Friday : the Day that Disappeared in a Haze

Nablopomo - I'm out. Does sick leave exist??

After my last post on Thursday night I got worse as I had to retaste all the meals I had had during the day. Wonderful.

Yesterday morning we had to get up really early as L's colleague had a flight to catch in Marseille at noon. I showered and got dressed, and felt quite well all considering. I even manged to eat a little breakfast thinking that the worse had passed. Now that was an erroneous thought.

The five-hour car trip home was quite uneventful, I slept and only woke up every time L opened the window to pay the motorway fees. Brrrr...

Well home the cat was so happy to see us! Well, that's my interpretation of her ignoring us completely but doing a light stroke around our feet. The house was absolutely freezing cold. I had of course put the electric heaters all wrong before leaving on Tuesday.

At this point it was all going downhill. I started shivering again, put on a fourth sweater, crawled underneath the woollen thick blanket on the sofa and stayed there until L had prepared lunch and lit up the fireplace. And then I fell asleep only to wake up with nausea, a bad headache and more fever. I never actually moved from the sofa the whole day. Apart from when my brother rang me but I had to hang up because the dinner wanted to come back up again.

So even though I knew I had to blog to stay in the nablopomo I just couldn't find the force to tap a few words. Sweet L even offered to write it for me :) but I couldn't gather the force to guide him through the passwords and tell him what to write. It's been fun and I'll try again next year.

The plan that failed

==== side note: not only is this a french keyboard but now certain keys don't work anymore. like the shift key... sigh. home tomorrow... hopefully====

how would you spend your second and last day in a girona? exactly. exploring. it has been very humid and very cold but as the cliché likes to state it - i'm from norway so this shouldn't bother me. aaargh.

camera and map in hand, i go to have breakfast in town, outside in the sunshine because breathing other people's smoke in the morning is quite sickening. a lovely day. i manage to even get some good photos of graffiti for this year's theme in the club.

then i set out for the old town. beautiful and full of history. i do the churches and walk on top of the protective city wall. this takes about 4 hours before i started to feel hungry for some tapas. yum. it was lovely.

and that's were my plan started to go all wrong. after lunch i was to stroll through the elegant shops in search for elegant things to wear, just the general elegant your find in spain and italy but that doesn't exist in toulon. i got cold. i realised that all the shops had closed for lunch anyway so i went to rest a little at the hotel. the shops were situated on the opposite side of the old town, ergo close by. i never got out of bed, i've been shivering like a leaf for hours and i still do. brrrrrr.... the aspirine seems to have no effect. is this the flu? i don't know but it's not nice. and not nice to get ill on holiday since i had a nice little budget for topping up my wardrobe. gutted.

i hope i feel better tomorrow as the car ride home might otherwise be extraaa long. crawling into bed now. i will be catching up on all your blogs soon. promise;

Sneak Preview

On stolen minutes on L's laptop I'm blogging to let you hqve a preview of Girona at night. Night temperatures are around 4 degrees which to us, spoiled with the mild southern french climate is feeling rather harsh but not so much that bottle of Rioja wine can't take care of it :)

PS: if you find any Q letters instead of A letters in the words it's the fault of the french keyboard. It takes a couple of extrq neurons to work this out. The numbers are signs, the A is replaced with the Q. The M is a B and so on and on and on. Combine thqt with said bottle of wine and dry contact lenses and you have an excellent result!

Bestest Husband

Do you see this baby to the left? That's the surprise my husband gave me when he came home last night! It's a nikon 50mm f1.8 lens and is great for portraits or any photos where you want a shallow depth of field. It's also fast which means you can get good shots in low light without using the flash. And then it's the sharpness of the photos too. (Happy sigh) Of course I ripped it out of it's paper and tried it straight away.

Hopefully I'll have some good examples to show upon my return from Spain :)

Conclusion

All your well wishes did me well. Thank you! I was calm and had only two fluttering butterflies in my tummy instead of stuttering 10.000.

When I rounded the last corner and had St. Tropez in view, my instant thought was: I want to work here! The sun was low and lit up the old town and the port and I regretted not having brought my camera. Once parked I had a hot chocolate in a very fancy place in the port (the temperature hasn't exceeded 9° celcius today) it was almost worth the Euro 5.80! I spent for it.

