With March, the craziness has begun. A friend said to me yesterday that she was sort of down. Why? I asked, and she said it was because she's not really into anything she's doing right now. She's busy, but not with anything she's particularly excited about.
I've been there, and it sucks. But I can officially say I am on the other side of the spectrum: I have TOO MANY things I like that are going on. This is not a good way to live, really, either. I've always had a tendency to spread myself a little thin, but the chaos? That thing I've been sort of swimming in for the last 8-10 days? It doesn't look like it's going to let up for quite a while.
But first off, my new employer has decided to start my contract March 1, instead of Feb 1, because of an electricity problem in my "office." No electricity (or electricity not up to norms) meant no internet, and no internet meant no work for me. Also? No emailing on the company clock. Just kidding, I actually think I'll have enough work and pressure and responsibility that I won't want to waste away my at-work hours. I know, I know... how did I snag a job like that? And is that really a good thing in the end? Not sure. Ask me next month. So the contract is signed. I'm still waiting for news on my internet connection.
Secondly, I am going to London this weekend on "business." Let me say that sentence again, without the self-effacing quotes: I am going to London this weekend on business. Man, it's hard to say that seriously. But it's the truth, and I might just have to wear heels for a half-day or so, just to really let it sink in that that, indeed, is what I am doing there. Business-like things.
(I just got a new laptop bag, too, so I think I'm ready)
Third: The Boy and I are absolute MACHINES right now. We've gotten so much done for the future of his ("our") company that I don't even know how it's all happened. We're also enormous dorks, because the slip of paper informing us our business cards arrived a few days back, and it made us both so goofy and giddy that The Boy ran over to the post office immediately afterwards just in case we could pick them up that same afternoon. We could, and he came running back home to show me, grinning from ear to ear.
We also received our first fax.
These are the types of milestones that actually propel me.
Actually, though, we've crossed some seriously gruesome battlefields over the last two weeks, and I can actually look back and give us some props. I think we both have a hard time remembering to pat ourselves on the back(s), occasionally, but even The Boy has had to admit we've made progress.
Meanwhile, I went to my Arabic class today, not knowing we were having an exam. I don't actually take exams -- there are two types of enrollment and I am in the group of people who just have one massive exam at the end of the year --- but I am a part of the class so I still participate in them on occasion. But not knowing about this exam was a bit of a shocker: it was the first time I sat down and tried to do any Arabic without my handy textbook next to me. Wow! I can't do very much on my own. I actually got up and told the teacher I wasn't feeling well and went outside for the last ten minutes of the exam. I wasn't handing it in anyway, and it was just depressing me. However, it was a great thing to realize. Me and the studying? We have to get friendly now.
So one more thing and I'm out: What's up with the French system of returning change? Cashiers tend to have little dishes out -- I've always found it bizarre - for you to drop your money into. Just to avoid touching the his/her hand. BHV has even developed little rivets in their cashier desks -- they're kind of cute in a totally paranoid-of-strangers sort of way. But I have an ongoing issue at Monoprix: there's no damn bowl. So how do I pay? Do I hand the person the money (like I would in the States) or come up with a way of paying without physically touching the cashier? Sometimes I sort of set the money down on the cashier's little table, and sometimes I hand it directly to the person. Either which way I do it, I always feel like I should have gone with the other method - those Frenchies never seems satisified with my technique. Does anyone else have this problem? Or am I just thinking about it too much? I feel like they are very weird about this whole giving-of-the-change ceremony. I've been here for over six years and I still can't get it right.
Hey leeann, I was an assistant last year and am a big fan of your blog, but what is this mysterious business you and The Boy have started??
God, I know what you mean, they are really odd when it comes to giving back change. At the boulangerie across the street from my apt, they are manic about it. Even if I hold my hand out to get it, they still insist on putting it on the counter, as if they could catch some terrible foreign illness if any skin contact is made.
What I hate even more is the cashier's refusal to put the receipt in the damn bag when buying clothes, groceries, etc - I think it's just one more way of protecting themselves. That way, the receipt goes on the customer's hand, then the bills, and then the coins on top of that. Argh. Makes arranging everything in your wallet so much more difficult.
Will - All will be revealed on this site (and probably the assistants' site, too) shortly. In - I dunno - a month or two.
Samantha - I know all about the layering of the money in the hands. I always end up just shoving it all into my wallet and arranging when I get home. Too complicated otherwise, and the lady behind me needs to bag her stuff, now, thank you!