2009 m. rugpjūčio 26 d., trečiadienis

My normal day!

after 2 alarms (some snoozed alarms) finally i wake up! open eye by eye, then curtain by curtain and let sun in. quick shower, a bit of breakfast and ready to go to the train station!

even as i take more or less the same way from home to the train station, all days differ as the poop bombs are located in different places! so you are not able to walk watching the sky/cute boys/nice buildings, you have to concentrate into the sidewalk and bombs! and amazing smell!

20-25 minutes of reading a book/ listening to music/ chatting and i'm in Monaco. some more walking up to the office. and then all day in there! the hottest part of the day is spend in there:


my comfortable chair! 2 lovely screens! and huge table! and office full of nice people - always something fun happening around!

Lunch time! not a big variety of places to go to eat around the office - French place: salads (15 EUR) hot dishes (17 EUR) and a glass of wine with that! i'm getting used to this! Indian place - the best chicken curry just for 9 EUR! amazing! then we have Thai food that is mostly precooked or heated food! this week i'm not into this :/ no no no! as well italian pizzeria, with delicious but huge, so hardly eatable pizzas for 10 eur! as well panini place near the office 4.20 EUR. having more time to eat, we go further and try other restaurants, but still price and quality doesn't correlate in Monaco.

then back to works after lunch, what sometimes is really difficult if i had a glass of wine during the lunch :x.

when work is finished i'm running to a train, and back to Nice. the nicest fountain i have found in here is in Place Massena. i love standing or sitting near! it so refreshing (as the wind blows :))!


afterwards i go for a swim!! loving it! i do water aerobics as often as i can! it's much more fun(waves) and easier (salt) to do all exercises! and swim swim swim...

Dinner usually at home, that's why: i love guests that prepare food! or somewhere out :D

weekend is a different story :x

2009 m. liepos 30 d., ketvirtadienis

New post in a day!

No Turkish stories tonight!

Busy... i'm busy trying to settle down in here.

today was the day when i finally signed contract with Bouygues Telecom and got a french phone number! after some days of investigation of all of the french telephone operators, their offers and contracts i got really lost.

but decision had to be made, as it's harder/more expensive to arrange all meetings for new apartment having foreign number....

so that's why now i'm busy with my brand new iPhone :0 settling up everything!

and looking for a apartment at the same time.

Turkish Part 2 tomorrow!

2009 m. liepos 29 d., trečiadienis

Türkiye Part 1

Time passes too fast! it seems that i just came back from Turkey, but as i count the days more than 2 weeks passed.

I had 9 amazing days in there!

1st day.

Shame on me, but the only word I remembered in Turkish language before landing was MERHABA and some curse words that i won't mention here for sure!

all the time in the plane i was reading an article about the tragic Air France flight 447, the guesses why it happened and so on...and at the time of landing in Istanbul turbulence came out of nowhere!! i have never felt something like this! all the plane was shaking badly. people got scared a lot. the plane started to go up sharply (all the time i was thinking this cannot happen to me - no no no). then we made a nice tour over the Istanbul and started to land for the second time. this time it was a successful one! applause in the plane for the pilot was really from people hearts! i was happy as well!

after this nice moment all the passengers had to fill in the SWINE FLU form telling: where are you traveling from, where you gonna stay and the funniest one: what's your temperature?! how can i know this exactly if i don;t have thermometer with myself!! i made a guess. it worked i think, as i was let out of the plane!

just the luggage left and i'm done i thought! but nope.

first i had to wait for some twenty minutes to buy VISA
that cost me 15 EUR. the prices varied from 0 EUR to 25 EUR, depending what's your nationality. So Lithuania took the upper middle price :D

then another queue for Passport control, that was taking very long as they seem to work very precisely.

JUST suitcase left. I would say i'm lucky as airflights companies have never lost my suitcase before! but this time, after 30 min of waiting near track with my flight written i started to think: "this is the day! damn! why today" 20 min more...they just say: wait, it's coming! after loosing all hopes for the 10th time i asked the workers at the airport where is my suitcase! unexpectedly i got to know from him, that Lufthanza luggage has separate track for suitcases, Track No.1 with the shining title "NEW" :D as I wa salready 3 hours at the airport this tag NEW made me laugh a lot.

finally i managed to leave the airport and meet my friend, that was waiting for me there for 3 hours and took me to her home! Thanks Yeliz! ;)

Shower made me a new person!
Turkish dinner - lots of new words, the only one that i remember now is BALIK - fish! as we went to a great fish restaurant!! entrees, main dish, dessert, fruits, turkish coffee - i was stuffed!! and amazing view to Bosphorus!

and 1st night partying in Taxim! with all my Turkish friends that i met doing my exchange semester in Germany. lots of dancing, some drinks and unforgetable view to Bosphorus from the top of the building! they love having clubs on the top floors! i love this as well!!

came home in the morning. and was dreaming Frankfurt, that i'm there with all my friends.





2009 m. liepos 3 d., penktadienis

Turkey

Hey guys,

i'm going to Turkey for a week! have a nice time.

i'll be back soon! 13th of July!!

