What Makes A Home?

Well I know you are all worried about me finding a new place to live but all is well and I found a place I will move into at the end of the month. I have one more week left at the hostel but it is in a cool area so I do not mind. Things are busy at work and I am always tired, probably because I spent the last month out every night and it has taken it's toll on me (I am not as young as I used to be hahaha).

I am at an internet cafe so this post will be really short since I have to be at work in a few minutes.

Just know that I am fine and my only real problem is that I need a haircut...and a national insurance number but that is another story.

Later! Miss you!
Lyndsay

The Hunt

Oh Lordy looking for a decent flat in LOndon is hard work (especially on my budget)! I have seen about 5 places and all of them have something wrong with them.

Flat#1 - Ok, I know I am not the tiniest girl but this place made me feel like a giant in a little person's apartment. The place was studio style so the whole place was about 10 feet by 12 feet, give or take an inch. Going up the stairs you had to step one foot on one and then the next foot on the other...there was not room for both...I kid you not that is how they designed it. Who does that? Right foot up, left foot up. I soon discovered that the room was only about half height. Yep I had to crouch down to get to the bed, there were three beds in all. The whole place was exposed so there would be no privacy and if people were watching tv you would be hearing it no matter where you were. Duck and shimmy - this place was like a tree house. All that aside it was in the perfect location of Notting Hill and I almost took it for that reason but my senses came back when I saw that I had two small drawers for storage space. NEXT!

Flat#2 NO. Got the feeling it was a Slovakian brothel. NEXT!

Flat#3 Where do I begin?? First it was above a chinese food restaurant so the smell alone was enough to put me off. I get to the top of the stairs and this man is waiting for me in jean cut off shorts (Men, please, not a good look). It was a three bedroom roomshare - the room looked barely big enough for one bed despite him cramming three in there. He and his girlfriend (a middle age lady with what seems like no fashion sense to match her boyfriend). She was making food in the very small kitchen with this other older lady who I was told was one of the "girls" staying in my room. I needed to get out of there so badly but he kept talking and talking about using his internet because there is no wireless and that I could spend "10-30 minutes, whatever" on his cable. Oh wow mister a whole 10 minutes on the Internet!! What would I possibly do with all that time??? Thanks buddy. I was inching my way out as he kept talking and talking and finally I made my escape. NEXT!

Flat#4 Perfect flat, perfect people. Bad Timing. I think they liked me cause I work at a party shop and they like there parties. Anyways the place was just down the street from me and right where the buses come which is a bonus. Comfy couches (no more bruised bum), sharing a room with one other girl instead of two (and she speaks english!) and digital t.v (no more crappy Brit TV!!). One hitch is that it is not available till the end of the month and I have to be out by Friday the 13th (the irony is not lost on me people). SO if they choose me ... Pick Me! Pick Me! I will have to ride the hostel train till the end of the month.

Flat #5 Now let me see, it is out in Acton (which is like saying you are in Mississauga - not really in Toronto) and in the middle of suburbia. She said it was like a 2 minute walk but really it took me 10 or 15 which is long after you have been out and it is dark. Anyways she rushed me through the place and then rushed me out so I think I will say no to that one. NEXT!

Flat#6 Nope, same problems as #5 only no living room and not a really nic kitchen, plus the girl kinda gave me the death stare when I walked in. The girl showing me was super nice though and if she were not leaving I think we would be friends so I felt bad saying no to her.

I will update again and let you know what is happening. Love Lynds

The Kick Out

So it goes a little something like this....

I have not really posted what my flatmate was like to live with because I did not want any ill will while I was living here but it has gotten to be too much and I will now speak out!! Alex is the rudest most self serving guy I have ever met and for some of you who know that is saying alot. He has kicked me out after yelling at my guest (who he made pay to be here by the way - nice guy). He said he doesn't like my attitude and that I act like I do not want to be here because I am not nice enough to him. Closer to the truth is that he is an ass (sorry) who has been waiting for something to come up so he could kick someone out for someone else to come and live here. He just wanted someone else for the room and has come up with this bogus excuse as an excuse to get rid of me.

So right now I am looking for places to live that are somewhat close to my job but unfortunately all the good places are on the other side of the city. Maybe I will get lucky!

