The Mathilde Heinz blog

We’ve been living in our appartment for a month now, and we’re really starting to feel at home. Now all we need is to personalize the place a bit…I guess we’ll do that slowly as we go along… Since I last wrote, Jane has been to Paris to visit me! We had a fantastic couple of days together - it was so great to see her, and the weather was amazing. We spent the days playing the tourist bit  - went to Champs Élysées, Sacré Coeur, Moulin Rouge (though we didn’t go to see a show), explored our neighbourhood - and then, of course, enjoyed the pleasures of the Parisian bakeries as well as the easy access to wine more than a couple of times. Also, Jane was my ‘chaperone’ at this after-work-drinks-thing (yeah, believe me, you can go to these things even though you don’t have a job but just come straight from home ) which I really appreciated. I knew no one, but Janes great influence got me a job influence with one of the attendees the following week (didn’t get the job, but it was still a good experience). Check out some of the pics from Jane’s visit here:

Otherwise I’ve been on a short trip to Norway with the family to go trekking not too far from Bergen. Never have I had that much rain in a single weekend, but we still had a great time! The first day up the mountain (fjeld) gave us a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and the fjord below. We walked a bit further the first day than I might have preferred ( let’s just say that the area was a bit more ‘hilly’ than expected), but we had to find running water before we could make camp. We finally found water - what looked like the perfect little permanently running tap - and made camp. We had a great night of fun including cooking food on Trangia, drinking wine and fresh water, Irish Coffée and for some of the trip’s participants, a great number of small doses of Single Malt Whisky…haha.. We slept a great night’s sleep, and woke up to rainy and foggy mountains…ironically enough, the water we had spent so much time looking for the day before was now pouring down nearly every hillside…quite a change to the nature surrounding us, but it unfortunately also meant that we could no longer realle see much around us for most of the rest of the weekend. Anyways, the first rainy day was spent in the tent most of the time - but we also ventured out for a couple of hours to explore the area without our backpacks (which I highly appreciated ). The next day it was still pouring down, so we ended up packing everything together and commencing the climb (litterally!) down the mountain with all our wet gear. The fog didn’t make the journey easier for us as it was hard to see from one cairn (varde) to the next, and at the end we also had to cross what used to be an almost non-existant stream of water, that had now developed into a rather rapidly streaming little river. But anyways, we had a good time, and apart from the times when I was quite nervous about my dad making it down the mountain (mostly because I could feel that he was worried himself!) the descent was a good challenge and actually ended up being less long and hard than we (or at least I) expected. After the descent our Norwegian friend (it’s kind of another long story, but this random Norwegian and very kind guy ended up helping us both when we were headed out for the mountain and when we came back) drove us to the nearest hotel. We checked in, had an amazing hot shower and cooked our Trangia-food on the balcony - another great night! Check out some of the pics from the trip here:

Hope you’re all well at home. Cédric and I are doing well - he’s enjoying his new job despite the long hours, and I’m still job hunting. I’ve had two interviews so far, but didn’t get any of the jobs (I didn’t have the profile they were looking for after all), so I’m still looking! Apart from that, I spend my time enjoying our new place and our new neighbourhood, enjoying my time with Cédric when he’s not working - and also I play the house wife for the time being - why not!

xx

As requested by some of you, voici a couple of pictures of our new home - as you can see we have plenty of space for visitors!

I added a few more photos to the album:

Now we’re pretty much settled in to our new place, and Cédric has been working at his new job for a couple of weeks. Our first weeks in Paris have presented us with a multitude of administrative obstacles, as expected, some more frustrating than others (!) - but this past weekend we just relaxed and enjoyed our time in sunny Paris without worrying about any of that…

We have managed to open a bank account… I’m not sure that I would have been able to open an account without Cédric - and as crazy as it may sound, I actually think it was easier for me to open an account the first time I lived in Paris, at a time when I barely spoke French! It took an hour and a half (!!!) to open our bank accounts, which I think is absolutely crazy! You wouldn’t believe the amount of paper work and all the questions to be answered in order to open a single bank account. Anyways, we succeeded despite the fact that we could not present a ‘justificatif de domicile’ - proof of where we lived on the actual day we opened the account. Therefore (as we didn’t have an electrical bill or the likes stating the address of the apartment where we were actually staying) we had to ask Cédrics mum to make a statement saying that we live at her place. The crazy thing is that in order to open a bank account, you need to prove where you live - but in order to get an apartment, you need a bank account! That’s just French administration in a nut shell…

