juliegoestoparis’ blog

I can't post about whats being going on lately. As its all about boys ... and a man!

sigh... lets just say i got my mojo back and now I am fending them off... I am thinking off sending them on quests to prove their adoration. Of course most of them are not after anything serious but the one with serious potential however unlike the others is yet to call to organise a second date... the others of course are constantly on the phone! Thats secretly cos they know they aren't getting any where! But I am happy to say they are all hot... and all suitably exotic (ie not irish/english or american!)... I could actually start my own little united nations... I must think more on that..

In other news work is good and I am still super broke....

But life in Paris is fab and I wouldnt change it for anything. I went to Fontainbleau last weekend.. it was great to get out of the city and sit in a vest top under 25 degree sun in a row boat on a lake looking at a fab chateau... why oh why would you be anywhere else!

Anyway if you want more gory details you are going to have to ask me directly ;)

Ok so there is this annoying little habit here in Paris of buskers on the train. The only qualification is that you have to be grossly untalented. Its usually some eastern european with a speaker and some dodgy barbara streisand tracks or an accordian. This morning on the 8.15am to La Defense (ie not the most pleasant of trips anyway.. and I was wrecked) a guy gets on with a violin and proceeds to murder the classical hits with an out of tune fiddle, missing notes all the way along. The parisians are normally quite indulgent of these buskers but my God the man nearly got lynched this morning... imagine if you had been hungover!!

So news, I am a bit stressed out by my landlord and am determined to move by December. There is a lovely girl at work who would move in with me, so we are going to try and get a place together. While I am loath to leave my cute tiny studio in my fab trendy area, its too expensive.. and I would like to live near some green space.. so the search shall begin.

My friend V is here this weekend which is great. Its great to see her, but also she is a low maintenance guest, she will look after herself, has a weekend full of activities planned, which I can join in on or not. Due to the current personal cash crisis I doubt I'll be doing much.. but its lovely to have her anyway.

In boy news, one of my students asked me out for a drink. As soon as our first class ended I was hoping he would, and now our course has ended he has. Yes! Watch this space!

I used to be an avid blogger. Then I got threatened with my pseudo anonymous blog by someone and it scared me in to not being as forth coming.. Thats why I'm on this less accessible blog. Pain I know to make comments.. but feels safer..

Also has limited me on what I write about. I think though facebook has stopped me writing. One witty line in your status updated regularly covers it instead. If only I knew people on twitter no doubt I would be addicted to that. So I'm giving up facebook for 4 days.. it sounds impossible but I had disabled all my notifications, so I'm optimistic.

Facebook has also been annoying me lately. It kind of turns you into a stalker. No rephrase.. it kind of turns me into a stalker... guys I like or have a history with I check their pages... I won't let myself contact them but know whats going on in their lives from their status, wall whatever.. and then I get annoyed that they haven't told me such and such, or 'whos that girl'.. its ridiculous. I don't need any more ways to wreck my head over men, so I'm going to try and cut down. I know a good answer would be to delete them as friends... but I'm kind of hoping they are checking my page too! I know I'm nuts! And I know I'm not alone in this.. I'm probably just one of the very few who'll admit it! I even changed networks so i could stalk... I  mean sus out potential dates... If it wasn't for fbook I'd be a scary old lady with cats all alone in her apartment!

So the job is going well. As I've said not like work. I get on great with some of my students. One guy really high up in a bank opened me an account in one of his branches and gave me chocolates! Another girl asked me for my mobile as she has lots of lovely single men friends allegedly for me. Another one so wants to ask me out.... today he was asking me for suggestions where english speaking people went in Paris as he wanted to practice his english socially.. he's cute too..our classes might be over soon, so maybe something will happen!

Now I'm sitting at home dying my hair. I was supposed to be getting it done by my new best friend, next door hairdresser, btu the financial crisis .. not the world one, just my own personal cash flow problem, says no, so its a box of l'oreal home hair dye for me. Kind of sick of everyone here telling me I have red hair. The french have to glamourise everything.. boring old browny reddy hair becomes 'roux'.. at least everyone has been guessing I'm irish as opposed to english or a yank lately. But no to the natural look... I'm going 'chocolate'!!

Speaking of people thinking i'm a yank.. I went for a run up to Pont Neuf last night to see the sparklies... I was there chilling on the bridge  watching the 5 minute light show with my ipod up to the max and this sleazy f*cker stands beside me and starts blathering on in bad english 'oh beeeooootifullll lights... its evereeee hourr' , I looked at him with the most distain I could muster and replied in french, 'yeah i know i live here'... he steps up the mega sleaze asking to take me for a hot chocolate. I guess that was kind of nice... could have been a drink.. but then did he think I was 12? Hmmm anyway I gave him my look of death.. put up my hoodie and jogged on.

So got my second job. Starting with a cosmetic company lady on monday.. hopefully she'll give me loads of free stuff... note to self.. become friends with her! Also hopefully this will signal the end of the Julie recession... feck the rest of the world... that whole global recession doesn't affect me.. I have no money!