Then I headed to the offices and first passed a language test. Sounds serious but I honestly spent 1 minute and 12 seconds with a lady, she then shuffled me out of her office saying I didn't need any sort of test. It was a bit funny though because we exchanged a few words in French, a few in English, most in Italian and upon leaving we were unsure of what language to use to say goodbye. It turned out to be something like Grazie, Au Revoir and have a good evening...

Then I met the Director and his co-worker. There was a very relaxed atmosphere. If the chair was softer and I had a cup of tea I would have felt right at home. They complemented my language skills, my motivation and told me I would fit right in... but I lived too far away. And they even hinted that I wouldn't see my husband all summer if I was to commute. (That wouldn't be good.) They did half offer me a translation job though... and they gave me names of people they knew who could further help my job search - and I could name them as references. How cool is that!?!

To summerize, I'm a bit dissapointed but the meeting went so well and I have definitely learnt from this so I'm more happy than sad. I'll now force the cat to stay on the sofa with me while I have an aperitif waiting for L to come home. And thanks again for all your support! :)

PS: The picture has been borrowed from this website!

Hola!

A last minute decision will take me to Girona (Spain) on Tuesday. L will attend some meetings and I'm coming too, as I have to so many of his business trips this year. It will be a nice reward for stressing for this job interview tomorrow. And the best of all, I will get to see me friend E who after two years in Milan and two in Australia has finally moved back home to Spain and has just given birth to a gorgeous little girl. In December it would have been 3 years since last time I saw her and her husband. I honestly can't wait to meet them again. The wonderful thing about friends is that even though time pass and we change, the friendships remain. Well, most of the time anyway.

And for the interview, boh... I'm a little nervous but I'm trying to tell myself that I don't need to be. They simply want to know if I'm the right person for the job, and I want to find out if the job is right for me. It's a win win deal and it will be good training for my future interviews. So I'm going to be relaxed well knowing that the trip to Girona will take my mind of things regardless of the outcome.

PS: The dinner last night was great but I'm so not used to people smoking anymore. I'm sure I've passivly smoked 40 cigarettes last night! Anyway, 10 points for the ambiance, diner and décor.

Un Diner Presque Parfait

For those of you who live in France you will know the progam which I think is called "Come dine with me" in England. That's what I'm doing now, only unofficial, together with some friends. We're having a great time.

Since I'm in nablopomo I'm just leaving this tiny message to not miss a day :) I'll tell you all about it passed midnight when I'm back home.

Hope you're all are having a great saturday night!

Beaching in November

A long day that ended up on the beach. There were beautiful colours tonight and I grabbed my camera trying to catch the mood. I arrived at Brutal Beach after the sun had already set so I didn't have minutes to waste. The image might look peaceful but the wind almost knocked me over and the waves constantly meanaced my lightly dressed feet. I wish I had a few neutral density filters as it would have made the sky look better. Maybe Santa will bring me one or two?

Family

I look forward to going home for Christmas. Home to my family and my second family - my girlfriends. (Ai - I didn't find any tickets worth buying for next week. A more careful planning should take me to your lovely new address soon though :) These photos are from Norway when I went in September, a trip I dreaded and looked forward to. In the end I had two lovely weeks and nothing in them to be dreaded at all. Only two sunny weeks spent with my lovely family. And below my beautiful nieses, happy to pose, in a typical Norwegian setting. However, in december there will be no green grass but hopefully a thick carpet of white crispy snow.

19. Nov. 2008

Oh wow, I've tried to write this post three times now and I can't even fake a coherant post. It becomes a rambling of thoughts that I have a hard time following, so heaven help those of you who actually come to visit here. I'm going to do such an original thing as a bulleted list:

1. I've finally picked a new book to read. I'm complicated and probably a little crazy, but not before one of the unread books I see on my shelf jump out screaming "Pick me up! " - I don't. After a good book the next will dissapoint me, so I do the waiting game. Let the good book slide to the dark hidden corners of my mind and only then let myself be tempted by a new one. Now The Time Travellers Wife is waiting for me.
   
   
2. I've done some interview training today. It's more like getting to know some of the common questions and the rest seemed to be logic.
   
   
3. Samantha who? is a great show. Braindead humor and total entertainment. I'm not really a TV series person. I've been hooked on just a few shows in my life... hmmm... I'm lying. When I start counting them I realise I should probably take up another evening hobby or something.
   
