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Getting an internet
connection has been an enormous
pain. None of the recent tenants in this apartment have bothered
to
install a hardwired phone because most are vacationing for only a few
weeks and
cell phones are much more convenient. If there had been a
land-line at
this apartment anytime in the last few months this process would have
been a breeze. We could have skipped
the old phone
monopoly "France Telecom" and dealt instead with one of the many
small telecommunications companies. That would have been
a cheaper happier event. I hate dealing with huge companies
because they usually have lousy customer service. This experience
has been
no
exception. We were supposed to have the phone installed today
(8th of September) but
the instructions to find our apartment got messed up when
we had to speak to so many separate bureaucrats. So, absolutely
unconcerned, the installer showed up in the wrong town and simply
punted
when he couldn't figure it out. They didn't call us to find out
what the problem was. As far as the employees were concerned it
was a closed case "Nothing I can
do". As a result, we had to call the mother-company and were put
at the
end of
the list for a new appointment so we get to wait another
week. (Note: this happened FOUR times in a row and it has now
been
over a month.) I can't think of much
that is nice to say about this except that France is supposed to be way
ahead of the
U.S.
in the percentage of high-speed lines. Too bad we can't get one. Even if we
had a phone line, France telecom will not sell you a high-speed access
unless you sign a twelve-month contract (we're only here for
six--now five--now four). So, after much squirming I am resolved
to wait in
isolation so that I can, please, start limping along on a dial-up line.
*sigh*
Post note. While no one seemed very concerned in getting
us service they started charging us for internet access right
away. In the intervening four weeks my father-in-law figured a
way to get us AOL with no year long contract. Now France
Telecom's internet subsidiary "Wanadoo" is requiring us to cancel, in
writing, the service that we never received because of their lack of
concern. We call them France Telecon and Wanabee. Post Post
Note: France Telecon recently reported its dismay at loosing so many
customers since the communications industry was opened to
competitors. Awww. So Sad. Gotta go.
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The cell phone was
much
easier. All
we needed to do was buy a cheap phone with a "Card" and then add
minutes as needed--no contract, no installer, no waiting. It cost
us 50 euros for the phone which
came with 15 minutes of outgoing air time. Since the phone is
really just for emergencies (incoming calls are free) I may not need
much more. Note, I added minutes just as easily by going to a
local "Tabac" (a shop that satisfies tabaco, newspaper, and other
routine-related and bad habit needs) and asking the clerk who was nice
enough to even
enter the numbers for me. The tabac shops are typically privately
owned and care about their customers. In fact, I should probably
thank the likes of France Telecon for creating an environment that
makes everyone prefer to support these small shops. |
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TV is a mental
vacation
that I usually try to avoid but here
it is
my French language school. The apartment building happens to have
TV reception but other options are also available. The highspeed
internet
connection (that we will probably never manage to get) would have come
with the basic cable channels
"gratuit". As it happens, the previous tenant had left two TVs
in the apartment. The apartment rental company has kindly offered
to rent each to us for 60 euros a month but a new TV starts at only 50
so
we declined--they must have a lot of them because they are in no hurry
to pick them up.
Most of French TV is dubbed over Hollywood
stuff which is hard for me to understand because the lip movements are
all
wrong. It's hardly worth the effort anyway. French films
are really great but they talk pretty fast and use a lot of
slang. I follow it a little
if
someone keeps me on track with the plot (which means that I miss all
the parts where my translator, Mate, is engaged in the story).
The easiest things to
understand are advertisements and infomercials because the message is
clear and they use really simple language. My favorite is "Big
Al", the French
infomercial guy, who sells all kinds of worthless
stuff with an admirable degree of enunciation. Big Al is second
only to Madame Vande
Berg as a French language
teacher. I am continually surprised that I remember so much of my
French I class. Every time I hear one of our vocabulary words
it rings out of the background chatter no matter how obscure I thought
the word was in class. Thank you Madame Vande Berg. |
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Radio here is mostly
Rock
(in English) from the
usual famous bands. The radio announcers speak in French of
course and
do so very clearly and not so
very
fast. On the other hand, there is little clue as to what they are
talking about. I was listening to a talk show and was convinced
it was a sex-help show but it turned out to be about ghosts. Go
figure. The French have sex in the afterlife. |
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Newspapers are
reportedly
difficult to read even for the
French. I couldn't say. I mostly just look at the
pictures. Want-adds and obituaries are intelligible though. |