had to say my first goodbye last night.. to my brother.. for most people i'll be leaving for 11 months, but that wasn't enough for him! he had to leave a month before me to make it a full year without seeing me!
so anyway we partied one last time at cecile's last night and it was fun.. (that dog knows how to party!)
i'll miss you bro!
Everyone knows about that "strikes" culture we have in france; any time of the year, if there's not someone on strike, you're probably in the wrong country!
But what people may not be aware of is that we're trained for it from school!.. every year students find a good new reason to go out and yell in the streets, occupy universities.. and if there can be some confrontation with the police, then comes the real fun: may 68 reenactment!
'Cause that's what it's all about: no matter what the new topic is, each year, as sunny spring days come, comes the ritual time of going out and fighting with the police to celebrate holy may 68.. americans have their spring break, we have our spring strikes!
Oh i'm not blaming! I did my share as a student! high school, university, i did them all! can't even remember what i was so eagerly fighting for or against (some type new youngsters contract probably, the CPE of the time) but at least i was happy to miss some classes and sit in the sun instead.. and what good is school if doesn't train you for your future work life anyway!
Not like there was any.. but this time i ordered my plane ticket to my first destination: Berlin. (I know i said "no plane", but well.. that should start after berlin!)
Anyhow, I'll take off with EasyJet on tuesday morning, april 11th, at 6:45 am!.. i must get used to low budget life, which explains the early flight.. and since there are no trains at that time, i already booked a night on the appartment floor of my dear friend and colleague Bertrand.. thanks mate! :-)
Got it!
In the end it was more scary than painful..
I used visatorussia.com to get my invitation (the cheapest one i could find). $30 for the invitation letter and $20 for the detailed bullshit program of what i'll be doing there each and every day for a month.. all received by fax
Just so you don't get as confused as i was: http://visatorussia.com/, http://waytorussia.net/ and http://www.intelservice.ru/ are all one single agency!
I also had to call VISA (the credit cards.. tel: 01 41 85 88 81) for them to send me an insurance certificate.
A photo and the offcial form that i downloaded off http://www.action-visas.com/
54€ to the embassy and a week later (which is this morning) i got my one month visa..
In the process you also get to visit the beautiful ambassy of russia in paris, which pretty much resembles a huge concrete bunker where people welcome you with a warmth approaching siberian temperatures.
In sharp contrast, the embassy of mongolia is nice suburban pavilion. No one is standing in line two hours before it opens. You just ring the bell like when you're going to your friend's house. Basic but nice decoration, carpets and real wood furniture and they even smile! "you don't have your insurance certificate with you? it's allright, you'll bring it along when you come retrieve your visa!"
Only in the end i didn't get the visa.. it's only valid for 3 months from the date of issue so i should just wait a little and get it just before i leave..
Posts
All Comments
