When wine is cheaper than water....

I just read the Facebook post of a friend in Arizona who said her day was full of drama.  Crazy, cause even all the way out here in France, so was mine.


It's funny, no matter where you are you have those days sometimes.  You'd think that if you went off to live in some amazingly awesome country you'd become immune to them...cause life is supposed to be amazing living there.  Well, not really.  No matter where you go one of those days when you are annoyed at anything and everything, and nothing seems to go right will pop up.


We're currently busy getting some official issues sorted and settling our things into the new apartment before we make our return to NYC to wrap up our lives there to then move it officially back here to France.  Whew, it just feels like the to-do list is so full.  So far this week: we got me my bank account, signed the lease on Grandpa's old apartment over to us -so now I have two of the important items on the "Titre de Sejour To-Do list", painted Grandpa's new apartment, put together all of his flat packed tables and closets, got Grandpa moved into his new apartment, and took in a bit of the Carnaval.  We still have to move ourselves to the new apartment, set up the husband's sound booth, get internet-phone-cable set up, and clean the old apartment.


Now with three days left before flying, the husband is sequestered in his booth half way through recording an audio book and I'm busy keeping the kids occupied while trying to pack the apartment to move it to the new one.  Well, I think this is all becoming more stressful than I think and it's making me grumpy. Or maybe it's the thought of returning to cold weather! So, after grouching at the husband in the morning, I decided to escape the house with the kids and hang out in the sun at a park.  I just said to myself, relax, it will get done, go have fun with the kids.  So I did.  (and in the end we did have some fun at the park)


But of course, since it's one of those days nothing was easy. I chose to try a new way to the park and after three uphill attempts at different streets I ended up on the usual one we take.  Now completely tired.  At the park the kids threw tantrums because I had the nerve to say we couldn't eat ice cream until after we had lunch, and then when we left the park and headed half way down the hill I realized we didn't have Taylor's outer jacket.  So we went back up the hill to find it, couldn't, and went home.  Darn it, now I have to buy him another one cause it will be cold in NY.  But of course, where do you think the coat ended up being???  Yes, in the closet at home.  We didn't even bring it to the park!  Then my head decided to ache so I get grumpy at the husband again.  Poor guy.  But since he is a lovely man underneath it all, he carted two suitcases I packed this morning full of stuff up the hill to the new place.  See, it will get done. :)


MORAL...on these days, always take the tried and tested route, everyone should eat ice cream FOR lunch, and once down the hill forget about the old blue jacket with the red paint on it and think of it as an excuse to go shopping.


Now, I sit with my feet up drinking a nice bottle of red and figure tomorrow I'll tackle the next two suitcases and the cleaning of the "old" apartment.


In a country where wine is cheaper than water, it's easy to drown away a day, or week, full of drama.  :)

I'm the Junk in his Trunk...Cadam Part 1

Today we made the trek out to Cadam, the administrative offices, to get my Titre de Sejour (work permit, kind of like the American Green Card).  Well, we had a long talk with a managerial type woman at the counter upon entering, which is as far as we got, about what we needed, the process, etc. It didn't go as well as we had hoped or like the internet had informed us it would.  Many more documents were needed and those documents needed to be prepared in special ways that we had not done.  


Such as....copies of passport, both of ours, and not that old one you have James without a microchip - seems a lot of Portuguese are faking their way in (really?), my birth certificate, our marriage license, apartment lease, bank account, tax documents if you are not a salaried employee of a company, a utility or mobile phone bill, AND ALL TRANSLATED IN FRENCH. Because as she said..."The French, we protect our language", and don't forget to have all those documents officially stamped. 


And don't even think about trying to do this if you can't speak the language.  Thankfully I have James who speaks French very well.  Oh, and before any of this, James must declare himself at the Town Hall and register what he does for a living. Everyday I understand more and more the plight of those trying to come into America legally. 


So then the managerial lady proceeds to tell us that...


"You are whatever your husband is (how he's registered), he carries you with him.  If he's a salaried employee then you are, if he's a student then you are (how two students could support a family I'll never know), if he's an entrepreneur, then you are, etc.  She is in your luggage. (huh??)  She is whatever you are, so decide what you are wisely.  It can never be changed."  


Never??? I'm sure that part was lost in translation. Could the French laws really be this condescending or ancient?


So, if any of you ladies think you are going to be strong independent women in France, think again.  By being a non-French foreigner, you are just junk in someone's trunk.


How it all plays out in the end?.....stay tuned.  I won't be beaten that easily!  I WILL live and work here, I will, I will, I will!

To work or not to work....

Since we've decided to stay I've been thinking of what I want to do for work.  Hmmm, this may be one of those times in life where one needs to reinvent oneself.  The struggle becomes, do I simply give in and become a 'housewife' doing the shopping, kid care, menu planning so James can concentrate fully on making the money? Or do I find work?  Not so easy when you don't know the language well enough.


I did meet with the local model and talent agency here, Enjoy Models, who said they would take me on and that I was right for their commercial market.  But it's a smaller market than if I were in say, Paris.  Here they deal with the Cote d'Azur and it's basically all direct booking, so rarely a casting to go on.  Not a problem, now I can clean my closet of all the "mom-wear" that was taking it over.  Still, definitely not as much opportunity to make the income I may need.


So, I've started to think about what other things I could do for employment.  Gotta support that coffee and croissant habit somehow.  Not to mention the new classy wardrobe I want to purchase.  Or maybe spend on a part time nanny for Emmerson, to help her learn French and give me the opportunity to be a proper cafe-mom. 


Maybe an English teacher in one of the bilingual schools?  I could teach theater in English as part of their language immersion program. Clean houses?  Set up a daycare or kid's club? 


But to do any job, I need a work permit/permanent resident card, a Titre de Sejour.  Even to simply stay and not work I need one.  So, a trip to Cadam will have to take place.  I've heard horror stories, so stayed tuned for that one!