Train was to leave at 17h32. Wanted to see if I could catch an earlier train so had Nicolas drive me to the train station around 11h00. Unfortunately, I couldn't exchange my TGV ticket in Nice since I bought it at a special price online. I had a good 5 hours to kill in Nice. Another blessing in disguise. I ended up fait des cours, or running errands the rest of the afternoon. Luckily there were lockers there to hold my luggage and carry-ons.
What a day - I was at the bank for a good 30 minutes, at least. Got that over with. Sigh of relief. Tomorrow I had to deal with my papers to extend my Visa.
Finished a bunch of other errands. Went window shopping. Wrote some more for my blog at a café and in the fancy McDonald's in downtown Nice - had a lot to catch up on since internet is banned from the cooks at the restaurant. A month with barely any internet. In a little retirement town on the Cote D'Azur. With cold weather brewing so no more trips to the beach. Nothing to do. Ah, qu'est-ce que je ferais sans l'internet ?! (This explains the heaps of entries being posted within just a few days).
My bad karma seems to be lessening a bit. Well minus the date mix-up and having Pim show up at my friend's apartment a day earlier than I thought. But that is another story.
Anyway, things worked out. I got really important shit done. Had a shitty cappuccino and pain au chocolat. Then tried to make up for it buy buying this chocolate muffin with chocolate chips that looked good but tasted like shit. But had a financier that was quite tasty from a place downtown. Hadn't had any super delicious pastries for a month. But Paris will take care of that.
Good karma came when the wait for the subways and RER were less than a minute. I got home around 23h30. Tomorrow the eating begins.
Showing posts with label Mirazur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mirazur. Show all posts
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Last day of work
To be quite honest, I have been having a shit past two weeks (except for my days off - for the most part.) Just bad karma all the way around. Little things have been going bad for me here and there, - yes, that is life, but this literally was a consistent two weeks of bad karma. I wonder what I did wrong ?
Anyway, today we had a lot of mise en place to do since there was a food event being held in Monaco. I was supposed to get off the first shift slightly early to do some paperwork at the bank for my Carte de Sejour. By the time I got off work, the bank would be closing in 30 minutes. No car - guess karma didn't want it to happen. (I'm starting to sound like My Name Is Earl. Didn't have much of a break today but it was okay. I wasn't too tired. For the little amount of time I had, I went to the little store in Italy to buy Coke, wine, and snacks for tonight.
When I returned, I got dressed and went back to work. On my last night of work, one of the commis told me to be the plongeur (our plongeur was in Monaco) and that we would "take turns" (he would do it after, and then another girl.) Uh huh. Both of them have never washed the dishes during an entire service. And if they have - it's been for about 2 minutes... because they needed to use something. Keep in mind that I am one-handed and can't get my left hand wet. I was washing dishes and putting them away - with one hand.
Guess who ends up being plongeur the whole service AND during the end of service? Yah, on my last night. WOO! I have done it for about 3-4 services already when others "claim" they will take turns. It was BS. But whatever, tomorrow I am going back to Paris. Home Sweet Home.
I was glad to finish my final duties as professional plongeur. I went back to the room, showered, and went out on the terrace to hang out on my last night. We had a nice feast of junk food and good last night of bonding.
Masa, Maxime (Nice, Stagiaire), Jennifer (Quebec, Stagiaire), Chiho, me
À Bientôt !
Anyway, today we had a lot of mise en place to do since there was a food event being held in Monaco. I was supposed to get off the first shift slightly early to do some paperwork at the bank for my Carte de Sejour. By the time I got off work, the bank would be closing in 30 minutes. No car - guess karma didn't want it to happen. (I'm starting to sound like My Name Is Earl. Didn't have much of a break today but it was okay. I wasn't too tired. For the little amount of time I had, I went to the little store in Italy to buy Coke, wine, and snacks for tonight.
When I returned, I got dressed and went back to work. On my last night of work, one of the commis told me to be the plongeur (our plongeur was in Monaco) and that we would "take turns" (he would do it after, and then another girl.) Uh huh. Both of them have never washed the dishes during an entire service. And if they have - it's been for about 2 minutes... because they needed to use something. Keep in mind that I am one-handed and can't get my left hand wet. I was washing dishes and putting them away - with one hand.
