The title of today's post was inspired by a message that my cousin Nick Manto wrote on my facebook wall. I love it! It is so uniquely American and seems to capture the essence of the constant reactions that I keep getting when I tell people back home that I am in a small country called Mauritius which is about 560 miles east of Madagascar.
I do most of my thinking about what I am going to post daily while sitting in traffic for the hour or so every morning on my drive to work. I try and gather all of the observations I have made so far and try and remember all of the stories that I can so that this blog can be as interesting to you all back home as well as something that I can have when this adventure is all over.
I started thinking alot about what my grandmother Mimi suggested last week or so....that I should have a literary career. At first, my response was "whatever Mimi-I can't do that." But in reality, Mimi might be right...maybe I could have some sort of literary career, more specifically in the travel industry. I would want to travel the world while I am living the single life-no boyfriend, husband, or kids. My target audience would most likely be those like myself in their roaring 20s or younger-I'm not sure how well my humor translates to those in the baby boomer set and beyond-but people are known to have a few tricks up their sleave so one never really knows...
A few other individuals (some fiction, some non fiction) have been able to make careers for themselves just by publishing their thoughts-Peter Mayle, the british expat who moved to France, David Sedaris, Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City, Aaron Karo (more known among the college age/20s set for his book "Ruminations on College Life"), Chelsea Handler, and a number of famous personalities and politicians. It is human nature to enjoy talking (and maybe) writing about oneself-I'm afraid I am no different. In reality, I'm not sure that this would ever happen as writers have to invest a lot of time and money in sending their manuscript to a number of publishers. Should I get published, it could always just end up in the wal-mart clearance bin-oh to dream...
Sorry to be on such a soap box-I'll get back to daily life here in Mauritius. I have recently found out that my blog reaches a larger audience than I previously thought. It turns out that it provides daily comic relief for my mauritian coworkers and friends. I do enjoy making people laugh...even if its a my expense..
I have started receiving a number of prospective clients that I will interview in the coming weeks-I can't wait!! Work is going well-I'm slowly starting to learn people's names here in the office and I must say that are several people here that have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome.
After work yesterday I drove the hour or so home, read my book for a little while, and then had spaghetti for dinner. I wish I could say that I ran into the presential candidates themselves as they have come to determine that Mauritius is a hot spot for foreign policy affairs and that the mauritian economy deserves special research....but no such luck.
As I've mentioned in the last few posts, the end of Ramadan (Muslim fasting period) ends this week and we get a day off of work. The question is-will it be tomorrow or thursday??? No one knows...
It all depends on whether or not the moon is visible tonight-if it is visible then no work tomorrow and if it is not visible-well you get the picture (I hope). It is sort of like ground hog day-will he see his shadow?? Will we have a longer winter?? Or-its like waiting to see if school is cancelled due to a snow storm or hurricane-tomorrow or the next day?? Needless to stay, I will be spending alot of time in the backyard to night searching for the moon....
Some little things:
-I woke up in the middle of the night sweating bullets and tossing and turning for no apparent reason
-the dogs were barking maniacally this morning-it was pure reflex that I yelled at the top of my lungs-I then saw a man across the street stare at me...oops
-due to Ramadan-alot of businesses are affected as people need to leave to go and eat
-today was the first day that I noticed a sign that said Port Louis was 22 kilometers away-thank goodness for stephanie's assistance with directions
-I blocked somebody in today rather than the other way around-at some point today my car will moved to a different spot in the gravel parking lot
-I have started drinking the tap water little by little-no trips to the ER yet
More later....
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
Almost the end of September...
Well-today is the beginning of my 5th week here in Mauritius. I really feel like I'm getting used to it and am well-adjusted. I only miss certain things about home occasionally. I am still enjoying my job-still trying to make my survey the best that it can possibly be so that it will be of great importance to ATS.
The weekend was low key but fun. After I was finished with facebook (would have stayed on longer but my computer was about to die), I left to go to the beach for awhile. Audrey was gone all day as it was the last day of hunting season-she catered a big lunch for Dominique and many others-hope it was a good day!!
I decided to try to the local beach this time around in Tamarin Bay. I did not like it as much-I didn't stay long as it was extremely windy and sand kept blowing all over me and on my towel (I even found a decent sized amount in my purse). So I gave up and went to lay by the pool until I discovered that I was out of minutes on my mauritian cell phone-we really are spoiled in the states to have cell phone plans that you pay monthly. I ran to the store to buy a card to add more minutes - when I think about it, it actually lasted me an entire month because everyone here text messages instead of calling because you use less minutes that way. It was an uneventful afternoon as I read my book by the pool.
Yannick was supposed to go with to the concert that I mentioned but in the end we decided not to go as it was too far away and neither of us knew how to get there. Instead, I had my first experience in a Mauritian movie theater-Yannick, Fabien, and I. We saw Babylon A.D.-a Vin Diesel/Gerard Depardieu movie completely dubbed in french. It was quite funny to hear the french voiceover version of Vin Diesel.
After the movie, we went back to Yannicks where we sat around drinking wine and had intelligent conversations of what was happening in the world.
I didn't do much of anything yesterday except be lazy and try the KFC. It was actually pretty good-better quality than home for sure. Audrey went out for dinner with a friend so Alain and I had dinner without her-pork chops, potato salad, fresh tomatoes-delicious!
Some little things:
-people interchange french and english without even thinking about it-i equate it to the hispanic population at home who often switch back and forth between spanish and english
-I drove to Curepipe (where Yannick lives) by myself on Saturday evening. I got soooo lost as the road markings are terrible. I made a complete wrong turn and found myself heading towards the east coast. It was also raining and the roads were not well-lit.
-all current and former UF students will appreciate this - on the way to Curepipe I saw a Hara Krishna center-this brought me back to the funny smelling vegetarian cuisine that was served by Library West
-speaking of UF-WE LOST!!!!! completely unnacceptable...
-I showed Yannick on a map where Jacksonville is as well as where the rest of my family lives-he couldn't believe how far away everything was
-Alain stated to me quite seriously the other day that Americans only eat hamburgers. While some of you may remember that this was true for me at a point in my life-I felt the need to back up my country and say that in fact we eat all kinds of things
-thanks to CNN.com I have an idea of what is going on at home
Hope you are all doing well!!
More later....
The weekend was low key but fun. After I was finished with facebook (would have stayed on longer but my computer was about to die), I left to go to the beach for awhile. Audrey was gone all day as it was the last day of hunting season-she catered a big lunch for Dominique and many others-hope it was a good day!!
I decided to try to the local beach this time around in Tamarin Bay. I did not like it as much-I didn't stay long as it was extremely windy and sand kept blowing all over me and on my towel (I even found a decent sized amount in my purse). So I gave up and went to lay by the pool until I discovered that I was out of minutes on my mauritian cell phone-we really are spoiled in the states to have cell phone plans that you pay monthly. I ran to the store to buy a card to add more minutes - when I think about it, it actually lasted me an entire month because everyone here text messages instead of calling because you use less minutes that way. It was an uneventful afternoon as I read my book by the pool.
Yannick was supposed to go with to the concert that I mentioned but in the end we decided not to go as it was too far away and neither of us knew how to get there. Instead, I had my first experience in a Mauritian movie theater-Yannick, Fabien, and I. We saw Babylon A.D.-a Vin Diesel/Gerard Depardieu movie completely dubbed in french. It was quite funny to hear the french voiceover version of Vin Diesel.
After the movie, we went back to Yannicks where we sat around drinking wine and had intelligent conversations of what was happening in the world.
I didn't do much of anything yesterday except be lazy and try the KFC. It was actually pretty good-better quality than home for sure. Audrey went out for dinner with a friend so Alain and I had dinner without her-pork chops, potato salad, fresh tomatoes-delicious!
Some little things:
-people interchange french and english without even thinking about it-i equate it to the hispanic population at home who often switch back and forth between spanish and english
-I drove to Curepipe (where Yannick lives) by myself on Saturday evening. I got soooo lost as the road markings are terrible. I made a complete wrong turn and found myself heading towards the east coast. It was also raining and the roads were not well-lit.
-all current and former UF students will appreciate this - on the way to Curepipe I saw a Hara Krishna center-this brought me back to the funny smelling vegetarian cuisine that was served by Library West
-speaking of UF-WE LOST!!!!! completely unnacceptable...
-I showed Yannick on a map where Jacksonville is as well as where the rest of my family lives-he couldn't believe how far away everything was
-Alain stated to me quite seriously the other day that Americans only eat hamburgers. While some of you may remember that this was true for me at a point in my life-I felt the need to back up my country and say that in fact we eat all kinds of things
-thanks to CNN.com I have an idea of what is going on at home
Hope you are all doing well!!
More later....
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday...
This is a rare occasion that I'm posting on Saturday I know...
I'm sitting here at the pub near the internet cafe enjoying the sun and a diet coke before I go to the beach!
I finished the day at work yesterday and went home to shower so that I could join Nathalie and boyfriend Joel so that we could go to her brother Yannick's apartment in Curepipe. It was a low key evening of conversation and friends.
Some little things:
-As everyone last night has roots in south africa-many prefer to speak english-I said that "when I was in college, I went on a cruise with some of my girlfriends and we went on a catamaran"-this made everyone laugh as they found it uniquely american
-I called my friend lara so that they could hear a conversation between 2 americans-they thought it was so funny the way that we talked to one another and when we started speaking french they were very impressed
-I have been watching animal planet here on the tv at the pub-hilarious
-there is a sign at the bar that says" beerandb***s***corner"
I'm going to a concert tonight for Ian Carey-he is an american but not know yet on the american scene but very famous here in Mauritius. Should be fun!!
More on Monday...
I'm sitting here at the pub near the internet cafe enjoying the sun and a diet coke before I go to the beach!
I finished the day at work yesterday and went home to shower so that I could join Nathalie and boyfriend Joel so that we could go to her brother Yannick's apartment in Curepipe. It was a low key evening of conversation and friends.
Some little things:
-As everyone last night has roots in south africa-many prefer to speak english-I said that "when I was in college, I went on a cruise with some of my girlfriends and we went on a catamaran"-this made everyone laugh as they found it uniquely american
-I called my friend lara so that they could hear a conversation between 2 americans-they thought it was so funny the way that we talked to one another and when we started speaking french they were very impressed
-I have been watching animal planet here on the tv at the pub-hilarious
-there is a sign at the bar that says" beerandb***s***corner"
I'm going to a concert tonight for Ian Carey-he is an american but not know yet on the american scene but very famous here in Mauritius. Should be fun!!
More on Monday...
Friday, September 26, 2008
ONE MONTH DOWN!!!
Today should be a holiday-I have been here exactly one month. I have seen so many different things and met so many people. I have really been enjoying my time here and learning a lot about a very different culture that until recently, I didn't know existed (Americans are awful at geography).
I'm sorry for the lack of pictures but as my dad would say-we are experiential people so we forget to take pictures.
On the work front, I have come to find out that I have been doing a lot of unnecessary work. It turns out I only have to do one survey instead of two-but I did two. So hopefully the one that I'm actually going to use tests successfully so that I can start scheduling appointments!
