MichelleOn the lookout for a new life
October 24th 2007 03:46
When we step outside our doors, we rarely expect the day to bring anything more than what we managed the day before. It takes a series of decisions to force us to seek out the red pill and swallow it whole but some manage it.
And they never look back.
My friends' adventure started once they had a place to live in Nice. After that, they spent every day sniffing out any opportunity to get aboard a boat, to make contacts or for that one door slightly ajar that would lead them to their new life.
The first port of call was in Nice itself. France has a rich network of canals and Nice seemed the best place to start investigating options. Each morning we would walk the docks and speak with anyone we saw about working opportunities. With the heat and the temptations to just sit and enjoy the sights, the first week passed without any real developments. The day we arrived we checked out the Cours Selaya Flower Market. Having heard of the breadth of this market, we woke up early specially. The idea of a market here is different than what you will find in Asia. The french are not great at bargaining and to buy produce here, you normally place your items in a bowl or just hand it over to the vendor and the amount will appear on a small screen which is great if your French is nothing to boast about. I had a few instances where the vendor turned my sale away because I didn't have the right money or the bills I had were too large for him to break.
The delight of this market is in the sights and the smells. Fresh flowers...I don't know of anywhere else where the flowers look quite as beautiful as they do in France. The fruit is amazing to behold - large and ripe and even the spices made me linger. Do a tour of the market first and buy second as part of the fun is watching others - the French women with their dogs and the children standing in the spots of shade out of the way.
And they never look back.
My friends' adventure started once they had a place to live in Nice. After that, they spent every day sniffing out any opportunity to get aboard a boat, to make contacts or for that one door slightly ajar that would lead them to their new life.
The first port of call was in Nice itself. France has a rich network of canals and Nice seemed the best place to start investigating options. Each morning we would walk the docks and speak with anyone we saw about working opportunities. With the heat and the temptations to just sit and enjoy the sights, the first week passed without any real developments. The day we arrived we checked out the Cours Selaya Flower Market. Having heard of the breadth of this market, we woke up early specially. The idea of a market here is different than what you will find in Asia. The french are not great at bargaining and to buy produce here, you normally place your items in a bowl or just hand it over to the vendor and the amount will appear on a small screen which is great if your French is nothing to boast about. I had a few instances where the vendor turned my sale away because I didn't have the right money or the bills I had were too large for him to break.
The delight of this market is in the sights and the smells. Fresh flowers...I don't know of anywhere else where the flowers look quite as beautiful as they do in France. The fruit is amazing to behold - large and ripe and even the spices made me linger. Do a tour of the market first and buy second as part of the fun is watching others - the French women with their dogs and the children standing in the spots of shade out of the way.
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