   
4. I so NEED to make the Christmas giftlist and get the whole shopping thing out of the way. It could actually be quite fun if I wasn't constantly thinking that I also need to send out Christmas cards. Is it OK to do it all by email these days? Please say yes!
   
   
5. One of my best friends in Norway is having a baby in December. And it should all be happening the day before we get home. Well, unless the little guy decide to enter this world a little early. I can't wait to see them!
   
   
6. I guess I'll find my husband sleeping on the sofa now because I haven't been there to chat his ears full of the uninteresting bulleted facts of today.
   

Good Night!

Jobless? I might not be for long...

I just had a phonecall coming in. A great phonecall! Next monday I'm going to an interview for a job in the tourist industry!

Me. Job. Interview!! :) It's a CDD (fixed term contract) going to a CDI (indefinite time) after 10 months.

There's only one problem... the job will be about one hour by car away and as I don't mind commuting it's rather the tourist traffic creating a problem to either get to the place or get home. And the nice lady made it quite clear on the phone saying that it was imperatif that I move closer if I want this job. Which is out of the question for me as we bought this house last year. Sigh.

I'll figure out a plan now on how to get there and then just try and convince them about it.

And then on to the confidence booster:

I thanked her for calling me and asking me to the interview and she answered: That was easy, you have such an interesting CV and so many experiences and languages, you were an obvious choice.

I was an obvious choice... Aaaahh... I can live on that alone for now!
:)

Sam Who?

I'm stuck on a new TV series and it's so funny! If you haven't already seen it then here's a promo from Youtube:



I'm going back to the sofa :) I (almost) promise to be a better bloggergirl tomorrow. Almost.

Even Darth Vader must Eat

After an afternoon with the real Star Wars film on ITV, I'd like to share with you the hidden life on the Death Star presented by Eddie Izzard and animated in style - Lego style.

Enjoy! - I did :)

No Thread Needed

I got my photomagazine yesterday which taught me how to make panorama photos - stitching. Either you do it manually or like me the automatic way. If the outcome is the same why bother with the lenghty process? If you have CS3 and Bridge and this is a piece of cake. Select and higlight the photos you want to merge in Bridge, go to the Tools menu --> Photoshop --> Photomerge. Voilà, now photoshop will open and the image will be done. Make sure that the photos overlap well, do a little bit of cropping to get it straight and you should get something like this. And as always, click on the photo to see them bigger and better :)

Sardinia :

Horta:

Travel Excitement, where did you go?

Lately I've been pondering about where the adventure-like feeling of travelling disappeared to. When I was a kid and only 7 years old my dad's company took us to visit him Korea where he was working then. I remember school finishing and the holidays starting, and I was told I was going to Korea. I didn't know where it was, only that it was a country far away from our Nordic roots. It was like going to the end of the earth, unexplored waters and I didn't know what to expect. It was the packing for the unknown - who knew if I was ever coming back, 6 weeks is a long time after all. Almost the entire school holiday!

I grew older and the going abroad was not so frequent as my dad only wanted to stay homeground in Norway. He was travelling too much and had no desire whatsoever to spend his precious time in some cheesy holiday resort in Spain. I didn't understand that when I was a kid though. Back then it was utterly incomprehensible NOT wanting to spend a holiday on a crowded beach somewhere down southern Europe. So we went on family holidays in our boat or wood cabin (by the sea) summer and winter.

As a grown up I totally understand what he meant - and now I'm more up for private quite holidays than a package holiday. (But don't get me wrong, if you offer me a holiday now, I'd accept anyplace anytime with whatever company!)

Then when I turned 15 my parents allowed me to go to summer school on Jersey. What a thrill and excitement! Four girls going and we were such innocent ;) teenagers. So many butterflies turning my insides out. Meeting new people. Traveling by bus through Sweeden and France. A stop in Paris and Euro Disney. The ferry crossing from St. Malo. Aaaah, such good times.

So where did this feeling of travelling to the unknown go? The feeling of adventure? The thrill of packing for activities you couldn't possibly foresee?

The last real feeling of adventure of going on holiday, I had when I travelled for three months in Thailand, Malaysia and Australia with a stop in L.A, San Diego, Tijuana and New York. I was 18 going 19 and had worked for a year prior to save money and argued with my mum who didn't want me to leave. Understandably. Though I felt quite grown up at the time. Ahhh, the naivité des jeunes. If anyone shows this to my future children there will be much punishment because I'll NEVER let them travel the way I did! Hypocritical I know, but it was a miracle nothing bad happened to us.

