Converting to full time

It has been about 1.5 weeks since i started work
It still feels good to be back to the office.
So, I started training with another girl,
who was from eastern europe,
she speaks french, english and her native language.
What differentiates me from her is that
she really has much more knowledge about geography,
which is kinda important to my job.
Well, at least thats how it made me felt 
whenever the boss tested us on which states/capital of countries.
I guess these knowledge came from her interest in geography
and her past sales jobs in Disneyland..

She seems much younger than me
but we didnt had much time to interact much
because we didnt had time to make small talks at work.
On the first day,
she was searching for a new appartment and need to leave early.
I remembered being surprised that she currently stays at the 16th of paris
which is really the high-end part of paris!
But she told me that its her friend's place and she is just there temporarily.

When i told husband that another girl was in training with me
he told me that maybe the boss would just keep 1 of us
Im like thinking he was bullshitting,
why would the boss kick someone off so early,
when most of the things in training really needs time to be familar.

Over the next few days,
the girl seems to have difficulty to catch up on the work processes
but i wondered was it because all the training was done in English
and really requires lot of memorising.
Thanks to Singapore's training,
i generally managed to pick up faster than her.
She mentioned to me that she really hope to stay in this job
because it was her first admin job
and she does not want to return to be a sales girl.

Normally, i took a train earlier than required,
for fear of trains' problems and be late,
so i am always earlier than her and starts before her in office.
I think it was the 5th day of training on Wednesday,
that she actually arrived early and we had time for small talk.
She told me that she just found an appartment outside of paris,
which i mentioned to her that we visited the area during our home search,
but didnt like the area because the train station didnt felt safe.
She indicated that she would be shifting on Saturday,
and intended to only stay for 1-2 months,
and after this job is stable,
she would find a better appartment.

Although both of us started with the same job scope,
I sort of got assigned to the billing department
and normally had to stay back 20mins more than her.
However, on Wednesday,
i was let off early and she was asked to stay behind.
I didnt think much about it but she was struggling alot that day
and i thought they probably wanted her to practice more.

The next day,
my boss wanted to speak to me after i arrived.
He told me that they had let the girl off 
because she was struggling!
I was shocked because it was only less than a week?
I mean shouldnt there be like a 1 month trial
or even 3 warnings?!

Boss then proposed to me to convert to full time!
I guess they rather i become full time
then to find another part timer and redo the training.
I accepted the offer since it will be the same jobscope,
but more salary and benefits!
And the good thing is full time is only 35hours per week
and macdonalds is just 2mins from office, haha.
So, my first official full time job in france!
Even though is just a 1 year contract for now...

Back to the girl,
I dont know is it because i knew about her plans
and current situation,
that i really feel bad for her.
Husband says that is normal in France
to sack someone early if the company feels that is not working out.

Anyway, going start full time in September!

New job

So, after my babysitting contract ended 
Husband and I thought that I would be jobless 
for a long time since we are not keen for me 
to take on another babysitting job for now
and i dont have much luck searching for another type of job here
so the plan was to wait for the start of my french class
which should start in mid september
Since the classes were suppose to be in the evenings,
i wont be able to work as babysitter too.

Out of boredom i decided to sent my cv 
on a random part time admin asst job in end june
which was posted on an english job website
that have random jobs eg waitress, babysitter...
I got a french reply for them in a week
asking about my employment visa here.
And i was concerned that the email was in french,
but the boss assured me that the job is in english.
after my reply I didnt hear from them for a month
so, i thought i didnt get the job

Surprisingly, i got an another email from them
asking about my employment visa again
and this time an interview was arranged!
I wasn't having high hopes about getting the job
but i tried my best to prepare myself for a french interview
which i did badly once when i applied for a sales associate job.

Thankfully, the job interview was in English!
So basically, is a company that provides limousine
and other high end transport services.
English is the main language as most clients are from US.
The downfalls are im to work mon-sat,
4h/day at a hourly rate lower than my previous babysitting job.
The interview went well,
and i did hope that I would be able to get the job.
I think getting an admin job will greatly help
in my chances to get deskbound jobs here in the future!
The plus point is they are located 20min from my home..

So the interview was in end july,
and i mentioned to them that i will be able to start mid aug.
I emailed them my interest to take the job
on the night of the interview and started the waiting game.
After 1.5weeks of no replies,
i was close to giving up of the possibility of this job.
I decided to email them again just to check for the last time.
And i received a confirmation from them to start the job!
Husband and I are definitely suprised that my unemployment ended so fast..