Some little things:
-i saw a sign yesterday that said "poulet frais" or "fresh chicken"-i have no desire to find out what that means
-there is a dog that hangs out on the roof of a house next to the office everyday-i think he might be a watch dog
-saw a guy wearing a stetson this morning-had no idea these had found their way out of the southwest
-Alain genuinely thought that we all speak the same in America-until i told him that there are different accents everywhere (redneck vs. new yorker lol)
-Christine (Paul's Secretary) thought that when i was talking about the state of georgia that I was talking about the country named Georgia-she said isn't there a war going on there?
-when I explain that Hugh Laurie from "House" is from the UK/Ireland and can do a good American accent-its funny to see reactions because they cannot hear the vast differences between these two accents
-had an intense discussion with alex yesterday about Akon and how ridiculous he is
Yesterday was an ordinary day for the most part-I got to work around 8 or 830 and was out at around 515. It was Nicolas and his mom's last night so we had a mauritian feast-delicious! We also drank bottles upon bottles of red wine. Audrey's friend Jacques came over for dinner as well-I must devote some of the post to explaining him....
Jacques is probably in his 50's and has recently came out and told everyone that he is gay. He prefers to go by "Jackie." In Mauritius, it is VERY taboo to be gay and is not tolerated. He was married before and has 3 sons-a teenager and two in their 20s.
He has a personality that lights up a room! He has so many stories and is a true walking encylopedia-he knows a little bit about everything. His oldest son has been in prison for about 6 years-I asked Audrey for what and she told me she couldn't talk about it.
We all stayed up past 11 sitting around drinking wine and talking-I wanted to go to bed so badly but at the same time I didn't want to be rude. I think that everyone else felt the same way as Jackie just kept talking.
I hope that everyone has a good weekend-please keep me in the loop on how my GATORS!!!! are doing!!!
More on Monday...
I'm sorry for the lack of pictures but as my dad would say-we are experiential people so we forget to take pictures.
On the work front, I have come to find out that I have been doing a lot of unnecessary work. It turns out I only have to do one survey instead of two-but I did two. So hopefully the one that I'm actually going to use tests successfully so that I can start scheduling appointments!
Some little things:
-i saw a sign yesterday that said "poulet frais" or "fresh chicken"-i have no desire to find out what that means
-there is a dog that hangs out on the roof of a house next to the office everyday-i think he might be a watch dog
-saw a guy wearing a stetson this morning-had no idea these had found their way out of the southwest
-Alain genuinely thought that we all speak the same in America-until i told him that there are different accents everywhere (redneck vs. new yorker lol)
-Christine (Paul's Secretary) thought that when i was talking about the state of georgia that I was talking about the country named Georgia-she said isn't there a war going on there?
-when I explain that Hugh Laurie from "House" is from the UK/Ireland and can do a good American accent-its funny to see reactions because they cannot hear the vast differences between these two accents
-had an intense discussion with alex yesterday about Akon and how ridiculous he is
Yesterday was an ordinary day for the most part-I got to work around 8 or 830 and was out at around 515. It was Nicolas and his mom's last night so we had a mauritian feast-delicious! We also drank bottles upon bottles of red wine. Audrey's friend Jacques came over for dinner as well-I must devote some of the post to explaining him....
Jacques is probably in his 50's and has recently came out and told everyone that he is gay. He prefers to go by "Jackie." In Mauritius, it is VERY taboo to be gay and is not tolerated. He was married before and has 3 sons-a teenager and two in their 20s.
He has a personality that lights up a room! He has so many stories and is a true walking encylopedia-he knows a little bit about everything. His oldest son has been in prison for about 6 years-I asked Audrey for what and she told me she couldn't talk about it.
We all stayed up past 11 sitting around drinking wine and talking-I wanted to go to bed so badly but at the same time I didn't want to be rude. I think that everyone else felt the same way as Jackie just kept talking.
I hope that everyone has a good weekend-please keep me in the loop on how my GATORS!!!! are doing!!!
More on Monday...
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Thursday...
Well its Thursday and the weeks seem to be going by faster and faster.....so much closer to the weekend!
Some little things:
-There are two lizards that come and watch us eat dinner every night-without fail
-Every morning, one of the dogs in the neighborhood bark a call to battle and all of the other dogs run to see what is happening-can be difficult when trying to navigate dirt roads in the morning when trying to leave for work
-I always have the last glass of wine out of the bottle-this mandates that I take the bottle and blow into it to make a wish
-Many of the Indian women always carry an umbrella when its sunny-I found this bizarre until somebody told me that it is because they tan so easily and the umbrella relieves some of this-I would give anything to have that problem
-the faux-hawk is very a la mode among mauritian teenage boys and guys in their 20's
-Christine (Paul's secretary) told me that I was chic
-Many mauritians have no interest whatsoever in going to the United States-they would rather go to Canada because it is much easier to get a visa (our Homeland Security at work)
-I had an intense conversation about reality tv with Audrey's friend Kathryn-her favorite show is "Date My Mom" and other mindless shows on MTV
-Hearing Alex talk to himself in French all day long next to me is comic relief
-there is no HR department here-strange
Today is another day-I suspect I will do more and more revisions on this survey. Tonight is Nicolas and his mom's last night here-I think we will be making a small excursion to the local pub.
More later...
Some little things:
-There are two lizards that come and watch us eat dinner every night-without fail
-Every morning, one of the dogs in the neighborhood bark a call to battle and all of the other dogs run to see what is happening-can be difficult when trying to navigate dirt roads in the morning when trying to leave for work
-I always have the last glass of wine out of the bottle-this mandates that I take the bottle and blow into it to make a wish
-Many of the Indian women always carry an umbrella when its sunny-I found this bizarre until somebody told me that it is because they tan so easily and the umbrella relieves some of this-I would give anything to have that problem
-the faux-hawk is very a la mode among mauritian teenage boys and guys in their 20's
-Christine (Paul's secretary) told me that I was chic
-Many mauritians have no interest whatsoever in going to the United States-they would rather go to Canada because it is much easier to get a visa (our Homeland Security at work)
-I had an intense conversation about reality tv with Audrey's friend Kathryn-her favorite show is "Date My Mom" and other mindless shows on MTV
-Hearing Alex talk to himself in French all day long next to me is comic relief
-there is no HR department here-strange
Today is another day-I suspect I will do more and more revisions on this survey. Tonight is Nicolas and his mom's last night here-I think we will be making a small excursion to the local pub.
More later...
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Hump Day 9/24
Well its hump day-middle of the week.
Still have lots to do before the week is over-eeeekkkk!!!
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I stayed till almost 6 o'clock here at the office trying my best to further edit these surveys. I have to test them some more today to make sure they are clear. The minute that I think they are excellent and easy to read-there is something else wrong-very frustrating.
I went to lunch with Stephanie and her dad Dominique (the CEO) yesterday. I had a local dish involving shrimp in a crepe-like wrap. I was afraid at first but it turned out to be quite good. We had a traditional Mauritian meal last night for dinner-rice with rougaille (any sort of sauce that is tomato based-this one happened to be with beef) and beans. It was delicious!
I was in bed at around 10ish as usual.
Some little things:
-I have heard that my accent when I speak french is cute-I think it sounds awful-beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder
-I am constantly getting honked at when crossing an intersection when there are cars coming and absolutely nowhere for me to go-ridiculous
-all this construction work here at the office is starting to take shape and not look like such a big mess that is hard to walk around
-Port Louis is a sad excuse for a city-no good shopping, no out of this world places to eat, and no places known for excellent nightlife
-Mauritians like to insert english words in their conversations-for example at the end of every phone call they say "allez bye."
-my doors don't lock automatically when I start to drive-I have to make sure they are locked especially when I am stuck in traffic with lots of people around-i don't trust some of these people
More later...
Still have lots to do before the week is over-eeeekkkk!!!
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I stayed till almost 6 o'clock here at the office trying my best to further edit these surveys. I have to test them some more today to make sure they are clear. The minute that I think they are excellent and easy to read-there is something else wrong-very frustrating.
I went to lunch with Stephanie and her dad Dominique (the CEO) yesterday. I had a local dish involving shrimp in a crepe-like wrap. I was afraid at first but it turned out to be quite good. We had a traditional Mauritian meal last night for dinner-rice with rougaille (any sort of sauce that is tomato based-this one happened to be with beef) and beans. It was delicious!
I was in bed at around 10ish as usual.
Some little things:
-I have heard that my accent when I speak french is cute-I think it sounds awful-beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder
-I am constantly getting honked at when crossing an intersection when there are cars coming and absolutely nowhere for me to go-ridiculous
-all this construction work here at the office is starting to take shape and not look like such a big mess that is hard to walk around
-Port Louis is a sad excuse for a city-no good shopping, no out of this world places to eat, and no places known for excellent nightlife
-Mauritians like to insert english words in their conversations-for example at the end of every phone call they say "allez bye."
-my doors don't lock automatically when I start to drive-I have to make sure they are locked especially when I am stuck in traffic with lots of people around-i don't trust some of these people
More later...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Tuesday 9/23...
GO GATORS!!!!
(Had to get that in here somewhere)
Well-While fall is in full swing in some parts of the US, Mauritius is about to head into their Spring/Summer thanks to the equator. It rains off and on but as for now it is sunny outside...we'll see how the days goes.
Some little things:
-I'm thinking about pitching to one of the major networks back home the idea for my own reality show. I would call it "An American in Mauritius"-along the same lines as "An American in Paris." For the most part, I live an interesting life here and I think America would find my other culture experiences endearing
-saw a sign yesterday that said "Guiness is good for you." While I don't happen to like guiness, I know a few friends would be happy to hear this good news!
-I'm starting to learn a little bit of creole-mainly "ayo" which means "o gosh" and it is probably the most widely used phrase (surprisingly-everyone has told me that is the people who come from english speaking countries that learn creole the fastest, the french have no clue)
-there is a complete lack of american football-my only choice this past weekend was Manchester United vs. Chelsea
-the drive into work I really don't mind at all-its actually kind of enjoyable-the drive home is horrendous (it took me an hour and a half yesterday!)
-The last day of Ramadan is next week and it is a nationaly holiday-all religions in Mauritius get a national holiday or two per year (fyi the major religions are: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Catholocism)
-The parents who can afford it send their children to french private schools here on the island because the public school system is completely awful-when they graduate high school the parents who can afford it send their kids to college in Europe and South Africa (a few go to the United States)
-I have never seen so many varieties of school uniforms in my life
-It is obvious that I am a foreigner with all of the mosquito bites that I have
Yesterday being monday was a particularly exausting day. It was one of those days that all I wanted to do was go home and take a nap. I managed to stick it out however until 5:00. Work was pretty uneventful as I kept finding tiny grammatical and spacing errors in my surveys-so frustrating. I made it home and managed to relax and read my book for awhile. We had pizza for dinner (each of us had our own personal size-Audrey certainly is creative) and I was in bed at around 10:15.
Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to report later....