Life in paris is going well. Two months down...4 weeks into work. Am having loads of visitors which is good and bad. The good part is I get to see my nearest and dearest.. the bad part is that they are on holidays and they expect me to act like I am. Which is a bit of pain as I just want to be in a normal routine. But I think I am getting better at saying no to things now!

One down side of the whole experience so far is that I am BROKE. My teaching job wooed me with tales of 25 hours a week (long story but basically that equals about 40 when you include traveling and prep) but I worked 53 hours in Sept instead of the promised 100, which means that I will not paid enough to pay my very expensive rent (well i would live in the trendiest area in town wouldn't I!). So I am currently in the throws of deciding whether more english teaching for another school or bar work will give me more cash. The thoughts of working in a bar again :S talk about regressing! Anyway hopefully will have it sorted out by today. Also need to kick my jobs ass... need to get my hours!

Besides from that, work is good. I'm enjoying it, its not like work to be honest. I just talk to people for 2 hours.. hardly something that comes difficult to me! Also no where near ready to go back to law. Think I will eventually but a good break is required first.

So most of my socialising has been with irish people, which while good fun, isn't ideal as I want to speak more french. I have a few french boys who I am pally with which is good for the french, but no girls.. as no doubt I've said before Paris girls are scary! But I've started my french classes so I'm determined to up the level.

I've been going running abit. I love running by the canal as its flat and goes on forever! I just load up a good playlist and I'm gone! Am up to 8k no problem, mad what you can do when you are distracted!

Boy news? Plenty of admirers that I'm not interest, one recurring old flame, but nothing serious happening there, but its all good.

Jeez I was knackered this week. I was full on with teaching hours and dance classes.

On Monday I went to a class with Mia Frye. She's kind of famous here in france... mostly as the choreographer and main dancer in the macarena video. (I'm sure shes done lots more.. but thats what struck a pop cultural note with  me!) Anyway the class was actually with her husband and it was hardcore.  Then I did my favourite dancehall on tuesday when I battled the teacher and ragga jam on wednesday.. which was great craic but walking had become very painful by that stage!

A friend of mine from school is in Paris this weekend for Madonna as is a friend of my mums, so I have been a social butterfly. I met a friend for a cocktail on friday evening, then hooked up with my school buddy for more cocktails with him and his new boyf in the marais. Yesterday I went to get my hair cut by my very own Gok Wan. He wanted to replicate Victoria Beckhams new crop with me. I think that would have been a bit too drastic so he just did a choppy cut instead. He was a right bitch though. Telling me I should give up dancing so I could have thinner thighs and pointing out a few grey hairs! How rude! But he did a great job so I'll go back! Then I met up with my mums friend.. we had a few sneaky  G&T's in her plush hotel room then it was off for a wander. We discovered a food market just beside Notre Dame and went for dinner on a barge on the Seine. I thought I had lost my mojo lately, but the waiter was GORGEOUS and he was showing alot of interest.. even asked me if I'd be back next weekend... I think I might ;)

So today is v busy again... brunch with the school friends and then hooking up with mums mate later...

And the sun is shining :

Victoriabeckham

Well the first week of work is over! I am knackered but really enjoyed it! Am teaching professionals in their offices so there is a bit of schlepping around, but all my students are lovely and some are really funny. I have heard rumours that 2 teachers in the school married their students, so I am slapping on the mascara every day, but haven't found any targets as yet! I had only one scary moment when my student asked what 'though' meant. I had a total blank, I tried to explain how it was used, but he kept going I don't understand, what does it mean?? Jaysus.

The pope is in town this weekend. Against my better judgment I got up this morning at the crack of dawn and went with the masses to Invalides for mass. I was really close to the popemobile, which was cool.. .what a weird looking car! Anyway now I am obviously a very good catholic and all is forgiven! hmmmm

Autumn has hit Paris. Its still nice and sunny, but the temperature has seriously dropped.

So my latest obsession is Henry Cavill from The Tudors... could that guy be any hotter? Seriously! However real life romance is rather thin on the ground, I have had a bad week of sleazy men chasing me on the metro. Things are getting bad when the only guys chatting you up are dodgy old fat and ugly. But maybe thats what happens when you get old ;)

Good news - I have a job. Things were getting a bit close to call there for a while but I start on Monday teaching english. I had a few offers come in, a couple of teaching ones and a law one. The law one was obviously better paid... but thankfully I had the sense to not get sucked into that abyss again. However I may regret it in a few months when I can't afford to do anything than pay my rent!

My brother arrived on Tuesday. We went for a few cocktails on Rue Charlot on our way back from the airport. Wednesday we hit Disneyland Paris and got scared on the rollercoasters and then did them all over again! We were wrecked after about 5 hours though.. how do people go for days and days?!  Thursday we went shopping for him, as I am his Senior Stylist and we bought out a surf store. Then we packed a picnic and headed off to do my favourite activity in Paris, watch the sparklies.. or as they are more commonly known, the illuminations at the Eiffel Tower.  It was rainly lightly but we persevered with our blanket, comte sandwiches and bottle of rum!