It had been 4 days since i started the job.
It definitely feels good to be back to office job:
- I get to dress up more often than my usual casual wear
- I start to learn more about french working culture
- I am occupied everyday

Well, im still in the training period,
which i dont know till when,
getting tons of information loaded about this industry,
and starting to see some traits of the people in office.
I guess for the time being, 
im just happy to be employed and eat the humble pie to learn...
and feels like is the first job of my life
all over again... 

London - Day 3 & 4

Day 3
So, after 2 long tiring days of walking..
I decided that we would take our time to relax for our last night
I heard so much about covent gardens
that i imagined it to be much bigger 
and made it the only plan for the day
as it was only open at 12pm for sunday...

We arrived around 1130am and went breakfast nearby
I had the typical english breakfast
while husband had his first eggs royal,
which is similar to eggs benedict but with smoked salmon.

I don't know was it because we walked too much for the past days
i was totally flat batt by 2ish
and also, we had completed covent gardens
While munching on a steak and kidney pie in a church's garden
Husband took up the job to plan for the rest of the day
im so glad that he is always so full of energy compared to me
especially when we travelled
he can also take on my stupid tantrums and whinning..haha

So, we decided to take a bus to the london towers
Normally, we saw many modern double-decked red london buses
and took them often during our trip
However, by pure chance,
our bus to london towers was the vintage double decked london bus!
There was only 1 entrance/exit at the back of the bus
the passengers are separated from the driver's seat
and there was a ticket seller to scan our oyster cards!
Apart from the vintage seats etcs,
we were totally amazed that the ticket seller shouted out the stops,
it totally felt like we are in the 1950s of london.
There was a slight traffic jam near london towers
and we followed the crowd to just hope off the bus
because there was no door on the bus's entrance!
It was really a cool experience...

We plan to go on the street art walk that i saw online
http://hackneypost.co.uk/2014/03/21/interactive-shoreditch-street-art-tour/
and i would be really happy to see banksy artworks
However, i left the map in the hotel
because i didnt expected us to do it
and we rested at starbucks for free wifi and marked the areas on our map
before we walked to london towers..

After london towers, we started to make our walk...
We definitely missed out a number of supposedly famous artworks,
as they can be as small as a sticker on a lamp post!
And on the way, we also bypass the old spieldfields market,
which i read about it online but thought it was out of the way...

Our main street art walk was sort of the arab / hipster area (Bricklane)
Which i think is an area allocated for street art / graffiti
because unlike paris, i rarely saw any graffiti in london
but there areas were full of them!
We managed to find a few stated on the website,
but also discovered plenty interesting artwork..
It was fun trying to hunt for famous artworks
and each of us armed with our own cameras..

We decided to head back to hotel at 7ish
and were really hopeful that we could find dinner near hotel
sadly, the only cafe, which was supposed to be opened, was closed!
We ended up walking further and further away from our hotel
that we were thinking that we may end up having some express pizza etcs
Lucky for us, we managed to find an english pub 
about 15-20mins walk away from hotel
As we really wanted to finish the trip with English food!
We got our fish and chips!

We then stop by an arab / chinese supermarkets
and bought some strange stuff to be brought back.
The day ended with me packing our bags...

Day 4
With our train at 1130am, 
we decided to try to wake up and check out early
We managed to leave the hotel at 9ish 
and with the subway station near hotel reopened
we arrived at the St Pancras with plenty of time..
I wanted to refund our oyster cards,
but all the machines were out of charge
so im supposed to do it via post now, argh
We had breakfast at a cafe in the station 
and it was time to go home...

I think i have heard of many stories from people
how they preferred london to paris
Strangely, i didnt felt that life in London is totally different from here.
Yes, the transport systems and plans are much better
but so expensive.
Yes, they speak english,
but sometimes their accents are so strong,
that i have problem understanding them.
And i do think london has too much modern buildings,
that sometimes i felt like i was in a CBD area.
Haha, i sound like a parisien now trying to defend Paris..

But 1 thing for sure,
The English are much more nicer than Parisiens,
or even Singaporeans!
Husband was always so impressed
when the waiter/waitress took time to repeat our orders
or explain to us how things work
and usually full of smiles!