Guess who ends up being plongeur the whole service AND during the end of service? Yah, on my last night. WOO! I have done it for about 3-4 services already when others "claim" they will take turns. It was BS. But whatever, tomorrow I am going back to Paris. Home Sweet Home.
I was glad to finish my final duties as professional plongeur. I went back to the room, showered, and went out on the terrace to hang out on my last night. We had a nice feast of junk food and good last night of bonding.
Masa, Maxime (Nice, Stagiaire), Jennifer (Quebec, Stagiaire), Chiho, me
À Bientôt !
Chef David and Miss Pim come for a visit
Jardin
Montagne. So tranquil when you are not working.
Lunch made by Les Grands Chefs.
And served by Les Grands Chefs.
Mia prepped all the desserts by Mika for us
Their friends Michael from Monaco, and Julie, former sous of L'Arpege (she says HELLO, Andrew!) joined us as well.
Was nice to hangout with Californians again ;)
Montagne. So tranquil when you are not working.
Lunch made by Les Grands Chefs.
And served by Les Grands Chefs.
Mia prepped all the desserts by Mika for us
Their friends Michael from Monaco, and Julie, former sous of L'Arpege (she says HELLO, Andrew!) joined us as well.
Was nice to hangout with Californians again ;)
Saturday, September 20, 2008
On va à l'hôpital !
Today we had a British camera crew in today whom worked for an American TV network. Not sure which one. They were here to film the Chef working in the kitchen.
I was cutting tomatoes for personal meal (yay, I get to cook!) - I was making one of my special home-cooked meals - Ropa Vieja. I was getting comfortable with my new knife and started chopping faster.
OOPS! I almost chopped my thumb off ! I looked at my thumb, saw blood forming. Rinsed it. Then saw more blood forming. I had cut through most of my thumb nail and around my thumb. I went to the other kitchen to grab some paper towels to try and stop the bleeding. Well I ended up dripping blood all over the counter top. Max, another stagiaire was like uhhh... come with me.
The directeur of the salle (front of the house) had a huge stash of bandages in his studio. He helped bandage me up a bit. I didn't really want to go to the hospital but he insisted I get it disinfected and dressed properly to avoid infection. Good point.
Thankfully, Nicolas has a car. We went back up to the kitchen to ask him to bring me. The Italian was like "look at the mess you made!" I had dripped a small trail of blood on the floor too. OOPS again.
The salle guy told the chef it was très sérieux and that I needed to go to the hospital... while the camera crew was there. haha !
And off we went. Nice break for my pal Nicolas. (He really deserves a break - he works hard). We waited at the hospital for a good 30 minutes. I had to soak my finger in this disinfectant for 10 minutes. It was throbbing but nothing I couldn't handle. ;) And the lady pricked my other finger to get some blood for a tetanus test. I was good to go. She bandaged me up well and I was on my way. Had to buy some painkillers and more bandages too since we don't really have any at the restaurant.
I returned to work ... why you ask? I DON'T KNOW. Everyone at the hospital as well as front of the house told me not to work. I was working sooo slowww and only with one hand. I couldn't even put pressure on my left hand because it would cause it to throb even more. There were times that my eyes would well up with tears cuz of the throbbing pain. But the painkillers helped a bit.
I took a pretty neat picture of my thumb after it was cleaned but Raf protested against me posting it. It's not that bad (or perhaps I am desensitized to cuts in the kitchen?) but definitely worse than the first time I cut it with my Santoku.
During service, I have to chop apples brunoise, and ciseler mint super thin and both as fast as I can. Um, hardly possible tonight. But yes, I really should not have worked tonight.
I think I am a masochist.
I was cutting tomatoes for personal meal (yay, I get to cook!) - I was making one of my special home-cooked meals - Ropa Vieja. I was getting comfortable with my new knife and started chopping faster.
