Fluctuat Nec Mergitur

“Tossed by the waves, but does not sink”

That’s the rough translation of the motto of Paris. On a historical level, the city slogan bares a lot of meanings. Its roots go back to the Roman times when the river Seine was home to prosperous commerce and trade that took place in the heart of the French capital. On a personal level, the significance goes way deeper that I would ever be able to communicate through a blog post.

It’s been three weeks since I have translated my thoughts into digital ink to be displayed for the world wide web to access, three weeks. Losing such a vital aspect of myself is no cup of tea, and attempting to share the pain with the hope of an accurate depiction is unjust. They say you never truly appreciate something until you lose it, and in many cases that is spot on, but not this time around. They also say that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger…Well, we’ll just have to hope that this is true, because if it’s not, than the logic of this world has completely lost me.

Depression, loneliness, fear, and restlessness, are nothing but words that we human beings have invented as part of a language that is used to make others understand our situation. The idea is to be able to communicate to another human-being how you feel, and what it’s like. If you pause to think about it for second, you’d instantaneously realize that the actual thought of transporting feelings via a combination of predefined sounds is absurd. If we don’t have a clue how feelings work, how on Earth do we expect others to share them with us? We are so limited by our language, that we have given up on properly communicating, and are settling for the general categorization of situations.

When you wake up every morning with a physical pain in your chest, no one feels it with you. When you feel you have no motivation to get up and join the evolutionary chain of production, no one stays back with you. When you get sudden attacks of intensive sadness out of the blue, there’s no one to blame, nor witnesses to confirm. Whatever you do, whatever happens to you, no one will ever come close to re-living the same experience. So what do we do, as animals looking to become the fittest for survival? We use a stock of words available for free, group them together, and toss them to our closest people. And what do they do? Well, their situation isn’t an easy one. On the one hand, they clearly understand that it is something they would’nt want to experience. On the other, they realize that it’s an experience they need to share. So the easy way out, is to approach it from a personal point of view, and compare it with previous experiences that were very similar. While that sounds like the logical solution, no one has the slightest of clues as to how each person has his or her own feelings. But we are so narrow-minded and focused on moving on, that we settle for the least.

To say that the past few weeks have been the most difficult of my life would be a simple way of describing a complicated era. When you’re sick, you do everything you can to improve. When you’re REALLY sick, and there’s nothing that can be done, you sit back and closely follow the progress until you’re up and running again. In which case, the slightest of improvements works as a catalyst to elongate the patience, which in turn is required for the process to be complete.

In my current situation, none of the above apply. You think you feel better one day, only to find out a little later that you’re worthless. You start enjoying life, only to wake up with physical and mental pains enough to end the day before it starts. You witness a bit of improvement, but enough damage afterwards to take you to a worse point than when you started. There’s no pattern, and there’s no use looking for one. You don’t know how long it’ll last, nor what it is you can do to help. You know nothing, and you’re only as good as what you know.

Despite the seemingly impossible obstacle, I’ve come out a lottery-winner with a family’s solid backing, and friends to make the happiest of people seriously jealous. Very few people on this planet have what I have, and it’s times like this when you realize that even though you’re not as strong as you had previously taken for granted, you have the people to get you through it. It’s not the end of the world, not even close, and while my friends and family are around, I’m not planning on giving up anytime soon.

I came to Paris to live a dream, and I might have bitten off more than I can chew. Nevertheless, it is here, in Paris, that I have reached a record low point, but it is also here, in Paris, where I will pick myself up, and experience the bonheur. This city will be the transition, the pivotal point the swings all the way down, only to come back up again – and to a higher point than before. It’s the stage where the act will take place, and where the performance will be boosted by the crowd. In a way, I’m in a unique situation that will allow me to experience an authentic, intensive, and rewarding Paris. It is a crucial part of my life, and where else can you present such an exceptional spectacle than the second city of love?

I’m tossed, bullied and constantly threatened by the waves, that much is true. But one thing’s for sure, and it’s that my boat will not sink.