Once, we were at a pub,
the waitress beside us dropped her plats on the table and floor,
like the normal customers around the table,
I asked husband to check whether any food got on his jacket.
Suddenly, a man sitting beside us stood up
and walked to the waitress to ask whether she was alright!
Wow!

Another incident was during the security check for our train home,
the man at the security belt was so smiley and nice
that he praised husband for removing his belt
and even helped husband to carry his bag off him
to be put onto the security scanning belt.
Never will this happens in Paris, N-E-V-E-R...

I do like that people are nice
but im not crazy to shift to london,
now, i should just try my best to be a non-parisien living in Paris..

London - day 2

Despite being tired physically,

we managed to woke up early for day 2

I guess it helps that london is 1hour behind paris.

It was husband's birthday and we wanted to grab english breakfast.

However, i secretlt tabao the scones from the afternoon tea

so we ate the scones and had hot chocolate in the hotel room instead.

Due to some scheduled engineering works in subway,

the subway station closest to the hotel was closed for the weekend

and we had to walk about 10mins to the next station.

Many subway lines were closed too

but thankfully, the transportation maps are so well done

and maps on the streets are so clear,

we didnt had much trouble finding our way around

using the remaining subway lines and buses.

we were so impressed how well planned the transportation system is!

We then left to start the harry potter tour that i printed from

http://www.the-magician.co.uk/

which includes quiz qnd detailed instructions

supposed to be great for kids and families

But the walk was so long that we didnt even finished it!

At least we got to visit the main attractions of the walk...

We actually rewatched most of the harry potter's movies

the week before to have fresh memories of the places!

We managed to have lunch at an english pub

where husband gets to eat his fish and chips

and finally tasted mac & cheese,

which he grew crazily in love with..

We also had to go into the big m&m stores

but managed to hold tight to our pockets.

The tour is good as it covers harry potter's attractions,

making us explored places that we were not do so normally

and even some touristy attractions.

We started the walk about 1030am

and had to give up at close to 3pm

because i was so tired of walking

and the touristy places were really crowded 

compared to the day before!

We managed to make it to the famous king's cross station

but the queue to take photos at 9 3/4 platform was so long

that we didnt queue for it

We went to the harry potter shop and shocked at the price of everything

eg chocolate frog for 4pounds?!

We did bought a magnet and some schools patches to sew

I suggested to take a bus to harrods

so that we can rest in the long ride and sorta sightsee

it was a bad bad bad bad choice

We took the supposedly aircon double decked bus

which ended up to feel like an oven

and the ride took 1hour!

Mainly because of the traffic jam at bond street area

where the pavement was crawling with humans too

Im glad that shopping there was not my plan.

At least husband managed to fell asleep and rested well.

For harrods, i was just interested in the gifts section

since the rest were mainly brands shopping

we managed to find gifts for ourselves and his family.

Then it was time to head for my evening's plans for husband's birthday.

I found online that there are quite a few themed pubs in london

where i missed in Paris or Singapore

Since we are big fans of sherlock holmes drama,

i made an appointment at the Evans and Peel dectective agency!

It is actually a pub with a secret entrance

and you need to pretend to have a case to see a detective

before you are let into the pub!

http://www.evansandpeel.com/

Although the detective interrogation part was a bit short,

we still enjoyed the atmosphere and fun of creating our story.

There dont have dinner but served small bits,

husband had his mac & cheese again...

and very expensive drinks..

We didnt spent a long time there as its quite far from our hotel

and we ended up ta-baoing Burger King back to hotel for dinner, haha

Oh and we accidentally found the Dr who's police box!

When we arrived our room,

we realised the room has not be made

but the hotel left a birthday surprise for husband!

I did wrote again at the hotel's reservation that its husband's birthday,

and i didnt expected them to do much,

maybe just a plate of fruits, haha

But it was a card, chocolates and a bottle of wine!

We ended up watching matrix 3 on tv...

husband declare his love for BK angus burger

and we rested for the night...

Happy 34th birthday to my dearest husband!

London - Day 1

Despite only 2hrs+ train away, we didnt visited london till now!
It worked out well that i managed to buy the train tickets at sale (78€ each)
and to travel for husband's birthday weekend..
Although with the brexit, pounds is supposed to be lower,
we still tried not to spend too much for this trip.

