Tag: work

End of Studies

One week ago I defended my diploma. My studies are thus officially over. The defense procedure took place at Sorbonne, just in the middle of severe strike with heavy public transport disruptions. The procedure was hard, unfriendly, kind of a Kafkian process. The people engaged were rather from two different planets. One can merely imagine  h o w   d i f f i c u l t  life and studies can be for an ultimate foreigner in Paris.

I still haven’t any job. I’ve got only 35 euros earned yesterday cleaning a house of an Azerbaïdjan family in Enghien-les-Bains, 15 minutes from Gare du Nord.

The good news is that my diploma is ready in several months and that I’ll be in a regular situation in a few days as I managed to visit Prefecture de Police these days. There’s also a chance to visit Kyiv and see my beloved.

Je repars à zéro

Voilà one week left until I defend my post-doc diploma. What have I got? No regular babysitting, no housecleaning at all, no other job, no ideas what to do next. Got enough money to pay the rent for the next month (670 euros), but nothing to buy food and monthly transport pass, nothing to celebrate the end of my studies just after the defense (to offer some drinks to my professors and to the friends who will be there).

A lonely Mister (I think he’s about his 70s) is trying to persuade me to not only clean his flat, but also to do massage. “I’ll pay you more. Nobody will know… But I’ll pay you more than for the cleaning… But we will know each other… I’ll pay you. I am single”. Oh my GOD, poor man! No, Sir, I wish you good luck in your (I think quite desperate) search. I’ve already tried once and run as quickly as possible. The man (Michel, comedy actor) who said on the phone he was 48, was in fact about 58. He wanted massage sensuel. You get naked so that it gets a bit sexy, you mass my whole body, you mass my penis, the aim is to excite me. 50 euros per hour.

NO I’m not going to do that! to mass your cock, are you crazy? – What’s the problem? You know, you imply moral judgment, you refuse an interesting sensual experience! – Yes, I do, I don’t need it. I was really lucky he was not a maniaс. So I run away veeeery quickly and he let me run. F…..ck!

Résultat de recherche d'images pour "colère"

I’ve never thought it’s possible that all the small jobs one manages to find disappear almost simultaneously. Maybe a golden era is waiting for me and the gods deprive me of all the non-qualified jobs? Or are they trying to tell me, “Valeria, it’s better that you prepare your presentation, spend more time on it!” Thanks, gods, I appreciate. But could you please also show me the path where to move? Thank you, gods, in advance.

Last week, I had to prepare three copies of my work, for each member of the jury. My school did not reply if they refunded such kind of expenses. Luckily, my colleagues from the library printed two copies for free, so I had only to pay the cover. No need in the third copy: one of the members of the jury said she had already did it. These small gestures are so touching and so important when one keeps body and soul together. Thank you, friends.

Nudist

Got another hot proposal! To clean a 2-room flat on Montmartre 2-3 hours per week. Sounds great, doesn’t it? The only thing that the owner is a nudist and he wishes that the housemaid were not embarrassed by his natural naked presence…

Such stories make me laugh))

Deus ex machina

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Palais Royal this morning
God called me today.

He wanted to help me with my “problems”. “What do you propose?” he asked me. “I’ve posted many announcements, babysitting for exemple”. He asked if I wanted to do the massage, nothing more. “No thanks”. It was a long enough conversation, which touched finally upon my situation and the limits imposed on foreigners…

“There are always by-passing ways to avoid the limits”. “Doing what? massage???”

* * *

дзвонив боженька по телефону. запевняв, що всі тимчасові труднощі в житті плинні, і взагалі їх можна оминути… є всякі шляхи… і запропонував масаж

Angry bird

I am an angry bird today. The representative of the Saudi family called me this morning again. Again, they propose me to give French lessons for 20 euros / 1,5h, or for 15 euros / 1h. So, once again, we’re at the beginning of our highly diplomatic dialogue.

For those who doesn’t know: in Paris, this is more or less what one can earn as a housecleaner. NOT as a professor speaking 5 languages and having his/her PhD degree.

And although I do need money at the moment and I love money, the principle is much more important: if there is no respect for the teacher’s work, adieu!

Burning from anger, I’ve made all the way back home by foot, from 2e to 19e arrondissement. The weather is changing all the time, and there are very few people outside.

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This world is sick

During the last ten days I’ve met four families to talk about and probably to arrange babysitting. I’ve liked most the last one with three autonomous kids of 4, 6, 8 years old. Their mom had to present me to their school director yesterday, she could only wait for 10 minutes for me, but for the first time in my life my highly developed sense of space orientation was hacked, and I couldn’t find the school. Mme AC, instead of explaining how to find her said ”if you don’t come in a few seconds…”, ”i don’t know where you are…” etc., etc. Her voice was nervous and angry. She couldn’t wait, she had a meeting.