Paris The Small City

When you think of Paris, one of the first things that comes to mind is  “metropolitan area”. No one doubts the size of the French capital, it’s got to be one of the biggest cities in Europe, and probably one of the biggest cities in the entire world.

Surprisingly, though, if you take into consideration the entire urban area surrounding the city, the total population is around 10 million habitants. That would not even place it in the top 20 cities world-wide. Moreover, if you look count what is the “city” without the suburbs, then the total population is a mare 2.1 million! That means there are more people in my part of Cairo, the all of main Paris combined. Shocking, huh?

When people refer to the city Paris, they tend to be talking about the 20 arrondissements:

That cover the entire area inside the surrounding ring road, also known as the peripherique.

Despite it’s relatively small size and belittled population, the more time you spend here, the bigger it seems. I went out for a walk earlier today, and started heading in different directions in an attempt to cover new areas that I hadn’t previously visited. I’ve been thinking about this topic recently, and today’s walk made me confirm my theory: Paris seems like a gigantic city because practically EVERYWHERE you go, you’ll find shops, restaurants, bars, supermarkets, bus stops, metro stations, benches with people sitting on them, creperies, fast food chains, and the list goes on. That’s what makes this place so special, anywhere you chose to go, you’re in for an adventure, you will be embarking on a journey to a beautiful lively area with endless possibilities.

I’ve lived my whole life in Cairo, and have become intolerant to small cities and towns. In fact, any place with less than a million habitants is too small for me to spend a long time at. But that is always based on the assumption that the interesting part is only a small portion of the overall size of the city. Cairo, for me, is the best city in the world, but the majority of the city does not offer anything of special interest to any visitor. But since it’s gigantic, there are several areas one can visit.

Madrid is another example. With a population around 5 million, the Spanish capital seems a lot smaller than Paris, even though it’s twice its size. That’s because, as beautiful as it may be, the area where you can spend time in Madrid are probably in the region of 30% of the overall size of the city (a percentage that I would say is considerably high). Otherwise you’re in residential areas, boring neighborhoods, quiet streets, etc.

Here’s the map of Madrid with the same om level and image size of that of Paris. Even though with Paris we could see the entire city and beyond, with Madrid, there’s a significant portion that you can’t see at all.

Paris, on the other hand, is completely different. I would say that based on my short time here, close to 90% of the area inside the peripherique would be considered as nice areas to walk around, eat, have a drink, or just sit on a bench and observe. It’s rare to come across areas that don’t offer anything of interest. In fact, that is yet to happen to me (bare in mind, however, that nothing would scare me here. If anything, people might be scared of me – I’m the young Arab male).

When you take a path, a part of you feels guilty for leaving out the other, because it’s at least as beautiful as the current one. You never feel comfortable enough to claim that you know a certain area, because there’s got to be a few blocks knocked off your radar, and that would potentially mean intriguing hotspots that are left undiscovered.

That’s the beauty of this place. That’s the real magic of Paris.

French TV: First Impression

I have a nice setup in my room here in Paris. My roommate Saam is away for a couple of weeks, so I’ve taken the router into my room and have everything connected here.

So first of all, there’s the N9uf ADSL router bringing high-speed internet. Then I have 3 ethernet cables coming out of it: one for the Mac Mini (I can do wifi, but it’s a lot faster with the cable, when this should NOT be the case), another for the Iomega multimedia HD hard drive (1 TB), where I have all of the entertainment and backup stored (whenever I download anything, I move it to the hard disk via the network), and finally, the TV box provided by N9uf that brings a whole range of channels.

The TV box is connected to my 22″ LCD via an HDMI cable, because, believe it or not, there are a number of channels that are broadcasted in HD! Then I have regular speakers connected via a Y cable to get the sound out of the computer and the TV box at the same time.

So if you haven’t noticed, I’m very excited about the setup, but I’m equally excited about getting to now French TV. I’ve been flipping through the channels lately, and I’m generally not a TV guy at all, so everything to me seems to be happening really fast, and nothing really gets my attention. But for the sake of learning the language, I try to follow the programs and pick up on the tone of voice and context.