(Had to get that in here somewhere)
Well-While fall is in full swing in some parts of the US, Mauritius is about to head into their Spring/Summer thanks to the equator. It rains off and on but as for now it is sunny outside...we'll see how the days goes.
Some little things:
-I'm thinking about pitching to one of the major networks back home the idea for my own reality show. I would call it "An American in Mauritius"-along the same lines as "An American in Paris." For the most part, I live an interesting life here and I think America would find my other culture experiences endearing
-saw a sign yesterday that said "Guiness is good for you." While I don't happen to like guiness, I know a few friends would be happy to hear this good news!
-I'm starting to learn a little bit of creole-mainly "ayo" which means "o gosh" and it is probably the most widely used phrase (surprisingly-everyone has told me that is the people who come from english speaking countries that learn creole the fastest, the french have no clue)
-there is a complete lack of american football-my only choice this past weekend was Manchester United vs. Chelsea
-the drive into work I really don't mind at all-its actually kind of enjoyable-the drive home is horrendous (it took me an hour and a half yesterday!)
-The last day of Ramadan is next week and it is a nationaly holiday-all religions in Mauritius get a national holiday or two per year (fyi the major religions are: Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Catholocism)
-The parents who can afford it send their children to french private schools here on the island because the public school system is completely awful-when they graduate high school the parents who can afford it send their kids to college in Europe and South Africa (a few go to the United States)
-I have never seen so many varieties of school uniforms in my life
-It is obvious that I am a foreigner with all of the mosquito bites that I have
Yesterday being monday was a particularly exausting day. It was one of those days that all I wanted to do was go home and take a nap. I managed to stick it out however until 5:00. Work was pretty uneventful as I kept finding tiny grammatical and spacing errors in my surveys-so frustrating. I made it home and managed to relax and read my book for awhile. We had pizza for dinner (each of us had our own personal size-Audrey certainly is creative) and I was in bed at around 10:15.
Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to report later....
Monday, September 22, 2008
Just another manic monday...Wish it was Sunday....
Well-today is the beginning of my 4th week here in Mauritius and time has really flew by. I am finished with the design portion of my questionnaire and am in the testing phase this week and deciding what the sample size will be. I promise to keep you updated.....
As this has not been updated since Friday afternoon, this might be a long one so be prepared...
On Friday after I left work, I went home to shower and eat some dinner. I left the house at about 9:15 and drove the hour up to grand baie (the north) to go out with my friend jean-christophe and some of his friends. We went to the banana cafe first. We left after only a few minutes-and in the process of walking down the two stairs I tripped and fell (I was wearing heels) and skinned my knee 5 year old style. I think that my heel got caught in one of the cracks because I had only had 1 drink.
We went to zanzibar (the techno and strobe light place) until 5 am!! As per usual, I met lots of people who couldn't believe that I was an american who could speak french. When we left-I slept over at Jean-Christophes because it was WAY too far to drive all the way home.
I left Saturday afternoon to go home. I finally made it to the internet cafe but I was only online for a little bit as they were about to close. I was finally able to get on facebook briefly for a few minutes-there was only so much I could do with the slow connection-so to those of you and didn't get back to I will try again sometime this week!!
Alain arrived on Saturday evening. He is somewhat older (60s probably) and is staying at Audrey's for 2 weeks or so. He is Mauritian but lives in South Africa and comes back here periodically to see family and vacation. I have only known the man for 2 days and he has already told me that I drink way too many diet cokes-frankly, why does he (and so many others, my boss Paul included) care so much?
We had a quiet dinner and I went to bed early-around 10 or so. I woke up on Sunday morning and decided to go to the outdoor market in Quatre Bornes (on thursdays it is a spice market and on sundays it is everything else). I bought a fake burberry towel and these extremely cheap bracelets (about $2 each!!)
Once I became too claustrophobic (as there was very little personal space) I left to go and spend the afternoon at my favorite beach-Le Morne. I like this particular beach because this is where all the kite surfers and wind surfers go and they are fun to watch!
I ran into Alex from work for a brief second before he ran off to windsurf. I stayed at the beach until around 4 and then left to go home. I went over to Stephanie's for pizza as she only lives 5 minutes from me. We watched some movie with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis that I have definetly heard of but forgot the title-quite an experience as always to watch an american movie in french.
I was home and in bed by 10 or 10:30.
Some little things:
-no one know the names of the streets here at all-for example when I talk about the A3 (the main drag near where I live) no one knows what I am talking about
-Paul (my boss) wonders why I just dont go by Elizabeth instead of Kallay because its easier to say
-I get insulted when people hear one mistake i make and then speak to me in english-it feels like a regression (in reality my french is much better than their extremely broken english)
-Alain told me that if Obama becomes president he is going to change the name of the White House to the Black House......ummmm ok not sure about that one
-everyone is impressed with my knowledge of celebrity gossip as well as the back stories on olympic atheletes (Laura Manadou for example)
-everyone knows that the US is big-but they really seem to grasp it when i explain our time zones (had an argument with nicolas the other day on whether or not california was ahead or behind the east coast)
-not having been to south africa for a mauritian is like not having been to disney world for an american-almost unheard of
More later....
As this has not been updated since Friday afternoon, this might be a long one so be prepared...
On Friday after I left work, I went home to shower and eat some dinner. I left the house at about 9:15 and drove the hour up to grand baie (the north) to go out with my friend jean-christophe and some of his friends. We went to the banana cafe first. We left after only a few minutes-and in the process of walking down the two stairs I tripped and fell (I was wearing heels) and skinned my knee 5 year old style. I think that my heel got caught in one of the cracks because I had only had 1 drink.
We went to zanzibar (the techno and strobe light place) until 5 am!! As per usual, I met lots of people who couldn't believe that I was an american who could speak french. When we left-I slept over at Jean-Christophes because it was WAY too far to drive all the way home.
I left Saturday afternoon to go home. I finally made it to the internet cafe but I was only online for a little bit as they were about to close. I was finally able to get on facebook briefly for a few minutes-there was only so much I could do with the slow connection-so to those of you and didn't get back to I will try again sometime this week!!
Alain arrived on Saturday evening. He is somewhat older (60s probably) and is staying at Audrey's for 2 weeks or so. He is Mauritian but lives in South Africa and comes back here periodically to see family and vacation. I have only known the man for 2 days and he has already told me that I drink way too many diet cokes-frankly, why does he (and so many others, my boss Paul included) care so much?
We had a quiet dinner and I went to bed early-around 10 or so. I woke up on Sunday morning and decided to go to the outdoor market in Quatre Bornes (on thursdays it is a spice market and on sundays it is everything else). I bought a fake burberry towel and these extremely cheap bracelets (about $2 each!!)
Once I became too claustrophobic (as there was very little personal space) I left to go and spend the afternoon at my favorite beach-Le Morne. I like this particular beach because this is where all the kite surfers and wind surfers go and they are fun to watch!
I ran into Alex from work for a brief second before he ran off to windsurf. I stayed at the beach until around 4 and then left to go home. I went over to Stephanie's for pizza as she only lives 5 minutes from me. We watched some movie with Halle Berry and Bruce Willis that I have definetly heard of but forgot the title-quite an experience as always to watch an american movie in french.
I was home and in bed by 10 or 10:30.
Some little things:
-no one know the names of the streets here at all-for example when I talk about the A3 (the main drag near where I live) no one knows what I am talking about
-Paul (my boss) wonders why I just dont go by Elizabeth instead of Kallay because its easier to say
-I get insulted when people hear one mistake i make and then speak to me in english-it feels like a regression (in reality my french is much better than their extremely broken english)
-Alain told me that if Obama becomes president he is going to change the name of the White House to the Black House......ummmm ok not sure about that one
-everyone is impressed with my knowledge of celebrity gossip as well as the back stories on olympic atheletes (Laura Manadou for example)
-everyone knows that the US is big-but they really seem to grasp it when i explain our time zones (had an argument with nicolas the other day on whether or not california was ahead or behind the east coast)
-not having been to south africa for a mauritian is like not having been to disney world for an american-almost unheard of
More later....
Friday, September 19, 2008
Another post....
So I had to post a little bit more today....
So I got back from lunch a little while ago with Alex. He suggested that we go to the one and only McDonalds here in Mauritius.
-There were a few things I had never seen before-such as a chicken mac as an alternative to a big mac
-I had a "royal cheeseburger"-somewhat of a quarter pounder
-Alex got more food than I did naturally-his large fry was the size of a medium in the states and his large drink was the size of a medium as well
-I had the perfect amount of food-my average sized burger and my "medium" aka small fry were more than substantial
-I noticed that the patty itself was more salty than the ones in the states
-No dollar menus to speak of
I went to the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) to exchange some american dollars I still had for Mauritian rupees. The line was so long it kept wrapping around-I must have waited for about 20 minutes. The place I tried to go before, which I thought was a bank, was actually a cell phone company. I'm glad no one I know saw me....
I'm starting to learn my way around Port Louis now and its not as difficult as it used to be thank goodness-even with all of the one way streets
Hopefully this afternoon goes back quickly!
More later....
So I got back from lunch a little while ago with Alex. He suggested that we go to the one and only McDonalds here in Mauritius.
-There were a few things I had never seen before-such as a chicken mac as an alternative to a big mac
-I had a "royal cheeseburger"-somewhat of a quarter pounder
-Alex got more food than I did naturally-his large fry was the size of a medium in the states and his large drink was the size of a medium as well
-I had the perfect amount of food-my average sized burger and my "medium" aka small fry were more than substantial
-I noticed that the patty itself was more salty than the ones in the states
-No dollar menus to speak of
I went to the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB) to exchange some american dollars I still had for Mauritian rupees. The line was so long it kept wrapping around-I must have waited for about 20 minutes. The place I tried to go before, which I thought was a bank, was actually a cell phone company. I'm glad no one I know saw me....
I'm starting to learn my way around Port Louis now and its not as difficult as it used to be thank goodness-even with all of the one way streets
Hopefully this afternoon goes back quickly!
More later....
NEW BACKGROUND!
As you all may have noticed-I got bored with my other background and chose this one instead. I think it makes it easier to see and read.
Yesterday was a for sure a day out of the ordinary. I was quietly working at my desk at around 3:30 yesterday afternoon when I heard lots of commotion going on outside. Everyone ran outside to see what was happening.....
A woman who works here was walking along the street on her way back when a bum (extremely intoxicated) snatched her purse! No I am not kidding...The gate to the office building was open and I guess in some sort of panic he ran straight into the building, up the stairs, until he reached the top floor. Everyone was outside laughing because he was perhaps the dumbest criminal that anyone had ever seen-why in the world would he run inside somewhere and UP THE STAIRS rather than down the street?!?!?! There were a few cries of VOLEUR! VOLEUR! (thief).
It was a perfect example of whatever goes up must come down. Someone "found" him because there isn't anywhere to hide here since the entire office is open air. Eventually he stumbled down the stairs where everybody was (somewhere in the mix the woman got her purse back-they must have thrown it out the window). About 5 construction workers started to beat him up with whatever they could find-a 2x4, a metal rod, fists, feet, whatever. They also slammed his head against the metal gate.
