Albanian Videos

I've created a blog for Ferbent because he's interested in writing about Albania (his country) and especially to show Albanian videos. Albania is a pretty crazy place with completely mad people so it will be interesting to see what kind of videos he comes up with.

He showed me a video the other day of a guy setting himself on fire which was extremely disturbing. People just stood around watching, it was incredible. I didn't really want him to blog about that kind of thing but then again that is what goes on in Albania. It's pretty sad.

Of course there are lots of Albanian music and dancing videos on YouTube as well as videos with photos of the beautiful countryside which I find much more interesting.

This isn't the first time I've created a blog for F so I hope this time he'll post on a regular basis and maybe even earn a little cash for it.

Still Alive

No I haven't been hit by a bus or abducted by aliens I've just been suffering from a bout of blogger fatigue. I am in recovering so it shouldn't be long before I return to regular blogging. Wish me well!

Brand New Apartment

My apartment search has been quite difficult so far. It's not easy when you have a foreign income. It has been difficult finding apartments which are livable, let alone nice, and the couple which I have been interested in have gone to other people.

I'm starting to get a bit desperate so I've started looking with agencies. There are two negatives to this. Firstly, I'll have to pay agency fees and secondly I'll have to do une caution bancaire. Which means 12 months rent put aside by my bank in case I don't pay. I was hoping to avoid this by going direct with the landlord but it doesn't look like that is going to work out.

Finally yesterday I came across the perfect apartment. It's in a brand new complex in Boulogne. I remember commenting to Ferbent a few months ago when they were under construction that it would be nice to live there. They are owned by a company so they are quite strict where the dossier is concerned so fingers crossed they'll accept the documents I've provided them with. They seem happy enough, so long as I do the caution, of course.

The apartment is on the 5th floor, back from the main road. It's 40sqm, 1 bedroom, a kitchen in the corridor, and a large bathroom with a bath and space for a washing machine (albeit a small one). It has real timber floors and good quality fixtures. All that for less than €1000 per month. It's perfect! There are lots available but will they rent to me?

Torrent Sites

Even though I've always known what torrent sites are, I've never used them. I don't know why, I just never really got around to looking at them I guess. Seeing French TV is crap and I never get to see any of my favourite shows, I'm going to start downloading them.

I'm going to use the Pirate Bay to download torrents. I'm interested in show such as The Sopranos, The Amazing Race, Kath and Kim, Law and Order, and some other show which I'll never admit to, hehe. I know some of these are available on Canal+, such as The Sopranos, but now I can get the latest episodes before they air.

First of all I downloaded uTorrent. Then I protected my IP by downloading and setting up this blacklist in uTorrent. I'm not sure if I did that correctly but we'll see. Then I followed the tips for downloading torrents.

I'm currently downloading The Sopranos but it looks like it's going to take at least half an hour to complete so I don't know if I've done everything correctly.

I'd be interested to know who else views their favourite TV shows or movies this way and what software they use to do it. Let me know...

Funny Girls

I had to renew by gym membership today which resulted in a typically difficult conversation in French/English.

One girl asked my something about my husband which I didn't quite catch so I asked her to repeat it. So then she tried to tell me in English but I couldn't understand a word she said. Then the other receptionist, a complete bimbo who still can't remember my name after one year, tried to tell me in English but I couldn't understand her either, LOL.

So I'm like, just speak in French, but speak slowly, but they insisted on speaking a mixture of French and English which was impossible to understand. They're quite nice, funny girls but such bimbos it's unbelievable.

I wish French people would speak to me in French but slowly and clearly, I can understand everything then. It's nice that they want to speak English with me but it's really not necessary. I always reply in French anyway. How else am I supposed to learn?

So I am now €2000 poorer but I'm set for another year at the gym

Apartment Hunting in the 16th

I saw 3 apartments last week. One horrid one in Boulogne on one of the busiest avenues in the area. Then I saw 2 in the 16, both within walking distance to by gym, which is very important.

The first was in rue Chanez which is the same street as the gym. Maybe that is too close but it doesn't look like I"ll be getting it anyway. The apartment was marginally nicer than others I've seen, the kitchen was probably usable and the shower room was typically hideous but could possibly be cleaned up. At €938 for 45sqm it was a bargain. I would have taken it but I guess the owner didn't like my dossier. What a surprise.

Next was a 50sqm 1 bed at Mirabeau, also in the 16th for €1100 per month. It was very filthy but the owner was having it repainted and was going to replace the kitchen cupboards so it was going to be ok. It had beautiful oak floorboards and high ceilings and from the bathroom you could see the Eiffel Tower. She was happy with my dossier but she said she would probably rent the apart to the person there before me.