From what I’ve seen, the French seem to really enjoy game shows, I’ve seen a dozen already! That’s good because a lot of them are based on general knowledge questions. So not only do I get to learn the language, but I also get to learn about interesting facts of life.

LOTS of commercials, or as they introduce them, PUB. I’ve noticed many of the commercials are selling cream and beauty products, what’s up with that? And even though they stuff quite a number of commercials repeatedly, they announce them right before starting, and right after they’re over.

I’ve personally been enjoying the “boring” documentaries. Programs talking about “Seafood in Japan”, or “Life in Brazil” are ideal for me. Firstly, they seem to be targeting the elders, because they talk rather slow and the shots are all calm, so it allows me to follow. Secondly, I find these kind of topics a lot more interesting than all the other junk on TV. Most importantly, you can join in half way through the documentary and not worry too much, as oppose to your average daily program that has you completely lost if you’re not paying attention from the first minute.

It’s rather gloomy outside, so today might be a good chance for me to take the learning “inside”.

Exiting the Metrpolitain

There’s a lot of things that can be said about living in Paris, and there are quite a few people that have illustrated the glamor of this city over the years. There’s also no doubt that the metro is vital aspect in the Parisian culture. Entering the underground is accessing a world of its own, with its history and charm. That one thing I noticed recently, however, is that the best part of the metro is not going in, it’s actually exiting the Metropolitain.

It’s something that’s very difficult to describe. And no matter how good someone is at any given language, I would like to think that coming out of the metro in Paris is something that can only be lived and experienced. It’s this amazing rush that seems to comes out of nowhere and hits you: you’re in Paris, and this is beautiful. You’re probably still daydreaming about whatever it is you starting thinking about when you entered (and in many cases, triggered by something you’ve seen during your travel), but the moment your back at the street, it all just disappears to make way for a much bigger sensation.

The architecture of the buildings, the lights of the shops, the cafes with terraces, the people walking by….it is all condensed in an instant, and it’s over-whelming. It’s what makes this city enchanting, charming, and attractive in every way. It’s something that only the people here could understand, and the people on the outside are missing out on. It’s magical and could make your day.

Perhaps it’s one of those things that you get used to, or lose interest in over time, but I feel warm knowing that everyone who’s passed through the second city of love, has shared this experience with me.

Mes Que Un Club

Tonight was a crazy night. Those of you who follow the beautiful game will understand exactly what I mean. In the return leg of the semi final of the Champions League, FC Barcelona had traveled to London and managed to score a last-gasp goal to book their place in the final against Manchester United in Rome. There’s so much to talk about, it’s ridiculous, but I guess it’s better to leave that for another time.

The fun part of it, for a neutral like myself that doesn’t really support either team, was that I was surrounded by a large group of Catalans at a bar in Mouffetard. It’s always a lot of fun to be amidst a group of Catalan-speaking football fanatics. And with the way the match ended, the entire bar and neighborhood went WILD. Even though the main idea of living in a city like Paris is to meet and get to know Parisians, it’s still rather entertaining to spend time with a group of people like that. After the game, we all went to another nearby bar for some drinks before I headed back home.

Another striking feature of tonight was getting to know a new area of Paris: Mouffetard and Place Monge – REALLY cool area. There are cobble-stoned narrow streets with bars and restaurant left and right. More importantly, and rather surprisingly, they are (relatively) cheap, which in turn draws a lot of the university crowd, making it an even more interesting area. It’s the kind of zone that surprises you, because you realize what this city is truly capable of. There’s so much to live here, it’s over-whelming.

In an earlier post, I talked about Bip Bip Pizza, who earned my acknowledgment as the best creperie in town. While I stand by my word, I must say that he’s facing tough competition from AUP’TIT GREC. This place is famous and has people lining up to pick up crepes. Don’t bother with the sweet crepes, they’re just as good as in most other places. What makes this place special, are the salee crepes, offering various ingredients including Feta cheese, Mozzarella, and mushrooms. All crepes come accompanied by free onions, tomatoes and lettuce, converting the crepe into a full meal. To top it all off, they’re rather reasonably prices, so it’s definitely something you wouldn’t want to miss.

