Jumpers, crisps, and pavement.

I've spent the past 2 days surrounded with British English and I think it's so funny. Even though we all speak English there are some things that just don't translate or that cause some serious confusion, but it's really funny at the same time.

Last night, we hosted our first little apartment get together. I wouldn't call it a party, but a neighbor may have knocked on the door and handed us a list of rules for the apartment building... oops. But, the point is, our apartment is really coming together and it was nice to be able to show friends around and play the hostess. We even had bread and cheese available, along with crackers. And wine.

Anyways, I went to the bank and got my card this morning, so we should be able to have internet by Friday, hopefully. Maybe Saturday. But, it'll be a lot easier for me to update everyone more often. When I do, I promise promise promise that I'll include pictures of the apartment in its furnished state. However, my camera decided that it should stop working while I'm in France, perfect timing, I know. But, I've got my droid, so I can still take some pictures for you guys.

We're about to meet in town and go buy rugby tickets for this weekend! I'm not sure where the rest of this day will take me, but with this group, it's always interesting.

Bises!

English bubble.

Hello all! I promised a slightly more informative post this weekend and here it is!

I've continued to make more friends and get to know more people. It's really cool because I'm meeting people from so many different places, but we're all here in France together. We've been drinking wine down by la Garonne, walking back to our apartments at 3 in the morning since the metro has stopped, comparing the different forms of English and laughing at the miscommunication it occasionally causes. However, along with this group of awesome people comes the ease of speaking constant English. I was taken aback when I ordered my coffee at McDonald's this morning and I was spoken to in French. I knew I wasn't at home, but I had momentarily forgotten that I'm in France!

Although I'm very aware that I'm going to continue to speak English, I am going to make an effort to speak French more often. Maybe I'll even do some studying... or not.

I am going to try and update tomorrow as well with what happens the rest of today, but as of now the plan is: possibly pick up some furniture to borrow/move into the apartment and later on we might be going to a football game (soccer football). I'm really looking forward to going and experiencing a soccer game in another country. I'll be sure to tell you all about it if it ends up happening.

Anna and Brian went to get our new fridge yesterday, but the woman didn't realize we wanted to take it that day, so there was still food in it. So, she's going to have it ready to go tomorrow. My bank card should come in this week, so hopefully within a week I can stop relying on McD's for internet. Although a child just walked by with a very delicious looking sundae... I'll try and resist, but I did walk like an hour home last night. Which was also followed by Annie's mac n cheese.

OH YEAH! Yesterday morning our buzzer rang and it was a delivery guy with the package I've been expecting from Mama Green. I HAD TO PAY 118 EUROS TO ACCEPT THE PACKAGE! My mom already had to spend a decent amount the send them damn thing here! Apparently in France, customs has huge taxes (mainly for packages sent from the US or China) that the person receiving the package has to pay or they can't have it! After muttering some choice words under my breath, I paid the man because I wanted my peanut butter, mac n cheese, and Harry Potter books. I also gave him plenty of attitude even though I'm aware he was just doing his job. But, we are in France after all, I'm sure he's used to grumpy people.

There are so many adorable French children running around McDonald's right now. I can't even handle it. I hear these little children speaking French so easily and I'm always like...  why can this baby speak French so much better than me? And then I remember that they are French babies and not just geniuses, which makes me feel a little better.

I know I haven't posted any pictures of the apartment yet or very many of me actually doing things in France, but I promise they will come. I'm trying to get things with the apartment settled and I'm just really bad at uploading the pictures I take. But, I can promise that I will absolutely at least attempt to remember to do it tomorrow. On va voir!

apologies.

Sorry I'm so lame with the updates recently, still no internet at my place. But, there is hot water and Anna and Brian are on their way to pick up a fridge!

I promise this weekend I will find the time to come up with something longer. And hopefully something that includes some form of pictures, sarcasm, or wit.

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Step by step.

I just remembered that this show existed... throw back!

Things are slowly starting to come together. 

