Post 6

Of course it’s important that you don’t lose your ‘self’ while you survive in a megapolis. The quality of your life has to be good. You may change your nutritional habits, but just a little bit, because you’ll suffer from not eating your favorite food, like honey and nuts which are expensive in France. I do not buy French cheese anymore and very seldom – French wine. The best thing would be to stop drinking it at all, as I’ve read so many articles about wine’s negative effects… But nuts and honey, I can’t stop eating them!

You still have to feel free in urban space and in space in general.

That is why you have to continue to buy your monthly pass navigo. It costs 75,20 euros, but it covers the whole Île-de-France, 5 zones, and you cannot not buy it because your only joy is to escape from the city as far as the pass allows, into the heart of silence and beauty of the great spaces. Every weekend I need to walk up to 20 kilometers, sometimes more, if the weather allows. Endorphins is the essential element. Far from Paris, I calm down, and things do not seem that determined and that difficult to transform. I understand that as long as I keep being flexible and open, I give the chance to a chance to happen.

I took this pic today in Île-de-France, between Juziers and La Chartre.

Image may contain: car, tree, outdoor and nature

Post 5

They say it is important to think every evening about the day that has just finished: what was done, what are the results, etc. In the morning, Bagelstein called me. I had an interview this Wednesday with David. They were looking for a seller of bagels, part time, 5 days a week, 2 hours per day and 5 hours on Saturday. David’s charmful voice with a slight German accent (Alsace?) informed me gently that my application was not chosen. Ah, OK, thank you for your call, I said. It’s a pity, I almost fell in love with your voice and silent cows’ eyes, I thought.

Abercrombie invitation in the afternoon. The girl sounded like a robot. She spoke so fast, but I agreed with everything, although I had no idea of what she was talking about. I cannot remember all the positions I applied to. Thanks to my philological compétences and Google search skills, I grasped the adress (Champs-Élysées!) and the date of our rendez-vous the next week, and reconstructed the entire conversation.

Many letters from Pôle emploi this evening. I applied for an unemployment compensation. One of the letters says I cannot draw it, the type of my residence permit gives me no right for such a démarche. Thank you guys it was very helpful. At least you proved me once more that if you’re drowning, you’re on your own.

The only difference is that I am not drowning. Still, I am on my own and I love it. I love meeting people of Paris in this way, as a job searcher. I almost became a professional ethnographer thanks to all the interviews I was invited to.

Poste 4

Abercrombie&Fitch has just invited me for the interview next Friday. They are looking for a Brand Representative who would be excellent in every aspect of his or her personality and, most probably, who already has a significant experience in the sphere. Almost every enterprise here needs high level professionals, with at least one or two years experience. Very few offer it, accepting the absolute beginners. That was the case of Mavrommatis. Maybe Mavrommatis hired me because I spoke Greek.

Now I have to spend money for a hairdresser. I have to look like a goddess. I’ll probably go to the Ukrainian hair stylist because it’s cheaper, around 15 euros. In Ukraine, it’s 3 euros, but I did not find time to do a haircut there during my winter holidays. Everywhere in Paris the prices for ELLE start at 15-20 euros.

Post 3

Before being trapped in such an ordinary situation, I worked quietly and comfortably in one little, comfortable library which makes part of a scientific center for the Greek and other ancient worlds. This comfortable job lasted for about two years. How did I manage to find such a dream-work?

I arrived in Paris in December 2015. I wanted to conduct a serious, deep research on skin in Hippocrates. But I needed a job.  And at that moment, I had no idea of how it is difficult to do these two things simultaneously: to study seriously and to earn enough money to survive in Paris, where the cheapest apartment is a studio 9 m2, on the last floor without elevator, with no WC inside, no shower cabin and no kitchen costs 350 euros per month. No problem! says the householder, you’ve got a swimming pool not far from here. There, you may take your shower. By the way, the door of this “studio” was rather symbolic: old, one half of transparent glass, another one wooden. “There have been no robberies here as yet”, says the householder. Oh, thanks for these words, I feel safe and comfortable now…

Fortunately, around the mid-January 2016, I found a studio (rented, by chance, by a Ukrainian) for 5oo euros + 70 (electricity and internet) in the 9 arr., Cité Napoléon. Cold, humid, tiny, but ok till the neighbour listening music every night arrived.

I also found a babysitting agency and became a babysitter, my first job in Paris. But I suffered from the boys, then I suffered even more from the girls I had to take care of. Finally, a friend of mine and a doctorant from Greece, Vasso who knows well how it is for the outsiders to study and to work in Paris, insisted: ask, do not hesitate an ask our direction for a job at the Gernet-Glotz! So, I did it. And closer to summer 2016 I signed the contract with CNRS (library). Since then, my life in Paris had become more “bourgeois” – more or less quiet and stable…

Post 2

You’d say what’s the problem with finding a job for such a smart thinker equipped with languages like me. Quite a big one, my dear girls and guys. First of all, Paris, the cultural capital of Europe, needs no thinkers. Secondly, you must prove any bit of knowledge you have: diplomas, language certificates, language teacher certificates. OR BE A NATURAL BORN native SPEAKER. I guess there are a lot of English native speakers in Paris. This is the most important foreign language in France. There are crowds of Russians as well. Russian is needed too but not to the same extant as English. If you know Modern Greek and want to teach it because you love it more than any other foreign language you know, hellas! No chance! The only choice you have that’s : certificate – or die!

Today is February 13, 2019. I’ve been in active search of a job since January 15, but started to look for a better one since November 2018. I sent hundreds of resume and letters on motivation. Waitress, secretary, seller in the bakeries, private teacher, baby-sitter, librarian, blogs, fb pages, translator.

Nothing works.

Post 1

Let me introduce myself…

That’s the first thing I learnt at school during our English classes. I was 8 or 10 years old, now I am 40 and I’ve got much more things to say about myself.
I am baby-sitting right now, in one of the quartiers bourgeois of Paris. Two “babies” that I am “sitting” with are guys of 12 years old.

So, I’m 40. I am Ukrainian. I am fluent in three languages, bilingual in two, and another five I can read, understand, and use either for my hobbies or for research. I have a doctoral degree in philosophy and cultural studies. I prepare a post-doctoral diploma here in Paris, and these studies are not financed : no scholarship, no grant, just a long-term search for a part-time job.