So I think everyone should visit the aera at one point, and pick up a egg and cheeses crepe, for example, from AUP’TIT Grec. To get there, just catch line 9 to Place Monge, walk one block down until you cross Rue du Mouffetard. Enjoy!

The Success Story Of Fine’s Beak

Remember Fine’s Beak? I told you it was the best place in Paris to get a Grec/Doner Kebab in this post. I just got back from there after having a very interesting conversation with the co-founder El Hady. That, and an incredibly awesome chicken kebab marinated in curry and eaten alongside fries dipped in “Andalouse” sauce for 5.90 Euros – to die for.

I’d say I probably pop in about twice to three times a week to check out what Khalil and my fellow immigrants are up to, and to get a quality and cheap meal at the same time. And since I tend to go at night, I usually hang out with Khalil, but today I went a little earlier and shared by authentic and tasty experience with Khalil’s partner, El Hady. I had seen him before, but we’ve never really “broken the ice” or bonded until this afternoon.

Like many Arabs, Tunisians are very fond of Egyptians, and believe in the Egyptian dream. What can you expect? If you don’t live in Egypt, it’s a lot easier to idealize what it means to be Egyptian, and see it as the Romans used to see Rome. Obviously, when you spend time there, you realize that the Egyptian government has done nothing but completely destroyed the country and has left it in ruins. Politics aside, El Hady was happy to share with me his traveling experiences when he ventured a road trip (via microbuses and public transportation) from Tunis, capital of Tunisia, to Fayoum, Egypt. His final destination wasn’t precisely Fayoum, it’s just that it was the last stop before we started heading back. The total time he spent in Egypt was about 15 days, and he had nothing but good memories in the land of the Pyramids.

He told me stories about how every single person he came across helped him out. People would give him directions, exchange phone numbers, and call him later to make sure he arrived safely. Not to mention that he enjoyed some homemade food via the numerous invites that he received from random people. Of course a taxi tried to rip him off at one point, but even then a fellow passenger intervened and saved him. It’s very refreshing when you hear such stories from others who have been to Egypt. It makes me realize Egypt’s importance in the Arab world, and it also makes me realize how much potential we have, in contrast to our current state.

So El Hady and Khalil have opened Fine’s Beak about 10 months ago (which is why it doesn’t appear on Google Maps if you go on street view, hence not being able to post a picture of it, but I will try to get one for you all soon). Basically, they are open every single day from 10am till about 2am. What happens is that El Hady opens the place in the morning, and stays until about 6 or 6:30 in the evening, which is when Khalil comes to take over, and they might overlap for a few minutes before the shift is handed over. Khalil then works until shutting at around 2 am. Hard workers. The only time of the week when they close is Friday morning, for the prayer, for about 1.5hours.

Each one is granted about 25 days of holiday a year, during which case the other has to work both shifts. And we complain that the weekend ends too fast.

It is kind of sad that they don’t get to enjoy Paris that much, and they definitely don’t have the ability to travel around. But at the same time, this is like the land of opportunity for them. And apparently the business is going well (their delicious taste is becoming a trademark!).

I can’t wait to go back next, but I’ve been trying to maintain myself to avoid spending too much on the long term, but more importantly, to avoid the slightest of chances that I lose my strong passion towards them if I visit too often.

The Dark Side Of Freelancing

Today won’t go down as one of my best in my stay in the second Capital of Love; some problems with the freelance work from Cairo, but oh well. Like they say here, c’est la vie. That’s the general problem when you’re working as a freelancer: the client.

You have to freedom to work from anywhere in the world, there are very little costs associated with your work, you work whenever you want to…and the list goes on. But unfortunately, like we say in Egypt “the sweetness is never complete”, there always has to be a downside, and that is precisely what I had gone through today. Maybe I should try to avoid Egyptian clients, and stick to the Europeans, who are much more organized and generally pay more. But then again, it would be nice to know that I would be helping the design industry in Egypt somehow.

