Bored at the prefecture

So I'm sitting here at the prefecture trying to pass the time, so I figured I'd update my blog!

So in the rush of July I've actually had very little time even though I've been on "vacation". There have been great moments of relaxation but still no real vaca. We'll see if I get to travel a bit before I start working or not :)

So in case you aren't up to date, I got a job!! I'll be working as a technician in a Paris startup that develops a telecom software. It's seems like a nice place to work and my coworkers already seem nice. This also meant that I've had to take many a trip to Paris for administrative stuff. Papers to fill ou, proof of this, registration of that...bref its been a crazy few weeks!

I've also had to look for apartments which is an absolute nightmare in Paris!! My first week of looking resulted in a big fat nothing because I didn't have enough documents for any landlord. I still visited but I knew I would be able to get any. It was also at this point in time that unrealised that I had a whole two options of apartment size if I wanted an apartment just for me : small and extra small. The second week was cut short because of a lack of scheduled visits, but it also allowed me to calk ahead for this past week and arrange a lot of visits. So early Monday morning I set off once again for Paris and spent the week running (litterally) from place to place and calling for apartment. Finally yesterday in my very last visit, I got an apartment!!! It's really close to my work which is great but that also meant that I had to take the extra small size option meaning in basically live in a box with a small kitchen area, a mattress, and a bathroom. Ok its not Buckingham palace, but its actually pretty nice.

Now I'm back in Rouen dealing with visa stuff and hoping it'll work out well and after I'll be moving to the big city :).

Well my time is almost up which means this was effectively a great way to pass my time. More to come soon!

Big update

Ok sooooo it has been a very long time since I last posted... Fail on my part but also I haven't had as much time because I've actually had things to do! The beginning of June was the Armada in Rouen which only happens every 5 years. I went to see the really cool boats all week and every night I went to see the fireworks :) Then I had a few concerts and rehearsals to finish out the year as well as several interviews.

June passes so fast I barely had time to breathe. At the end of the month one of my best friends, Caroline, came to visit. She has a cousin who sings for the Lord of the Rings concerts so we were able to spend time with her and go see the concert which was awesome! I also was able to spend extra time in Paris to go to a couple of interviews.

I was also working on moving out of my apartment in Rouen so that I could save some money and try to prepare for the possibility of needing to move back to the US. I didn't necessarily want to leave my roommates, but I'm also reaching a point in my life where I'm ready to try living on my own. I also realised how much stuff I've accumulated while living in France... I actually need to do some sorting and clearing out of my things sometime soon. But there's time for that :)

July started with a bang as I was working for an English language camp at the High School where I worked. It was so much work but a ton of fun! However combined with my friends visit and a second interview, it was tiring. However, it was all well worth it. I was working with awesome people while interviewing for a good job in Paris and I had Caroline there to encourage me and help me focus on happier things.

Saturday was also busy because I had to leave the apartment where I was living at the high school. Then we went to a weekend gathering in lower Normandy close to a town called Vire. It was so much fun and while I didn't sleep much, it was surprisingly relaxing :).

Then after another night with little sleep, I headed to Paris for the day yesterday to say goodbye to Caroline who left just this morning. However it turned out to be a very good day because I also found out that after many months of searching I finally got a job!!!!!!!!! I'll be working for a telecom company who has a billing and management software doing tech support and client relations as well as some translations. There is even the possibility that I get to start working with the training processes in the coming years should I choose to stay. Its a permanent contract called a CDI in French which means that after my integration I have a long term job. Now I'm looking for apartments in Paris and hoping that I find one soon so I can travel a bit before starting my job in mid August.

More to come soon and hopefully sooner than this last time ;)

Been awhile

So I've already broken my once every week rule about blogging, but hey life is life after all. I've actually been pleasantly busy lately which means that I should be getting a nice paycheck come the end of June or July from the private school where I've been working. YOUPPPIII!!!!

"Spring" has yet to arrive here in Rouen and it is still incredibly chilly at night while talk of summer vacation has begun. After this week, in fact, I will officially be on break as I won't be working any more until my week-long summer camp that I work for the first week of July. It'll be nice not to have to work, but I'm hoping that I can get some traveling done since I have barely traveled at all this year. I'm thinking about going to the UK for a bit to take a nice look around the country and visit friends as well as Germany. However, I really want to take more small trips around France to see more of this country. I've been to the north a tad and the south, but I still have a lot to see and experience here.

Job hunting is still happening and I did have an interview for the lecturer position I mentioned in a previous post last week. We'll see where things go from there and hope that sometime between now and then I'll get some sort of job. I'm looking in France, in the US, and somewhat around the world at this point since I'm still not quite sure of what I want to do or where I should go from where I am right now. Sure, I really would like to stay in France, but, again, life is life and I guess I have to see where it's going to take me. Looking for work still depresses me a bit and gets me going on vicious cycles of trying to figure out answers to impossible questions such as the meaning of life (not even kidding on that one...) or what I really, truly want to do with the rest of my life. It's never bad to reflect on these sorts of questions, but when I get going on them day after day, it just gets me down and makes my life much harder than it needs to be. So instead, I look for potential appartments for next year which cheers me up for some reason.

