I now wake up at 6: 45am. Go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, change quickly, get my lunch together, and am out the door by 7am to catch the 7:05am train. I take the train 2 stations into Paris. Grab the metro which is SOOOO much nicer than taking it around 8:15am like I used to. This 1 hour difference makes my life so much more peaceful in the morning. I get a seat on the metro vs. being crammed in with hundreds of other Parisian commuters… this is if I even get on the first train. So I get to the embassy around 7:35-40am. It opens at 7am but I have routinely been going to the gym at the embassy from 7: 40- 9am. It's great!!! I get a great work out, take a shower, and am 72 seconds away from my desk. I usually have a yoghurt and some petit déjeuner cookies and a bottle of water. It's so amazing!!! I'm going to keep it up!!!
So from 9-5 I process passport applications received in the mail and answer the phones in the morning. I get questions about passports, citizenship, legalizing documents, sin cards, retirement, and so many other things. By working in the consular section, we are there to answer questions to Canadian citizens living or visiting abroad. There is also a position called "astreint" which means that this person is in charge of all 'urgent' passports. This person doesn't answer the phone nor do they get envelopes to process… they just take care of the people who have had their passports lost and or stolen. Most of these cases are stolen passports… pick pocketers. Gosh… they get people alright. Myself and another girl Isabelle (another new girl) shared this position last week… it was incredibly quiet… but good for us because we were just learning. It is actually quite exciting because you're dealing with people, helping them catch their flights back home the next day. And most of the people are INCREDIBLY appreciative (got to love Canadians) and when you ask them to fill out the Client Feedback Form… they are always very generous! These feedback forms get sent to Ottawa to get added to our files… I've had some reaaallyyyyy positive ones!!! Yippee!!!!!
Anyways… that's work life… after 5pm:
- go for dinner/coffee with a friend from work
- run errands (bank, phone, groceries)
- come home and make dinner
- come home to do laundry
- grab my laptop and go to a burger shack to write emails
- watch some of the TV series my cousin uploaded to my computer
So this is what I'm doing now… But part of my 'becoming more proactive' about seeing and appreciating Paris means that I'm going to be putting on my walking shoes to explore a certain area, take a book to a cafe, seeing a specific monument, going to a museum, etc. Now after a long day at work, I just want to go home and kick off my shoes… but at least 2 nights a week… it wouldn't hurt.
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