As mentioned, the apartment hunting was also somewhat of an adventure in itself. It’s enough work to go through all the apartment ads, to call up the apartment owners to organize to see the apartment, but on top of that, you need to have a ‘dossier’ all ready to deposit if you like the place. The ‘dossier’ is a pile of papers including copies of our identity cards, bank account details, details on how much we earn as well as all the same papers from the people that are our ‘garants’ (in our case, Cédric’s parents are our ‘garants’, meaning that the owner of the apartment can legally pursue them if we don’t pay our rent). Additionally the ‘dossier’ should contain prove that you paid rent in the last place you lived. Once you succeed in depositing your ‘dossier’, the real estate agent and the owner of the apartment go through the ‘dossier’ to see if you fulfil all requirements in order to rent the apartment. The requirements are a bit different from one real estate agent to another, but usually you need to earn between 3 and 4 times the amount of the rent per month (and the same goes for your ‘garants’), you need to be able to prove that you paid your rent in the previous place where you lived etc. Several times the real estate agents wouldn’t even accept our ‘dossier’ - one of them even said that in order for her to accept our ‘dossier’ (as we didn’t, naturally, earn 4 times the monthly rent per month - they would only consider Cédric’s income as my income is from Denmark), we needed to have an account with the amount corresponding 1 year’s full rent! Oh, and I forgot to mention that IF your ‘dossier’ is accepted, then, on top of paying two months rent in deposit (sometimes it even amounts to 3 months deposit), you pay a fee equal to one months rent+tax to the real estate agent! It’s a bit sad that the laws are so strict concerning the pursuit and rejection of people not paying their rent, that the requirements to rent become overwhelming. Anyhow, we got an apartment we like, so we don’t have to worry about this stuff any more…ah!

Anyways, that was a lot of babbling, just to tell you that French administration has, as expected, proved to be very complicated and frustrating…and it’s not over yet. This coming Thursday I have my first official meeting at Pôle Emploi (equivalent to the Danish Jobcenter), as I didn’t succeed at my first attempt to meet with them. That is, I succeeded in registering correctly as a ‘demandeur d’emploi’ (job seeker), but then I missed my first official meeting as I had not been indicated where the meeting was to take place (thank you La Poste), and therefore presented my self at the Pôle Emploi-agency where I had registered…of course this was not where my meeting was to take place - I should have known, right?! Anyway, I’ll make a second attempt this Thursday, and this time I even (think I) know where the meeting is to take place…and yes, you guessed it - it’s not taking place at the agency where I registered OR in the agency where I was supposed to present myself the last time…no no, it’s at an entirely different Pôle Emploi-agency, so we’ll see how that goes

Time flies by, I enjoy being able to ride around on the bike I just bought and I otherwise spend most of my time job hunting and acting house wife Cédric is enjoying his work challenges and comes home quite late most days (between 8 and 9.30pm) - but we enjoy our nights together, and as I said, time flies - the weekend will soon be near again!

Check out some of our pics from the first few weeks in France:

Cédric and I are now in Paris… Before we left for Bali (our last great trip :-)), Cédric decided to quit his job in China and start looking for a job in Paris (which was, actually, our original plan before the whole China-thing came tumbling down upon us). So we left Denmark at the end of July, and we have now been in France for a couple of weeks. Cédric started his job as Food & Beverage Manager at Hilton Roissy CDG Airport last week, and I’m currently looking for a job within (digital) communication and marketing.

Our first week in France took us to La Rochelle, where we visited Cédric’s family and celebrated his birthday on the 4th of August. Cédric and I also celebrated our 8 years anniversary. I hadn’t seen Cédric’s family for more than two years, and it was great to see everyone again. The days in La Rochelle were spent relaxing with the family, taking a trip or two into the city center to enjoy and ice cream by the old port and just enjoying ourselves and the summer sun. Just before leaving La Rochelle, we started looking at apartment ads, as we needed to find a permanent home in Paris.