So it is Thanksgiving for you guys and I am jealous. I want my Turkey Dinner!! I have been invited to a 'Canadian style thanksgiving' at a friends house Saturday but it will not be the same at all. I will miss the screaming kids, Aunt Luara's desserts (mmmm sex in the pan) and my relatives who drink one beer to many and try to tell me their philosophies on life while their spouses are waiting looking at them in frustration to hurry up so they can get home. Ahhhh family!!
I guess I will have to wait until Christmas for all that I suppose. I miss you all especially times when the family is supposed to be all together like you are now.
I enjoyed are little speaker phone conversation thouhg I did not catch everything....what is making Aunt Laura look 14 years younger? Sophia and Natalie I think will be driving by the time I get home they are growing so fast. Anyways...think of me while you stuff your face with the second helping of my mom's pilaf !! Grandma...did not get to talk to you so HAPPY THANKSGIVING !!!

Peace out,
Lyndsay

The Lost Paris Blog

ok found my notebook:

Well we arrived in Paris safely with only a few gliches. Major glich was me not being able to find my passport. I had gotten off work at 3 pm hoping to leave the flat by 4 but my frantic search for the one thing I absolutly needed to leave the country set us back a few minutes (like 15-20). We did our best to race to the airport going up and down steps with a huge duffle bag (much to the chagrin of the our fellow undergrounders. Well with all that rushing we ended up waiting around anyways - go figure.
Our hostel is not too ba, not the best I have ever been in but it beats the heck out of the castrophe that was the broken down ship hostel (of Amsterdam fame). I do not know who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to engineer a building do the shower, toilet and sink are in three different parts of the floorbut most hostels seemed to have adopted this floor plan. Maybe it is a Feng Shui thing.
Weather has been a pain since the things I like to do in Paris most are outside things. So no sitting out in the park with wine and cheese this trip (booo). At the moment writing in my notebook drinking wine (a common theme yes I know)at a cafe looking at all the people who like me just want to enjoy their limited stay in this great city. My umbrella broke as well so instead of following Joanna around the tourist trap shops I will just sit here and enjoy sitting and watching. Really just a good excuse to relax a bit.
Oh man the walking!! Paris really expects you to be fit. Yesterday Joanna probably walked 14 hours straight. We did so much walking all along the river and through the city. We have gotten lost tons of times so it has taken some time to get back to the path in which we were meant to be on...but that is half the adventure right?

We went to the Louve yesterday and saw all the greats...we did the fast track version since we only had a few hours till it closed and it is one of the biggest places I have ever seen. SO we saw Venus DeMilo, Mona Lisa, Wnged Victory, some DiVinci, some Rembrant, some French and Greek Sculptures etc etc .... it never ends!
I suggest they have a day (preferably a day when i am there) when each visitor can take one piece of art or painting of their choice. I think I should pitch this idea to the curators, they would love it I am sure. You may be thinking I am crazy but have you seen the size of some of this paintings?? It would take our whole family to carry out one of the massive paintings, like ants carry a cookie crumb. A small family will have to be satisfied with something small like a crown or a chair or something ... still not too bad.

I usually think Parisians are nice but I did encounter a few of the rude french. I tried to buy tickets for a science/nature museum at the Grand Palais and I asked the lady "Vous parlez Anglais?" which is how you say "You speak English". Well the death stare I got was fierce! We stared at eachother before she gave me an 'of course you stupid English person' look and proceeded to tell me it would all be in french so I wouldn't understand it. How Rude! We were not impressed.

I cannot decide if I like Paris or London better - they are both so different in there greatness. I like the idea of learning and conversing in another language here in Paris but it does get frustrating.

Well that is it for now, I will just continue to sit and enjoy the rain and the wine.
Talk to you soon!
Love Lynds

Paris Revisited

What's going on everyone !!! I hope everyone is doing well and all is good in Canada. I am doing ok, I am back from Paris and I had this whole long blog I wrote while there but I cannot seem to find my notebook so this blog might not be as exicting as one would hope.
So Joanna and I headed to Paris without a hitch (only a really heavy bag). We did the Louve, the Musee du pubilicite (which took us two hours to find cause it is called something else now haha). I showed her Luxemburg Gardens and the first day we walked around for a good 13 hours taking in the sites. We went to the first floor of the Eiffel Tower and it was beautiful (did not have the money or the guts to go to the top). It is amazing that people actually live there and see this everyday.

The only thing that bothered us was the weather. Paris weather was having an identity crisis - it thought it was London weather. It rained and rained (booo). Joanna kept wanting to shop so I just hung out at a cafe and drank some wine and watched all the people in the rain. Very entertaining. I think my french is getting better and I tried my hardest with my accent but lots of times I had to resay what I meant in English which was frustrating. I want to be a Parisian!!!

ANyways I will continue to practice my french and maybe I will move to Montreal which I guess is the next best thing is Canada. Not to worry anyone but my crazy flatmate has kicked me out of the place so I will be looking for a new flat this week so hopefully I find something near my work and for not that much more money.

Wish me Luck!!
Love Lyndsay