Perhaps one of the biggest things that's been going on through my mind lately is how trapped and blocked I feel by every move I want to make. Thoughts get into my head and spin around until sometimes I litterally become dizzy. I'd like to find an appartment of my own, but I really can't get one at this point because I have to face the very real possibility that come September, I may have to go back to the US. I'd like to travel a lot, but with not much future income coming my way, I have to watch my finances carefully so that I can still afford to live for a while. I'd love to buy some kitchen equipment like pans or a nice mixer, but since those things are so heavy, I could buy them only to resell them if/when I have to leave.  I'd like nothing more than to have some idea of where I'm going and what I'm going to do, but for the moment that seems like more and more of a dream to me. Days can start out so positively then within a few minutes turn into headaches where I don't feel like doing anything. It has been getting better recently with some extra income that landed in my bank account recently and I feel like getting away to travel for just a bit could help occupy my time a bit more so I don't think as much about what's going on and just deal with the important things one at a time.

Anywho, I had a great weekend this week and last weekend was wonderful as well! It was the birthday of my French "dad" and I even got to make the birthday cakes :) Yes, 12 birthday "cakes" in 2 days was what I did! It was exhausting and a bit frustrating, but fun at the same time. There are a few pictures floating around somewhere of the finished products of them, but I haven't yet seen them and I was too busy serving to take pictures while they were all nice and pretty. Hopefully I'll get some soon, but here are the ones that I took beforehand.

As always, I hope everyone who reads this is doing well, and if you have any questions to ask me, don't hesitate to comment!

What's life in France like?

Ok for this week's blog (totally counts since it's Sunday :)) I thought I'd cover a topic that I've been asked about a lot: life in France. As many of you know I enjoy life here a lot, but there are definitely disadvantages as well.

First paperwork is an absolute pain here! Everything requires a million documents and if you're missing just one it takes even longer to accomplish the simplest tasks. I recently lost my bank card over here and had to order a new one. About a week later I had the new card but I discovered when I tried to pull money out of an ATM that they had changed my pin. Because I hadn't yet changed my address with my bank they had sent this to my old apartment and I had no way of getting to it because this happened during a school vacation which means the school wouldn't actually get any mail for 2 weeks while it was closed. To my surprise I was actually getting used to the paperwork I would need for banking! What all did I take? My passport, my insurance card just in case, a gas bill (luckily I had recently taken over out utility bills otherwise things would've been very complicated), and a copy of a document called a RIB that shows your account number. Luckily I had exactly what I needed to change my address and it was the first time that had ever happened to me! I was able to put in the request to change my address, get a new pin number sent to my address, and also get a special code for accessing my account via the internet since mine had become blocked due to the proceeding activities. Got it all done but then I had to wait. Already I had been without a bank card for a week and I thought that I would be able to use my card/bank like before just after. I was wrong. Unfortunately after waiting a week (normally it should only take 5 days) I went back and discovered that my codes had been sent to another address because someone accidentally typed 160 instead of 16....  I was not very happy because I knew that now it was going to take another week (there were bank holidays coming up) and I had very limited ways to monitor my spending, pay for anything, or withdraw cash. And even more it absolutely was not possible for me to get any of these codes in any other way. As soon as they put in the requests. A machine prints new codes somewhere in France, seals the envelope and sends it. There was no electric key pad that I could use to change my pin or access code. I just had to wait. And this was just for dealing with my banking. Imagine when you have ton request to change a visa!

Food here is wonderful! I love all of the delicious and delectable stuff I can buy. Cheese, fruit, veggies, meat, and even fish can be purchased in markets for the best quality products or in supermarkets if you're looking for cheap things. Unfortunately certain items are expensive no matter what. Red meat is one of those and therefore I buy very little and usually stick to basics like bread, pasta, rice, beans, milk, vegetables, and fruit. However I was passing the other day through an open air market and saw something that made me spend a little bit more than I normally would: scallops. Not in a can though. They had just been caught that morning and I HAD to buy them. I bought 3 for 5€ but it was totally worth every centime to make a nice scallop and pasta dish that afternoon :D

Transportation is another thing that can be great and horrible. I live it in Rouen tat I can walk nearly everywhere I need to go and if not there is almost always a bus or metro to take me around. However if you're in a smaller town things get very frustrating very quickly. Some busses only run 3 times a day! I got stranded after my job interview in Cholet for 30 minutes in pouring rain and freezing winds because I didn't arrive at the bus stop 2 minutes earlier! However I usually have very few complaints especially when you can take busses to other towns in France for next to no money! Sure you have to know schedules but for traveling it makes not having a car more feasible. I also love a newly discovered site that makes carpooling across France very easy!