Things I have:

• an apartment
• a bed
• a couch and chair
• a go phone
• a bank account
• cool roommates
• metro card

Things I don't have:

• internet
• hot water (the guy shoulddd be coming today)
• teaching schedule
• phone plan
• bank card
• fridge
• bed sheets/pillows/blankets
• bath towels

Obviously some of these things take priority over others. Hopefully I can convince Brian to take me to the super market later to pick up some of the smaller items. We've been finding furniture at www.leboncoin.com and stuffing Brian's little car full of couches and mattresses. The next priority is a fridge, but I wouldn't mind a washing machine either. Or a microwave. I think I need my bank card in order to get internet and I should get my bank card sometime this week. Hopefully. But, Tori, you say, you're blogging right now, so you must have internet! Oh no, my friends. 

 McDonad's has free wifi. Which means I'm spending way too much time at McDonald's and therefor eating way too much of it. I will stand by the fact that the quality of food in French McDonald's is much better than what I've experienced in the states, so I don't feel quite as bad about it. I've also been sitting in the hallway by Christophe's apartment where I can pick up his wifi. Yes, we have literally been sitting in a dark hallway outside of his door just to get some wifi. Christophe tells us we're more than welcome to come in and use it, but we don't want to take advantage, so we try to give him his space. He has been letting us take showers at his place since we haven't had hot water, which we have completely taken advantage of. Cold showers are just not for me. 

What else can I tell you? Friday night a lot of the assistants got together in Toulouse and we went to a couple different bars (I can't remember if I told you this already or not, so if I did, feel free to skip ahead.) It was so amazing meeting people from so many different cultures, all here to do the same thing. The last bar we went to was...

10 points if you figure out what it means and you don't giggle.

 We went to a bar last night called Cafe Populaire (or Cafe Pop). On Mondays they have really good deals, so it was a great night to try it out. It was awesome talking to people and experiencing the bars here instead of just the states.  The music was really loud, so it was difficult to hold and deep, meaningful conversations, but I'm just glad people were willing (and able) to talk to me in French without too much confusion. 

This morning I took the bus to the metro to another bus in order to get to one of my schools. I took bus 39 because it was going to l'Union, but it wasn't quite the right line. I got off at the last stopped and walked around for a while. I was able to find the school pretty easily though. I handed in some paperwork and talked the seretoriat for a few minutes. He's taking care of a lot of paperwork for me, which is awesome. He showed me a much easier way of leaving the school and getting to a bus stop instead of walking all the way around. It was a successful morning and now I know it is in fact line 43 that I need to take to get to both of the schools in that direction. Though, I still need to figure out the route to the 3rd school. And my teaching schedule. 

We have orientation tomorrow, so I'm sure I'll be completely overwhelmed with information then. I'll be sure to update you as soon as I can! Wish me luck that we'll have hot water when I get home!

Keys!

We're moved in! I can't talk for long. We're at Christophe's cooking dinner and to take a quick shower because we can't figure out how to turn the gas on for hot water. Isn't he like... the best person you can ever imagine?

Just wanted to update, but pictures to come!!

Quick update!

Hello all!

So yesterday didn't go quite to plan. We didn't have all the necessary documents and the landlord gave us more things that we needed to get done, so we did not get the keys yesterday, unfortunately. However, we got all of the other documents and stuff taken care of. I was even able to get the insurance stuff taken care of at the bank early this morning. We're meeting her at 3:30 this afternoon to give her the rest of the paperwork and hopefully sign the lease. And get the keys. And move in.

That last part is important because Anna's allotted time at the hostel is up so and Brian told the family he's staying with that he'd be gone yesterday... so... yeah.

Last night a lot of the assistants got together in town and it was a great time! We hopped around to a few different bars and actually got to talk to people in person that we've been communicating with on facebook for the entire summer.  I didn't stay out too late because we had to catch the last metro, which is at 1 AM on the weekends, but I was really tired anyways.

I got up bright and early this morning to take care of the insurance. I seem to have become the secretary/coordinator of the group. As usual! But, that's okay, with stuff like this I do kind of like to be in charge.