The police arrived and I started the round of applaused-they handcuffed him and took him away.
To all my law school friends-in our country, if the woman sued him-he would be liable for conversion or trespass to chattel? Negligence per se (if there was a statute saying that you can't steal a purse)??? I know that it is for sure theft. The police didn't seem to care that the construction workers beat him up-and I doubt the bum has the money or the presence of mind to sue anybody for assault and/or battery. Oh well.....
The rest of the day was not quite as interesting-went to lunch with Alex, went to out for pizza with my friend Olivier, managed to not get a flat tire.
Nicolas' mom came yesterday-she's going to be here for a week I think. I couldn't believe how young she was-Nicolas is 22 and she is 42!!! She seems nice but I doubt i'll see much of her because the two of them will be gone most of the weekend.
Some little things:
-every day I have to swallow these bluish green horse pills so I don't get malaria-I hope its working with the amount of mosquito bites that are currently on my body
-yesterday was the first day that my car wasn't blocked in
-this morning when coming in to work-I thought that the police directing traffic asked for me to stop but it was really "keep going"-there was an angry motorcyclist behind me who also tried to let me know
-people in Mauritius have only been on facebook for a year-when I tell them I have been on for four years they can't believe it
-i have trouble saying my r's in french-i sound like an idiot
-Alex was not scared when he rode with me through the streets of Port Louis in search of lunch (could not walk because of the rain)
Hopefully-I will make it to the internet cafe tomorrow!
More later...
Yesterday was a for sure a day out of the ordinary. I was quietly working at my desk at around 3:30 yesterday afternoon when I heard lots of commotion going on outside. Everyone ran outside to see what was happening.....
A woman who works here was walking along the street on her way back when a bum (extremely intoxicated) snatched her purse! No I am not kidding...The gate to the office building was open and I guess in some sort of panic he ran straight into the building, up the stairs, until he reached the top floor. Everyone was outside laughing because he was perhaps the dumbest criminal that anyone had ever seen-why in the world would he run inside somewhere and UP THE STAIRS rather than down the street?!?!?! There were a few cries of VOLEUR! VOLEUR! (thief).
It was a perfect example of whatever goes up must come down. Someone "found" him because there isn't anywhere to hide here since the entire office is open air. Eventually he stumbled down the stairs where everybody was (somewhere in the mix the woman got her purse back-they must have thrown it out the window). About 5 construction workers started to beat him up with whatever they could find-a 2x4, a metal rod, fists, feet, whatever. They also slammed his head against the metal gate.
The police arrived and I started the round of applaused-they handcuffed him and took him away.
To all my law school friends-in our country, if the woman sued him-he would be liable for conversion or trespass to chattel? Negligence per se (if there was a statute saying that you can't steal a purse)??? I know that it is for sure theft. The police didn't seem to care that the construction workers beat him up-and I doubt the bum has the money or the presence of mind to sue anybody for assault and/or battery. Oh well.....
The rest of the day was not quite as interesting-went to lunch with Alex, went to out for pizza with my friend Olivier, managed to not get a flat tire.
Nicolas' mom came yesterday-she's going to be here for a week I think. I couldn't believe how young she was-Nicolas is 22 and she is 42!!! She seems nice but I doubt i'll see much of her because the two of them will be gone most of the weekend.
Some little things:
-every day I have to swallow these bluish green horse pills so I don't get malaria-I hope its working with the amount of mosquito bites that are currently on my body
-yesterday was the first day that my car wasn't blocked in
-this morning when coming in to work-I thought that the police directing traffic asked for me to stop but it was really "keep going"-there was an angry motorcyclist behind me who also tried to let me know
-people in Mauritius have only been on facebook for a year-when I tell them I have been on for four years they can't believe it
-i have trouble saying my r's in french-i sound like an idiot
-Alex was not scared when he rode with me through the streets of Port Louis in search of lunch (could not walk because of the rain)
Hopefully-I will make it to the internet cafe tomorrow!
More later...
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Still Raining...
Some little things:
-There is a billboard on my way into work with a picture of a Mercedes on it that says "YOU WILL BUY THIS CAR"-I always think "who's going to make me?"
-Every night when I go to bed I have to plug in the mosquito killer in the wall-its a small circle with a metal surface that you put cartridges on-it fills the air and all the mosquitoes die instantly. However, I put it in a different spot in my room last night and I kept get woken up by the same mosquito that only seemed to like to buzz near my ear
-my CD's skip every time I go over a huge bump-I guess thats what I get for thinking I found a deal in 8 rupees per blank CD (about 35 cents each)
-Stephanie and Alex think my blog should be in french-ummm no
It rained throughout the day yesterday so it stunted our usual plans of walking to a nearby cafe to grab lunch. All 3 of us jumped in Stephanie's car and went to a mall close by where we enjoyed sandwiches indoors. I was soaking wet all throughout the day and my hair looked absolutely awful. I never found a hair tie to pull it back so I remember to bring one with me today in case my hair gets frizzy from the rain.
Audrey and I went out to eat last night since it was just the 2 of us. We went to a chinese place and we each had- im being completely serious- steak and frites. I think what might have made it mildy chinese was the fact that the steak had some sort of teryaki sauce on it (sorry for my ignorance if teryaki is japanese-it was for lack of a better word sweet tasting). I was in bed by 10 and went right to sleep as the frogs croaked through the night and it continued to rain (poetic I know).
More later...
-There is a billboard on my way into work with a picture of a Mercedes on it that says "YOU WILL BUY THIS CAR"-I always think "who's going to make me?"
-Every night when I go to bed I have to plug in the mosquito killer in the wall-its a small circle with a metal surface that you put cartridges on-it fills the air and all the mosquitoes die instantly. However, I put it in a different spot in my room last night and I kept get woken up by the same mosquito that only seemed to like to buzz near my ear
-my CD's skip every time I go over a huge bump-I guess thats what I get for thinking I found a deal in 8 rupees per blank CD (about 35 cents each)
-Stephanie and Alex think my blog should be in french-ummm no
It rained throughout the day yesterday so it stunted our usual plans of walking to a nearby cafe to grab lunch. All 3 of us jumped in Stephanie's car and went to a mall close by where we enjoyed sandwiches indoors. I was soaking wet all throughout the day and my hair looked absolutely awful. I never found a hair tie to pull it back so I remember to bring one with me today in case my hair gets frizzy from the rain.
Audrey and I went out to eat last night since it was just the 2 of us. We went to a chinese place and we each had- im being completely serious- steak and frites. I think what might have made it mildy chinese was the fact that the steak had some sort of teryaki sauce on it (sorry for my ignorance if teryaki is japanese-it was for lack of a better word sweet tasting). I was in bed by 10 and went right to sleep as the frogs croaked through the night and it continued to rain (poetic I know).
More later...
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
It's raining, it's pouring...
What a day it has been already, keep in mind that it is POURING rain and this all took place in FRENCH-
On my way into work this morning, someone along the way brought it to my attention that I had a flat tire. I pulled over as soon as I could to assess the damage. It was my rear passenger side tire (remember this would be on the drivers side in the states). I managed to prop the car up but I couldn't figure out how to get the tire off. I found a policeman (he asked me what country I was from) who popped the hubcap off quite easily. Another man on a motorcycle came up and offered to change it for me (I know I looked ridiculous is a skirt and heels trying to change a tire in the rain-I currently look like a drowned rat). When he was finished, I gave him 100 rupees which is only about 3 or 4 dollars. He was so happy and as I drove away he kept waving at me and smiling. I guess its not customer to tip good samaritans who change your tire.
Everyone proceeded to laugh at me as I came in the office as I had called Alex before and told him what was happening. My skirt is about half dry now. A man is coming today to repair my original tire-thank goodness.
Other than that-life is pretty dull. I've been at work and Nicolas' grandparents are leaving today. We had an animated discussion last night about the exploits of Nick Sarkozi and his wives. It turns out he came to Mauritius with his first wife.
I created a spread sheet version of my questionnaire yesterday which took most of the day to try and get it exactly right. Hopefully I will have the final draft by the end of the day Friday-I can only hope.
Some little things:
-If there is a lack of water pressure when trying to take a shower-the pump has to be manually turned on and it sounds like an industrial sized hairdryer
-While driving, I always seem to get stuck behind the trucks with workers in the back who like to stare at me-I've perfected the "I don't see you except through my peripheral vision" look
-I have a daily routine-wake up at 6:30, shower and get dressed, leave at 7, stop and buy a liter of diet coke to wake up, arrive at office around 8, eat lunch with Alex/Stephanie at around 12:30, mom calls somewhere between 3 and 4, leave for the day between 5 and 5:30, get home around 6:15, relax for awhile, eat dinner around 7:30 or 8, in bed by 9:30 or 10.
Hope I don't freeze in these wet clothes
More later...
On my way into work this morning, someone along the way brought it to my attention that I had a flat tire. I pulled over as soon as I could to assess the damage. It was my rear passenger side tire (remember this would be on the drivers side in the states). I managed to prop the car up but I couldn't figure out how to get the tire off. I found a policeman (he asked me what country I was from) who popped the hubcap off quite easily. Another man on a motorcycle came up and offered to change it for me (I know I looked ridiculous is a skirt and heels trying to change a tire in the rain-I currently look like a drowned rat). When he was finished, I gave him 100 rupees which is only about 3 or 4 dollars. He was so happy and as I drove away he kept waving at me and smiling. I guess its not customer to tip good samaritans who change your tire.
Everyone proceeded to laugh at me as I came in the office as I had called Alex before and told him what was happening. My skirt is about half dry now. A man is coming today to repair my original tire-thank goodness.
Other than that-life is pretty dull. I've been at work and Nicolas' grandparents are leaving today. We had an animated discussion last night about the exploits of Nick Sarkozi and his wives. It turns out he came to Mauritius with his first wife.
I created a spread sheet version of my questionnaire yesterday which took most of the day to try and get it exactly right. Hopefully I will have the final draft by the end of the day Friday-I can only hope.
Some little things:
-If there is a lack of water pressure when trying to take a shower-the pump has to be manually turned on and it sounds like an industrial sized hairdryer
-While driving, I always seem to get stuck behind the trucks with workers in the back who like to stare at me-I've perfected the "I don't see you except through my peripheral vision" look
-I have a daily routine-wake up at 6:30, shower and get dressed, leave at 7, stop and buy a liter of diet coke to wake up, arrive at office around 8, eat lunch with Alex/Stephanie at around 12:30, mom calls somewhere between 3 and 4, leave for the day between 5 and 5:30, get home around 6:15, relax for awhile, eat dinner around 7:30 or 8, in bed by 9:30 or 10.
Hope I don't freeze in these wet clothes
More later...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Well its Tuesday and just to warn you, there is not much to report today.
