“Lunch”

The stereotypes are true: the French really do love (and respect) food. One of the most surprising cultural differences I encountered the first time I came to France was how long the French spend on meals.

I’m used to eating breakfast in the car if I have a long commute, but when I was living in Paris I would always get strange looks when I ate a yogurt and banana on the metro in the morning on the way to school. The French believe that time should be devoted to each meal, which I agree with in principle, but in practice, sometimes I need to eat on the go.

Lunch in France is a Big Deal. In Paris I had an internship in a research lab and on days when I was in the lab I would eat lunch with the other scientists. The first step was often going out to a bakery to buy a sandwich and bringing it back to the lab. The first day, I finished my sandwich in 20 mins and then sat there for about an hour waiting for everyone else to finish so we could go back to work. Whereas in my lab in the US I would often grab a few bites of food here and there where I could between procedures to maximize efficiency, in France lab experiments were planned around lunch so that almost every day there would be a full hour to hour and a half devoted to lunch.

Two Sundays ago I went with Virginie and her family to have “lunch” at a friend’s house. I say “lunch” because we were there from 12:30 to 5 and we spent almost the entire time eating. We started with drinks, corn chips with hummus and guacamole, and tomatoes and cheese on tooth picks. This alone would have been a perfectly satisfactory lunch for me, but there was more! The main course was ratatouille, some kind of pastry rolls with either meat or cheese inside, and a zucchini salad. Then there was cantaloupe. And then the cheese course (a variety of cheeses to choose from and bread to eat with it). And then dessert: brownies, fruit crisp, and ice cream (NOT brownies or fruit crisp with ice cream, but all three together!). Finally there was coffee, of course. We didn’t finish eating until after 4:30.

Homemade fruit crisp

This past Sunday, Virginie and family had friends over to their house for lunch. It was a slightly more moderate version of the previous week: we finished eating a little before 4:30! For the appetizer we had tomatoes, carrot sticks, crackers, and tuna dip (and punch). The main course was grilled chicken and a caprese salad (tomatoes and mozzarella). But then there were also skewers with duck wrapped around prunes and grilled vegetables. No one had any room left for the salad that she made, so we saved it for dinner. Then came the cheese course, and finally dessert. We had homemade apple rhubarb compote, a chocolate raspberry tart, and assorted individual sized dessert pastries (once again, not a choice of one of the three desserts, but ALL THREE DESSERTS!). And finally coffee or tea.

I love food as much as the next person, but four hours is a bit long for lunch, quand même ! ;)

Chocolate raspberry tart

Assorted pastries

(Note: While I feel like I’ve been eating more than usual over the two weeks I’ve been here, it has mostly been healthy home-cooked food and lots and lots of fruits and vegetables. I have also been walking a lot more than usual, which has been great. I hope to be able to maintain this lifestyle throughout my time here in France, although the lots and lots of fruits and veggies and home-cooked food could be a little more difficult with my assistant stipend and resources. I’ll have to see how that goes!)

In case you didn't believe me about the fruits and vegetables, this is a shopping cart FULL of one week's worth of produce.

Grasse Bus Saga

Today I wanted to go into Grasse to go back to the real estate agency to ask some questions since they haven't replied to my email. I was going to go in with Virginie in the morning but I didn't sleep very well and felt like I was starting to come down with a cold, so I decided to sleep some more and try to take a bus into Grasse later.

I've tried many times to understand the bus schedules of this area but they are super confusing and don't list all of the stops they go to. I gave up trying to understand the schedule and decided to just head to a bus stop and ask the driver of the first bus that came by how to get to Grasse. 

???

I got to the stop that I had previously figured out with Virginie that I should use, but I couldn't even tell from the schedule which direction I was waiting for or in which direction I even wanted to go. My best guess was that I wanted to take line 11 into Peymeinade center and then take a different bus from there into Grasse and it looked like both directions would eventually get to Peymeinade center. 

