Parislog 48
August 24, 2006

Yesterday, I made my second in a series of appointments that I must get through for the employment process. I went to the first appointment and it was as quick as a wink and I was done with a pile of papers in hand. I am now officially registered with the unemployment office even though I cannot get any money but in order to avail myself of the services at the employment office, I have to be registered with them. So it is done. The bonus is that I can now show a piece of paper at museums and cinemas and get a cheaper rate.

So I got on the phone for the second appointment and after a few initial questions the woman asked me what area I wanted to work in. I told her the fashion industry. She asked me if I had a degree. No. She asked me if I had work experience. No. Well, she couldn’t register me for that then. Huh? Why does she get to decide if I have value to an employer? She wanted to know what I had done and I told her that I had owned my own business as an interior designer and so she registered me as having been a director of a company. To me those are two different things but I didn’t argue because I just wanted my appointment. It is in 2 weeks. Nothing moves quickly here.

I went over to the Latin Quarter today to rue Mouffetard to return some books. This is one of those funky streets that everyone loves so much. It is in the middle of the university district and is normally swarming with the younger set but we haven’t yet quite reached the full swing of things after summer.

I got caught in a rainstorm and waited it out under the awning of a little tchotchke store. This is something very common to see in the rain. Every single place under which one can take refuge has people. It is actually kind of fun. You get to strike up a conversation or just wait it out in silent camaraderie. And the rain never seems to last that long. It comes down very heavily for say 15 minutes and then it is done. Time to move on.

After dropping off my book, I headed over to the Arènes de Lutèces, which I have been wanted to get to for some time now as it is an old Roman arena built around the time of Christ. It wasn’t rediscovered until 1869 when the area was being dug up for a bus company. It isn’t as impressive as some of the other Roman arenas in other places but there almost nothing left of the Roman period here and so it has the value of rarity. You can look through a grate and see an underground tunnel that one can only surmise about. Maybe it was where the animals came out into the arena to be slaughtered. It has a sense of the surrealistic to it. Not only can you see the old Parisian buildings around it but also some modern ones too. There was an elderly man playing petanque in the arena taking advantage of the nice flat playing field.