So I missed out on all 3 counts.

I've only got a month or so before I have to be out of here so things are starting to get tight. I"ll have to start looking in other areas now or maybe go with a real estate agent, even though they charge huge fees.

So far I've been using the Pap but the competition is making it tough, especially with my weak dossier. Fingers crossed for this Thursday.

Club Med Gym Palais Royal

Note to self, never go to the Club Med Gym at Palais Royal again. It's too gay! Really, it's not fun at all when all the guys are checking out each other rather than me! hehe

Other reasons not to go:

• it's filthy
• it's very small
• the machines are ancient
• there are not enough cardio machines
• they don't have the machines I like
• it's in the 1st and I don't live there
• it's filthy

I've been wanting to try out different gyms so I will know if I should be searching for an apartment in other areas. So far the gym in the 16th , where I normally go, is the best. I really don't want to move from there.

Experimenting

Just trying out something different as part of my marketing efforts. Feel free to ignore this post.

If you are interested in a free online bingo site then go ahead and check the link.

Embarrassed

There is a retoucherie near my house where I go quite often with Ferbent's clothes (he seems to be constantly buying jeans). So I kind of know the guy who works there and lets just say he, well, likes to chat to me. Ferbent is usually with me (retoucherie guy never says a word to Ferbent, hehe) so I don't mind but today I went alone to alter some of my clothes.

I intentionally went in the afternoon because I know the girl is usually working at that time. This was the case today so I quickly changed into my new jeans. The girl started serving someone else so I was just standing there waiting when retoucherie guy came back from lunch or wherever he was.

So I was hoping to avoid him but instead I had him fiddling around my legs pinning my jeans. I was so embarrassed I'm sure I went bright red. I know there wasn't really any reason to worry but I just hate the way he looks at me.

He went to Australia a couple of months ago and every time I see him he goes on about how wonderful Australia is and he asks me 1000s of questions. I'm happy to respond and practice my French a little but I do get a little shy when he asks me so many things.

I know he's harmless and in fact he is quite charming, in his own way, but I was still embarrassed with him touching me even if he barely touched me and it was completely professional.

At least he's friendly. No one else in the shops around here talks to me. Thankfully on Friday I'll just be picking up my things and I won't have to get changed knowing he's just behind the curtain.

Grim

My first day of apartment hunting was pretty grim. I saw 3 apartments for rent and they were all terrible.

The first apartment was in the 16th near metro Jasmin. I like this location because it's close to the gym where I go and I don't really want to change gyms. At €1150 per month for 45 sqm, I expected it to be in fairly good condition but that couldn't be further from the truth.

The apartment had old, mismatched carpet, was in desperate need of painting, had an old kitchen with no oven, and an extremely filthy bathroom with ancient fittings. Not to mention there was no sunlight and probably wouldn't be any during the day. The only good thing the landlord could say was that it looked over the wealthiest mansions in Paris. Yay, that's important.

Apartment number 2 was in the 12th near Bois de Vincennes. I don't want to live anywhere near there but was curious to see what you get for €840 per month. I got there quite early and there were already 30 people waiting to view it. I counted at least 60 people in line by the time the owner opened the apart for viewing. Pretty much all those in line were students. My budget is up to €1200 per month so I won't bother looking at any of these kinds of apartments again. It was 45 sqm with a disgusting kitchen and bathroom, again.

Apartment number 3 was in Boulogne, 55 sqm one bed, close to Parc des Princes. It was in a very secure, high class building, at the back of the block, away from the road. It was extremely quiet, which is very important, and on the 4th floor. When I walked in I was taken by how much light there was. Huge windows, white walls, and real oak flooring. The bedroom was the same. Unfortunately, the shower room was so filthy, with no light, no fan, no mirror, no cupboards, no shower screen, mould everywhere and the kitchen wasn't much better. It needed completely redoing. There is no way it could be cleaned up. It wasn't livable. At €1100 per month I expected more.

I really can't imagine who would rent any of those apartments. All the bathrooms and kitchens were unusable in my opinion. Even with some serious cleaning I wouldn't spend even one night in those places. Some people seemed pretty eager to rent. Just how desperate are they? We're talking about toilets which were black with dirt (or I hate to think what). I felt sick just looking at it.

I'm viewing another place tomorrow night in Boulogne. It's a great location, close to all the shops I regularly visit, and it's at the back of the building so it should be quiet.