I waited at the stop for about 30 mins before a bus came by, which I thought was a line 11 bus. I asked the driver how to go to Grasse and he said not to take his bus, to wait for line C. I asked if he knew what time it would come by and he said it was on the schedule. But since the stop wasn't even listed on the schedule I wasn't sure how I could possibly figure that out from the schedule. 

The line C schedule at that stop showed the bus starting in Grasse, so I decided to go to the stop on the other side to see if it looked like that side went toward Grasse. The stops weren't right across the road from each other and they were far enough away that I couldn't just wait at one and then run across the road if I saw a bus coming from the other side. 

When I got over to the other stop, it looked more promising that the bus in that direction would go to Grasse. However, as soon as I got there, a line C bus stopped at the stop I had just left. I was pretty sure it wasn't going to Grasse, but it would have been nice to be there to ask the driver.

The stop I was currently at was in direct sun with no nearby shade, so I was beginning to contemplate moving somewhere else to wait, when a line C bus approached! It might have actually been the exact same one that I had just seen going in the other direction. 

When the bus stopped I asked the driver if the bus was going to Grasse. She said no, it was going in the opposite direction, but would be back a little later heading to Grasse. I was about to get off when she said "Wait. I'll take you to another stop where you might be able to get another bus to Grasse." So I stayed on the bus and a few minutes later she dropped me off. She said another bus going to Grasse might come by, and if not she would eventually be back heading to Grasse. 

I waited at that stop for about 40 minutes, during which time a couple buses passed but didn't stop. At this point I was pretty much convinced that even if I did manage to get into Grasse the real estate agency would probably be closed. I figured that in the worst case scenario I could just walk back to the house (about 40 mins) or wait at the bus stop until Virginie or her husband got out of work and could come pick me up.

Finally, after about 40 minutes of waiting at the stop (with no bench or anything), the same line C bus cycled back again, this time heading toward Grasse. So I got back on the bus and was finally heading to Grasse. The ride wasn’t long, and I arrived without further event. In total, it took me over 3 hours to get into Grasse (about 20 mins away by car). When I finally arrived and walked over to the real estate agency, I found this posted on the door:

"We will be exceptionally closed Friday, September 23 after 11:00 am"

OF COURSE. The only fitting ending to this journey. So basically, the trip was pretty much a complete waste of time. At least there was a pretty view:

I have to laugh at the ridiculousness of the day, otherwise I would surely be crying out of frustration, so I really hope you found this story amusing.

Looking for an Apartment, Part 1

One of the reasons I came to France a few weeks early is so that I would have time to start looking for an apartment before the start of my teaching contract. I’m looking for somewhere to live in Grasse or Cannes (or somewhere with easy access to Grasse via public transportation). I met two other language assistants on Facebook who are going to be working in Grasse and Cannes, and the three of us are trying to look for an apartment that we could share.

We started by searching online on sites such as leboncoin and appartager, but we didn’t find many promising listings. There was one listing we found that would have been perfect: a three bedroom apartment in Grasse in walking distance of both of my schools and the train station and within our (small) budget. However, the listing had some contradictions (such as the amount of the agency fee) and some other confusing or peculiar aspects. We haven’t had any luck trying to contact the contact number to learn more about it and see if it is still available.

On Wednesday, another English teacher took me to visit a real estate agency to see some furnished studio apartments. There are 5 available studios in the same building, and three of them are on the same floor, so if we can’t find an apartment for 3 people, living in 3 separate studios but in the same building could be another option. The studios were very small but nice and some of them had really nice views. They were slightly above our ideal budget plus would have agency fees. However, as language assistants with very low income, we can probably qualify for assistance with paying for housing, so as long as that works out that would make it much more affordable.

That afternoon, I went to visit the house of another teacher at the school who is renting out two rooms in her house. It was very nice, but I’m not sure if I want to be living in someone’s house. It would definitely be good for practicing French (plus she has a really sweet black cat) but I might prefer something where I’m more independent and have more privacy. The price was slightly less than the studios and includes some food, but would probably not qualify for the housing assistance, so it’s hard to know which option would be cheaper in the long run.