Finally I'm going to talk briefly about a topic I'll probably talk about again soon : friends. Living in a foreign country that speaks a different languages makes finding true friends really hard. You arrive thinking you're going to be that awesome, really cool foreigner that everyone just wants to be around 24/7, but the truth is you may be awesome and you may be really interesting to others, but it not easy in both ends being friends with someone who doesn't speak your language at a native level. Last year I made too many anglophone friends and when they all left ended up very lonely. This year started much Better and I have many more French friends, but that sometimes doesn't make things easy. When you're available others aren't and even if you go out with friends you some time still feel lonely because they're all conversing all together about life and inside jokes while you're still trying to figure out what someone said 3 sentences ago. It happens. Now I'm not saying that I have difficulties understanding French, but speaking and living in a different culture takes a lot of hard work. Things that used to be so easy, like interjecting thoughts, become harder and sometimes leave you stranded in your own head while others continue to talk all around you. However it's situations like this that make you learn how to do that and help you learn words or phrases at the same time. Luckily for me, I have quite a few friends who seem to unknowingly take turns being interested in me while the others chat about other things. I'm also starting to make more friends with some of the groups I've become a part of to exchange languages. Like I said living and communicating in a foreign culture takes a lot of work and patience. I'm slowly and surely making progress and I can hopefully continue to do so over the next year :).

Well like I think that's about all I have for this week. Again, I'd love for you to ask me any questions you have to help me come up with topics, so don't hesitate! I'll be trying to get up some pictures in the next couple of days as well.

Chez moi!

So since I just discovered the mobile app I thought I'd try it out a bit :) Here are some pics around my apartment. Enjoy!

A Long Time Coming

For those of you who may not know me or just haven't had much contact with me, I've been living in Rouen, France now for almost two years!  I did go home last summer for a brief stretch of time, but I came back again in mid-September this year. Those of you who know me know that I've not really been too good about keeping people up to date with what's going on with me, so I figured that try to start blogging on a somewhat regular basis to keep everyone in the loop. Again, those of you who know me also know that this usually doesn't work too well, but I'm going to do my best to update this blog at least once a month to keep track of stuff and post some pics etc.

Sooooo......here's a update on what's been going on with me since September:

I went back to the US in July with no idea if I was going to be able to come back in the fall. Several people said that I'd for sure be renewed for another year as a English Teaching Assistant, but I knew going into the renewal process that there was no guarantee that I'd be given another contract. By the time September had arrived, I was tired of waiting and decided to enroll in a university program so that I could at least come back and get things working. It was a risk and somewhat expensive (a drop in the bucket compared to US higer education costs of course), but I wanted to come back and try to live for a longer period of time. This risk in the end really paid off.

I arrived on September 17th and had to go and take a three hour placement exam on the 18th. Luckily it was in the early afternoon, but I was still incredibly exhausted from the ride over. However, I was still able to prove that I have a high B2 level in French and could be placed in a course of studies that would allow me to take a test in the spring to obtain a C1 or C2 level degree which are the highest levels available. Essentially this means that I speak and write just as well as most French people.

In the time between the test and the results, I had also found a job which paid decently and would allow me to pay rent etc for at least the time being. The first day of classes arrived soon after and I wasn't exactly thrilled to start classes, but it was ok. However, I got a call in the afternoong from the Rectorat saying that they needed an assistant for the lycée (High School) where I worked last year. I called them back and told them that I wanted it but I needed to check on some details first. As I got to thinking and checking, I realized that it would be impossible for me to keep my studies, the assistant job, and the job I had found at another part of the university. So instead of paying the money to finish the enrollment process, I decided to drop my studies. In the process of trying to change my visa, I discovered that I would have been able to change my visa without going home, but that it would probably take so long that it wasn't worth it. So this means that I still have a student visa, but since it allows me to work up to 21 hours per week, I haven't had any problems.

I also found an apartment with two roommates within the first couple of weeks and by October we had moved into the apartment. I bought a bed with a matress and sheets which was exciting. Soon after we found a German assistant who wanted a better apartment and we started somewhat of a family between the four of us. Alex, David, Tobias and I had a lot of fun together. Now the roommates have changed (Tobias and David have been replaced by Justine and Clément), but it's still a nice place to call home with a good location and a low rent. I've also been able to make a lot of new friends thanks to my roommates and it's been a wonderful experience.

