It’s been a while since I’ve been to the movies. I was at the Champs Elysees today and couldn’t resist stopping by one of my favourite cinemas, Le Balzac.

I saw La Graine et le Mulet by Abdel Kechiche. I recently saw another of his movies, La Faute a Voltaire with Sami Bouajila (one of my favourite actors) which was great, so as soon as I saw this movie was by him I had to see it.

The film is about a man in his 60′s who loses his job basically due to his age. He decides to open a restaurant but is faced with a severe lack of funds and the typical nightmare that is the French bureaucracy. His family comes together to help him but he is just so unlucky, nothing seems to go right.

The movie was very long at 2 and a half hours but it wasn’t really noticeable, although I do think some scenes could have been cut down. Like one scene at the beginning when the whole extended family is at the table eating couscous and there are extreme close-ups of everyone eating and talking. It really wasn’t pretty!

The ending was fantastic though, really amazing. This movie is well worth seeing.

A few weeks ago I started doing Pilates at my gym. It’s not free like the other classes, which is a bit annoying but at 10 euros it’s much cheaper than at other places.

Most of the classes are Pilates au Sol which is done on the floor with mats rather than the machines. I really don’t see the point in paying for that. The class I was doing was with the machines though and I really enjoyed it.

The instructor I had has now left the gym and it doesn’t look like they have someone else to replace him so I don’t know if I’ll continue with it, without the machines.  I will give it a go but I’m sure it won’t be the same.

The loss of T also means no Monday night stretching which I’ve been doing for over a year and no one gorgeous to check out, hehe. He’s going solo and at 100 euros per hour for personal training I can understand why.

I’ve been a huge fan of Gad Elmaleh for a couple of years now so was pretty excited when I got tickets to see his show at the Olympia. I don’t have any trouble understanding him in his movies or when I’ve seen him in interviews but his comedy act is a bit difficult for me to understand due to him speaking super fast and using a lot of slang.

I knew it might be pointless to see him live for this reason but I bought the tickets 6 months ago with the hope that my French might improve enough for me to understand most of what was going on. Well, it didn’t.

So I saw Gad last night and probably understood less that half of what he said. Poor Ferbent didn’t understand a thing! Everyone there was laughing hysterically the entire time and I only got a few of the jokes. I was so upset! What a waste of time and money.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand French well enough to see that kind of show. I’m so disappointed.

My apartment search has been quite difficult so far. It’s not easy when you have a foreign income. It has been difficult finding apartments which are livable, let alone nice, and the couple which I have been interested in have gone to other people.

I’m starting to get a bit desperate so I’ve started looking with agencies. There are two negatives to this. Firstly, I’ll have to pay agency fees and secondly I’ll have to do une caution bancaire. Which means 12 months rent put aside by my bank in case I don’t pay. I was hoping to avoid this by going direct with the landlord but it doesn’t look like that is going to work out.

Finally yesterday I came across the perfect apartment. It’s in a brand new complex in Boulogne. I remember commenting to Ferbent a few months ago when they were under construction that it would be nice to live there. They are owned by a company so they are quite strict where the dossier is concerned so fingers crossed they’ll accept the documents I’ve provided them with. They seem happy enough, so long as I do the caution, of course.

The apartment is on the 5th floor, back from the main road. It’s 40sqm, 1 bedroom, a kitchen in the corridor, and a large bathroom with a bath and space for a washing machine (albeit a small one). It has real timber floors and good quality fixtures. All that for less than €1000 per month. It’s perfect! There are lots available but will they rent to me?

I had to renew by gym membership today which resulted in a typically difficult conversation in French/English.

One girl asked my something about my husband which I didn’t quite catch so I asked her to repeat it. So then she tried to tell me in English but I couldn’t understand a word she said. Then the other receptionist, a complete bimbo who still can’t remember my name after one year, tried to tell me in English but I couldn’t understand her either, LOL.

So I’m like, just speak in French, but speak slowly, but they insisted on speaking a mixture of French and English which was impossible to understand. They’re quite nice, funny girls but such bimbos it’s unbelievable.

