Paris Connection
Lost. That’s my first impression of Paris. I hear phrases and words that I do not understand and it’s making my head swim. I could be in twilight zone since my manager looks like an alien but, then I see a lot of beautiful people and I have to change my mind again.
French, to a stranger, is a very melodious language. It’s so beautiful that you just want to hear it over and over again. Of course, this was not my tune on my first week in Paris. I felt like I’m being bombarded by words that’s making me feel smaller and smaller by the minute. When someone talks to me in French, I was literally out of words. I’d give them this blank face that’s probably very funny if I can only see it (yeah, I know, I look funny as it is).
My first attempt of communicating in French was a disaster. I was trying to ask where the toilet is (Où est la toilette?) but I instead said “Thank you for your toilet” (Merci la toilette). Wow! It was so funny that I was laughing at myself so hard. It was a good thing that I tried this phrase on my manager first or I just don’t know how embarrassed I would be. What’s more funny is the fact that I was trying to show off! Hah! Me and my wrong sense of pride.
The Team
Okay, before we go into the details of our exploits in Paris, let’s check out first the GPS EMEAI conversion team. Our group is a mixture of weird and wacky people. I thought that it will be hard for each one of us to adjust with one another, but, it turned out that our team chemistry works out just fine. Our manager is the infamous Darwin “Dar” Soriano. For those who know Darwin, they probably know what to expect. This is one cool guy (ahem, ahem!) to have as a manager. In fact, our best analyst in the team said that this is his best onshore project ever. Now, I don’t know if this is because of Darwin or because of a different “local” interest.
Then there’s Daniel Ang. Anyone who has worked with Daniel will know that after an hour of exposure, there’s just no escaping him. He’s the type of guy who always makes his presence known. Daniel has the ability to converse with anyone anywhere, especially women. This guy believes in himself so much that he’d always find an occasion to say “syempre, magaling ako!”.
Dranreb “Bernard spelled backwards” Pineda always had a hard time when introducing himself. Due to the different pronunciation of the French for the letter R, pronouncing a two-syllabic word with an R on both syllables was really a task. Dran is the best analyst in the group (well, considering that he’s the only analyst, he should be). This is his first onshore assignment (just like me) so life is pretty exciting (I hope!).
Now, let’s talk about Paris
Each Paris sight has an equivalent funny and good memory. For La Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower), the thought that comes to mind is our night trek from my warm and cozy apartment to the breezy and cold streets just to get a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night. Daniel who was trying to get a whole picture of the tower even dared to plaster his back and lie on one of the cold railings surrounding the tower. Trying to be seductive? Heaven forbid!
Then, there’s our visit to the Musee d’Orsay where we got lost several times. What’s monumentally vivid in my mind about this visit is not the paintings from Van Gogh, Renoir or Monet. It’s the funny stuff that we did inside that keeps on popping up when the museum is mentioned. There was one room in there that is full of sculptures. We had our pictures taken where we were shown mimicking each sculpture that we like. And you can just hear the snickering smile of these guys after seeing the painting entitled "The origin of the world”. The painting depicts the lower private part of a woman. Men! I don’t know what they find so amazing about that!
I think that a visit in Paris is not complete if you do not visit the famous Arc de Triomphe. This is a towering structure near the Avenue Champs-Elysees. Daniel again displayed his nonchalant attitude about danger and promptly took pictures practically almost beside the cars passing by. Man, what a person will do just to get good pictures! Of course, this is matched by Dran by his formal, Erap-like stance when having his picture taken. Naks! Serious!
Just recently, we visited the Louvre Museum to check out the Mona Lisa and other paintings. I loved the Boticelli frescoes and the ceiling paintings. The visit to the Mona Lisa isn’t that exciting because once you see it, you’d know that there’s really nothing much to be so excited about. Well, that’s just my opinion. What’s so funny about this visit is Darwin’s penchant for his small stomach (hanep!). He was so happy because his big fat belly does not protrude anymore. The guy practically modeled himself to death trying to show off his profile! Hanep!