Not too much happened between October and January. I worked, I played music at the conservatory and music school, I went out with friends, I worked, I slept from time to time as well :). At the end of December, though I got word from a school in Maromme where I worked last year that I could start working there again if I wanted. I did, and since my 2nd job wasn't going too well (the students were lazy and didn't want to do anything, there was a lot of poor communication, etc) I was hoping to be able to fit some time into my already busy week for them as well. As it turns out, the part of the university that had hired me was out of money and couldn't afford to keep me on so I got to start working with my private school again.

For Christmas I went to Holland and had a lot of fun with Danielle, Corné and the kids. We went to Marion's place for Christmas dinner which was soooo good! It was also the first time I had rabbit which was also a great experience! Corné and I went mountain biking a couple of times and also went running together. It was tiring, but tons of fun. However the week went fast and soon I was headed back to France.

After the Christmas holiday, it was back to work for me. I started working at Maromme and kept working at Marcel Sembat. As they say, time really flies.

I also began an endeavor to find a way to stay for another year in France. I asked a couple of friends to help me with my CV (resume in American) and also with letters of motivation. I began applying for almost anything that required someone who was bilingual. I started getting responses right away including interviews which was great news for me.

One of these interviews took me on quite the ride, it was for a position based in Cholet, France and according to much of what I was reading and being told, it would be a great fit for me. I got excited, bought tickets to go there for a second interview, and mentally prepared to move. However, when I got there, I was a bit disappointed.

I knew Cholet was a small town, but I wasn't exactly planning on living in this small town. There are 2 bigger cities close by so I had planned on finding something in one of these cities and then commuting 40 minutes to an hour by train. The thing I didn't take into account was the company's distance from the train station.

Upon arrival in Cholet, I walked to the center of town (about 5 minutes). It was pretty and calm. I got to the bus station and only waited about 5 minutes for the bus. I boarded and then had to get off a bit later to take a second bus the rest of the way. I waited another 5 minutes or so and the bus came. It took me out of the city and to a completely isolated area where it whipped by the bus stops so quickly I didn't have a chance to see which one was which. Luckily I had done my research and as soon as we passed by the company, I signaled for the bus to stop.

The interview went well, but I soon learned two very important things about this job: it was basically working in a call center, and I would most likely need a car.  Even while going through the interview big red lights were going off in my mind. Did I really want this job afterall? Could I even get a valid driving license in Frace? Did I really want to buy a car?  Is this job really for me?

All of these things are somewhat normal I suppose. Especially considering that I would have to move a bit further from my friends, etc. However after the interview my life changed a little bit. I left the building and it was raining and the wind was blowing hard. It wasn't anything that I hadn't experienced before (in Normandy it rains at least once per week...it just lasts all week as the people here say :) ), but after arriving at the bus stop I realised that I had missed the bus by about 2 minutes. No big deal until you consider that the next one wasn't supposed to arrive for 30 minutes!!! Luckily I had my umbrella....

30 minutes later the bus arrived (at least it was on time!). I boarded, soaking wet, with my completely distroyed umbrella. That wait was not at all fun. Cars, trucks, and vans all went zooming past me which continuously sprayed me with water. I got to thinking, "What if I'm a little late out of work one day, or a little late on the train coming to work?" The answer was that I'd be stuck just like I was for the moment. It wouldn't necessarily be in the same conditions of course, but still, I'd be stranded and it could cause me a ton of problems.

About a week and a half later, I got a call saying that they wanted to hire me. It was a great opportunity with decent pay, great benefits, and overall it would have given me a visa. However, after much thought, talking with everyone I know it seems, and thinking about it more, I decided I couldn't take it. I couldn't accept moving to a place where I know no one and where I would be isolated to such an extent even if it meant that I'd be sure to have a visa.

Since this time, I've continued looking for work and applied for many jobs. It is looking like there is a good chance that I'll be able to take a lecturer job at on the universities here in the fall which will allow me to extend my visa and stay for at least one more year (though the contract is for two years so it would be easy to stay longer as well). My assistant job at Sembat is almost over; I have today and then I will probably go in a couple of other days as well for time that I missed. Already I can see that I'm not going to be working as much so I'm trying to make some extra money on the side that I can save up. I do cooking experiments from time to time (like fudge and angel food cake) so that I can explore the possibility of selling American style goodies by internet or in the markets here. Most of all I'm saving money. I'm entering a stretch where I know money is going to be extremely tight so I'm trying not to spend more money than I have to.

I still go running a lot and I've started going to the pools here more frequently as well which keeps me busy with my work. Hopefully I'll know where I'm going pretty soon so that I can start making more plans and see what the future has in store for me.

If you've made it this far, congratulations! I know that this has been a reaaaallly long post, but I had a lot of updating to do. Like I said at the beginning, I'm going to try and update this blog at least once per month. If things go like I want them to, I'll be updating much more frequently :).

Have a great day wherever you are and let me know what you'd like to hear about in my life so I can get ideas of what to write about for next time :D.