OOPS! I almost chopped my thumb off ! I looked at my thumb, saw blood forming. Rinsed it. Then saw more blood forming. I had cut through most of my thumb nail and around my thumb. I went to the other kitchen to grab some paper towels to try and stop the bleeding. Well I ended up dripping blood all over the counter top. Max, another stagiaire was like uhhh... come with me.
The directeur of the salle (front of the house) had a huge stash of bandages in his studio. He helped bandage me up a bit. I didn't really want to go to the hospital but he insisted I get it disinfected and dressed properly to avoid infection. Good point.
Thankfully, Nicolas has a car. We went back up to the kitchen to ask him to bring me. The Italian was like "look at the mess you made!" I had dripped a small trail of blood on the floor too. OOPS again.
The salle guy told the chef it was très sérieux and that I needed to go to the hospital... while the camera crew was there. haha !
And off we went. Nice break for my pal Nicolas. (He really deserves a break - he works hard). We waited at the hospital for a good 30 minutes. I had to soak my finger in this disinfectant for 10 minutes. It was throbbing but nothing I couldn't handle. ;) And the lady pricked my other finger to get some blood for a tetanus test. I was good to go. She bandaged me up well and I was on my way. Had to buy some painkillers and more bandages too since we don't really have any at the restaurant.
I returned to work ... why you ask? I DON'T KNOW. Everyone at the hospital as well as front of the house told me not to work. I was working sooo slowww and only with one hand. I couldn't even put pressure on my left hand because it would cause it to throb even more. There were times that my eyes would well up with tears cuz of the throbbing pain. But the painkillers helped a bit.
I took a pretty neat picture of my thumb after it was cleaned but Raf protested against me posting it. It's not that bad (or perhaps I am desensitized to cuts in the kitchen?) but definitely worse than the first time I cut it with my Santoku.
During service, I have to chop apples brunoise, and ciseler mint super thin and both as fast as I can. Um, hardly possible tonight. But yes, I really should not have worked tonight.
I think I am a masochist.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Préfecture à Nice
There was nothing I could do to get out of going to the Préfecture in Nice to renew my Carte de Sejour. Today was the big day. Got up at 5h30, left around 6h, took the train to Nice. Then the bus. Got to the préfecture at 8h15. There were only about 15 people waiting outside the gates. The gates don't open until 9h00 to the public. Not bad.
I have heard horror stories from two of my coworkers who have gone there at least 3-4x. And even worse stories from Timo about Paris. I was dreading this moment and preparing for the worst.
They opened the gates around 8h30. A few of us ran to wait outside the second set of doors. Well, I came prepared in my running shoes and cotton capris - I made a dash for it and was able to get in front of a few people.
9h00 came and when the doors opened, people started running. Using my sprinting skills from high school, I made a dash for the line - there was one guy working there that was telling everyone to slow down. hahahah. I made it to the line but there were still about 20+ people in front of me because all these fuckers in France always cut in line. But regardless, wasn't that bad. I probably waited another 30 minutes to be seen. No problem... sort of.
So my Carte de Sejour runs out on 30 Sep 08. And it takes 2 months to renew. I am only supposed to work here until 20 Oct 08. You can see the dilemma. They told me to go back to Paris to file it since I am going to work there afterwards. Well... you can see the dilemma again. And in their French way they said:
"C'est pas possible."
Uh huh.
5 minutes later - miraculously it was
"C'est possible...mais..."
The lady at the desk mentioned a special exception for me to renew my Carte de Sejour for 2 months in Nice, and after renew again in Paris... except that maybe the French police would stop by to see if I was actually working there and yada yada yada. With some discussion with the chef, we figured it was best for me leave early and go back to Paris to file. It worked out better for the both of us this way - no unnecessary police visits at the restaurant, and me filing my papers in Paris only one time. And the other good part about it is that my school will file for my renewal. All I have to do is provide all the necessary paperwork and fill out a bunch of other papers in person. No crazy lines in Paris. The préfecture in Paris is 1000x worse than in Nice. PHEW! Thanks, Ferrandi !