To rub salt in the wound, Arsene Wenger proved that his time at Arsenal desperately needs to come to an end with a humiliating defeat at home against Manchester United in the 2nd leg of the semi-final of the Champions League. I am now convinced that he doesn’t really care about the club having any success or winning trophies, all he cares about is to prove to the rest of the world that he is a genius because he can get players of no value and still make big achievements. He’s obviously a failure because ever since he took on that school of thought four years ago, he has not won a single trophy – nothing. I can go on forever complaining about his philosophy, but I should leave it for some other time.

What makes a loss feel even worse is not having the people around to share your disappointment with. Football isn’t that important anyway, but I think little things that usually upset me tend to have a more noticeable effect here in Paris since I’m not surrounded by my usual listeners (and phone calls are not the same).

On a more positive note, I’ve kicked off some other projects that seem to be very promising. I’ll post about them at a later date. But it’s comforting to know that I will be working with professional people, and the income should come in handy around here.

Would I give up freelancing for a high-paying and secure 9-5 job? If I can help it, I would never give it up. And luckily, I think I’m in the field where I do actually have a say, and with the demand in Europe creating an attractive market, I hope to be able to have my freelancing cover for my monthly expenses. We’ll have to wait and see how things develop, but I, as I tend to be, am pretty optimistic.

World Record: 0 Euros Spent

Yesterday was one of the “stay in” days. I had a lot of work to do, and got less than half done, but it’s still progress. I’m starting to get into the flow of things, as far as my freelance work is concerned. The fact that my window overlooks the street and lets in a lot of sunlight has helped me stay at home, work, while still enjoying the beautiful sunshine. Another advantage of not going out is saving cash monies.

In fact, I have matched the world record of 0 Euros spent in the ENTIRE day. Nothing spent on food, drinks, bread, ridiculous and useless objects you buy on a daily basis – nothing. Thus, I’m extremely proud of this achievement, and will reward myself by spending a lot of money in the near future. Seriously, though, it’s good to settle in with home-made food, fill the fridge properly (because a lot of the grocery shopping that I had previously done was rather useless), and be able to get on with what you need to do. At the same time, I’ll have more freedom to spend when I next have the opportunity.

Today I spent 60 Euros at InterMarche on groceries (don’t worry – it was money well spent). I actually came across a ready-made Mussaka3a! It’s basically almost cooked, all you need to do is throw in the oven for a couple of minutes. While I’d like to think I’ve got this whole living-alone thing down, I’ve sadly discovered that I am far from independent. In fact, I might just be a bit of a disaster.

So here I am all excited to eat the Mussaka3a, and I throw it – as is – into the over. A couple of minutes later, I find that its plastic (yes plastic) container, and the plastic lid were not as excited as I am and decided to start melting all over my dinner. So I had to take it out quickly (using a towel that has been destroyed due to the plastic molding into it), and quickly flipped the contents onto another plate, and threw the remains of the 100% natural plastic that it came in. The sad but true story was that there was a bit of melted plastic that has infiltrated the food by then, but to be honest, I didn’t care and went ahead and ate it. It was delicious! My only complaint (besides what I would argue were not clear-cut instructions on the box) would be the quantity – price value. At a little under 4 Euros, it’s not a lot better than Khalil and the people back at Fine’s Beak doner kebabs. But it’s definitely a good alternative to eating out, and goes very well with some home made basmati rice.

I don’t remember being anywhere near as bad when I was living in Madrid, it must be that I’m getting a little rusty. Nevertheless, there’s reason to celebrate the marvelous achievement of equaling the world record for the least amount of money spent in a single day in Paris.

Parisian Nightlife: The Bad Version

Following the enchanting experience of hanging out in the Louvre with friends, I took off to meet up with my buddy Abdul-Kareem Abdel Ghany who’s here from Geneva for the weekend. I thought we were going to a local club, because I guess I’m still very much an out-of-towner when it comes to the night scene here.

We went to this place called Cabaret, very close to the Louvre. It’s the typical club where you have a lot of people waiting in line to go in, but I guess I was with the “right” people, because we walked right through and to our table.

