Nice - Dublin - Nice

Baigesi kreizova kelione i lietuviu antrus namus :) Turejau kelis tuos 'pirmuosius' kartus, kuriu vienas ryskiausiu tai pavelavimas i lektuva! (nesamoningas, niekas nesiteike informuot, jog check-in'as baigiasi valanda iki skrydzio) Na o kitas nemazai ryskus - Algirdo Karaliaus seminaras, tik tais su pratesimu pube ;)

Be to, cia mano akim amazing kadrai is lektuvo. Kiti amazing deja liko neuzfiksuoti...

Nice Airport, Nice


Carpet from clouds


Sunset in Dublin, Ireland

Double fiesta

1. Today a monthly rain has began :) By meteo people predictions it will last for 2 days, yahoo!
2. Yesterdays photo-theory course has ended today with positive practical results :) Hyperfocal focusing test I think that was passed.

CICA area, Sophia Antipolis

Here I used telephoto lens with 50mm, too lazy to change for more appropriate wide angle. However, with f11 aperture I achieved not bad focus of the whole picture. Lens focus distance in this case is from 4 to infinity meters. So, I was too lazy to make foreground completely focused :) Any technical comments would be highly appreciated, there is still lots of space to enhance.

First steps in dslr education

Here I would like to put some short notes about my educational process in (d)slr world, which has recently began and gains the speed.

After some point and shot camera expirience, which ended in my subjective opinion quite well, I made a next step. The question that appeared at the first day with (d)slr - why the background of most photos is so blured? With PaS I had another experience, so I started from this point. A very valuable answers were found here:

• Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera by Bryan Peterson

Many examples with grouped pictures and explanations, also small exercises and not too much of text :)

Todays investigation comparing with exposure is huge! At the very first day I got my new camera, I spotted that the focus range became very limited. Exposure tips can help you in that, however how can you achive the same effect as with PaS to make a normal landscape photo with for example a rock in foreground and the background focused at the same time... A new definitions have appeared:

• Hyperfocal focusing, hyperfocal distance
• Neutral density filters
• F-stop - lastly demystified :)

The last two mostly explain the secrets of sunset/sunrise photography :)

Wish you good shots ;)

Night photo tests

Today I've made first shots of night photos with Pentax. The tunnel I'm passing everyday:

"Capitale de parfume", Grasse


High-way, Grasse

Monte Carlo fountains at night

Monte Carlo fountain A, Monaco


Monte Carlo fountain B, Monaco

Testing new equipment

I am happy to announce that an upgrade from Olympus to Pentax was made. Currently I am migrating from point and shot type to DSLR type camera and here are the results of first experiments.

Outside and inside:



Macro:






Wide angle:


Lastly, I was searching for the answer why the background gets so blury. The answer - playing games with exposure. The key for this trick is that you need a camera and manual setup for aperture and shutter.

Tetanus - WTH?

Ar girdeje? Prancuzai man rodos pamise del sitos vakcinos... Siandien antra karta apsilankiau pas gydytoja (emigrantu med. apziura - ieskojo tuberkuliozes :D ) ir vel man knisa prota apie Tetanus. Su pirma tai buvo taip:

- Kada paskutini karta skiepyta?
- Nzn...
- O Tetanus vakcina kada gavai?
- Ka?
- Tetanus (ir rodo ant ranku kazka...)
- Nzn tokios.
Tada ji atsirte didziule knyga ir kazka ilgai ieskojo. Surado ir rodo man: "Skiepyti vaikam kas kazkiek menesiu, ..., suaugusius kas 10 metu".
- Aha, supratau. Bet nzn kada mane paskutini karta skiepyjo, seniai, mokykloj...
- *&$*^&(#^*&$ (prancuziskai, visiskai neaisku kas...)
- O tai ka man reikia padaryt? Ateit pas jus veliau, pasiskiepyjus?
- Paskambini tevam paklausti del vakcinos. (Angliskai!)
- O poto pas jus ateit?
- Nee, cia tau paciai!!!