Another possibility is a small one bed, 38 sqm, in Sevres Babylone for €1100. That is pretty much a dream location for me. It's on the ground floor but at the back with a small garden. The woman told me the kitchen and bathroom are in very good condition but who knows what that means. She's reluctant to rent to me because of my foreign income and she said she'd call me back to make a time to view the place. I think that means I'll never hear from her again.

First Trip to Nice

On the train trip back from Rome, we stopped off for a couple of days in Nice. It was my first time there and really enjoyed it. It wasn't has hot and sunny as I would have liked but it wasn't cold either.

The old city is a great place to explore although a lot of the shops are geared towards tourists. That isn't that surprising but I had hoped for a little more. The rest of the city is great to walk around too and of course the main event is walking up and down the Promenade des Anglais.

The restaurants and generally quite upmarket and while not cheap, the food was great. I had one of the most delicious pizzas there, much tastier than what I had in Rome days earlier.

The city is quite small, too small for me to live in I think, but it is on our list of possible places to live. Ferbent applied for a job at the Ibis were we stayed as they just happened to be looking for a maintenance man. I don't know if I want him to get it though.

It'll be much nicer once they finish all the work on the tramway. Maybe in 6 months it'll be all cleaned up with the new tram silently moving people around.

Rome Again

Ferbent's mother lives alone in Albania. Being Albanian means it's very difficult to travel as they need visas for pretty much every country. It took 6 months and about a billion documents for her to get an Australian tourist visa a couple of years ago to visit us in Australia.

However, it seems that having the Australian visa in her passport makes it easier for her to now get other visas. So she applied for a Schengen visa at the Italian Consulate and got it almost immediately. We thought it would take a least a couple of months so were caught off guard a little. The big problem being, where was she going to stay? We only have a studio apartment.

We quickly gave notice on out apartment but I've yet to start looking for a new place. I hate the thought of having to call people to look at overpriced apartments and then have them laugh at my flimsy dossier. The Particulier a Particulier comes out tomorrow so I really should start looking then.

Safura's visa stated she had to enter Italy before the end of August. So I booked flights for us to go to Rome with Vueling and we checked into one of the crappiest hotels I've ever stayed in, the Hotel Primavera. It was filthy with the most disgusting towels I've ever seen. At €90 for a triple room it was way overpriced. The old hag working there refused to return my passport until I paid extra for the air conditioning which had already been included in the price. Only after I yelled at her did she return it. What a cow. I must admit the location was fantastic though. Right next to Piazza Navona and a short walk to the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, The Vatican, and Trastevere.

Ferbent and I spent one night in Rome and then he went to Bari to pick up Safura. Her ferry had been cancelled so she got a later one and different arrive until 10pm. They then got a lift back to Rome and knocked on my room door at 5am, exhausted. The stupid hotel doesn't have 24hr reception so they were stuck outside for a while ringing the bell until they got the owner out of bed. He was less than impressed, not surprisingly. If the 2 new mobile phones had arrived which I had ordered 3 weeks earlier then we wouldn't have had that problem. That'll teach me to buy something from a French website.

The 3 of us then did the hop on hop off bus tour and showed Safura around Rome. I think that was my 5th trip to Rome which is really more than enough. I do love the city but I've seen everything now. I couldn't get over how many tourists were around, especially those in groups. I was really disappointed with the food. I always remember the food in Rome being great. This time it was mediocre at best. It was cheap though. Around €5 for a pizza margharita and sometimes as low as €3.

After a few days we got a slow, crappy train to Nice and I was happy to be out of dirty, heavily polluted Rome. Ok, the pollution was probably due to the numerous fires surrounding the city but anyway...

Stuttgart

I only chose to go to Stuttgart because I got a really cheap ticket. I wanted to go to Germany but was hoping to go to Munich or Berlin but I couldn't resist the €20 ticket on the TGV.

I thought Stuttgart was going to be a dull, grey, industrial city - seeing it's the home of Mercedes and Porsche and other big businesses. It's funny how perceptions can be so different from reality. Stuttgart is a really pretty city and so green. It's actually one of the greenest cities in Europe.

We stayed at an Ibis hotel, a 20 minute walk from the centre. It's only 2 stops on the very efficient tram so that was a perfect place to stay.

The public transport in Stuttgart is not only efficient but very, very clean and with huge seats. Not at all like the Paris metro where everyone is squashed into little seats in filthy trains. It was expensive though, more expensive than Paris. However, I only paid once. After that I just looked for the inspectors before getting on! Naughty I know...

