in order to make more space. It was in this way that eventually all five of us sat down. Only once we had sat down could we order masses (steins/one litre beer jugs). By the end of the day we had each drunk about five or six of these things. It was a great and happy day, the weather was perfect and the company was even better. I would very much like to return to Oktoberfest next year or in a future year as it was an incredible experiencem and I strongly suggest you try and get there one day, especially if you like beer.

After Oktoberfest we headed back to Garmisch on the train and almost got badly lost, but somehow we made it. During the taxi ride back to the house form the train station the cab driver ran over a fox, which was pretty sad. After a nice sleep we headed back to Paris and in a carpark of a service station just inside of Germany, an old man reversed into our stationary car and made a huge dent and scratch. We were already only just on schedule to drop the car back by 6:30, and this put us badly behind because we needed to exchange details. It was amazing because none of us spoke german and he didn't speak english, so we conversed in french, and when there was a problem a lady who witnessed the accident helped us out. She spoke English, French and German fluently. Ultimately we didn't make it back in time so we took the car to a different depot.

As a memento I souvenired a mass from the beer tent we were at and also bought a case of delicious and cheap paulaner before leaving Germany. Now back in Paris I am working almost every day and living a very poor and boring life. However it is a sacrifice I have to make in order to do America at the start of next year. Work is fun though, and not too hard. However I'd be lying if I said I didn't strongly miss Mebourne and everyone there.