...with stories from the other part of the Planet Earth!!



kisses

lina :*

2009 m. liepos 1 d., trečiadienis

Jacques Anquetil

That's my new love!

i call him Jack usually. i got it for free. i love spending time with and riding Jack! especially in the evening or night! well he is a bit old, but still fast enough! here is my Jacques



That's my brand new bicycle!
i got it from a Lithuanian student, that has stayed here in Nice for a year and now as she was leaving and had to pack her stuff into 2 suitcases left it for me ;) she got it from someone the same way. i will give it to someone as well ;) well, but first of all i'm thinking about recoloring it! and maybe changing a seat! ohh, i'm so excited!! :)


and my dear future guests, the bike Jack will be at your convenience as well while exploring Nice!

2009 m. birželio 29 d., pirmadienis

Bank account kinda opened

Today was the day, when i finally got my bank account opened! well it will be opened in a week or so :) i have signed a pile of documents, now i have to wait for the PIN code of my VISA :0 i still cannot believe that these things can be sent by mail, not given at the bank. but rules are rules, after receiving mail with PIN code I'll go to my bank, meet my wonderful frenglish speaking personal bank assitant and she'll give me my CARTE BLEUE...hopefully in a week (it depends on the work of POST office).

Then I'll get my check card and finally my electronic banking will start working (I'll receive some security codes by POST as well!) other fun stuff, you not only get your personal banker, but also your personal bank office, for example you cannot go to other offices of the same bank elsewhere in France, just that one, where you have opened your account! So NOTUSERFRIENDLY!!!

after spending some time in Bank, i understood that it's a great place to work! as working hours are really nice:
Monday-Thursday 8:30-12:15 and 13:30-17:15 the bets is during Fridays 8:30-12:00 and go home!! a dream job! i have to get to know what are the working hours at the post office,as i don't think that they can be better I'm considering to change my dream job form Post officer to banker :0

2009 m. birželio 25 d., ketvirtadienis

Bureaucracy Part 1.

Or What a big role Post office has here!

If you get a fine for parking your scooter in a forbidden place most of you i can imagine think that next step would be to go to the police office or bank and pay there or pay from your home straight from your bank account.

But not in here, not in France!
here you just have to go to TOBACCO shop! Buy a special double stamp worth 35EUR and stick both of them on the papers that your found on your scooter. then buy another, normal stamp and send it via POST!

when i wrote it donwn it doesn't seem to be so difficult or crazy. but believe me it is! especially when you are doing this for the first time!!

This is the first story about France and how important is here Post office. post is amazingly important while opening bank account, trying to sign a contract for cellphone, as well as for internet, cable TV! it's like the middle part of everything! and imagine the moment when they are on strike for 3 weeks! no bank account, no credit card, no cellphone... the best thing is just to breathe deeply, relax and finish all your setting up in 2 months or more ;)

2009 m. birželio 11 d., ketvirtadienis

Happy Hour!!

All Hours are and should be happy!...but some are more happy than the other :)


In Nice Happy Hours start at 18:00 and usually should end at 21:00...they end practically (no more half priced beers and cocktails), but happiness stays! :D


This Tuesday was a Happy one! but Wednesday :| a hard/long/sleepy/dizzy/.../but still happy :P


At 7 in the morning i couldn't believe that this is my alarm clock, that it's a time to wake up and go to work!! shower helped a lot.


The lesson at this moment for everyone is: you better don't shave your legs after Happy Hours! No no no! i had the idea that you cannot cut yourself with those super duper Gillette Venus Breeze...but nope! you can! and then a comedy "Let the Blood Run Free" started (i hope you remeber this old comedy)! Blood in the shower, on the floor, on the towel...from a little cut. Fun.

so kids, don't shave your legs after Happy Hour! ;p


Lina Grimbergen

2009 m. birželio 8 d., pirmadienis

Timing

You can not open train door if you come too late. even if you are just a minute too late. Schedule. Rules. i learned this lesson - always have something to read or listen to while waiting for other train to come. but that's a bad feeling - to run all the stairs and long way to the train, find the train but could not open the door. then stand near and watch it go. pfffffffff


the same happened later. as i was late for the train i planned to take, of course i also was late to go and buy some Nespresso capsules. the Boutique was working up to 19.00...and i was near the door of the store 19.02 or sth :\ the store was full of people, but they didn't let anyone else inside. TOO LATE. WE ARE CLOSING!! my smile didn't work there :( so came home tire and without Nespresso :(

and for the ones who know what a TRAMCAR IS :D French version! enjoy ;)

2009 m. birželio 7 d., sekmadienis

1st week in Freench Riviera!


The things i learned during my first week here:

the 1st french language lesson:

as i took a bus from the Nice airport to Nice, i had to ask the bus driver to stop at the station
called GambEtta (i stressed the E letter), but that was my mistake. here he goes: GambettAAA GambettAAA!

Lesson number 2: look where are you going! Lots of doggy poos on the sidewalks! Monaco is better for this, as there most people clean after their dogs, but no it Nice. :D

Lesson No.3 don't worry about red light in the street! just look with a face of a serious man, wave with your hand in front of driver and GO! Doesn't matter it's green or red traffic light for you.
4th thing that wasn't a nice surprise for me is that it's hard to find sand in the beach :( not so comfortable to lay on for sure.

5. TOPless or NOT beaches?!? half half i would say. still have to
google and get to know this! :P

6. i see more Scooters than cars in here! thinking about buying one.

7. still no strikes. that's a good news. i hope they'll forget striking for a while...it makes life much difficult in here.