What is there to do in Stuttgart? In order of importance:

1. Eat berliners.
2. Eat creamy cakes.
3. Sit in the beautiful parks.
4. Sit in cafes.
5. Go to the Mercedes Museum.

In other words, it's a great place to sit around, relax, and just generally take it easy. My kind of holiday!

I'd definitely recommend doing the city tour when you first get there. You get to see all the main sites plus go up the 150 storey television tower which gives great views over the region.  You can also get good views of the city from the tower at the Hauptbahnhof. It's free to go up and you can see the vineyards which surround the city and all the pretty houses. No nasty highrise apartments anywhere!

Four days was too much to stay in Stuttgart so we did a day trip to Tubingen, one hour and €20 on the train. What a gorgeous little town! Very pretty half timbered houses, beautiful squares and parks and a castle which looks over the town. Well worth a visit.

Looking for a New Apartment

I gave notice on my apartment the other day, so we have 3 months to find something new. Something bigger, in a better location, and for less money! Well maybe not for less money.

Ferbent's mother is coming to live with us for a while. She'll be here next month and will stay for 3 to 6 months. So we're looking for a large one bedroom although a 2 bedroom would be ideal. I'm not sure if the budget will stretch that far though.

I've already seen a couple of 50sqm apartments in Boulogne for under €1000 per month which is a good sign. One has just been renovated and the other is brand new, which is very appealing. I'm not sure I want to stay in Boulogne though. I'd much rather be in Paris.

Ferbent is talking about moving to the suburbs, like on the train line!!! No way! It's bad enough being in Boulogne but at least we're on the metro here so it's not so bad, it doesn't really feel like the suburbs. Plus we are really close to Bois de Boulogne which is really nice.

Other discussion have involved moving to Germany and recently moving to Cyprus. Ferbent works in hotellerie so he could easily get a job in Cyprus and the rents are super cheap but really, I can't see myself in a small city on a remote island (it'd almost be like being trapped in Perth again). It would be ok if I could easily travel from there but going anywhere would mean flying (which I don't like) and it's expensive to fly anywhere. So I think that option's out.

Still we might take a quick trip to Cyprus to see what it's like. We both love Greek food and the Greek way of life but I think it might be too touristy for us. I found an all inclusive holiday for €495 each for 7 nights in early September so I might book that.

All of Paris is on holiday at the moment so obviously it's not a good time to be apartment hunting. I'll probably wait until next month to start my search.

Why is Germany so Cheap?

So on my recent trip to Strasbourg, I made a quick stop over the border to the small German town of Kehl. I was quite surprised to see that the products on sale there were significantly cheaper than in France. I mean there were huge differences in prices.

I just don't understand how this is possible. I noticed it when we were in Cologne earlier this year too. Bread, sandwiches, drinks, toiletries, all at huge discounts as soon as you cross the border. It's not like the salary is lower in Germany, if anything it's higher. So why do they get products so cheap? I can only imagine it's due to lower taxes.

Some examples of the price differences:

Body Spray: France €4.25 | Germany €2.99
Shampoo: France €3.40 | Germany €1.99
Hair Dye: France €11.95 | Germany €7.95
Body Wash: France €2.40 | Germany €1.59

Cake: France €3-4 | Germany €1.50-2.50 (and for 3 times the size).
Berliner (donut): France €1.50 | Germany €0.50 (and 3 times the size).

So why am I living in this super expensive city, this super expensive country?

Strasbourg

My second trip on the TGV Est was to Strasbourg in the east of France, on the German border. I wasn't expecting too much because I thought it was going to be a very small city with not much on offer but actually that is not the case.

First surprise is that it's a really beautiful city. The historical centre is on a kind of island surrounded by canals. The typical houses are what they call half-timbered houses which can be seen everywhere and they centre around the huge pink sandstone cathedral.

There are loads of bars, cafes, and restaurants serving local and international food. There are a number of local beers and wines worth trying. I really enjoyed the Alsacian rosé wines I tried. The restaurants were quite touristy but the quality was fairly good and the prices reasonable.

The people were very friendly, not at all like your stereotypical French! They were for the most part happy to speak English with us and almost everyone spoke German to the thousands of German tourists who were visiting.

Cars are generally not allowed in the centre so the canal boat ride was the only tour on offer. The boat meanders around the canals giving great views of the pretty houses and gardens and well as the modern European Parliament and related buildings. The tour was well worth it, even if I did get a little sunburnt.