Our train was 1015am and we arrived london at 1130am
as london is 1 hour slower than Paris.
After arrival at st pancras station,
we managed to find a money changer, a store selling oyster card (transport card)
and achieve my objective to eat Macdonald wherever i travel, haha.
Our hotel was 3 subway stations away and we checked in once we arrived..
Although the hotel is situated in the business district area,
means nothing will be open for the weekend,
and nothing touristy around it,
our room was wonderful as it was big with a kitchenette! 

We then went to visit the famous 221B baker's street
but didnt went into the sherlock holmes's museum
because there was a long queue and tickets were at 15pounds!
We did visited the museum's shop but everything is overpriced 
that i stopped the husband from even buying a 5pounds magnet, haha

Initially i wanted to had time to roam around the famous shopping district
as I booked a groupon hi-tea session at 3pm
and the hotel was located around bond street
but we eneded up just in time for the hi-tea, so no shopping...
Husband was very impressed by the hi-tea and it was his first hi-tea!
Well, we did tried once in paris using groupon,
but it was just a piece of cake with tea rather than the formal english afternoon tea..

We were so full and tried our best to finish what we had
Unexpectedly, the hotel suprised husband with a slice of cake for his birthday,
Husband was glad and suprised but i think we felt so full!
oh ya, i was the one to write in the reservation comment 
that it was to celebrate husband's birthday
but I thought they didnt mind as:
- I often wrote is birthday / anniversary.. but most bookings did nothing
- It was like 1 hour after we arrived before the cake came

So, after the very full afternoon tea, we started our tourist long walk
with the map i printed from http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/things-to-see-near-buckingham-palace/
Im so glad for walks like this,
i need to plan like a crazy woman
and we need not spend for tours or visits.

I was so tired by 7+pm that i had to persuade husband to return to hotel
we stop by a supermarket near hotel
did my favorite travel habit : buy and taste things i cant find in paris
We ended up buying a big microwave dinner back to hotel at 9pm
when we still had afternoon tea swimming in our stomachs
but at least we are sure that the microwave works well..
We then watch matrix 2 on tv and went to bed...

Oh, the hotel lobby has a 24hours free hot drinks counter
and i lost count of the number of hot chocolates that we took
i can foresee my weight increasing again...

Summer home improvement - 2

being unemployed and constantly watching french tv programmes 
about people searching for homes
lead to more improvements at home!
The interesting thing is i found a website - ikea hacks
where people changed ikea items
so i copied some ideas
but im definitely not as handy as most of them..

first, i bought a ikea photo frames holder at 5€
and installed it above the bathroom sink
instead of cluttering the sink
the holder now supports all the stuffs
and it looks good!

Next, I don't know is it a french or angmo thing,
husband loves the idea of a curiousity cabinet to display things in our Small living room!
Our living room is so small that i wasnt sure of the need add more stuffs to it
and such cabinets can really look messy and clutter of nonsense,
which doesnt please the OCD in me...
Most of such cabinets are really big wooden ones 
That are expensive and we dont have the space...

Although our living room is small,
we are lucky to have high ceilings,
and it is important to ultise high ceilings to lengthen the room
- some gurus in home improvements wrote that.
So why not?

we thought to shift the bookshelf from the bedroom
which currently acts as a divider for the bed and sewing corner.
after we unload everything and shifted the bookshelf to the living,
i felt it didnt match the living room.
To make things worse,
without the divider in our bedroom,
the bedroom seems smaller! 
And we needed for new ideas to buy a divider again...
so in the end, we decided to shift the bookshelf back and load evcerything again, haha

While i spend hours to search for the perfect cabinet to buy online,

looking through ikea hacks for ideas

and we even went to the flea market to search..

Its really too expensive or takes up too much space...

At least we managed to find an old iron and old medicine glass containers from the flea market,

so it wasn't a wasted trip

especially when i love to visit flea markets!

In the end, while browsing through ikea hacks,

i saw some storage ideas and decided to buy 2 metal shelves at 10€ each,

which i think if 1 day we dont use them in the living room,

we can store stuff in our terrace or in the cave..

I tried my best to arrange things well to prevent messiness

and for now, i think it looks nice.

We definitely still can buy some cool stuff to display 

or longer stuff to use the tall walls,

but for now, they look great and surprisingly doesnt make the room smaller.

I also cleared out the stuff from the kitch storage shelves

and suddenly i have so much storage place in the kitchen 

that i wondered along with husband why i felt there was a lack of storage place 

I guess there are still plenty to do

since is our apprtment and not a rented place,

but i think we need to be creative to spend less money on stuff...

Here i come, ikea hacks...