After a few hours in line and a few phone calls later - I was out of there by 11h45. Not bad ! But then the bus didn't come for 45 minutes but luckily I met some Philipino people who had been living in Nice for the past 3 years - I went with them to take another bus to a different train station. By the end of it all, I came back to work around 13h30.
So that would make my total trek to the préfecture only 7.5 hours including commute. Not bad at all !
I have heard horror stories from two of my coworkers who have gone there at least 3-4x. And even worse stories from Timo about Paris. I was dreading this moment and preparing for the worst.
They opened the gates around 8h30. A few of us ran to wait outside the second set of doors. Well, I came prepared in my running shoes and cotton capris - I made a dash for it and was able to get in front of a few people.
9h00 came and when the doors opened, people started running. Using my sprinting skills from high school, I made a dash for the line - there was one guy working there that was telling everyone to slow down. hahahah. I made it to the line but there were still about 20+ people in front of me because all these fuckers in France always cut in line. But regardless, wasn't that bad. I probably waited another 30 minutes to be seen. No problem... sort of.
So my Carte de Sejour runs out on 30 Sep 08. And it takes 2 months to renew. I am only supposed to work here until 20 Oct 08. You can see the dilemma. They told me to go back to Paris to file it since I am going to work there afterwards. Well... you can see the dilemma again. And in their French way they said:
"C'est pas possible."
Uh huh.
5 minutes later - miraculously it was
"C'est possible...mais..."
The lady at the desk mentioned a special exception for me to renew my Carte de Sejour for 2 months in Nice, and after renew again in Paris... except that maybe the French police would stop by to see if I was actually working there and yada yada yada. With some discussion with the chef, we figured it was best for me leave early and go back to Paris to file. It worked out better for the both of us this way - no unnecessary police visits at the restaurant, and me filing my papers in Paris only one time. And the other good part about it is that my school will file for my renewal. All I have to do is provide all the necessary paperwork and fill out a bunch of other papers in person. No crazy lines in Paris. The préfecture in Paris is 1000x worse than in Nice. PHEW! Thanks, Ferrandi !
After a few hours in line and a few phone calls later - I was out of there by 11h45. Not bad ! But then the bus didn't come for 45 minutes but luckily I met some Philipino people who had been living in Nice for the past 3 years - I went with them to take another bus to a different train station. By the end of it all, I came back to work around 13h30.
So that would make my total trek to the préfecture only 7.5 hours including commute. Not bad at all !
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Firenze, Italy: Day 2
We waited an hour in line to see the statue of David. Ended up eating McD's while waiting in line. Felt kinda gross after that. I took a few photos of David on my cell phone.
Then took a nice hike up a "little" hill to see an awesome view of Firenze.
Firenze is so beautiful.
Naptime
And of course a friendly stray cat
Fortunately we took an early train back and got in around 23h30. I had barely spoken French the past two days. In fact, I had barely spoken. But I sure did hear a lot of Spanish. I can now tell the difference between Argentinian Spanish and Spanish from Spain.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Firenze, Italy: Day 1
The Argentinians and I went to Firenze, Italy today. We got up at 5h30 to catch the train. Didn't get in until around 16h00 but it's all good. This is going to be more of a picture post.
6h00 walking to the train station with Mati, Lucas, and Mia.
Walking everywhere. American Embassy is behind them
The coffee in Italy is 100x better than it is in France !
Am American girl in Italy
It was amazing to see how many Americans were traveling here. And it was also amazing to see how 99% of them didn't even try to speak Italian. Anywhere. Not even a Bonjourno or Grazie.
This is what happens at the garde manger poste. hahaha !
Little Italian restaurant.
Shitty Italian bread
Then we went to...
Turned out to be an "American" bar
6h00 walking to the train station with Mati, Lucas, and Mia.
Walking everywhere. American Embassy is behind them
The coffee in Italy is 100x better than it is in France !
Am American girl in Italy
It was amazing to see how many Americans were traveling here. And it was also amazing to see how 99% of them didn't even try to speak Italian. Anywhere. Not even a Bonjourno or Grazie.
This is what happens at the garde manger poste. hahaha !
Little Italian restaurant.
Shitty Italian bread
Then we went to...
Turned out to be an "American" bar
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