Some little things:
-On Mauritian TV during the commercials, there are little PSA's that pop up regularly on the bottom of the screen that say things like "don't snack between meals," "exercise regularly," and "eat your fruits and vegetables." Maybe this is why there is no obesity epidemic to speak of here
-As most of the roads here are two lane-in order to pass someone in front of you-you have to make sure there is no one driving in the other direction. I have seen way too many "chicken on the tracks" scenarios
-still surprised I have not killed a motorcyclist
-people think that Pizza Hut is the greatest invention since sliced bread and they don't understand why I don't feel the same
-whenever my car goes over a large bump in the road-my CD skips
-buses are very dangerous in that they come from all directions
-there continues to be an unbearable amount of noise around the office due to the continuous construction
-the parking attendant was surprised that i parked on the street today-i told him i was not in the mood to be blocked in today
Yesterday was a typical Monday-did lots more work on my Surveys only to have my boss tear them apart again. I was in bed by 9:45 and woke up at 6:30 this morning. I plan to work with Excel today because Paul says it is more efficient.
More later..
Some little things:
-On Mauritian TV during the commercials, there are little PSA's that pop up regularly on the bottom of the screen that say things like "don't snack between meals," "exercise regularly," and "eat your fruits and vegetables." Maybe this is why there is no obesity epidemic to speak of here
-As most of the roads here are two lane-in order to pass someone in front of you-you have to make sure there is no one driving in the other direction. I have seen way too many "chicken on the tracks" scenarios
-still surprised I have not killed a motorcyclist
-people think that Pizza Hut is the greatest invention since sliced bread and they don't understand why I don't feel the same
-whenever my car goes over a large bump in the road-my CD skips
-buses are very dangerous in that they come from all directions
-there continues to be an unbearable amount of noise around the office due to the continuous construction
-the parking attendant was surprised that i parked on the street today-i told him i was not in the mood to be blocked in today
Yesterday was a typical Monday-did lots more work on my Surveys only to have my boss tear them apart again. I was in bed by 9:45 and woke up at 6:30 this morning. I plan to work with Excel today because Paul says it is more efficient.
More later..
Monday, September 15, 2008
Beginning of my 3rd Week...
What an interesting few weeks it has been! A quick recap:
-arrived the 29th of August
-spent the weekend at the beach
-started work september 1
-big project-customer satisfaction survey
-staying at a Maison d'Hote in Tamarin
-managed to make a few friends
-my birthday- 9/9/08-age 24
-have not been killed so far while driving on the wrong side of the road
-eaten lots of rice
Some little things:
-there was a drunk australian man in a banana hammock who would yell at every boat that passed us by and scream "aussie, aussie, aussie!!"
-I was the only french speaking english person on the boat and nicolas and his grandparents were the only french people
-I played translator to everyone because the crew spoke very little english
-the crew wanted me to get up and dance-uncharacteristically i said no
-the neighbors dog comes over every night because he is in love with Diva, Audrey's female dog which makes Max, the other dog, extremely jealous
-the dogs do not understand english
-absolutely no one can pronounce my name-i thought i had it bad in the states
-i saw a guy at the beach fall asleep face down in the sand and when he woke up he walked around with sand on his face for a good 20 minutes
-no one understand why and i wash and blow dry my hair every morning
-i got asked by a british person where my accent was from
-nicolas' grandmother cant understand how i can go out 2 nights in a row and why i must get ready beforehand
-i turned down a wrong street trying to find a parking spot and ended up in bad part of town where everyone was staring at me-i promptly turned around and left as fast as i could
-ive never heard so many languages at once in my life as ive heard at the beach- english, french, creole, german, and some others that i had never heard before
-saw an aussie in a cowboy hat with beer gut
-banana hammocks should be prohibited worldwide
As I do not have internet where I live-I will recap my weekend. Here goes...
I left work around 5 pm or so on Friday and went straight home to relax and eat some dinner before going to my new friend Nathalie's party. She only lives about 5 minutes away so I could have walked but since it was night time, I chose to drive instead. I met a lot of her friends and all were amazed that I was an english speaker who can also speak french. I realized how special this was when I met a girl from London at the party who does not speak a word of french. I met another girl from South Africa who has lived here for some years and is equally comfortable in speaking both french and creole. I left relatively early (1 am) as I was getting up early on Saturday morning to spend the day on a catamaran.
I woke up Saturday morning at around 8 am and had a quick breakfast. Nicolas, his grandparents, and I left at around 8:30 so that we could be on the boat by 9. Upon arrival, we had to wait a little while before we could actually board. Once we were able to go, they had to take us in small groups via a smaller boat out to the sail boat since it was too big to dock.
When everybody had boarded the sail boat, we left and first went to the bay of Tamarin to see the dolphins. There were about 10 of them all swimming together. It was hard to get a decent picture as there were too many boats around and whenever anyone got a small glimpse they would chase after it and block the view of everybody else. There were also some swimmers who were trying to chase them and swim with them-but from what I saw, they did not have any luck catching them.
We then rode around for awhile until they took out the snorkel gear. Nicolas and I along with some others were the only ones to take advantage. I saw tons of schools of little black and white striped fish along with huge pieces of coral that you could stand on and only be about waist deep in the water. After about 30 minutes I went back in as I was getting a little bit cold. Nicolas and I both dove off the side of the boat a few times much to the delight of the others.
We had a feast of a lunch with sausage, shrimp, some sort of white fish, chicken, rice, bread, salad, pineapple, coconut, and bananas. We also had a rum punch made with the local stuff. It goes down really smooth and tastes much sweeter than any that I have had before.
After lunch-we were dropped off on a little island for about 30 mins to walk the beach and swim a little bit. There were others there as well either tanning, swimming, or eating lunch.
We returned to the boat and rode the rest of the way back.
I was so exhausted when went back to the house that I took a long nap and woke up in time for dinner. I met up with Nathalie and som others a bit later only for about an hour or so and then went home and went to bed.
I woke up yesterday (Sunday) morning at about 9 am and had breakfast. After being lazy the entire morning, I decided to go to the beach. I brought my book and a towel and found my way to the tourist beach at the southernmost tip-a place called Le Morne. I had an enjoyable solitary afternoon of reading, swimming, and people watching.
After few hours, I went home completely exhausted, relaxed some more, ate dinner, and went to bed.
-arrived the 29th of August
-spent the weekend at the beach
-started work september 1
-big project-customer satisfaction survey
-staying at a Maison d'Hote in Tamarin
-managed to make a few friends
-my birthday- 9/9/08-age 24
-have not been killed so far while driving on the wrong side of the road
-eaten lots of rice
Some little things:
-there was a drunk australian man in a banana hammock who would yell at every boat that passed us by and scream "aussie, aussie, aussie!!"
-I was the only french speaking english person on the boat and nicolas and his grandparents were the only french people
-I played translator to everyone because the crew spoke very little english
-the crew wanted me to get up and dance-uncharacteristically i said no
-the neighbors dog comes over every night because he is in love with Diva, Audrey's female dog which makes Max, the other dog, extremely jealous
-the dogs do not understand english
-absolutely no one can pronounce my name-i thought i had it bad in the states
-i saw a guy at the beach fall asleep face down in the sand and when he woke up he walked around with sand on his face for a good 20 minutes
-no one understand why and i wash and blow dry my hair every morning
-i got asked by a british person where my accent was from
-nicolas' grandmother cant understand how i can go out 2 nights in a row and why i must get ready beforehand
-i turned down a wrong street trying to find a parking spot and ended up in bad part of town where everyone was staring at me-i promptly turned around and left as fast as i could
-ive never heard so many languages at once in my life as ive heard at the beach- english, french, creole, german, and some others that i had never heard before
-saw an aussie in a cowboy hat with beer gut
-banana hammocks should be prohibited worldwide
As I do not have internet where I live-I will recap my weekend. Here goes...
I left work around 5 pm or so on Friday and went straight home to relax and eat some dinner before going to my new friend Nathalie's party. She only lives about 5 minutes away so I could have walked but since it was night time, I chose to drive instead. I met a lot of her friends and all were amazed that I was an english speaker who can also speak french. I realized how special this was when I met a girl from London at the party who does not speak a word of french. I met another girl from South Africa who has lived here for some years and is equally comfortable in speaking both french and creole. I left relatively early (1 am) as I was getting up early on Saturday morning to spend the day on a catamaran.
I woke up Saturday morning at around 8 am and had a quick breakfast. Nicolas, his grandparents, and I left at around 8:30 so that we could be on the boat by 9. Upon arrival, we had to wait a little while before we could actually board. Once we were able to go, they had to take us in small groups via a smaller boat out to the sail boat since it was too big to dock.
When everybody had boarded the sail boat, we left and first went to the bay of Tamarin to see the dolphins. There were about 10 of them all swimming together. It was hard to get a decent picture as there were too many boats around and whenever anyone got a small glimpse they would chase after it and block the view of everybody else. There were also some swimmers who were trying to chase them and swim with them-but from what I saw, they did not have any luck catching them.
We then rode around for awhile until they took out the snorkel gear. Nicolas and I along with some others were the only ones to take advantage. I saw tons of schools of little black and white striped fish along with huge pieces of coral that you could stand on and only be about waist deep in the water. After about 30 minutes I went back in as I was getting a little bit cold. Nicolas and I both dove off the side of the boat a few times much to the delight of the others.
We had a feast of a lunch with sausage, shrimp, some sort of white fish, chicken, rice, bread, salad, pineapple, coconut, and bananas. We also had a rum punch made with the local stuff. It goes down really smooth and tastes much sweeter than any that I have had before.
After lunch-we were dropped off on a little island for about 30 mins to walk the beach and swim a little bit. There were others there as well either tanning, swimming, or eating lunch.
We returned to the boat and rode the rest of the way back.
I was so exhausted when went back to the house that I took a long nap and woke up in time for dinner. I met up with Nathalie and som others a bit later only for about an hour or so and then went home and went to bed.
I woke up yesterday (Sunday) morning at about 9 am and had breakfast. After being lazy the entire morning, I decided to go to the beach. I brought my book and a towel and found my way to the tourist beach at the southernmost tip-a place called Le Morne. I had an enjoyable solitary afternoon of reading, swimming, and people watching.
After few hours, I went home completely exhausted, relaxed some more, ate dinner, and went to bed.
Friday, September 12, 2008
IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!!! I have been in Mauritius now for exactly 2 weeks and so far, I am happy to be here. I still like my job and have met some great people!
Some little things:
-I think I know where Osama Bin Laden is hiding-he chose to go where no one would find him- MAURITIUS! Also, he is fond of driving on the left hand side of the road and is excellent with the stick shift (Yes I saw him right near my office yesterday)
-It is hilarious to hear a french person try to mimic an american southern accent
-I have begun to burn my music onto blank CD's-much better than the radio where it might take an hour for me to hear 2 songs
-At the end of everyday-I find particles in my hair from all the construction going on here at the office
-In trying to ask Nicolas' grand parents how many grand children they had- I said "big" children which I thought to mean adults and it took Audrey to tell me the right word (petits enfants)
I thought I'd share a great joke that my friend Alissa reminded me of that I have heard once before:
What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual
What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual
What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? American
This is sad but true.....but funny!
I did alot of work yesterday in trying to finalize the two questionnaires that I have been working on. Hopefully my boss will approve them today! I went to lunch like usual with Alex and Stephanie and explained my difficulties with Mauritian coins (I haven't quite gotten used to them yet).
