New Changes in our Apartment

Our apartment experienced a change while I was in Turkey; my husband decided to wallpaper two of our rooms. He also painted the kitchen, but I don't have a picture of it.

Isn't it pretty?

We are renovating the apartment for our house guests who will be here in September and December. We are trying to make it more our place, because the landlord didn't make it feel homey enough before we moved in. We have started adding those touches, such as the Galatsaray football or soccer team poster you see on the wall.

And the real friendship between Turkey and America

Or the curtains I made

Next project is going to redo the windows, because they are really old (from 1960) and don't close well. But they will have to be put on hold for sometime, as we don't have the money for the renovation or the landlord's approval.

Here is a hint!

from this picture

These spots aren't all that important, France has bigger issues than black spots on the ground in suburbs. But I find the stories or the sightings interesting.

The picture below was once such sighting witnessed at 4 in the morning (more about this in the answer post) just two weeks after moving into our new apartment.

Keep your guesses coming!

Have you figured it out yet?

Guess what this is?

seen in Aulnay Sous Bois

If you have ever been to the suburbs (outside of Paris, the city), you have probably seen one of these black spots on the road.


First person to get the answer right will get a special prize!

Or you can wait for the answer soon!

Tour de France 2011

Yesterday, my husband and I decided to go see the Tour de France yesterday.

We got off and walked along the Seine checking out the Paris Plage ( another post on this soon ), but it was packed so we decided to head over to the Jardin des Tuileries to see the race. But again between Pont des Arts and the Louvre (as seen below) it was packed with people who were eager to see the race.


View Larger Map
Finally we found a spot, and we sat there for about an hour, but no sign of the racers or anybody who had a clue when they would arrive. So, we decided to walk near the metro, we found another good spot and the racers sped by 15 minutes later.

Do you have photos from la Tour de France past or present? Don't hesitate to share them!

Rain, Rain Go Away!

As the USA is experiencing a heatwave, Paris recently has felt like spring showers and fall temperatures mixed together. And the rain does not look like it will be stopping sometime soon, well at least for the rest of the week.

Thanks to the rain I have been able to concentrate to get my work done, because who wants to go walking around in the rain.


But I guess if I really wanted to, I could dress up like Gene Kelly and be singing in the rain. Enjoy!

Homemade Yogurt à la turque

After coming back from Turkey trip, Y and I decided to try to make yogurt from "scratch". The milk we used was ultra-pasturized (meaning it does not taste like American milk and doesn't expire for a really long time), so we didn't know if what it was actually going to work. This yogurt is not your average Yoplait or Activia, it is homemade similar to Greek/Turkish, which means a healthier and so much better tasting kind.

What you need is :
3 liters of milk - boiled and then simmered for 30 minutes
Let it cool, covered
Depends on how hot it was in the first place, this can take 1 or 2 hours
Then add homemade ayran (plain yogurt, water and lemon salt ) or with store bought ayran - like 4 ounces or half of a very small glass.
Stir and then let sit covered overnight.





And in the morning you should have something that resembles this

This yogurt goes great with some honey, fresh berries, or just plain! So try it out!

Prefecture Worries

I know it may seem that I like to talk a lot about the prefecture and it's defaults, but I only talk about it to inform those of you who are like me or who will be like me of France's problems.

For those of us who decided that it would be fun to live in Paris and arrived in Paris ready to accomplish our dreams, I imagine that 95% of us realized that our decision to move to the City of lights or one of the most beautiful countries in the world was made a little too fast. Because after sending mountains of paperwork to the Prefecture, the CAF, LMDE/CPAM, and finding out they somehow "misplaced" or "lost" them, is very annoying and nerve racking. Well at least for me, it seems like this.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy living here, I love the culture and the people I have met and those that I meet each day. But, I dislike the fact of going to every administration place at least once a month or having to call to get information usually negative on why they lost my paperwork or my photocopies.

One such example is this past week. I discovered last Friday that the Prefecture supposedly lost my dossier that I had given them on 17 May concerning my status change. Apparently according to my reliable source, the Prefecture said I never showed up for my rendez-vous. So, I was furious, as you could probably tell.

This morning I went to the Prefecture, calmly explained to the woman at the help desk (who didn't give any help imagine that!) that I was there and needed answers on why they couldn't find it.  After having to sit for an hour, I was able to get a ticket for a rendez-vous which meant sitting for another hour to get the date and time. The woman who was setting up the rendez-vous was the same, who was in charge of my dossier on the 17th and she remembered me and my 30 page dossier.  So,I was given a recipisse which is like a prolongement of my card, and  the information concerning my dossier, which was sent off to reviewed by the Public Treasury (hopefully this will not be another headache!) I left the prefecture happy to at least know that I was not going to be forced out of France; a situation all too common in here.


For the moment, I am ready to keep living this dream until the next roadblock comes, but let's hope that is not for a long time. My husband and I have had way too many roadblocks and not enough luck. It seems like people who cheat the system have more luck than us, but that is another post in itself.

If you have questions concerning moving to France or you are currently here and are dealing with their un-organized system, do not hesitate to contact me.

Turkey : The Village

I spent at least a week in the village meeting family and cousins. I really liked the village, except for the bug bites. Their house was very open. There were four main rooms, two that were open and the other two were closed (the bedrooms). Most people sleep on the floor but because I was the guest, I got to sleep on the futon.

The bedroom

The "living room"

They grow everything they eat

Aren't these mountains just beautiful

 The children were so cute. The little boys pretended to shoot at me the first day and I said "Don't do that, I am American," in Turkish. The two little girls are nieces. Every single time, the little kids spoke in Turkish, I had no clue what they were talking about, so I said "Tamam/Ok"

There was so much to do in the village, we walked up one of the mountains at least once a day. 

Mountain view

Job Interview

Recently, I had a job interview for an ensemble that I am not going to name, because the experience wasn't very good.
First, there were at least 6 people in the room, only the director seemed to be the real music person. Because when I mentioned the musicians that are in the Florence Brunel agency they didn't know who I was talking about. How can one baroque ensemble not know other important ones?

The questions they asked were like an exam that I didn't study for and my answers seemed wrong.

One included :
1. Choose a musical work that best describes the ensemble.
A. I chose Bach, I would have said the Passion, but they didn't let me finish.


I felt like I was put on the spot and I do not test well. It was very intimidating, but helps me prepare for the future.

Sneak Peek

Elazig, the city

Kovancilar, the suburb

Yukarikazanlar, the village