Back in Paris we spent almost all our time looking at apartment ads or walking from real estate agency to real estate agency…I can honestly say that we got very sore feet and spent way too much mobile credit calling around about all the apartments! This whole process was also very frustrating, as French administration is - in my humble opinion - crazy!!! You would not believe the amount of paper work necessary to apply for a rental apartment! In the end it paid of though - we moved yesterday and can now finally relax and enjoy the city a bit. I am so much looking forward to this weekend - it’ll be our first weekend in Paris, where we can just relax, enjoy the city and not have to worry about finding a home! Also, I think we’ll take some time to try and make our new home a bit more cosy. The apartment we have rented is located in the 11th arrondissement close to Oberkampf, République and Bastille, which means it’s not too far from Le Marais either. Great location! The apartment itself is fully furnished, which is quite convenient right now. However, I would love to bring more of our own stuff to Paris, and equip the apartment to our own taste.

Anyways, our new adventure has started, and I’ll try to do my best to update the blog as we go along. I will also post photos under the page (look at the left hand side) called “Paris 2010″.

We’re now back in Europe after an amazing trip - the last two days in Kuta were spent shopping, relaxing and just enjoying ourselves. Check out some of the pics from the trip here (yes, and believe me - it’s only some of the pics even though it might seem like a bunch! :

After having negotiated a good price (I was very surprised that even the ticket for the fast boat to Gili T was negotiable – I guess most things are in Bali), Cédric and I bought tickets to leave for Gili Trawangan on the day that Pascal left Bali. We spent 9 days in at Gili T, and it was absolutely amazing! It’s a very small island, approximately 7 kilometers if you follow the road along the coast line, and it is surrounded by pristine clear turquoise waters. As Gili T was our last holiday destination, we decided to upgrade to a nicer hotel than what we’ve opted for during most of the trip. So, basically we just spent 9 days on a picture perfect paradise island, just relaxing, enjoying the sun and the beach and each other’s company. Yesterday we went snorkelling off the beach and saw some pretty cool big fish, and one other day we walked all around the island. The hotel we stayed at had an amazing beach restaurants with little beach ‘huts’ – that is to say little elevated platforms with a roof, under which you sit on pillows and eat at a very low table. Hanging out on this beach was great both day and night, and also very cool for sunset, where you could sometimes spot the red and orange colours above Gunung Agung, one of Bali’s big volcanoes. One of the first days we were especially lucky to see a very red sunset – neither of us had ever seen such a red sky, it was pretty spectacular!
Most days were spent having breakfast on the beach, enjoying the amazing view and the calm of it all, then hanging out on the beach loungers, reading and swimming for a couple of hours before we headed a couple kilometres down the coast to the village where we’d have lunch at a little warung on the town (well, actually village) square. Then we’d walk around a bit and head back to our hotel well in time for the sunset, which we’d enjoy on the beach. Most nights we had dinne – you guessed it – on the beach. All in all we had such an amazing and relaxing time, I’m sure we’ll come back to Gili T if we have the opportunity another time! And next time we should definitely explore the next door islands – Gili Meno, Gili Air and Lombok.
Today the ride back to Bali was kind of rough, but it was alright. Now we’re back in Kuta for two nights, just doing the last shopping and enjoying the last bit of holiday before we leave on Tuesday. Unfortunately we’ll be leaving on separate flights, Cédric going to France and me going to Copenhagen.
We spent the afternoon wandering around and enjoying an ice cream on the beach. We ended up meeting a really friendly local couple – once again confirming just how friendly and outgoing the locals here are.