And that upset me. Instead of helping (in half an hour I finally found the school when it was too late, 30 minutes earlier I was just in a few steps from it), she was nearly shouting at me. I don’t want such families. I don’t want to have anything with people who are smiling now but the next moment are ready to reduce you to dust. This world is sick.

– Madam, I’m not your husband, I’m not your daughter to talk to me this way. I’m a stranger. When someone takes it out on a stranger, then the stranger automatically becomes your therapist. Just remember, his job costs money.

Soyez vigilants ! Messages frauduleux

Quand vous cherchez d’emploi, méfiez-vous bien de ce type des messages où l’on est “en voyage d’affaires” et quand on est prêt de vous payer 300 euros par semaine (c’est beaucoup) sans même vous avoir vu ! Les auteurs des messages ont souvent de noms des personnages du roman policier, par exemple “Christina Edward” ou autres… Distinguez bien ces signes, ils doivent vous alerter. En plus, on vous demande beaucoup trop d’infos personnelles.

Comment je reconnais le mensonge ? Très souvent, les textes comme celui-ci plus bas n’ont pas de fautes d’orthographe, ils sont à ce niveau impeccables, mais j’ai l’impression comme s’ils sont rédigés par un robot, il n’y a aucune personnalité vivante qui vous propose du vrai travail derrière les mots.

Voici un exemple. Au fur et à mesure, je vais mettre aussi d’autres que je reçois moi-même.

Bon courage à vous toutes et tous. Bossez bien ! 🙂

Bonjour
Merci pour votre message. Mon nom est Christina Edward, divorcée. Ma vie a été centrée sur l’expérience. C’est pourquoi je dois vous embaucher pour soutenir mon travail et mes activités personnelles sur place.
 
 
Vous devez être sérieux et digne de confiance pour effectuer les tâches suivantes: recevoir et envoyer du courrier. J’aimerais vous rencontrer pour en parler avec vous, mais je suis actuellement en voyage d’affaires. Il n’y aura donc pas d’interview avant mon retour en France.
 
 
Votre travail principal recevra des lettres et un paiement pour moi. Le bureau de poste de votre région apportera toujours mes lettres et mon paiement à l’adresse de votre domicile et chaque fois que vous recevrez l’une de mes lettres ou mon paiement, vous avez le droit d’ouvrir, de lire la lettre et dites-moi le contenu de la lettre par mon adresse e-mail ici et je vous dirai quoi faire ensuite
 
Vous n’allez pas dépenser d’argent de votre poche en faisant ce travail pour moi. J’ai payé pour toutes les dépenses et taxes de ce travail, donc tout ce dont j’ai besoin de vous est honnête et sincère envers ce travail, vous allez faire mon travail à votre temps libre Mon travail est un travail à temps partiel que vous pouvez faire pendant votre temps libre
 
Chaque fois que vous recevez une de mes lettres ou mon paiement, veuillez me mettre à jour immédiatement ici et je vous donnerai des instructions sur la marche à suivre. Pour faire ce travail pour moi, votre salaire hebdomadaire sera de 300 €. Merci de me laisser savoir si cela vous convient. offre est bonne pour vous et envoyez-moi vos données complètes, comme indiqué ci-dessous pour que nous puissions procéder
 
Votre nom
Ton nom complet
Adresse de la maison
Ta ville
Votre code postal
Ton âge
Ton numéro de téléphone
 
S’il vous plaît, si vous avez des questions, n’hésitez pas à me demander avant de continuer
Meilleures salutations
Christina Edward

 

Supper for 1 euro

This evening we’ve come with my ex-coloc to the Refettorio de la Madeleine, but they haven’t let us in. “Are you tourists?” Hahaha… NO. We’re survivers in this wild, wild capitalist West. The entrance is only for the really poor people, for those with no house… You may buy a card, though, they tell us, it’s 5 euros. And there are lunches, you only pay 10 euros for your lunch if you’ve got this card.

Oh, no. Thanks, i’d better eat at home.

Want to work hard

I don’t feel time passing by when at my actual work place. I’m so get used to be exhausted that I’d rather work really hard, please gimme some work, I’m so a little bit bored!

These days trying to save or rather not to spend money at all as long as my closest further is not clear. So I am looking for the charity restaurants and other life hacks not to be hungry. With my ex-coloc we’ll try to have supper at the Foyer de la Madeleine tonight, they say it’s for 1 euro per person. I think that’s a reasonable price. I’ve just discovered the place online, it’s in the Crypt of the Madeleine Church and would like to become a volunteer cook or a waitress there. I’m empathetic to those who are in a precarious situation just like me or even worse.

I’ll share a recipy for those interested in how not to buy chocolate and still eat some sweat. You still have to buy something, but buying this will save you some money:

  • cacao (1,5 euros 200 gr)
  • butter (1,70 euros 250 gr)
  • sugar (don’t remember the price)

Put cacao, 3-4 full tablespoons, into a cup, add 2 teaspoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Pour a bit of hot water into the cup and mix the mixture. You’ve got (almost) hot chocolate! Bon appétit !