Thursday, July 23, 2009

My favourite TV program



You've got to watch this 'L'Amour est dans le pré' which in English it means 'the love is in the field'
It's a real TV show on M6 to help people working in the agricultural business to find LUV of their lives.

I love this show, because it's not just to help them find love but also shows how hard those businesses really are physically and every way. They also show brief update on the people who appeared on the last year's show. Unfortunately, quite many of them didn't continue their relationships but a few people actually stay with the partners they have chosen which I find it very sweet.

It's not one of those speed dating - but light heartedly serious program.

Jazz Festival in Juan Les Pin


Apparently, the Jazz Festival in Juan Les Pin is quite famous and we went for the final day.
My friend, Lily and her hubby secured the seats for us which was very kind of them. We haven't had much chance to catch up properly but was really nice to see them.

It was a Tanya Baker Gospel show - which included the real church mass so I was quite surprised to come across the real 'Hallelhuja' prays but all in all, I was very happy with the beautiful location, the power vocal and the energy.

The towards the end of the show, the singer asked us to hand in hand with the person next to each other - the lady next to me was so charming and pleasant that we said to each other 'bless you' which was very sweet.

Online Banking- muppet me...

These days, thanks to the technology, you can check the bank balance online - that's been happening for the past 10 years. In France, the online banking is in multilingual - so you'd see the details in English - which is great.

I have just finished a telephone conversation with a call centre guy from my bank. I have forgotten my pin code of my online banking that I got myself locked. Bloody Hell.

So, the English version of online banking screen says [Need help? Call this number!]
So I did.

I was sort of expecting that they'd be English speaker - but they weren't..
They'd asked you all those general questions like, your address, your account number as you'd expected.
But here, they'd also ask you the name of your branch manager - which I wasn't really aware but luckly I've kept the recent letter about change of the account manager.

I managed to go through those questions in French - the new details would be sent by post within a few working days. I was quite pleased with myself my French got alot improved.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Accessorize in Cannes

Hoorey! One of my favourite shops in England has recently been opened in the city of Cannes.
It's Accessorize
I used to buy quite a lot of stuff there when I was in England - their hat collections are quite good. All are very reasonable which I like.

The summer sales have started all over France but except Cote d'Azur apparently it's not until next Wednesday. Not fair but in the meantime, I just have to check what to buy.
I find French sales are a bit naughty, they reduce the price bit by bit, English sales which gives a huge reduction straight away.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

New job

My French school has finally come to an end and there I am working AGAIN, but this time in France. My dream comes true, after almost two years of patience and learning French.

My job is in Sophia, luckily only a half hour drive from home. It's a six months maternity cover which actually suits me perfectly, as I wanted some experience to get started my career in France.

I am quite lucky that my route to work is not so overly busy compare to the route coming from Nice. As my car is right hand drive, sometimes I find it uncomfortable driving on the hilly place to across Vallauris.

I've put myself having the test period at work, working only 6months but I really want to gain my French ability, so I try to speak more French - indeed most of the time I use English, but this is a great chance to listen and use real French in working environment.

I have already got the initiation that my French isn't good enough YET - I've sent an email for hotel booking in France - I wrote the request in French but got the reply in English....
I phoned for an enquiry in French but I got someone talking to me in English. 'You can talk to me in English'
It's very discouraging but I won't give up until I got it right.