We’re going to keep looking online and trying to find a place that the three of us can share. I also emailed the real estate agency on Wednesday evening with some questions that we thought of after my visit, but I haven’t heard back from them yet (which leads to my next blog post…).

Getting a French SIM Card, Part 1

Since I can’t yet use my French bank account, I can’t set up a monthly phone plan. In the meantime I decided to get a prepaid SIM card so that I can have a French phone number. On Monday after stopping by the school in the morning with Virginie, I took a bus into Cannes because there are three different phone companies that have stores on the same road. I started at SFR because the monthly plan I hope to get is through SFR. After waiting in line for approximately 45 minutes I was able to speak to someone about the prepaid SIM options. They seemed pretty expensive, so I said I would think about it. I next went to Orange, waited for another 45 minutes, and got the listing of their SIM options. I figured that if I was going to check at two places, I might as well check the third also, so I then went to Bouygues.

The choice was not clear because there were so many different options. There were cheaper plans that only included data, some that also included calls and texts within France, and some that included international calls. Some plans lasted for 1 week, some 2 weeks, and others 1 month. After getting the options from the 3 different stores, I went back toward the train station to use Starbucks’ Wifi to call my parents to get their advice on which one I should pick. We ended up deciding that I should get a 1 month plan from Orange that included data and calls and texts within France, and that I could just talk to family and friends in the US using various apps on Wifi. It ended up being 10 euros for the SIM card and 20 for the plan that included unlimited calls and texts within France and 1 GB data for one month.

While I was near the train station, I stopped by to buy a Carte Jeune, a card for people under 26 that allows us to purchase train tickets at a reduced price. The card itself costs 50 euros, but over 8 months it should save me a lot more than that.

Finally I went back to Orange and bought and installed the SIM card. It was a really nice day and I had been hoping to have some time to spend on the beach, but getting the SIM and Carte Jeune ended up taking all day, so I’ll have to go back to the beach another time.

Opening a French Bank Account, Part 1

On Saturday, Virginie took me to a BNP bank in Grasse so that I could try to open a French bank account (key word: try). One of the major initial struggles that TAPIF assistants often have when first arriving in France is that without an address, you can’t open a bank account. Without a bank account, you can’t set up a monthly French phone plan. Without a French phone number, it’s difficult to contact people about apartments for rent. Without an apartment, it’s difficult to open a bank account…Do you see the problem?

Luckily, since I’m staying with Virginie and her family temporarily, she was willing to come with me to my appointment at the bank so that I could use her address when setting up my account. She called ahead of time to check on the documents we would need to bring with us to the appointment: my passport/visa, my work contract, a gas/water/electricity bill of hers, and her ID. I also brought some other documents just in case (birth certificate, some papers from the last time I had a BNP account, etc.), which I didn't end up needing.

Overall, the appointment went fairly smoothly. The first difficulty was when they asked for my TIN (tax identification number?) and it took us a while to figure out that it was probably my SSN, based on the fact that the number of digits matched up. I said “oh, maybe it’s my social security number?” and they were like “enh, probably.” So we used that. Then it turned out that they also needed my NIF (numéro d’identification fiscale), a French financial identification number. The problem is that I normally wouldn’t get my NIF until my first paycheck, but I can’t get paid until I finish setting up my bank account by giving the bank my NIF…. It turns out that the requirement of the NIF is a new rule this year that was implemented by the American government to try to prevent Americans from cheating on taxes, which is why Virginie didn’t know about that rule even though she helps the assistants open their accounts every year.

I was able to set up the account, but I can’t use it until I give them the NIF and then it will take them a few days to process before I can get my card and use the account. On Monday I went to the school in the morning with Virginie to ask the secretary about the NIF and she told me that I need to ask the person who originally sent me my work contract (someone who is in charge of all of the language assistants in the Académie of Nice). I emailed her on Monday and still have not heard back… So that’s as far as I can get toward opening my bank account for now. Hopefully I can make more progress next week.