I digress... Arriving in Bangkok without the luggage seemed just part of the fun, not having booked an hotel in advance was just cool because we were free spirits roaming the world. Seeing the then untouched beaches of Thailand was like ending up in paradise. Meeting beautiful and kind Thai people taught us things school hadn't. Working on a coffee farm in Australia was a big but funny mistake. Getting stung by some Australian underwater creature, ending up with balloon-like foot could easily be cured by beer (miracle!) - stay in bed like the doctor said... Nah, had no time for that.

I never knew what I'd see next. A thrill I miss. Maybe it's the age the makes one wiser, more knowledgeable and more prepared. Clearly I wouldn't want to go somewhere now, without having read, researched and planned my stay - out of fear of missing the essential attractions, views or restaurants, or whatever it is that makes me want to go there.

(I've left out the travelling abroad to live because that opens up a whole other spectrum of thoughts - another post another day :)

I still love travelling of course, and I'm really looking forward to every trip but the adventure is not there. Now, the trip and holiday starts when I have reached my final destination and not while packing for the trip. If the airline looses my luggage on the way, I'll be upset. If my hotel booking has been cancelled by mistake I'm not smiling. And I know my way around already because I printed the maps at home...

And maybe I've been spoilt the last ten years always travelling back home for every holiday but airports and airplanes carry no more magic for me. Not the same it did when I at 13 flew with my mum and brother through Heathrow to Spain to see my dad who worked there. The smells of the airport, mum rushing nervously to the other gate and hostesses pointing us in the right direction. Now I'm just relaxed, nonchalantly late and getting more and more afraid of flying.

Me in Photos... but not as you think :)

I've seen this posted on quite a few blogs and I've always loved the beautiful photos that came from the searches. So here are my mosaic anwers to the questions below...

The Rules: you answer the following 12 questions about yourself (my answers are in parentheses after each question):

01. What is your first name? (Astrid)
02. What is your favorite food? (pinnekjøtt)
03. What high school did you attend? (Bergen Handelsgym)
04. What is your favorite color? (red)
05. Who is your celebrity crush? (ansel adams)
06. Favorite drink? (cappuccino)
07. Dream vacation? (Caribbean)
08. Favorite dessert? (pannacotta)
09. What do you want to be when you grow up? (photographer)
10. What do you love most in life? (love)
11. One word to describe you? (impatient)
12. Your Flickr name? (life with a seaview)

Want to play?: Type your answer to each of the above questions into Flickr's search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy and paste each of the URL’s into the Mosaic Maker (4 columns, 3 rows)... Enjoy!

The photographers who shared these images deserves to be credited so here are the links to all of them:

1. Window; To infinity... and beyond?, 2. i give up, 3. Love is Magical, 4. Waiting for a moment, 5. happy birthday sarah!, 6. Sailing across the Turks and Caicos bank, 7. Lifeblood, 8. Airstream over the clouds, 9. APPLE & ICE, 10. houses of Bryggen, 11. Christmas eve at home, 12. lets travel to..

In the Other Person's Shoes

If I was on the other end of the application process I'd look at my CV and think: Why the hell is this person applying for this job?? And then bin it.

But what have I to loose but a few hours - as long as I can cross off one of the many requirements, they're all getting my CV, cluttering their inboxes. Someone is doomed to see my brillance sooner ort later, right?!?

Long live unwavering optimism :)

UPDATE @ 22.48 PM:

The job ad that sparked my thoughts above just replied, well... the contact person just replied that is. Firstly, that is a positive thing, that he replied! Secondly, damn he was fast! Thirdly, I was right - he binned it but with a nice personal email. 2-1 in positive stuff. Next time 3-0?

Graffiti Love

A light post coming tonight as I've spent the day cooking for L's colleagues. On tonights menu I had a 'cake aux olives', homemade mini sausage rolls, tagliatelle with ragu bolognese, a platter of french cheese and finally fruit for dessert. Written here it doesn't look like much but for me these things take a long time, and the ragu itself takes around two hours to simmer. I chose a menu that I could prepare everything ahead. That was the plan anyway, prepare it all and then look fresh and pretty for the guests. Instead they all arrived early and I was opening the door with my elbows, wearing a not-so-sexy apron. A nice evening though.