Prisipazinsiu, sunku buvo nenusikeikti... Bet ispradziau sypsena. Ir tada pagaliau istrukau is jos. Pamirsau apie sita reikala. Bet siandien buvo kitas vizitas pas daktara, kaip man sake - svies plaucius, ieskos tuberkuliozes :D Ateinu 8:45 (reikejo 8:30, kamsciai... 24km visgi) su lapeliu. Sedi kruva zmoniu. Viena kiniete, "sportsmenka", 4 rusai (is kuriu tik viena mergina kalba prancuziskai ir su visais ejo pas daktarus kartu - verteja), arabas kazkoks, o kiti neidentifikuoti taip ir liko. O procedura tokia, kad pakviecia pagal sarasa. Sarasas sudaromas pagal numeri, kuriuo tu pas juos atejai. As pavelavau - buvau 7-a. Pradzioj kviecia pas sesele. Darbuotojai cia jau pasiruose: uzejus pirmas klausimas "Vous parle francais?". Istreniruoti zuikiai :) Tikrina rega, ugi ir svori. Iseini ir vel sedi. Visi eina pas sesele... kitas srautas pradeda judet i rentgena. Tas pats klausimas ir visi eina kaip per konvejeri, iseina ir toliau laukia. Beuzmigdama kolidoriui, paziurejau kas ant lapo parasyta, o gi reikejo atsinesti visa sarasa daiktu... Pasa, skiepu kortele ir... toliau as nesupratau. Prisiminiau Tetanusa... "nu gal kaip nors".

Sekantis zingsnis - atsiranda daktare, tokia rimta ir baisi, nes su juodais plaukais ir drabuziais, bet su baltu chalatu ir baltu veidu. Ji neklausia ar tu kalbi prancuziskai, ji klausia prancuziskai kiek tau metu, kuom dirbi. Cia kaip per prancuzu kalbos testa. Si karta as jo nepraejau, strigau ties antru klausimu. Tada ji pradejo kalbet angliskai ir paklause apie skiepus:
- Ar turi skiepu kortele?
- Ne
- Kada buvai skiepyta paskutini karta?
- Nzn
- O kada nuo Tetanuso skiepyjo?
- Nzn
- Pries kiek metu?
- Nzn
Tada ji perbrauke visa lentele savo lapuose ir jau greit uzpilde viska. "Mission complete", - pasakiau Nathalie is administracijus parvykus darban. Ji uzsiima cia popierizmu ir taip palengvina mum gyvenima bei taupo nervus. Ji apsidziauge (nes tas buvo TRèS svarbu!) ir nubego pas bosa. Jos bosas - kanadietis. Labai juokingas vyrukas, turiu itarima, kad gejus, you never know :) Siaip stakliskiu butelaitis su medum jam praejo gerai ;) Taigis, uzeinu ir as pas ji ir sakau:
- Bonjour! ça va? Merci, bien.
- Jelena, you learned French?
- Oui, but it's "difficile"...
- Ce difficile :)

Tokie tie prancuziski nuotykiai... rytas sugadintas, bet pataisytas laiminga administracija, kadangi si karta as nepamirsau apie vizita pas gydytojus :)

DUK:
1. Kodel reikia lankytis tokiose keistose apziuruose?
- Reikia gauti leidima gyventi Prancuzijoje metams, mano atveju - iki 2008 Rugsejo pabaigos :)

2. Kodel jie taip nerimaja del Tetanus vakcinos?
- Prancuzijoje privaloma vakcinuotis, ir suaugusiems prancuzams tai daroma kas 10 metu. Be to, daktarai jaucia pareiga atlikti savo paskirti visuomeneje ir padeti zmonem gyventi kuo ilgiau, o sirgti kuo maziau => maziau lankytis pas gydytojus.

3. Kas tas Tetanus?
- Stabligė. Lietuvius irgi vakcinuoja. Tik as tikrai nepamenu jokiu skiepu, darytu man bunant 15-16 metu... Kas nors pamena?

French vacations

The time I was going to come here, I heard that french people have really many vacation days. It was like 35 vacation days, whereas in my country we got used to having 28, which means roughly a month with all weekends.

Another thing that I have heard, that french thought of a diffirent system for unemployer - to redure the amount of hours that full time employed people can work per week from 40 to 35 hours. Nice, yeah? :)

However, when I started to work here fulltime, not as an stagerie, the administration has given me a !booklet! to read about the rules and all that stuff. You may think - what the hell? You can tell it. But this booklet is about 20 pages and it is worth of reading. The best part of course was vacations :) So, I explain the system as it is:
- 30 vacation days per year to every employee in France (about 2.5 days per month)
- 1 day per month for something, don't remember now, maybe it's called RRT
- 0.5 day per month for that we work normaly 40 hours a week and they are sumed up

As the result we can count:
30 + 12 + 6 = 48 days

Can you believe it?! Can you imagine that most of the french companies in August close for vacations massively? For them it's not enough that they subsidise their French pea*Z*ants from the EU money, they have probably the biggest number of free days per year in EU! And keep in mind, that French are not so much of workaholicks, as we got used in our '3rd world country'!