It continues to be difficult to leave to go home at night as I am ALWAYS blocked in and have to wait for someone to move their car.
I'm going to my friend Nathalie's birthday party tonight and on a catamaran tomorrow for the whole day to hang out and look for dolphins!
More on Monday....
Some little things:
-I think I know where Osama Bin Laden is hiding-he chose to go where no one would find him- MAURITIUS! Also, he is fond of driving on the left hand side of the road and is excellent with the stick shift (Yes I saw him right near my office yesterday)
-It is hilarious to hear a french person try to mimic an american southern accent
-I have begun to burn my music onto blank CD's-much better than the radio where it might take an hour for me to hear 2 songs
-At the end of everyday-I find particles in my hair from all the construction going on here at the office
-In trying to ask Nicolas' grand parents how many grand children they had- I said "big" children which I thought to mean adults and it took Audrey to tell me the right word (petits enfants)
I thought I'd share a great joke that my friend Alissa reminded me of that I have heard once before:
What do you call a person who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual
What do you call a person who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual
What do you call a person who speaks 1 language? American
This is sad but true.....but funny!
I did alot of work yesterday in trying to finalize the two questionnaires that I have been working on. Hopefully my boss will approve them today! I went to lunch like usual with Alex and Stephanie and explained my difficulties with Mauritian coins (I haven't quite gotten used to them yet).
It continues to be difficult to leave to go home at night as I am ALWAYS blocked in and have to wait for someone to move their car.
I'm going to my friend Nathalie's birthday party tonight and on a catamaran tomorrow for the whole day to hang out and look for dolphins!
More on Monday....
Thursday, September 11, 2008
September 11th, 2008
Well today is September 11th. It is been seven years and I can still remember what I was doing and what I was wearing. I'm sure all of you have similar experiences. I have been told that it is the equivalent of the Kennedy assasination for my generation. Even though we have all moved on, I am certain that we will always remember.
On a lighter note:
-There is a commercial for pizza huts "chicken sausage pizza." It sounds disgusting but it cracks me up everytime a I hear it.
-I was blocked in the driveway for a few minutes waiting for the garbage man to move. He came up to me and said "you speak english." I always seem to get offended that people assume that just because I am an american that I only speak one language. I guess its not a big deal and they just want to be nice
-There was a dog this morning that seemed to know how to cross the street correctly
-I think I met the only french woman who does not like wine
-"Laissez le bon temps rouler" or "let the good times roll" does not mean ANYTHING in french-its just something that our culture did to sound clever
-Audrey thinks its strange that I have to wash and blow dry my hair everyday-I can't imagine it any other way
-Everyone is surprised when I tell them that the US does not have an official language and that we have all kinds of people-I guess they think that all americans look like me
Yesterday was just another day of work-nothing to exciting. I went to this excellent restaurant near the office for lunch with Alex and Stephanie where I had steak and frites. I went home to find out that Nicolas' (the other intern that lives where I do) grandparents were in town and coming over for dinner as well as spending a couple of nights here. We had traditional mauritian cuisine for dinner-curried chicken, rice, some sort of vegetable native to the area, spinach, and sausages in some sort of red sauce-it was delicious! They were very impressed with the fact that I am an american and that I can speak french and asked me all sorts of questions about the US as they had never been.
Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading along and posting comments! I'm so happy that this blog is getting such good reviews! I miss you all and please keep the emails and blog posts coming!
On a lighter note:
-There is a commercial for pizza huts "chicken sausage pizza." It sounds disgusting but it cracks me up everytime a I hear it.
-I was blocked in the driveway for a few minutes waiting for the garbage man to move. He came up to me and said "you speak english." I always seem to get offended that people assume that just because I am an american that I only speak one language. I guess its not a big deal and they just want to be nice
-There was a dog this morning that seemed to know how to cross the street correctly
-I think I met the only french woman who does not like wine
-"Laissez le bon temps rouler" or "let the good times roll" does not mean ANYTHING in french-its just something that our culture did to sound clever
-Audrey thinks its strange that I have to wash and blow dry my hair everyday-I can't imagine it any other way
-Everyone is surprised when I tell them that the US does not have an official language and that we have all kinds of people-I guess they think that all americans look like me
Yesterday was just another day of work-nothing to exciting. I went to this excellent restaurant near the office for lunch with Alex and Stephanie where I had steak and frites. I went home to find out that Nicolas' (the other intern that lives where I do) grandparents were in town and coming over for dinner as well as spending a couple of nights here. We had traditional mauritian cuisine for dinner-curried chicken, rice, some sort of vegetable native to the area, spinach, and sausages in some sort of red sauce-it was delicious! They were very impressed with the fact that I am an american and that I can speak french and asked me all sorts of questions about the US as they had never been.
Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading along and posting comments! I'm so happy that this blog is getting such good reviews! I miss you all and please keep the emails and blog posts coming!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I feel older-not sure about wiser
Well-yesterday was my birthday and now its over. It was a good day and most people around here seemed to remember (I didn't exactly let them forget either).
Mom and Steve sent me a bouquet of flowers after which I promptly turned red as everyone stared at me. They were absolutely beautiful though-lots of pinks and oranges.
Veronique took Stephanie and I out to lunch to this little outdoor cafe around the corner. It was definetly the most decadent lunch that I have had here in Mauritius. Steak, Frites, Vegetables, Marlin, Salad, and ice cream for dessert! I had not one but two diet cokes (gasp). After lunch, we went to pick up the cake that Veronique ordered for me-it was almondine and delicious. It wasn't exactly the chocolate on chocalate cake that I normally enjoy on my birthday but as they say-when in Rome (when in Mauritius).
I took a few pictures of my cake back here at the office but as per usual-I forgot to bring my USB cord with me for my camera. I received lots of facebook messages from people wishing me happy birthday (via text on my phone) and got a few phone calls and emails.
I had pizza for dinner at home with Audrey and her friend Kathryn along with lots of red wine. It was delicious! I went to bed around 10 and fell right asleep.
Some little things:
-The wattage is higher here than in the US-my hair dryer operates on full force at the "low" setting. If I put it on the high setting, sparks fly
-There are a few dogs around here that look like they have had one to many puppies
-It is terrible to lose one's debit card in a foreign country
-im starting to learn some of the songs on the radio
-its hump day
-parking is not easy here at the office-normally i am blocked in and have to wait for the offender to move his or her car
-the police officers here do not carry anything on them-no guns or handcuffs to speak of
-it can be distracting to work in an office where i can see everyone at all times-i am always looking around and if i catch someone's eye they think im trying to get their attention
-I've been enjoying researching the hotels in mauritius-a lot are 4 and 5 star and are absolutely beautiful
-there is no soap in the bathroom so i have been using purell like its going out of style-if anyone wants to send me a costo sized supply that would be wonderful!
-i saw a town the other day called mullet-no joke
Miss you all!
Mom and Steve sent me a bouquet of flowers after which I promptly turned red as everyone stared at me. They were absolutely beautiful though-lots of pinks and oranges.
Veronique took Stephanie and I out to lunch to this little outdoor cafe around the corner. It was definetly the most decadent lunch that I have had here in Mauritius. Steak, Frites, Vegetables, Marlin, Salad, and ice cream for dessert! I had not one but two diet cokes (gasp). After lunch, we went to pick up the cake that Veronique ordered for me-it was almondine and delicious. It wasn't exactly the chocolate on chocalate cake that I normally enjoy on my birthday but as they say-when in Rome (when in Mauritius).
I took a few pictures of my cake back here at the office but as per usual-I forgot to bring my USB cord with me for my camera. I received lots of facebook messages from people wishing me happy birthday (via text on my phone) and got a few phone calls and emails.
I had pizza for dinner at home with Audrey and her friend Kathryn along with lots of red wine. It was delicious! I went to bed around 10 and fell right asleep.
Some little things:
-The wattage is higher here than in the US-my hair dryer operates on full force at the "low" setting. If I put it on the high setting, sparks fly
-There are a few dogs around here that look like they have had one to many puppies
-It is terrible to lose one's debit card in a foreign country
-im starting to learn some of the songs on the radio
-its hump day
-parking is not easy here at the office-normally i am blocked in and have to wait for the offender to move his or her car
-the police officers here do not carry anything on them-no guns or handcuffs to speak of
-it can be distracting to work in an office where i can see everyone at all times-i am always looking around and if i catch someone's eye they think im trying to get their attention
-I've been enjoying researching the hotels in mauritius-a lot are 4 and 5 star and are absolutely beautiful
-there is no soap in the bathroom so i have been using purell like its going out of style-if anyone wants to send me a costo sized supply that would be wonderful!
-i saw a town the other day called mullet-no joke
Miss you all!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
I am 24
Well-today is my birthday and it is not exciting-I am at work. I guess I'm getting old!
A few things out of the ordinary (at least for me):
-stopped at the grocery store on the way home yesterday and saw a man with one leg pee against a wall near the grocery store. When I got out of the car, he promptly asked me for me money which I responded by getting in the car and driving to the grocery store closer to home
-a lot of the women that work in my office wear the same outfit everyday-it is a navy suit with short sleaves with a green blouse underneath. I wonder if its some kind of uniform they have to wear-no one said anything about a uniform to me-oh well (If it is in fact a uniform that they have to wear, it seems kind of sexist to make women wear one whereas the men can wear whatever they want)
-gas stations don't take credit cards and as there is no ATM on my way to work I was unable to get cash-my tank is on E
-i dont think that a single paper towel exists here
I made alot of progress at work yesterday-I was able to get most of my survey questions finalized so now I am in the process of figuring out how I will determine my sample size. I will let you know how it goes if you are interested.
Went to lunch with Alex and Stephanie yesterday and the place where we were eating did not have what I wanted-I spontaneously said a word in french that loosely means "darn!"
Audrey and I went to her friend Kathryn's house last night for her daughter's 21st birthday. They wanted me to come so that I could have a celebration too. We had shrimp, rice, salad, and some sort of pineapple upside down cake which was excellent.
More later..
A few things out of the ordinary (at least for me):
-stopped at the grocery store on the way home yesterday and saw a man with one leg pee against a wall near the grocery store. When I got out of the car, he promptly asked me for me money which I responded by getting in the car and driving to the grocery store closer to home
-a lot of the women that work in my office wear the same outfit everyday-it is a navy suit with short sleaves with a green blouse underneath. I wonder if its some kind of uniform they have to wear-no one said anything about a uniform to me-oh well (If it is in fact a uniform that they have to wear, it seems kind of sexist to make women wear one whereas the men can wear whatever they want)
-gas stations don't take credit cards and as there is no ATM on my way to work I was unable to get cash-my tank is on E
-i dont think that a single paper towel exists here
I made alot of progress at work yesterday-I was able to get most of my survey questions finalized so now I am in the process of figuring out how I will determine my sample size. I will let you know how it goes if you are interested.
Went to lunch with Alex and Stephanie yesterday and the place where we were eating did not have what I wanted-I spontaneously said a word in french that loosely means "darn!"