***

I thought I'd share with you a couple of photos I took at the beach of Sablettes the other day. It's the first time I've seen a love tag in France. Milan, on the other hand, is bursting with graffiti love declarations on every corner but then the italians are known for their affectionate culture and Ciao Bella's...

The Feeling of Home

When do you feel home in a place, and why? What does it take to make you feel home?

I've packed my suitcases many times and I've never truly felt I've unpacked them in a definitive way. Because as a frequent flyer I've always been in the mood of repacking it under conditions like: If it doesn't work out... If I don't settle well... If the job is disappointing...

I've been a bit emotionally confused about this topic for a long time and have thought about it a lot lately. One evening I took my usual powerwalk up the hill. I like it a lot because as soon as you get up you have an amazing view of Toulon, La Seyne, Six Fours and Sanary - or even Hyères in good weather. Once up the sun was setting and there was a red and pink tint to the houses, hills and the sea. I kept looking at all these familiar places and for the first time in two years I felt these places were mine, my neighbourhood, my roads, my shortcuts, my place. It was a wonderful feeling of belonging and being in the right place, of feeling relieved and happy.

I don't know why I suddenly felt like that but the following day it had gone.

The following weekend we went to Marseille to a house warming party - Crémaillere. It was a huge party and we only knew the hosts. We were the only foreigners among 60 marseillais in what seemed like a village feast rather than private party. The whole day passed while we sat around a roasting sheep (No kidding! I'm not talking about cutlets. It was the whole animal on a spit over an enormous BBQ!), drinking Pastis and getting to know the friends of our friends.

On the way home I was in a great mood. I suspect the Pastis wasn't entirely innocent but it occurred to me that I had just taken part in something that made me feel home and belonging in France. The fact that we were invited as friends into a large group of other friends changed the usual "they are foreigners" attitude. It seemed to have no importance what so ever - and refreshingly so!

Ultimately you can create a house, a lifestyle with gadgets and hobbies but unfortunately the people around are players in the game too, the ‘settling in’ game.

The people I meet everyday have the power to make me feel like crap or that I have a place here too. The big life-changing challenges I'm handling quite well but it's the small things that throw me out of balance. Like bad customer service, ignorant people pretending not to understand me, the people trying to take advantage of me because I'm a foreigner... and the list goes on.

Or I might have a great day when I meet truly nice people like when the lady at the dry cleaners smiled at me, picked up my stuff and handed it over saying "Here you go Madame A", remembering my name even though I'm not a frequent customer. Or when the postman, a strange fellow indeed, makes me smile with his "Comment allez-vous Madame A?" Or when he makes a joke like the time L received a large parcel and the postman told me to give it to him AFTER Italy had lost to France in football that evening so it would cheer him up again.

It might seem insignificant but those 5 minutes, a smile and a joke makes my roots dig a few millimetres deeper. I belong somehow because I know someone and that someone knows me. It’s even confusing to me so don't worry my dear reader :)

I guess it's a process that is unique to each person. The perception of home differs and where you are in life too. But one thing is common, we all want to feel home and we would all like to belong - a process not always happening as fast as we would like it to.

I have read a few posts about this topic time ago but I would love to hear what home means to you.

The Seagull

Click on the photo to see a bigger version of it.

A lonely seagull flies the winds

Majestic... soaring...gliding wings

A single screech sounds from the sky

Come fly with me... come here and fly
by Munda

Sometimes...

...nothing is better than curling up in his arms in front of the fireplace. Nothing is better than the smile that makes words unnecessary. And sharing a great big bowl of apple crumble topped with vanilla sauce makes everything just sweet.

Jobless but Housetrained?

My sewing machine decided to go crazy on me. And that was just BEFORE I had finished the hem on my new superslim cool jeans. Needles in, fabric folded and ironed just needed 25cm x 2 of seam and voilà.

I realise that I'm the unemployed here and probably the only one sewing anything myself so I'll spare you the details of why it doesn't work properly anymore!

Repairman n°1 was providing real French customer service (read that with a lot of irony), and spoke so slowly that he clearly thought I was not only a foreigner with a thick accent but that my head was kinda thick as well. He made me quickly understand that in his opinion sewing a jeans hem on my kind of machine was just as bad as having done a 'hit and run' involving 15 schoolchildren. It was "so obvious" that the fabric was too épaisse, thick, but not according to the manual and the needles the machine was delivered with...