How to get around
The most common way of travel in Paris is the metro. Usually, one just have to buy a RATP ticket and this will allow you to ride the metro, RER and buses around Paris. The metro and RER are both underground trains. The only difference is that RER has less frequent stops than the metro.
For a new user of the metro, finding out how to get from one point to another is an ordeal. I would probably have gotten lost several times if Darwin wasn’t there to check where we’re going. After several wrong turns, I’ve finally mastered the correct usage of the metro : follow Darwin’s directions.
Exclusively French
A bath a day keeps the smell away. Well, people here don’t believe in that. Some people would go on for days without taking a bath or washing their hairs. Inside the metro, I sometimes try to guess who among the commuters did not take a bath. This is usually announced by their “makapigil-hiningang amoy”. Pity the person who gets stuck in an over crowded metro with someone who smells like that. Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!
Of course, if you disregard the smell, the Parisians do look good. Here, people don’t just dress up, they put on the style! Imagine seeing Parisians donning their clothes like a print ads model. They are so fashionably chic. One can always try to imitate but what can a copycat do to match a lifetime of fashion sense?
Enough of Paris and more of the team
After several weeks of working together, we are already familiar with each other’s expressions. This is a game that we used to play on each other that brought a lot of laughter and happy tears to us. “Hanep!” is Darwin’s favorite expression. At the start, he thought that he doesn’t have an expression. This idea was negated when Dran suddenly blurted out a good mockery of his “Hanep” phrase. From then on, we use “Hanep” in almost every sentence that we say. Hanep!
A pointed finger (not the middle one) is what you’ll get when Erap is trying to make a point. Sometimes, Dran has a habit of suddenly blurting out a joke in a serious tone (with matching pointed finger) that usually catches each one of us off guard. “Bakit, pangit ba ako?” is another one of his famous quotes. Kind of reminds us of this Mr. Pogi contestants who usually brag about themselves in the same nonsensical way.
Daniel can definitely be annoying once he starts brandishing his favorite expression, ‘Okay lang, wala akong paki!’. And then he’d follow this with his hyena-like laugh that’s not really funny! Even when you warn him of putting himself in danger (like crossing the street without looking on any direction), he’d just say “Okay lang, wala akong paki!”. Well, it does make me wonder if he’d still say the same thing if he suddenly finds himself plastered in front of a bus. Hmmmm. Knowing Daniel, yeah, he’d just say “wala akong paki!”.
“Tantanan ha!” is the usual expression that I use. Being the only female in the group, these guys can really make a simple girl cry because of all their teasing. Well, suffice to say that I’m no simple girl and I don’t easily get annoyed by friendly jokes. Of course, saying “Tantanan ha!” doesn’t really stop these guys from teasing me, it just makes them mimic my expression over and over again.
When ordering for grilled meat, one says bien cuit for well done and á point for medium rare. Typical of Pinoys, we have our own use for these words. When a person has done something good, instead of saying tres bien (very good), we say bien cuit. And for the “medyo-medyo” expression of the Pinoy, we use the equivalent á point-á point. Imagine the kind of looks that we get from people who understands French. It is sometimes hard to explain the joke to them because it’s so ridiculously Pinoy.
Barya-barya Gang
Just like anywhere else in the world, there is something about a place that you will never like. In Paris, one of the things that we hate is the centimes that are given to us as change that proves to be useless and annoying. Besides having to lunge around with these centimes jingling in your pockets, it is so hard to get rid of these coins. During lunch or dinner, it has become a tradition for us to pay as fast as you can and with as much coins as you have. Woe to the person who has no small bills because that person will get all the loose changes that the others have.
In the end…
Living the French way of life is complex. I love to bathe at least two times a day and I know I will never look like a model (well, maybe a witch model). It’s also hard for me to feign the haughty attitude that they display.
Much as I love the place and the company, I still don’t see myself staying here and losing myself in Paris forever. There’s a big difference between being in Paris and staying in our home country. The French do not have the same warmth and gaiety that the Filipinos are famous for. I miss Magandang Gabi Bayan and Parokya ni Edgar. I miss NU107, my family and my friends. And believe it or not, I miss the familiar face of the Pinoys.
