learning and growing...little by little.

Posted by Analyse at 1:26 PM

Friday, September 10, 2004

It's been 3 years now (last 23 august to be exact) that I strive, struggle and enjoy all blows of life in a foreign land and the learning process is not yet over. The most difficult part - learning their language - has been a great challenge but it's just a part of the adventure. Learning it was difficult, capturing it was another story, knowing it and being able to understand and engage in a conversation was a turning point. Living in another country without learning their language is for me, a waste of time. You will never know, appreciate and enter into ones culture without this weapon.

One thing I learned and really appreciated just this morning, on my way to a meeting in Paris, is that I could actually pay the taxi with my visa debit/credit card. Isn't that great? It was my first time to try it so I'm quite overwhelmed. To be frank, I forgot to take some cash with me (I normally don't have any cash with me as I always pay with my card or check, yes France I guess is the #1 user of microchips which I think is convenient), and to be more frank, once I got my feet into the train station at Dijon, I also forgot to withdraw some cash. But hey, I left my place at 6am, and I tell you, I was still on my clouds. And worst, when I arrived at the train station in Paris, I again forgot to withdraw. Am I having an Alzheimer here?

So I asked the taxi driver to drop me off somewhere where I could take some cash. To my relief, he told me I could pay him with my visa. So I thought ok, but I still have to take some cash for my next taxi, and he again told me that I should reserve a taxi and precise beforehand that it will be a card payment. Yeah, alright, I finally understood it :) kulit ko!

Oh well, little things like that facilitate life. Good to know. Actually, for my last two arrivals here in France, twice I arrived without any euro in my pocket? And twice have I searched for an ATM machine inside the airport with the luggage, the jetlag and all...I swear, it wasn't funny. Little did I know that I could eventually pay with my card. Oh well, innocence is sweet, but ignorance kills!!!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice to be in your blog, i was in paris in 97, doing telecom training in alcatel near st. denis sa paris ka ba nakatira? medyo mataas nga lang ang standard of living diyan...

bye
techguy

Analyse said...

:) welcome to my blog!

nope, i live in dijon, some 250km south of paris but i go there paminsan minsan, if i have some meetings organized there (our main office is in paris)..

well, mataas talaga ang standard of living esp in paris. kaya nga ayaw kung tumire dun :)