Audrey and I went to her friend Kathryn's house last night for her daughter's 21st birthday. They wanted me to come so that I could have a celebration too. We had shrimp, rice, salad, and some sort of pineapple upside down cake which was excellent.
More later..
Monday, September 8, 2008
Hi Everybody!
Unfortunately, I can only get internet here at work so I am sorry for the delay in posting.
On Friday, I went out for lunch with some of my coworkers for Indian food. It was a crepe of sorts with curry, vegetables, and whatever kind of meat you wanted (I chose chicken). I was quite proud of myself for being so adventurous and it actually tasted pretty good. A few others that I was with ate 2 or 3 but I could only manage one because of they were huge.
I spent the rest of the afternoon back at the office trying to plug along at this survey. I was one of the last people here and everybody else cut out a bit early. I thought it was better to stay a bit late so that I could get ahead a little bit and show that I'm trying to be dedicated.
Right after work, I went with some others to a hotel here in Port Louis called the Suffren. Every Friday evening, they have happy hour in the bar area and everybody under 30 who works ibut n Port Louis or in the surrounding area goes there to unwind. They also have little appetizers to snack on. Later on, I went up to Grand Bay ( in the north) to hang out with some friends because we were going out later that night. I spent the night out there because it was too far for me to drive all the way back down south.
People don't go out until much later here-around midnight or so. We hung out at the apartment and played ring of fire (I had no idea that this was a worldwide phenomenon). Some of the rules were a bit different than what I am used to but it was no problem catching on (4 to the floor, 5 to the sky, etc).
We later went to Zanzibar which is the techno and strobe light place that I mentioned a few posts ago. After, we went to some place called Les Enfants Terribles (The Terrible Children). It was a slighlty older crowd but I liked the music there a little bit better. We were out all night and even saw the sun come up!
I went home later in the afternoon and took a nap after stopping to grab a diet coke at the grocery store and to buy an international calling card for my mauritian cell phone (I tried to call a few of you the other day but no one picked up-pick up all strange numbers until december as it might be me!) I didn't do much of anything the rest of the weekend except relax. I caught up on some reading and tried to go to bed early. I tried to go to the local internet cafe to get on facebook because if you bring your own computer and it has wi fi it is free. It turns out that it is closed on Sundays so I sat at a table outside and tried to connect anyway. No such luck.
Two of the people that I have lived with for the past week left this morning to return to Paris. So excited to have my own bathroom for a time!
As you all know (I hope!) my birthday is tomorrow and I will be 24! I have tried to tell everyone that I possibly can. I actually share it with a catholic holiday here called Pere Laval. It is for a french missionary that did a lot of charity work here in mauritius and he is being considered for saint hood. Unfortunatley, I still have to work.
A friend of Audrey's (the woman who owns the house where I am living) has a friend whose daughter's birthday is today (21st but not a huge deal here in Mauritius). I am invited over there for dinner tonight tonight as well so I am excited about that. More later....
Unfortunately, I can only get internet here at work so I am sorry for the delay in posting.
On Friday, I went out for lunch with some of my coworkers for Indian food. It was a crepe of sorts with curry, vegetables, and whatever kind of meat you wanted (I chose chicken). I was quite proud of myself for being so adventurous and it actually tasted pretty good. A few others that I was with ate 2 or 3 but I could only manage one because of they were huge.
I spent the rest of the afternoon back at the office trying to plug along at this survey. I was one of the last people here and everybody else cut out a bit early. I thought it was better to stay a bit late so that I could get ahead a little bit and show that I'm trying to be dedicated.
Right after work, I went with some others to a hotel here in Port Louis called the Suffren. Every Friday evening, they have happy hour in the bar area and everybody under 30 who works ibut n Port Louis or in the surrounding area goes there to unwind. They also have little appetizers to snack on. Later on, I went up to Grand Bay ( in the north) to hang out with some friends because we were going out later that night. I spent the night out there because it was too far for me to drive all the way back down south.
People don't go out until much later here-around midnight or so. We hung out at the apartment and played ring of fire (I had no idea that this was a worldwide phenomenon). Some of the rules were a bit different than what I am used to but it was no problem catching on (4 to the floor, 5 to the sky, etc).
We later went to Zanzibar which is the techno and strobe light place that I mentioned a few posts ago. After, we went to some place called Les Enfants Terribles (The Terrible Children). It was a slighlty older crowd but I liked the music there a little bit better. We were out all night and even saw the sun come up!
I went home later in the afternoon and took a nap after stopping to grab a diet coke at the grocery store and to buy an international calling card for my mauritian cell phone (I tried to call a few of you the other day but no one picked up-pick up all strange numbers until december as it might be me!) I didn't do much of anything the rest of the weekend except relax. I caught up on some reading and tried to go to bed early. I tried to go to the local internet cafe to get on facebook because if you bring your own computer and it has wi fi it is free. It turns out that it is closed on Sundays so I sat at a table outside and tried to connect anyway. No such luck.
Two of the people that I have lived with for the past week left this morning to return to Paris. So excited to have my own bathroom for a time!
As you all know (I hope!) my birthday is tomorrow and I will be 24! I have tried to tell everyone that I possibly can. I actually share it with a catholic holiday here called Pere Laval. It is for a french missionary that did a lot of charity work here in mauritius and he is being considered for saint hood. Unfortunatley, I still have to work.
A friend of Audrey's (the woman who owns the house where I am living) has a friend whose daughter's birthday is today (21st but not a huge deal here in Mauritius). I am invited over there for dinner tonight tonight as well so I am excited about that. More later....
Friday, September 5, 2008
Adventures in driving on the wrong side of the road
I finally got my car on Wednesday afternoon. It is a small european looking silver car...it's a little bit bigger than the silver bug I used to have. I must have asked the woman at the dealership so many questions that she was glad to see me go (Is there insurance?, Why does it beep when I back up?, etc.) I followed Veronique back to the office and got my first little bit of practice in. When I got back, my boss Paul really wanted me to drive Stephanie all the way the home, pick her up in the morning, and take her all the way back to the office to get her car the next day. I compromised and said I would follow her even though I knew the way well enough to go by myself. Also, we had off yesterday because of the Indian religious holiday Ganesh (involves an elephant and making sacrifices in the ocean) so I did not want to drive to the office on our day off and neither did she.
Since I had off yesterday, I took it as the perfect opportunity to explore a bit and practice driving on the left. I decided to be ambitious and resourceful and use my map to find my way all the way to the north end of the island (I live in the south-but no rednecks to speak of). I got a little turned around at points because the roads are not well marked at all so it took me about 3 trys before I actually got on the highway. But I got there successfully! I had some difficulty coming back because I didn't know that you have to get off the highway at different points than you get on. So, I ended up driving all the way south pretty much before I could turn around...at least I know now.
Other tidbits I didn't feel like putting in to complete sentences:
-I don't actually think to myself "ok I have to drive on the left"-I just look to see which direction the cars are going
-Everything is opposite-I have not broken the habit of reaching to my left first for my seatbelt and I walk to the wrong side of the car to get in the drivers seat
-Often when I attempt to flick the turn signal-I turn on the windshield wipers instead
-I have always been taught to stay in the center of the lane-not too close to the edge and not too close to the divide (thanks mom!) but here-because there are no sidewalks and there are dogs everywhere, I have to keep more towards the middle of the road
-people like to wander aimlessly in the streets
-on my way to and from work-there is a sign that says "Stone Crushing Plant"-it took me a second before I realized that it was factory
-i ran over a chicken with my car yesterday
-there are no lights on the road at night
-you must tailgate if you want to move at all when there is traffic
-yesterday while in grand bay, i saw a sign for a cybercafe and followed it but it turned out to be someone's front yard-oops
-i saw the only mcdonalds that exists in mauritius-no time to take a picture because I was in the car
-the radio is horrible-too much talking
-I heard that song "Love don't cost a thing" in French
-I had an intensive discussion about the pussycat dolls and britney spears with 2 of the people that i live with-they wanted to know how to translate "pussycat dolls" in to french-i told them i had absolutely no idea how
-its funny to listen to parisiens sing american rap songs
-i'm starting to get sick of pasta
-found out most of the french hate nicolas sarkozi and carla bruni
Since I had off yesterday, I took it as the perfect opportunity to explore a bit and practice driving on the left. I decided to be ambitious and resourceful and use my map to find my way all the way to the north end of the island (I live in the south-but no rednecks to speak of). I got a little turned around at points because the roads are not well marked at all so it took me about 3 trys before I actually got on the highway. But I got there successfully! I had some difficulty coming back because I didn't know that you have to get off the highway at different points than you get on. So, I ended up driving all the way south pretty much before I could turn around...at least I know now.
Other tidbits I didn't feel like putting in to complete sentences:
-I don't actually think to myself "ok I have to drive on the left"-I just look to see which direction the cars are going
-Everything is opposite-I have not broken the habit of reaching to my left first for my seatbelt and I walk to the wrong side of the car to get in the drivers seat
-Often when I attempt to flick the turn signal-I turn on the windshield wipers instead
-I have always been taught to stay in the center of the lane-not too close to the edge and not too close to the divide (thanks mom!) but here-because there are no sidewalks and there are dogs everywhere, I have to keep more towards the middle of the road
-people like to wander aimlessly in the streets
-on my way to and from work-there is a sign that says "Stone Crushing Plant"-it took me a second before I realized that it was factory
-i ran over a chicken with my car yesterday
-there are no lights on the road at night
-you must tailgate if you want to move at all when there is traffic
-yesterday while in grand bay, i saw a sign for a cybercafe and followed it but it turned out to be someone's front yard-oops
-i saw the only mcdonalds that exists in mauritius-no time to take a picture because I was in the car
-the radio is horrible-too much talking
-I heard that song "Love don't cost a thing" in French
-I had an intensive discussion about the pussycat dolls and britney spears with 2 of the people that i live with-they wanted to know how to translate "pussycat dolls" in to french-i told them i had absolutely no idea how
-its funny to listen to parisiens sing american rap songs
-i'm starting to get sick of pasta
-found out most of the french hate nicolas sarkozi and carla bruni
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Some idiosyncracies I keep noticing around the office:
-there is never any toilet paper in the bathroom-everyone has their own roll to take with them so its plainly obvious when anyone has to go-not sure how I feel about it
-there is a woman who works here whose only responsibility to stop by all the desks every few hours and ask you want some hot tea-i am not a tea or coffee drinker but maybe I will venture and try it out one of these days
-when it is time for lunch-there are not very many places to go and choices are limited. Would you like a sandwich or a sandwich? (Sadly I'm not kidding)
-A lot of people here have unexplainable absences-they leave frequently for hours at a time and I have no idea where they go-I on the other hand might as well be chained to my desk
-Often times I can hear 3 languages being spoken at once (French, English, Creole-they like to have a choice I guess)
Other things in general that I keep noticing:
-I am the minority-almost 70% of the island is Indian. It is totally new experience for me but it is really interesting to see all of the different cultures. At the same time, even though there are many different kinds of people-Indian, Chinese, Creole, Muslim, Franco-Mauritian-none of them mix together at all-they all keep to themselves.