I wish French people would speak to me in French but slowly and clearly, I can understand everything then. It’s nice that they want to speak English with me but it’s really not necessary. I always reply in French anyway. How else am I supposed to learn?

So I am now €2000 poorer but I’m set for another year at the gym

I saw 3 apartments last week. One horrid one in Boulogne on one of the busiest avenues in the area. Then I saw 2 in the 16, both within walking distance to by gym, which is very important.

The first was in rue Chanez which is the same street as the gym. Maybe that is too close but it doesn’t look like I”ll be getting it anyway. The apartment was marginally nicer than others I’ve seen, the kitchen was probably usable and the shower room was typically hideous but could possibly be cleaned up. At €938 for 45sqm it was a bargain. I would have taken it but I guess the owner didn’t like my dossier. What a surprise.

Next was a 50sqm 1 bed at Mirabeau, also in the 16th for €1100 per month. It was very filthy but the owner was having it repainted and was going to replace the kitchen cupboards so it was going to be ok. It had beautiful oak floorboards and high ceilings and from the bathroom you could see the Eiffel Tower. She was happy with my dossier but she said she would probably rent the apart to the person there before me.

So I missed out on all 3 counts.

I’ve only got a month or so before I have to be out of here so things are starting to get tight. I”ll have to start looking in other areas now or maybe go with a real estate agent, even though they charge huge fees.

So far I’ve been using the Pap but the competition is making it tough, especially with my weak dossier. Fingers crossed for this Thursday.

Note to self, never go to the Club Med Gym at Palais Royal again. It’s too gay! Really, it’s not fun at all when all the guys are checking out each other rather than me! hehe

Other reasons not to go:

• it’s filthy
• it’s very small
• the machines are ancient
• there are not enough cardio machines
• they don’t have the machines I like
• it’s in the 1st and I don’t live there
• it’s filthy

I’ve been wanting to try out different gyms so I will know if I should be searching for an apartment in other areas. So far the gym in the 16th , where I normally go, is the best. I really don’t want to move from there.

There is a retoucherie near my house where I go quite often with Ferbent’s clothes (he seems to be constantly buying jeans). So I kind of know the guy who works there and lets just say he, well, likes to chat to me. Ferbent is usually with me (retoucherie guy never says a word to Ferbent, hehe) so I don’t mind but today I went alone to alter some of my clothes.

I intentionally went in the afternoon because I know the girl is usually working at that time. This was the case today so I quickly changed into my new jeans. The girl started serving someone else so I was just standing there waiting when retoucherie guy came back from lunch or wherever he was.

So I was hoping to avoid him but instead I had him fiddling around my legs pinning my jeans. I was so embarrassed I’m sure I went bright red. I know there wasn’t really any reason to worry but I just hate the way he looks at me.

He went to Australia a couple of months ago and every time I see him he goes on about how wonderful Australia is and he asks me 1000s of questions. I’m happy to respond and practice my French a little but I do get a little shy when he asks me so many things.

I know he’s harmless and in fact he is quite charming, in his own way, but I was still embarrassed with him touching me even if he barely touched me and it was completely professional.

At least he’s friendly. No one else in the shops around here talks to me. Thankfully on Friday I’ll just be picking up my things and I won’t have to get changed knowing he’s just behind the curtain.

My first day of apartment hunting was pretty grim. I saw 3 apartments for rent and they were all terrible.

The first apartment was in the 16th near metro Jasmin. I like this location because it’s close to the gym where I go and I don’t really want to change gyms. At €1150 per month for 45 sqm, I expected it to be in fairly good condition but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

The apartment had old, mismatched carpet, was in desperate need of painting, had an old kitchen with no oven, and an extremely filthy bathroom with ancient fittings. Not to mention there was no sunlight and probably wouldn’t be any during the day. The only good thing the landlord could say was that it looked over the wealthiest mansions in Paris. Yay, that’s important.

Apartment number 2 was in the 12th near Bois de Vincennes. I don’t want to live anywhere near there but was curious to see what you get for €840 per month. I got there quite early and there were already 30 people waiting to view it. I counted at least 60 people in line by the time the owner opened the apart for viewing. Pretty much all those in line were students. My budget is up to €1200 per month so I won’t bother looking at any of these kinds of apartments again. It was 45 sqm with a disgusting kitchen and bathroom, again.