This number basically explains why I get only 17 lunch coupons per month instead of 20-21, couse I work only half of the month per year :D

Have a nice Monday at your work ;)

Uz ka as moku?!

Man daug kas sako, kad daug uz nuoma moku. Bet cia, French Rivieroj, daug kas sako, kad labai mazai moku. Kur tiesa? Na bet neseniai teko uzbludyti i www.expensr.com ir pasitestuot saita finansams sekti. Kas idomu, yra defaultiniai mokejimai, tipo nuomos, kuriuo suvedus gali palyginti su bendru vidurkiu zmoniu, besinaudojanciu situo saitu. Ir ka jus manot?? as moku apie 1.5 karto daugiau negu vidutinis amerekonas! Cia turint omeny, kad as nekonvertavau savo nuomos mokescio i baksus :)

Paziurejau i ta nuoma is kitos puses, palyginus su maisto ir transportavimo kainom, tai per menesi ju suma prilygsta vieno menesio nuomos kainai. Sakyciau tada pakankamai iseina, ane?

Ir galu gale, pamasciud dar karta - uz ka gi as cia moku?! O gi uz tai, kad beveik kiekviena miela diena dangus yra melynas (arba israizytas lektuvu takais) ir saule sildo mane, ir dar uz tai, kad net lapkricio pradzioje labai norint as turiu galimybe issimaudyt 19C laipsniu juroje... Noriu pabrezt, kad i sita sarasa as visai nenoriu itraukti Nicos, Monako, Alpiu, sakykim cia tik bonusai. Reziumuojant moki is siluma saules pavidale ir tame tarpe uz gera nuotaika ;)

Gera nuotaika savaime veda prie didesnio ikvepimo, todel cia gyvena ne mazai meninku, na ir siaip visas prancuziskas Silicon Valley cia bazuojasi :)

Bet ir siaip neimanoma nepastebeti kiekviena miela darbo dienos ryta mane bedziuginanciais vaizdais keliaujant darban:

Grasse from the lower part, November 2007


View of the mountains, November 2007


A tunel of highway Grasse-Cannes, November 2007

P.S. Tiems, kas dar nezino, as gyvenu Grasse'o priemestyje vadinamu Saint Jacque

Sestadienis Rivieroje

Prancuzai nenustoja stebinti manes, nei kiek! Suprantamas dalykas, kad siandien yra sestadienis ir zmonem reikia kazkur islist, ir vaikus kazkur nutempti. Is kitos puses visiems pasaulyje yra puikiai zinoma kokie prancuzai yra gurmanai, kaip jie rupinasi del savo maisto ir tas yra tiesa, galiu jus patikinti. Bet siandien as buvau issigandus kai McDonalds'e pamaciau didziule eile... tiek prancuzu mac'e - neitiketina! Ir kur gi dingsta tas gurmanu potraukis kokybiskam maistui? Velnias ji zino... Sumasciau tokius Mac'o pliusus:
- jei jami Meniu, tai vietoj bulviu gali ir salotas issirinkti
- jei jami Meniu, kaip gerima gali issirinkti is 8 skirtingu gal, tame tarpe normaliausias prancuziskas alus 1664 :)
- Mac'o kainos yra patraukalios, kadangi net uz 5.7eu gali gaut visa komplekta ir pavalgyt, kas sitoj vietoj yra arti nerealiai kainai.

Seasonal contrasts

It's autumn outside already, it's November. However, the nature here looks quite the same as 3 months ago. If you go to the mountains about 2km hight, during September you may see such picture:

Col d'Allos, Mercantoure, 2007 September

The interesting thing is that if you go to the same place in a month, you get next picture:

Col d'Allos, Mercantoure, 2007 October

As for me, a girl from quite rainy and cold country Lithuania, this kind of picture is normal at the end of October. The difference is that you go up to the mountains about 2km higher then you live and when you come back, you can just go the Nice, Promenade des Anglais, and have your time like this:

Promenade des Anglais, Nice, 2007 November

Another contrast is that even if it's so green around like in the summer time, it's enough to go 15km from the cost about 800m higher to change the picture from summer one...

Cap Ferrat, Nice, 2007 November

...to golden autumn:

Bank of Lac de Sainte Croix, 2007 November