Some would say that I am crazy for choosing Manila over Paris. Well, I’ve got something to say to them too : tantanan dahil wala akong paki!
French, to a stranger, is a very melodious language. It’s so beautiful that you just want to hear it over and over again. Of course, this was not my tune on my first week in Paris. I felt like I’m being bombarded by words that’s making me feel smaller and smaller by the minute. When someone talks to me in French, I was literally out of words. I’d give them this blank face that’s probably very funny if I can only see it (yeah, I know, I look funny as it is).
My first attempt of communicating in French was a disaster. I was trying to ask where the toilet is (Où est la toilette?) but I instead said “Thank you for your toilet” (Merci la toilette). Wow! It was so funny that I was laughing at myself so hard. It was a good thing that I tried this phrase on my manager first or I just don’t know how embarrassed I would be. What’s more funny is the fact that I was trying to show off! Hah! Me and my wrong sense of pride.
The Team
Okay, before we go into the details of our exploits in Paris, let’s check out first the GPS EMEAI conversion team. Our group is a mixture of weird and wacky people. I thought that it will be hard for each one of us to adjust with one another, but, it turned out that our team chemistry works out just fine. Our manager is the infamous Darwin “Dar” Soriano. For those who know Darwin, they probably know what to expect. This is one cool guy (ahem, ahem!) to have as a manager. In fact, our best analyst in the team said that this is his best onshore project ever. Now, I don’t know if this is because of Darwin or because of a different “local” interest.
Then there’s Daniel Ang. Anyone who has worked with Daniel will know that after an hour of exposure, there’s just no escaping him. He’s the type of guy who always makes his presence known. Daniel has the ability to converse with anyone anywhere, especially women. This guy believes in himself so much that he’d always find an occasion to say “syempre, magaling ako!”.
Dranreb “Bernard spelled backwards” Pineda always had a hard time when introducing himself. Due to the different pronunciation of the French for the letter R, pronouncing a two-syllabic word with an R on both syllables was really a task. Dran is the best analyst in the group (well, considering that he’s the only analyst, he should be). This is his first onshore assignment (just like me) so life is pretty exciting (I hope!).
Now, let’s talk about Paris
Each Paris sight has an equivalent funny and good memory. For La Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower), the thought that comes to mind is our night trek from my warm and cozy apartment to the breezy and cold streets just to get a picture of the Eiffel Tower at night. Daniel who was trying to get a whole picture of the tower even dared to plaster his back and lie on one of the cold railings surrounding the tower. Trying to be seductive? Heaven forbid!
Then, there’s our visit to the Musee d’Orsay where we got lost several times. What’s monumentally vivid in my mind about this visit is not the paintings from Van Gogh, Renoir or Monet. It’s the funny stuff that we did inside that keeps on popping up when the museum is mentioned. There was one room in there that is full of sculptures. We had our pictures taken where we were shown mimicking each sculpture that we like. And you can just hear the snickering smile of these guys after seeing the painting entitled "The origin of the world”. The painting depicts the lower private part of a woman. Men! I don’t know what they find so amazing about that!
I think that a visit in Paris is not complete if you do not visit the famous Arc de Triomphe. This is a towering structure near the Avenue Champs-Elysees. Daniel again displayed his nonchalant attitude about danger and promptly took pictures practically almost beside the cars passing by. Man, what a person will do just to get good pictures! Of course, this is matched by Dran by his formal, Erap-like stance when having his picture taken. Naks! Serious!
Just recently, we visited the Louvre Museum to check out the Mona Lisa and other paintings. I loved the Boticelli frescoes and the ceiling paintings. The visit to the Mona Lisa isn’t that exciting because once you see it, you’d know that there’s really nothing much to be so excited about. Well, that’s just my opinion. What’s so funny about this visit is Darwin’s penchant for his small stomach (hanep!). He was so happy because his big fat belly does not protrude anymore. The guy practically modeled himself to death trying to show off his profile! Hanep!
How to get around
The most common way of travel in Paris is the metro. Usually, one just have to buy a RATP ticket and this will allow you to ride the metro, RER and buses around Paris. The metro and RER are both underground trains. The only difference is that RER has less frequent stops than the metro.