One thing to watch out for with all the canals around is giant rats. I was quite surprised to see one peacefully swimming along. It looked like a seal, it was that big. I'd heard about these giant rats in the Canal St Martin but was quite shocked when I actually saw one for myself. Someone told me the name of this common rodent but I didn't quite catch it so I don't know what it is called in English.

What I didn't realise is how close Strasbourg is to the German border. It's only 3 or 4 kilometres away. Ferbent and I love to walk so we walked over to the border. There wasn't much to see on the way there because you have to go through the port and an industrial area but it was nice when we finally got to the border, the Rhine River. There are parks on both sides of the river and we noted how much cleaner and better maintained the German side was. Typical!

So we spent a few hours in Kehl, the German town on the border. There were very pretty houses there, really well taken care of. Much nicer than the blocks of apartments on the other side of the river. We had a very cheap lunch and then couldn't resist buying some groceries because everything was like 20% to 30% cheaper there. This is the second time I've visited Germany and then second time I've wondered why I'm not living somewhere which has a lower cost of living and higher salary ie. Germany. Of course, I don't speak German but anyway...

So now I'm really looking forward to my next trip which is to Stuttgart.

You can see my photos of Strasbourg on Flickr.

Setting Up CFMail in Coldfusion

If you want to send email using the CFMAIL tag in a Coldfusion page then you need to set up SMTP server details.

The CFMAIL tag sends an email whenever the page is displayed and is often used in a custom error page. So an email is sent to the webmaster to say that an error occurred as well as the error details. This is how I use CFMAIL.

To set up the SMTP details, login to the Coldfusion Administrator then go to:

Server Settings > Mail

Mail Server: mail.securitytransfer.com.au [for example]

Submit Changes

coldfusion Mappings | Footer | CFInclude

So once you have the data source set up in the Coldfusion Administrator, you'll need to set up any mappings which may be required if you use CFINCLUDE tags.

I use CFINCLUDE to include a footer at the bottom of every page of the site.

To set up a mapping, login to the Coldfusion Administrator and then go to:

Server Settings > Mappings

Logical Path: /Templates
Directory Path: C:\CFusionMX7\wwwroot\[website]\Templates 

Add Mapping

Connecting Coldfusion to an AS400

Just so I don't forget next time my computer dies, here is a record of how to set up Coldfusion to connect to an AS400 or iSeries database.

Login to Coldfusion Administrator

http://127.0.0.1:8500/CFIDE/administrator/index.cfm

Password: *********

Data and Services > Data Sources:

Data Source Name: anyName

Driver: other

CF Data Source Name: anyName

JDBC URL: jdbc:as400://[database ip address]/

Driver Class: com.ibm.as400.access.AS400JDBCDriver

Username: username

Password: ********

Save the jt400.jar driver in the Coldfusion directory:

C:/CFusionMX7/lib/jt400.jar

Add this class path to Coldfusion:

Server Settings > Java and JVM

Coldfusion Class Path:

C:/CFusionMX7/lib/jt400.jar

Submit Changes

Restart the Coldfusion service:

Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services

Verify the class path:

Server Settings > Settings Summary

Check the last entry in CF Server Java Class Path

Verify the connection

Luxembourg

Luxembourg is only 2 hours from Paris with the new TGV Est so it was a relaxing trip when I went there on the weekend with Ferbent. We stayed at the new Novotel hotel which was great. I always try to stay in new hotels where possible as they are guaranteed to be clean and at €85 per night with breakfast included, I was really happy with it.

I was surprised that there were so many tourists around, especially from Greece it seemed. There were also lots of French, American, English, and Scandinavians. The usual suspects I guess.

What I loved most about Luxembourg is how everyone speaks each others language. So you can walk into a shop and start speaking French and then they'll switch to German or English or Portuguese or whatever language is required and they're happy to speak your language, not like in some other countries, ie. France.

I think everyone speaks English, French, German and Luxembourgish plus their own language if they are not originally from Luxembourg, as is the case with 50% of the population. Most seem to be of Portuguese or Italian origin.

There's not really much to do in Luxembourg. There are loads of cafes, restaurants, and beautiful parks. So all there is to do is sit around drinking and eating. That's my kind of holiday really. The shops were of no interest so we just took it easy, walking around the old city, and relaxing.

We spent 3 nights in Luxembourg which I'd say was too much. I was pretty bored towards the end and was happy to be returning home to Paris. I won't be going back but it was worth a quick visit.

View my photos of Luxembourg.