Apartment number 3 was in Boulogne, 55 sqm one bed, close to Parc des Princes. It was in a very secure, high class building, at the back of the block, away from the road. It was extremely quiet, which is very important, and on the 4th floor. When I walked in I was taken by how much light there was. Huge windows, white walls, and real oak flooring. The bedroom was the same. Unfortunately, the shower room was so filthy, with no light, no fan, no mirror, no cupboards, no shower screen, mould everywhere and the kitchen wasn’t much better. It needed completely redoing. There is no way it could be cleaned up. It wasn’t livable. At €1100 per month I expected more.

I really can’t imagine who would rent any of those apartments. All the bathrooms and kitchens were unusable in my opinion. Even with some serious cleaning I wouldn’t spend even one night in those places. Some people seemed pretty eager to rent. Just how desperate are they? We’re talking about toilets which were black with dirt (or I hate to think what). I felt sick just looking at it.

I’m viewing another place tomorrow night in Boulogne. It’s a great location, close to all the shops I regularly visit, and it’s at the back of the building so it should be quiet.

Another possibility is a small one bed, 38 sqm, in Sevres Babylone for €1100. That is pretty much a dream location for me. It’s on the ground floor but at the back with a small garden. The woman told me the kitchen and bathroom are in very good condition but who knows what that means. She’s reluctant to rent to me because of my foreign income and she said she’d call me back to make a time to view the place. I think that means I’ll never hear from her again.

On the train trip back from Rome, we stopped off for a couple of days in Nice. It was my first time there and really enjoyed it. It wasn’t has hot and sunny as I would have liked but it wasn’t cold either.

The old city is a great place to explore although a lot of the shops are geared towards tourists. That isn’t that surprising but I had hoped for a little more. The rest of the city is great to walk around too and of course the main event is walking up and down the Promenade des Anglais.

The restaurants and generally quite upmarket and while not cheap, the food was great. I had one of the most delicious pizzas there, much tastier than what I had in Rome days earlier.

The city is quite small, too small for me to live in I think, but it is on our list of possible places to live. Ferbent applied for a job at the Ibis were we stayed as they just happened to be looking for a maintenance man. I don’t know if I want him to get it though.

It’ll be much nicer once they finish all the work on the tramway. Maybe in 6 months it’ll be all cleaned up with the new tram silently moving people around.

I gave notice on my apartment the other day, so we have 3 months to find something new. Something bigger, in a better location, and for less money! Well maybe not for less money.

Ferbent’s mother is coming to live with us for a while. She’ll be here next month and will stay for 3 to 6 months. So we’re looking for a large one bedroom although a 2 bedroom would be ideal. I’m not sure if the budget will stretch that far though.

I’ve already seen a couple of 50sqm apartments in Boulogne for under €1000 per month which is a good sign. One has just been renovated and the other is brand new, which is very appealing. I’m not sure I want to stay in Boulogne though. I’d much rather be in Paris.

Ferbent is talking about moving to the suburbs, like on the train line!!! No way! It’s bad enough being in Boulogne but at least we’re on the metro here so it’s not so bad, it doesn’t really feel like the suburbs. Plus we are really close to Bois de Boulogne which is really nice.

Other discussion have involved moving to Germany and recently moving to Cyprus. Ferbent works in hotellerie so he could easily get a job in Cyprus and the rents are super cheap but really, I can’t see myself in a small city on a remote island (it’d almost be like being trapped in Perth again). It would be ok if I could easily travel from there but going anywhere would mean flying (which I don’t like) and it’s expensive to fly anywhere. So I think that option’s out.

Still we might take a quick trip to Cyprus to see what it’s like. We both love Greek food and the Greek way of life but I think it might be too touristy for us. I found an all inclusive holiday for €495 each for 7 nights in early September so I might book that.

All of Paris is on holiday at the moment so obviously it’s not a good time to be apartment hunting. I’ll probably wait until next month to start my search.