For a new user of the metro, finding out how to get from one point to another is an ordeal. I would probably have gotten lost several times if Darwin wasn’t there to check where we’re going. After several wrong turns, I’ve finally mastered the correct usage of the metro : follow Darwin’s directions.
Exclusively French
A bath a day keeps the smell away. Well, people here don’t believe in that. Some people would go on for days without taking a bath or washing their hairs. Inside the metro, I sometimes try to guess who among the commuters did not take a bath. This is usually announced by their “makapigil-hiningang amoy”. Pity the person who gets stuck in an over crowded metro with someone who smells like that. Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!
Of course, if you disregard the smell, the Parisians do look good. Here, people don’t just dress up, they put on the style! Imagine seeing Parisians donning their clothes like a print ads model. They are so fashionably chic. One can always try to imitate but what can a copycat do to match a lifetime of fashion sense?
Enough of Paris and more of the team
After several weeks of working together, we are already familiar with each other’s expressions. This is a game that we used to play on each other that brought a lot of laughter and happy tears to us. “Hanep!” is Darwin’s favorite expression. At the start, he thought that he doesn’t have an expression. This idea was negated when Dran suddenly blurted out a good mockery of his “Hanep” phrase. From then on, we use “Hanep” in almost every sentence that we say. Hanep!
A pointed finger (not the middle one) is what you’ll get when Erap is trying to make a point. Sometimes, Dran has a habit of suddenly blurting out a joke in a serious tone (with matching pointed finger) that usually catches each one of us off guard. “Bakit, pangit ba ako?” is another one of his famous quotes. Kind of reminds us of this Mr. Pogi contestants who usually brag about themselves in the same nonsensical way.
Daniel can definitely be annoying once he starts brandishing his favorite expression, ‘Okay lang, wala akong paki!’. And then he’d follow this with his hyena-like laugh that’s not really funny! Even when you warn him of putting himself in danger (like crossing the street without looking on any direction), he’d just say “Okay lang, wala akong paki!”. Well, it does make me wonder if he’d still say the same thing if he suddenly finds himself plastered in front of a bus. Hmmmm. Knowing Daniel, yeah, he’d just say “wala akong paki!”.
“Tantanan ha!” is the usual expression that I use. Being the only female in the group, these guys can really make a simple girl cry because of all their teasing. Well, suffice to say that I’m no simple girl and I don’t easily get annoyed by friendly jokes. Of course, saying “Tantanan ha!” doesn’t really stop these guys from teasing me, it just makes them mimic my expression over and over again.
When ordering for grilled meat, one says bien cuit for well done and á point for medium rare. Typical of Pinoys, we have our own use for these words. When a person has done something good, instead of saying tres bien (very good), we say bien cuit. And for the “medyo-medyo” expression of the Pinoy, we use the equivalent á point-á point. Imagine the kind of looks that we get from people who understands French. It is sometimes hard to explain the joke to them because it’s so ridiculously Pinoy.
Barya-barya Gang
Just like anywhere else in the world, there is something about a place that you will never like. In Paris, one of the things that we hate is the centimes that are given to us as change that proves to be useless and annoying. Besides having to lunge around with these centimes jingling in your pockets, it is so hard to get rid of these coins. During lunch or dinner, it has become a tradition for us to pay as fast as you can and with as much coins as you have. Woe to the person who has no small bills because that person will get all the loose changes that the others have.
In the end…
Living the French way of life is complex. I love to bathe at least two times a day and I know I will never look like a model (well, maybe a witch model). It’s also hard for me to feign the haughty attitude that they display.
Much as I love the place and the company, I still don’t see myself staying here and losing myself in Paris forever. There’s a big difference between being in Paris and staying in our home country. The French do not have the same warmth and gaiety that the Filipinos are famous for. I miss Magandang Gabi Bayan and Parokya ni Edgar. I miss NU107, my family and my friends. And believe it or not, I miss the familiar face of the Pinoys.
Some would say that I am crazy for choosing Manila over Paris. Well, I’ve got something to say to them too : tantanan dahil wala akong paki!
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