Carte de Sejour...

So yesterday was our orientation in Orléans. All the assistants in our entire academie went to the city, the largest around, to meet each other and get some basic information. Meeting other assistants was really fun. Granted it was a horribly rainy day and I was super-tired from being woken up at 5am with a charley horse like none other and then actually waking at 6:30 to get ready and leave… but it was reassuring to see a few hundred other people who were new to France and having to deal with the French, in all their glory. Unfortunately all of my prior research made the “informational” part of the program rather redundant and boring. Hopefully all the other assistants reading this had equally good orientations… at least socially.

Today was our appointment at the Préfecture to get our Carte de Séjour (CdS). That’s the identity card that proves we’re really allowed to be in the country and are eligible for pay from the government and the social security system and all that jazz. But it’s really not that simple. For starters I had to take a folder of paperwork along with a photocopy of everything in that folder. Then I had to hope that whoever is behind the desk helping me is in a good mood and deems me worthy of helping. After all of this I did not actually receive the CdS today. Of course not, that would be far too simple. They will send the my photocopies along with their own paperwork and photocopies off to Paris where another French civil servant will scrutinize my papers and my picture, decide if I am worthy and then make the card up. Then the card itself will have to be scrutinized by people in Paris who will send it back to my Préfecture who will then notify either me or the academie that it has arrived and I may pick it up. In any ordinary first world country this ordeal could take a few weeks. So since this is France we put that timeline and multiply it by pi to the third power. In short, I hope to have the CdS by the time I come home for Christmas, but this is probably more my own naiveté than anything else. Oh, and did I mention this entire process is dependent on my getting a medical appointment (back in Orléans of course) that has already been complicated by incorrect instructions given to me by the embassy in Washington DC. If this paragraph has given you a headache, imagine living in it constantly.

On the other hand, France is amazing at the same time. The cheese is fantastic, the people are friendly (unless they’re a civil servant in a bad mood), there’s lots of cheese to try, the old parts of town are picturesque and adorable, unpasturized goat cheese is amazing, the language just sounds cooler than English, there are entire stores dedicated to nothing but cheese, live is lived at a slower pace, and did I mention the amazing cheese? Here’s a shot I took in Paris of a Fromagerie. Actually, I think this was a Cremerie so they probably also sold milk and such things, but that’s not the focus here.

Some other things that happened on our uneventful day in Paris were that I saw the Eiffel Tower. It really never loses it’s wonder, which is odd since it’s a rather out-of-place iron structure poking awkwardly out of a very white and romantic city. We also strolled through the Jardin des Tuileries, which was still in bloom. I’ve only walked though in the middle of winter so it was quite an experience. I would like to one day have a garden like this one, though I doubt it will ever happen. We saw Notre Dame de Paris (please note that this is a different Notre Dame than the one in Chartres…), but didn’t go in. We have plenty of time to do that and the tourists were out in force on Saturday. Oh, I suppose I should mention that we no longer consider ourselves tourists, though we may often look like them. However, we have an address where we receive mail, an apartment we live in, clothes that are not in suitcases and soon (hopefully) we will be receiving salaries from the French government. We assume that takes us out of the “tourist” category. But back to Notre Dame… here it is: Oh, and I helped Bonnie and Mark find some nice plates by throwing my trash away. Long story… ask if you want more details. I think that’s about it for right now. Not too much going on here, but I start teaching soon enough, so it will pick up quickly. Hope everything is good back home and good for any other assistants reading this. If anyone would like certain pictures or information about Chartres/life in France/me leave a comment at the bottom and I’ll get back to you. A bientôt!

Beth-Thought this was funny… saw it at the store and had to take a picture. C’est Dora l’Exploratrice! Apparently she’s in France too and has a rather extensive line of stuff. This was shoes. Though here she teaches kids English instead.

Mom - Here's that photo for right to read week.

Translation: Librarie = Bookstore N'oubliez pas de lire... = Don't forget to read...

Saw it wandering through Paris. It was on some random road near the Ile St Louis.