Well, I never really wrote a proper post about the trip from Ubud to Amed, Amed itself and our heading on the Seminyak for 5 days after that…so here goes a short (ok, can’t promise anything, I always get carried away!) recap of that part of the trip.
As mentioned we stayed at a very  nice homestay in Ubud, and they arranged for us to have a brother of the family take us from Ubud to Amed and visiting two temples on the way, the Elephant Cave Temple and the Bat Cave Temple. Funny thing about themples in Bali – they all have signs at the entrance asking that ‘menstruating women’ do not visit the temple, as it is considered impure. Not sure how many tourists actually respect that, but never the less, the sign is always there.
First on the trip, just out of Ubud, we visited the Elephant Cave Temple – I’m not quite sure why it’s called like that, as there was nothing elephant-like about it….there was, however, a cave. The temple itself wasn’t especially impressive, but the setting was very nice among plush jungle forest and a rice field. There was also a massive Buddha statue – or actually what remained of it – that apparently crumbled or fell over long ago, but you can still make out the shapes of the rocks, and another quite cool thing was some ancient carvings on a wall of rock. Any time you visit these temples you have to wear traditional Balinese clothes, which is a sarong around the waste and a sort of scarf tied around the waste on top of the sarong – so I’ve spent quite a lot of time around guys in skirts, haha!
Outside the temple was a guy holding a massive python snake – we didn’t see until later that it’s mouth was taped, which really wasn’t nice and especially  not something we should support, but anyhow, Pascal decided to try and hold it……omg, I could never do that!!! But he kept quite cool about it, and all Cédric and I did was stare and take photos…. After Pascal had given the snake back to the guy who owned it, I somehow made myself touch the snake when the owner offered it even though I really didn’t want to! Eeew, it was such a weird and disgusting feeling to touch the snake’s skin, it was so warm and somehow seemed like it was not attached to the body underneath! I was happy to have somewhat overcome my fear of actually touching it, but I was surprised to find myself crying a bit afterwards because of the choc and adrenaline that it set out in my body…
Next stop on the way was the Bat Cave Temple, and the name of the temple is quite obvious as there is a cave filled (and I mean really stuffed) with bats all over the place! Luckily, visiting the temple doesn’t include entering the cave We were quite lucky to visit this temple while a religious ceremony was going on. Therefore many locals who made offerings and there was a group of boys playing traditional music. Continuing on we had a lunch stop in Candidasa where we ate at a small warung – Pascal and Cédric joked about how they’d probably get sick from the sea food they ordered as the hygiene didn’t seem super high priority at this particular warung, but unfortunately it turned out to come true for Pascal who suffered for a couple of days….whether it was the food that did it, I’m not sure though….
By mid-afternoon we arrived in Amed and found a hotel by the black sand beach. As a first impression we didn’t find the place charming at all, but the village was very quiet, simple and seemed almost dead….the beach was not really a pretty sight either, but our hotel pool right in front of the beach was definitely a plus! Unfortunately the beach vendors thought it appropriate to bother you even by the pool side, which was rather annoying. We only stayed in Amed for 2 nights (of which Pascal was sick most of the time, poor thing), and unfortunately it rained the day after we arrived, which prevented us from going snorkelling on a Japanese ship wreck that’s supposed to be pretty cool. Anyways, we headed on to Seminyak (just north of Kuta) where we stayed 5 nights before Pascal headed home. The days were spent relaxing on the beach, (trying to) surf (yay, we finally did it again! Cédric was doing quite well, and I wasn’t doing too bad myself either, though I still don’t like to go too far out…but we had fun!), shopping, relaxing, going out for beers and listening to live music, enjoying the sunset on the beach etc…all in all, we had a pretty good and relaxing time! The guy from who we rented beach loungers and surf boards on the beach was very friendly and cool and asked us to add him on Facebook – he’s from Lovina and said he’d take us there next time we come to Bali. Who knows if that’s gonna happen, but one thing’s for sure – the Balinese people in general are very very friendly and hospitable.

After a couple of rainy days in Amed (which prevented us from snorkelling on the japanese ship wreck - too bad!), we’re now back in Seminyak, just north of Kuta. Tomorrow we’ll once again hit the immigration office with the hope of getting our passports back (!) - and then I guess we’ll just hang out here the rest of the week enjoying the beach, sun, the shops etc. We really should rent a surf board and hit the waves - I’m definitely up for it! Also, the beach here is supposed to be a great beginner’s spot, so we’ll see!

On Saturday Pascal is leaving us, and Cedric and I will probably head on to Gili Trawangan, which will be our last destination. I cannot believe how time is flying so quickly, but we’re enjoying ourselves every minute of it! One thing I won’t miss when leaving Bali (and which hopefully we’ll also be without on Gili T as there are no cars) is the constant honking from taxis wanting to pick you up! AArrgh, so annoying - today a vendor even clapped his hands from the other side of the street to get our attention! The vendors are kind of aggressive here in Kuta, but I guess if that’s our biggest worry - we shouldn’t complain

We’ll head out for some dinner now - hope everyone’s well at home!