He clearly had a fetish for his sewing machines and claimed he couldn't do anything for my poor Toyota so I'm off to repairman n°2 tomorrow. I hope his mental health is doing a bit better.

After this episode I couldn't help laughing! What happened to me? Easy: unemployment is what happened to me!! A few years ago this would have been unthinkable and yet now I'm turning into a (desperate) expat housewife and it's almost going unnoticed. A few days ago I bragged about my new homemade Roman blinds to a friend! I. Bragged. About. Making. Curtains!! I seriously need to get a larger group of friends here so I can rather sit about sipping wine and gossiping instead - I'm as far from a "sex and the city" girl as ever possible.

(Note to my dearest husband: don't get your hopes up. I still won't iron your shirts, a girl needs to draw the line somewhere and as I only buy non-iron clothes... do the math! I will make you a cappuccino in the mornings though :)

I'm still happy with my roman blinds and here's the proof. Now that I proved to myself I could do it, I'll probably never make such curtains again.

What a Day!

A memorable day and not only because the US elected their first Afro-American president!

Topolina, our cat, laid down on my bathroom floor late last night, doing her characteristic superman style stretch and let herself be caressed whilst she loudly sang a purring song, it was like she said - "Yes I can! Yes I can - and it's even niiice...!?!"

And wow did she purr - 10 whole minutes (!) of purring out loud. For those of you who have had the chance of meeting Her Royal Highness will know just as much as me, that she has never been known to do that! Never in her 1 year and 6 months of life. We always believed we had a non-purring, nasty and biting but good looking kitty. More like a black ghost than a housecat that stayed just out of reach, never curling up in your lap and never, never purring. God forbid. And if you deared touch her you would feel her shap little teeth digging into your fingers - like she was saying "Stop being so annoying, dammit"! An example of the extremity is this: I took her to the veterinary when she came onto my lap and curled up 6 months ago! It turned out she had a 40°c fever and needed an operation!

The fact that she has never had a real voice made it difficult for us to hear when she wanted to come back inside. Topolina overcame this clear handicap by climbing the wooden crosspieces on the windows, or by breathing humid circles onto the window on darker nights when we couldn't see her in her black fur.

As caring cat-parents we never left her alone. Nope, she has been exposed to continuous hours of caressing (or torture according to her), buying her cat beds (which she in a dignified manner just ignored), played with her for hours with the stinky toymouse or the mind-destroying ball with a bell inside, made sure she came in at a decent hour at night and caressed her some more. A broken teen spirit?? Purr kitty purr! :)

A big Day

Today is a big day for America. The American people wanted a change and they went out and used their powers to alter the political direction the country was heading. It's been amazing to wake up this morning to see all those powerful images and hearing McCain's and Obama's speech.

As all the political commentators said - 'a rocky path lies ahead for the Democrats' but I hope this election didn't divide the country in half but that the two parties will be able to work together on the big issues and create the best possible outcomes.

Congratulations Mr. President Obama and Good Luck!

Photography

After a rather dissapointing photography course last year I found a great photography club nearby. I almost laughed out loud when the president told me that the yearly fee was 40 euros - which includes free use of the darkroom and free black and white films! Now how they manage to break even every year is still a mistery.

On a side note, I still haven't found an activity where the majority of the memebers are younger people. If kayaking and photography doesn't do the trick I'm not sure what does. As an ex-pat it would have been nice to network a little with people my age. However, to me that just confirms the rumour that the nearby villages to Toulon are just full of pensioners, either they come down from Paris for 6 months in winter or they relocate completely to the warmer south. However, the important thing is that they're all nice people, very nice. And they are probably mentally younger than many other people I've met around here :)

I'm more a digital girl than old 35 mm film though black and white is best from film onto paper. My Canon 50E SLR I bought 12 years ago during my first job in a photography shop in Bergen is feeling rather left out now that my nikon D80 has entered the scene. Oh, how I love, I mean looove my new-ish camera. The club has now gone a little bit more digital this autumn and we have Adobe photoshop/Lightroom seminars and discussions + 'sorties photo' regularly.