The clubs that I’ve seen in Paris and Geneva, are VERY different than what I’m used to in Madrid, or even Cairo. In the Spanish capital, you go out with a group of friends, go to the downtown area, and walk into any bar you want. If it’s after midnight or 1 am, they might charge you a blasphemous 5 Euros to go in, but even that includes a free drink. When you go in, everyone minds his or her own business, because everyone’s there to enjoy themselves. You feel the positive vibes from everyone, and the music is incredibly engaging – such beautiful nights!

On other hand, this doesn’t seem to be the case around here. It’s the kind of club where as soon as you go in, you become immediately conscious of your appearance and everyone else’s. You get the most snobbish and arrogant individuals from around the planet. The “music” is nothing more than a dozen old scanners combined with the noise from a construction site, and it’s all about who you’re with, and which table you’ve reserved. Because there are the expensive tables, and then the outrageously expensive ones, where you actually need a bracelet to indicate that you are one of the chosen ones to enjoy the enlightenment of entering the VIP section – it’s ridiculous.

There were actually very few Parisians, from what I can tell. It’s basically made for people from outside that want to come to the capital of love and prove a point. They are presenting their case for being members of the elite.

However, that is all nothing compared to the kind of “women” that hang out at the VIP tables. I can’t visualize a way of them arguing against the fact that they are pure and utter objects roaming the salon and willing to do anything for free drinks and attention from the rich ones. One of those escorts was actually hooking up with one guy, and then secretly and simultaneously, hooking with another right before my eyes. Now that’s talent. I never understood the West’s claim of equality between the sexes, but that’s a whole different topic that tends to back-fire, so I’ll keep quite for the time-being.

Did I mention it was a bit expensive? Don’t sweat, though, the bill was only 1,800 Euros, so it’s manageable. I offered to pitch in with 20 Euros, that I had worked REALLY hard to earn I may add, but Abdul-Kareem and his friend Hassan wouldn’t let me.

Don’t get me wrong, it was an entertaining night, and I definitely enjoyed hanging out with Abdul-Kareem (what a character! Out of this world). But between the Cabaret (and there’s a dozen of these type of clubs in town) and hanging out at the louvre, I don’t think it’ll take too long for me to settle on one of them. I miss the good ol’ days of Madrid. And for that matter, I really miss hanging out in Cairo, where the city never sleeps and, for me at least, the options are endless.

Parisian Nightlife: The Good Version

Last night I went to a sports bar with one of new Catalan friends, Alberto, to watch the Real Madrid – Barcelona clash at the Bernabeu. As many of you already now, the result was a shocking humiliation of the Madridistas by the Catalan club 6 – 2. Little did I know that I was about to meet the Spanish community in Paris.

The Spaniards are the same in any part of the world, be it Cairo, Paris or even Portugal, they form groups that share the foreign experience together. You can’t blame them, though, infiltrating the Parisian social scene is not a piece of cake, and almost all of them get to know each other from the interchange program between their universities back home, and then ones here in Paris. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun to watch El Clasico with people from all over Spain.

Following the game I hung around with them as we passed by a liquor store (run by Egyptians from Shobra), where each one picked his of her drinks, and then we took off to the Louvre. Personally, I have never visited the museum, but I always had the intention of doing so. The big surprise for me was how the complex surrounding the museum pyramid is actually converted into a strategic nightlife spot to go with friends, relax, and have a few cheap drinks that you brought along. Apparently, a lot of people know about this. Maybe it’s because I’m from the 18th and am a bit of a foreigner to the central and touristic areas.

The view is spectacular, as the entire complex is lit-up (including the pyramid), and you can see the Eiffel Tower shining from a far – breath-taking. There’s nothing better than being able to enjoys this city’s magic without having to spend too much, and without having to be in crowded, noisy areas. And don’t worry about the space, there’s plenty of room for everyone, and you’re not going to have to be too close to any other group.

I think hanging out late at night at the Louvre complex is ideal for any kind of group. I personally think it serves as a romantic hotspot as well (and it was demonstrated repeatedly infront of us). The weather at this time of the year is glorious (except for the rainy days every now and then), so be sure to live “the other side of the louvre” if you are in the French capital.