-all of the dogs here are malnourished-it is really sad to see
-where i live-there are locks on every single door and it doesn't clost except when it is locked-when not locked-the doors swing open (this can be a problem while showering)
-everyone thinks that the absentee ballot is a totally bizarre concept. No matter how many times I try to explain it I always resort to "In America, we all have the right to vote no matter where we happen to be living"
I went to bed really early last night-at about 9:45. I woke up at 5:30 this morning on my own-no alarm clock. This NEVER happens to me. I couldn't watch tv for go on the internet because neither exist where I live. I just read a book until Stephanie came to pick me up. I love to read while I am here because even though speaking french is fun for me-I still need my daily dose of English-its very comforting.
Tomorrow I have the day of off work because it is an Indian religious holiday. I don't know what its for but I plan on exploring a little.
I hope that those of you in Florida don't blow away due to the approaching hurricane but get a few days of off school or work instead!
More later...
-there is never any toilet paper in the bathroom-everyone has their own roll to take with them so its plainly obvious when anyone has to go-not sure how I feel about it
-there is a woman who works here whose only responsibility to stop by all the desks every few hours and ask you want some hot tea-i am not a tea or coffee drinker but maybe I will venture and try it out one of these days
-when it is time for lunch-there are not very many places to go and choices are limited. Would you like a sandwich or a sandwich? (Sadly I'm not kidding)
-A lot of people here have unexplainable absences-they leave frequently for hours at a time and I have no idea where they go-I on the other hand might as well be chained to my desk
-Often times I can hear 3 languages being spoken at once (French, English, Creole-they like to have a choice I guess)
Other things in general that I keep noticing:
-I am the minority-almost 70% of the island is Indian. It is totally new experience for me but it is really interesting to see all of the different cultures. At the same time, even though there are many different kinds of people-Indian, Chinese, Creole, Muslim, Franco-Mauritian-none of them mix together at all-they all keep to themselves.
-all of the dogs here are malnourished-it is really sad to see
-where i live-there are locks on every single door and it doesn't clost except when it is locked-when not locked-the doors swing open (this can be a problem while showering)
-everyone thinks that the absentee ballot is a totally bizarre concept. No matter how many times I try to explain it I always resort to "In America, we all have the right to vote no matter where we happen to be living"
I went to bed really early last night-at about 9:45. I woke up at 5:30 this morning on my own-no alarm clock. This NEVER happens to me. I couldn't watch tv for go on the internet because neither exist where I live. I just read a book until Stephanie came to pick me up. I love to read while I am here because even though speaking french is fun for me-I still need my daily dose of English-its very comforting.
Tomorrow I have the day of off work because it is an Indian religious holiday. I don't know what its for but I plan on exploring a little.
I hope that those of you in Florida don't blow away due to the approaching hurricane but get a few days of off school or work instead!
More later...
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Address
My address here in Mauritius is:
Grain de Sel
Morcellement Carlos
Tamarin
Ile Maurice
(There are no street numbers outside of the capital city-weird I know)
Grain de Sel
Morcellement Carlos
Tamarin
Ile Maurice
(There are no street numbers outside of the capital city-weird I know)
some more observations:
-at the grocery store-you have to pay for a plastic bag (i was shocked at first and then I thought maybe the people of Mauritius were doing their part to fight global warming-less to end up in a landfill somewhere if people are forced to pay for it)
-the motorcyclists here scare me most of all-Stephanie and I saw one ram into the back of a car on our way home-luckily he was not hurt and the car didn't even have a scratch
-Port Louis is full of narrow one way streets that are just wide enough for one car
-the office is going through a major renovation right now-im convinced there is a construction worker code-at the construction worker convention they deemed it necessary to stare at every female that walks by and make her as uncomfortable as possible
-all of the shower heads detach from the wall and it is quite difficult to hold it while washing one's hair at the same time
-for $1 you get about 28 Mauritian rupees-not a terrible conversion rate
-there is pizza hut everywhere too-im not completely sure that I would ever try it after eating pizza in France that had ketchup instead of tomato sauce
-there are dogs everywhere and people on bikes everywhere-it is a wonder that they are not all dead
-none of the houses have numbers on them and most of the roads are not named-I guess the mauritian government has other priorities and perhaps they dont collect enough tax dollars but it could also be due to the recession that is going on here as well (when i know what they are-I will let you know)
Yesterday was quite an interesting day. Stephanie and I left the office at around 5:15 and she drove me home. I work in the capital city of Port Louisand its about a 45 minute to an hour commute to where I live-a region called Riviere Noire (black river) and in a town called Tamarin (Ta-ma-ran).
I moved into the boarding house where I am staying. It is run by a single woman who is not married and has no children. The house is pretty big by Mauritian standards so she rents it out to young people who are here for a short time for an internship or vacation. There are three others staying there right now-a french guy named nicolas and a french young couple whose names are Sarah and Thaimes (no idea how to spell it). Everyone was really nice.
We had pasta for dinner-its the go to dinner for Americans and Mauritians alike.
There are so many people here-and they are all in a hurry. I get my car today and I am a little nervous about navigating the roads. Everyone thinks its really funny that I don't know how to drive a stick shift-my coworker Alexandre says that if you don't know how to drive a stick then you don't know how to drive-I just told him I didnt care. More later...
-at the grocery store-you have to pay for a plastic bag (i was shocked at first and then I thought maybe the people of Mauritius were doing their part to fight global warming-less to end up in a landfill somewhere if people are forced to pay for it)
-the motorcyclists here scare me most of all-Stephanie and I saw one ram into the back of a car on our way home-luckily he was not hurt and the car didn't even have a scratch
-Port Louis is full of narrow one way streets that are just wide enough for one car
-the office is going through a major renovation right now-im convinced there is a construction worker code-at the construction worker convention they deemed it necessary to stare at every female that walks by and make her as uncomfortable as possible
-all of the shower heads detach from the wall and it is quite difficult to hold it while washing one's hair at the same time
-for $1 you get about 28 Mauritian rupees-not a terrible conversion rate
-there is pizza hut everywhere too-im not completely sure that I would ever try it after eating pizza in France that had ketchup instead of tomato sauce
-there are dogs everywhere and people on bikes everywhere-it is a wonder that they are not all dead
-none of the houses have numbers on them and most of the roads are not named-I guess the mauritian government has other priorities and perhaps they dont collect enough tax dollars but it could also be due to the recession that is going on here as well (when i know what they are-I will let you know)
Yesterday was quite an interesting day. Stephanie and I left the office at around 5:15 and she drove me home. I work in the capital city of Port Louisand its about a 45 minute to an hour commute to where I live-a region called Riviere Noire (black river) and in a town called Tamarin (Ta-ma-ran).
I moved into the boarding house where I am staying. It is run by a single woman who is not married and has no children. The house is pretty big by Mauritian standards so she rents it out to young people who are here for a short time for an internship or vacation. There are three others staying there right now-a french guy named nicolas and a french young couple whose names are Sarah and Thaimes (no idea how to spell it). Everyone was really nice.
We had pasta for dinner-its the go to dinner for Americans and Mauritians alike.
There are so many people here-and they are all in a hurry. I get my car today and I am a little nervous about navigating the roads. Everyone thinks its really funny that I don't know how to drive a stick shift-my coworker Alexandre says that if you don't know how to drive a stick then you don't know how to drive-I just told him I didnt care. More later...
Monday, September 1, 2008
some observations i have made:
-KFC is everywhere and there is only one mcdonalds in the whole country
-i have never seen such crazy drivers anywhere in my life-Europe included
-salad is eaten after a meal-i can never eat it because i am too full
-there is a mountain here that is referred to as "la pouce" (the thumb) because of obvious reasons
-people don't drink diet coke before lunch time-something i will have to get used to
-there is no pavement-i already disfigured the stiletto on my shoe a bit
-almost everyone has a maid-it only costs about $100 a month
Above are some things that I keep forgetting to mention in here so i thought i would go ahead and put it in.
Yesterday, we took the Boston Whaler out on the ocean and pulled up to a hotel where Prince William stayed along with a helicopter. I still can't get over the color of the water-it is so clear that you can see right to the bottom.
We left the beach house yesterday and went back to their principal home. It had the biggest backyard that I have ever seen and has one of those wrap around porches.
I woke up this morning and left for my first day of work. It turns out that I am the first ever person from an english speaking country to intern here. So there is a lot of pressure resting on my shoulders. I was assigned to the marketing department where I am working with 2 others-one french and one mauritian. My assignment is to help develop a customer survey for the companies clients-mostly in the hotel industry. It sounds interesting so far. If you are interested the company website is www.ats.mu. It was all a bit overwhelming this morning because I get the feeling that my direct boss Paul thought that I already knew what I was going to be doing when in fact I didnt. I think that he understood in the end though. I went to lunch with Stephanie to an outside cafe for paninis. She's going to take me to my boarding house this afternoon because she lives close by. She's going to show me where the Supermarkets are and other things of importance. I get my car tomorrow and I promise to write about my experience of driving on the other side of the road. I'm not sure if I will get internet where I am living but I definetly have it at work along with access to my email. Unfortuneately-I can't get facebook here at work but maybe its for the best-we shall see.
I have a local number here now-+2309857262 so if anybody gets a call from a strange number it might be me!
More later...
-KFC is everywhere and there is only one mcdonalds in the whole country
-i have never seen such crazy drivers anywhere in my life-Europe included
-salad is eaten after a meal-i can never eat it because i am too full
-there is a mountain here that is referred to as "la pouce" (the thumb) because of obvious reasons
-people don't drink diet coke before lunch time-something i will have to get used to
-there is no pavement-i already disfigured the stiletto on my shoe a bit
-almost everyone has a maid-it only costs about $100 a month
Above are some things that I keep forgetting to mention in here so i thought i would go ahead and put it in.
Yesterday, we took the Boston Whaler out on the ocean and pulled up to a hotel where Prince William stayed along with a helicopter. I still can't get over the color of the water-it is so clear that you can see right to the bottom.
We left the beach house yesterday and went back to their principal home. It had the biggest backyard that I have ever seen and has one of those wrap around porches.
I woke up this morning and left for my first day of work. It turns out that I am the first ever person from an english speaking country to intern here. So there is a lot of pressure resting on my shoulders. I was assigned to the marketing department where I am working with 2 others-one french and one mauritian. My assignment is to help develop a customer survey for the companies clients-mostly in the hotel industry. It sounds interesting so far. If you are interested the company website is www.ats.mu. It was all a bit overwhelming this morning because I get the feeling that my direct boss Paul thought that I already knew what I was going to be doing when in fact I didnt. I think that he understood in the end though. I went to lunch with Stephanie to an outside cafe for paninis. She's going to take me to my boarding house this afternoon because she lives close by. She's going to show me where the Supermarkets are and other things of importance. I get my car tomorrow and I promise to write about my experience of driving on the other side of the road. I'm not sure if I will get internet where I am living but I definetly have it at work along with access to my email. Unfortuneately-I can't get facebook here at work but maybe its for the best-we shall see.
I have a local number here now-+2309857262 so if anybody gets a call from a strange number it might be me!
More later...
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