But the reason I joined the club was because they were active, active as in organising 2-3 exhibitons every year and we even post the dates in Reponse Photo (one of the biggest french photo magazines). It's nothing fancy, just local galleries and offices but that gives us a theme and a goal to work towards. At first I didn't think having a theme would make me take more photos but I was wrong. Now I'm constantly thinking of photography when I see something that fall into one of the 3 themes for this year. And I do think that makes me plan the photos better and giving me better results. As a beginner that might not mean much but I'm loving it... and photoshop CS3 is starting to unravel its secrets to me as well.

The Night before the Big Day

There's a thing in the media that's been puzzling me lately. Every TV channel and newspaper has been talking about the US presidential election, analysing McCain and Obama in all directions but it seems like the European / French media are far from objective and is rather cheering on Obama. Now that is just fine with me - I'd rather see Obama than McCain in the White House! But that's not the problem - the problem being a very biased media portrait. I have the impression that if I sit down and count the gaffs and negative press Palin and McCain have received opposed to Obama, I'd see team McCain & Co win.

So what's the problem again? Well simple, I'm afraid that while we all sit around believing the latest polls reporting that Obama is ahead, the reality might be different. Take the example of the latest Italian election where Mr. Prodi won - the media was sure he would win by a large margin, so large that the party had set up party tents for an early evening celebration in the centre of Rome. It didn't turn out that way at all. Prodi won only by a few thousand votes which became clear only very late at night. So for as much as we want a change, I wouldn't trust what the media outlets tells us before all the ballots are counted and the numbers are official.

November 4th will for sure be an exciting day, and even more exciting for all of you out there who voted!

Starting Again

It's been quite a few months now that I haven't been actively looking for a job. It has been great not thinking about it every second of my day, and worse, feeling guilty about it. Meanwhile I have been doing some translation work but in this moment I still crave a "normal" job with colleagues and a social life attached. I can always return to doing translation work so why give up on my career just yet?

When we decided to return to this corner of France I was full of optimism and work experience, and I honestly thought that this time around it would all be different. I even knew the language and had learnt Italian on the way. What french company wouldn't need a girl like me?!? And after almost 3 years without a proper job and no luck in my jobseeking, the answer turned out to be "Obviously a lot of them".

I don't regret moving from Milan and a good job which sounds strange even to me but I feel everything slightly hopeless at the moment. So hopeless that I swallowed some pride and went to the ANPE, deciding that a bit of professional job advice couldn't hurt - only to find out that I was two weeks late in getting an "allocation" (money for being unemployed). Not that I need it or want it as I see it as a defeat, but it would have made me eligible for other types of contracts. Don't cry over spilt milk or whatever...

So after a meeting with a very kind ANPE adviser, (you can imagine the surprise meeting a nice and kind french public service worker!) I'm now doing a course that they call a "Bilan de compétence", where I sum up my skills and experiences with the aim of finding other types jobs I want to do that will fit the local job market. So far it's only been confusing but I'm sure it will all be clearer tomorrow during my second appointment.

I've decided that this will be the last time/period I'm sending my CV out there to countless job ads and enterprises. If it doesn't work then I'm taking on the attitude of "F*** it, I've tried - and the French don't know what they are missing!" and I can put all my energies into starting a great one person translation business. And if it works I'll be surprised and, well... over the moon about it!

Cross those fingers for me :)

Long overdue...

National blog posting month starts today and I thought it would be a good opportunity to ease back into blogging again. After my summer holidays I've been, well... empty of things to say. Which is not entirely true either but when I've felt like writing I've been away from the computer, and once back all inspiration had drained from my little "cellules grises". And sometimes I've been writing posts that only made sense to me or posts which turned out way too personal to share with bloggersphere.

Enough useless excuses nobody care about but me , so instead I'll post some long overdue photos from our stay at Faial Island in the middle of the Atlantic. For my husband it turned out to be 10 hard days as he was there on business but the wife (me!) was there on pleasure and had a blast! So my days consisted in choosing what beach to read on and cruising around the island on a dodgy moped I rented. Dodgy because neither the KM counter nor the speedometer worked :)

The port was amazing! It's the most famous stop for boats crossing the atlantic and they all leave a painting as a souvenir. When you see the photos below you'll understand. Second best was the new part of the island made by a vulcanic eruption 50 years ago. It was like walking on the moon with black dust and nothing growing there...