Then, I went to Anna's hostel to help her transport her suitcases across town. Her hostel is at the end of the metro line and when I get there the guy told me that there was no Anna there! So I went back to le Capitole and then Anna called me and I went all the way back to the hostel, where in fact, there was an Anna. So we lugged her suitcases into the metro and onto the bus and up to the 5th floor. And now we're sitting in my room at Christophe's. (Brian is here now too!) We're going to go to town soon and I'm going to try to find a thank you gift for Christophe and Anissa.

Our bags are packed and we're ready to go!!

Wish us luck for this afternoon! I'm not sure if I'll be able to update tonight or not since our internet isn't set up, but I'll try my best! Au revoir!!

Let's all sit down for circle time!

Now listen up, kids!

So, let me explain to you how relatively simple things work in France (as far as I've gathered thus far): make them as ridiculously complicated as possible. My day started simply enough. The plan was to head into town around 13h to meet up with Anna (who will now be filling in the spot of 3rd roommate!) and get lunch. She would accompany me to get a phone. Brian would meet up with us. We'd get to know each other some more and call it a day. Sounds reasonable, right? I thought so.

As you all know, I've been waiting until I got my bank account set up in order to get a phone here in France. Well, yesterday I set up the account and I was really excited to buy an inexpensive plan that would let me talk to people in France and stop relying on facebook messaging for all forms of communication. Anyways, today when I went to get a phone, they told me I couldn't get a plan without a bank card. I told them I didn't have a bank card yet, but I had my account number and all of my bank information/ID with me, but they can't do the plan without the card.

However, I can't get the bank card until I have documentation of a residence to show the bank. I'm lucky they even let me set up an account in general using a temporary residence. "But this is easy, Tori!" you say. "You have an apartment, just ask your landlord for some proof of residency!" Great idea! However, the landlord can't give us proof of residency until we give her a bank statement and renters insurance (which is also done by the bank). I need the proof of residency for the bank, but I need the bank for the proof of residency! Luckily, I do have a bank statement to show the landlord since the banker was kind enough to set me up with just a temporary address. However, the banker obviously cannot sign me up for renters insurance without having proof of where I'll be renting.

So this cycle essentially ends up with me standing in front of a basilica arguing with the landlord on the phone. After what was I'm sure a pretty amusing conversation to listen to, she agreed to give me the proof of address when we meet tomorrow and I'll get the renters insurance to her ASAP. I win! (Do you now understand the circle time reference? haha)

I actually was standing in front of a basilica though! This is la basilisque Saint Sernin. It's absolutely beautiful, so I suppose if I have to be arguing with my landlord, in French nonetheless, in front of this gorgeous parish isn't a terrible place to do it.

But, I digress. I was eventually able to break the vicious cycle with my stubbornness calm and straightforward demeanor. Now let's take the time to unravel this web of confusion. My landlord WILL give us the proof of residency, which means that I can now get renters insurance for the apartment. It also means that I will be able to not only have a bank account, but I will be able to have checks and a bank card to go along with my account. And once I have this bank card, I will be able to sign up for a phone plan!

 So, in the meantime I finally caved and bought a go phone because getting the bank card could take another week and I just can't rely on facebook chat to make plans for that much longer. So now, I at least have a phone that I can call and text my friends, even if I have to buy the minutes. But, I was assured that when I go back to get my plan I can use the same phone and keep the same number, which does simplify things a bit at least. It's such a dinky little phone, but I didn't see any reason to buy a nice, fancy one when I'll only be using it for 7 months.

The plan for tomorrow is to meet with our landlord at 16h with all of the documents and money she requested. Hopefully we'll be able to sign and get the keys (AND the proof of residency) right there tomorrow. We're already receiving news about people having extra furniture and things for us to borrow, so hopefully it will only be unfurnished for a very short period of time.

That's the plan anyways. It's very possible that in the morning I could have a potential plot twist, but you'll have to wait and see!