Still searching for an apartment... I have extended my stay in my current studio to the end of February so if you're planning to visit me, before March would be ideal as who knows what living conditions will be like after that! I just found and ad for a relatively cheap share apartment in the same area. The only problem is that you are only allowed to use the kitchen 2 or 3 times/week and may only take 3 showers/week! I knew there must be a catch...

And so, here I am in Paris. I have found myself a lovely apartment in a nice central area right near the Pantheon but unfortunately it is a) expensive and b) short-term. However, considering some of the options out there, I think I've done fairly well. Some of the ads I have seen offer "cheap rent, rate according to the nature of the arrangement (young, attractive girls only)" and even more suspicious sounding, "free - studio share with middle-aged man" [shudder]. Tomorrow I'm going to look at a room which is free in exchange for housework. From the sounds of it, I should only have to take about 15 trains and half a dozen buses to get out to the suburb...
On the work side of things, generally all is well. The pay is terrible but at least my colleagues are nice. The lessons which have been pre-planned for us often involve incredibly stupid excercises e.g. "Ask the students which is their favourite character from the multimedia session - indicate that you would like them to respond 'John Berry'". At least, however, we are provided with some entertainment as we plan our lessons and figure out ways to make the classes less idiotic. And occasionally I have students who manage to make me laugh, providing much needed comic relief after another mind-numbing effort explaining the difference between the present perfect and the present perfect continuous.
Romi has been less fortunate workwise. She currently has 2 jobs: one looking after a young child who constantly throws tantrums and another at a hostel where she works for 22 hours every weekend for an extremely ill-mannered boss. Her friend was thoughtful enough to give her the phone number of an American diner which is looking for a cashier, but after looking on the website Romi discovered that it seems to be not so much a diner but rather a sleazy bar with pole dancers and topless waitresses.