Long Day

Wednesday morning I woke up to the sound of rain. Again.
On the way to the metro in my hoodless raincoat, I stared at my soaking feet and swore that if I went another day without seeing the sun I was leaving Paris and never coming back. I got to the office and I must have looked even worse than I thought because the first thing my boss did when she saw me was hand me a hairdryer. I laughed but thanked her and began to dry off and cheer up.

Once presentable, I got to work. Sitting down at the conference table that has become my desk, I opened the folder of files that need to be translated into English. There's a form, some contracts, proposals, an invoice, as well as my favorite, the text to be put on the company's website. This is my favorite because it involves the most creativity; I can rephrase things, reconstruct sentences, and find just the right word each time. Just as long as I still convey the main points: NLB Conseil (The company I'm working for) is a consulting company for the recruitment and development of executives and leaders. It's a head hunting business. The founder (my boss, Nathalie Lambert) is well educated, successful, extremely kind, and one of the most persuasive woman I've ever met. Which is good, since all these qualities are very important to her work. Her job is, in essence, to know people, or at least to find people and get to know them. She goes out to lunch with CEOs or DRHs and is able to say that she's working, even if they don't talk about work as much as they do dessert or an after-meal cheeseplate. And she has to know tons of people. That's where I come in. And Marion, the french intern. We spend our time looking up names, qualifications, phone numbers, and the like from online, in newspapers, in alumni books, or anywhere we can find information. Then we plug our research into the database. It's tedious work, frustrating at times (I have trouble telling if a French name is a man or a woman), but it is satisfying to look back at that huge list of names and positions.


This Wednesday, I finished my work early. I read a little bit of the newspaper without scanning for names, and left the office just before five. My prayers had been answered: IL FAISAIT BEAU! (that means it was sunny) While on my way back to my host family's appartment I called Sadie and made plans to meet her in the Jardin Luxembourg so we could enjoy the nice weather. She and Heydi waited up for me near their work so we could do some shopping, but as it got later they each had to leave to make it to their families' dinners on time. I knew my family would leave food out for me even if I was late but I like eating with them so I found the nearest metro station. To my surprise the RER wasn't running, and it wouldn't be until 2100 (not the year the time). I had two hours to kill so I decided I would just start walking. Jardin Luxembourg is on rue Saint Michel, near Notre Dame. That means it's pretty much the center of downtown Paris. I'm staying in the 15th. Four miles.I stayed along the Seine so I wouldn't get lost and so I'd at least have a view. It was actually very pleasant. I got to my metro stop just around nine. Perfect. It had taken me just as long as it would have if I'd waited, and now I knew a whole lot more of the city. I was surprised to see that my host family was just about to start dinner. So French! I went to bed well fed and exhausted, only to realize the next morning that I could have taken the bus.