He went home today and I'm sad he left. I think if you get on well with a sibling there is no one more in the world that you can feel that comfortable with. They know you at your worst and your best and you can always be 100% yourself with them. It was great just hanging out in my flat, him reading his gadget magazine and me surfing away.. not saying anything but having the company.

I guess thats what I'm missing so far in france. A true support network. Sure I know lots of people, but its still all at this stage pretty superficial. Yeah if I was in a crisis I could rely on a couple of them, but its not at the stage where we just hang out or call each other for a chat. Any meet up has to be for a reason if you know what I mean. So I'm missing my friends and family for that... company with no agenda I suppose. However I am not sitting at home crying into my cornflakes (or should it be croissant) so don't worry!

So a question arose in my mind this week. What do you do if you like a guy, but you think your friend likes them too? How good friends would you have to be with her before you say, no she likes him, she saw him first etc. Complicate this by adding she has a boyfriend! Hmmmm

Another question... how young is too young! ;)

The above two are unrelated! Lol obviously things going on that i am not blogging about... but hey this is PG13... you can guess the rest!

Well something about Dublin. On Saturday it was a roasting hot day  - 28 degrees.. I would have loved to have gone for a walk by the sea in Howth.

Also Dublin does parks better. They are greener and leafier and most importantly decidingly lacking in weirdos. In dublin you can sprawl on the grass, read your book and just chill, knowing no one will bother you. Stop for 2 seconds in Paris and there is some weirdo or sleazy guy on your tail!

Ah well.. still loving it here though!

Its been a busy week. I rejected that other hip hop stage as the atmosphere was horrible. All these little groupies, the teacher just interested in looking in the mirror etc etc. I've heard hip hop teachers are very like that in Paris, I'll try another one next week.. we'll see.

So I went to a different stage instead, Ragga/Dancehall with a bit of Ndombolo and Coup D'cale thrown in. Basically african and jamacian dances. It was great. The atmosphere was brilliant, a group of women of all shapes and sizes shaking what their mama gave them! I found the choreo quite easy compared to the other stages which was a relief and I was able to throw myself into the shaking big style... probably looked like an eejit but it didn't matter. Maimouna the teacher was amazing, you would be mesmerised by her body moving, and she was so professional but also genuinely nice... now i sound like a groupie!

As V is only in Paris for a week, we have been very busy most nights. On Tuesday we went to friends of hers for dinner and then we went to a tango club. Wednesday night a friend of hers came over for dinner and we stopped drinking rum about 3 am...ouch! Thursday we went for an aperitif picnic by the Canal St Martin with a gang of musicians and last night we went to one of their houses for a session! They all brought their instruments and jammed salsa music all night. It was cool.

I applied for 7 jobs this week and finally its starting to pay off as I have an interview monday for a job teaching legal english.

I am a bit annoyed at french men. When they eye you up as a target they hunt you down big time, and then are full on from the word go. There is no such thing as dating.. after seeing them twice you are officially boyfriend and girlfriend.. no discussion. And there is goes.. they are madly in love with you for a few weeks and then BAM, they decides it doesn't work.

This is hard for an irish girl to take. We are used to the emotionally unavailable irish man, who with even after 3 months its a risk bringing up whether we are boyfriend and girlfriend or what!

And it kind of gets you stuck in between a rock and hard place. Because when the french boy is in the throws of his 'I am falling in love with you phase', irish girl is expecting him to not call for a week and play it all cool, where in fact he is calling you several times a day and wants to see you every day. So of course you get very used to this adoring puppy dog being around and sure why not you just go with it. That is unless they bring up the 'what are we' question. Irish girls treat this like a test.... ok if you say were are in a relationship he will run for the hills, so instead jokingly say 'i'm just using you for sex'.. cue french boy taking gross offence, going on the mega defensive, turning turk so to speak, and thats its a beautiful potential something over in a second. However I think the right answer is 'girlfriend and boyfriend' ??? I don't know -  answers on a postcard please. Anyway it doesnt matter one bit, because even if the relationship was confirmed it would all be over in a few weeks. So what the hell are you suppose to do??!!

So I had my Dad over for the weekend and it was lovely. It rained alot though, which meant my tiny studio felt even smaller! We did lots of nice walking around when the sun came out.. and I ate enough to sustain me for the rest of the month on cereal!

Today I started another hip hop stage. It was awful. The teacher had a gang of groupies who already knew the choreo, so she didn't teach it she just ran through it. One girl pushed me out of the way and another guy stood directly in front of me, and another girl hit me during a move and didn't even apologise. Needless to say I was nearly in tears by the end of the class, but having found the choreo online I have practised for a few hours this evening and plan to kick ass tomorrow.. or at least not be so lost!