July's over!

Just a quick update!
I'm fine, keeping busy with work, coping with the heat, and can't believe my summer job is almost over!! So far so good :-) Anyway, I'll have to make an effort to write a "real post" soon :-)

Quick update

Today marks my tenth month in France :-) Everything is fine at the moment. Work is interesting, and I've had the opportunity to communicate in English, French and Spanish! I'm hesitant to consider myself bilingual or trilingual, but I guess as far as French goes, I must admit that I'm quite comfortable with the language. Yayy, benefits of living in France :-) The weather is ridiculously hot, but at least there's la climatisation at work! I really enjoyed a friend's bday party this weekend, and now I'm considering attending salsa classes... once I find a good teacher/class nearby, mais ça, ç'est pas gagné!

Another récépissé! Back to work!

After one and a half days "sans papiers" and thus "sans boulot" (my contract was temporarily suspended), I received my new récépissé from the Préfecture today! Finally!!!!!!!!!! I had to collect it at the mairie. I'm starting back work tomorrow :-)

First day of summer job

I had a good day at work today :-)

Since I work from 8am to 5pm in Grenoble, I have to get up pretty early to commute: a 15 minute bus ride to Chambéry, then a train from Chambéry to Grenoble (45 mins or 1hr depending on how many stops the train makes), followed by a 10 minute bus ride. Fortunately, I woke up in time to get ready! Actually, I reached Grenoble about 7:15 am... it's better to be early than late!... waited around a bit, then took the bus to the workplace.

First, I had to wait a while to receive my badge for the site. My photo was taken while I was encouraged to look at a bright yellow smiley face positionned next to a camera. Lol! The rest of the day went quite smoothly.

I worked along with friendly student who is almost finished with her internship there (my "teacher" for the next few days!), had a mid-morning break with some staff members (it was cold outside, like around 12°C. Sweaters were a must!), enjoyed a delicious lunch at the on-site restaurant which provides meals for under 3€, and learnt much more from my student coworker again this afternoon. Of course I took lots of notes, and at the end of the day felt a sense of achievement since I am able to complete some tasks! I'm actually looking forward to continuing the work tomorrow! Surely, working in an office in front of a computer is a lot different from teaching, but I've really welcomed the change!!

Now I need to get some rest, so I'll have enough energy to continue it all over again tomorrow :-)

Return to the Préfecture

My relaxing weekend in St Etienne was continued in Lyon, and then I returned to Chambéry today by bus since there weren't any Lyon-Chambéry trains when I left. Even the bus ride was relaxing lol.

Anyway, I returned to the Préfecture this afternoon, in spite of the depressing visit last time. I still don't have my university results for the second semester, so I carried my results for the first semester. This time I spoke to a different person, and the gist of the conversation was as follows:

1st worker: "Oh, you're Alicia ______, you were a lectrice d'anglais?"

Me: No, assistante d'anglais *I'm surprised that she knows who I am, since all I showed her was my official grade slip which had my name*

1st worker: "We received your file last week and haven't looked at it as yet."

Another pleasant worker passes by. I had spoken to her in the past, and she had assured me that I would get to extend my stay in France this summer.

Me: Ok, well I only have 8 days remaining [till my current récépissé expires] so je m'inquiète quoi. *together with a genuine semi-depressed facial expression caused by my frustration with the Préfecture*

2nd worker: I'll look at your file and send the récépissé to La Motte. *she then takes the copy of my 1st semester results, and heads off*

Me: *hoping for this to be true but not wanting to get excited too soon* Ok, merci. :-) Au revoir


I guess all I can do now is wait patiently!

Saint-Etienne

After visiting many of the main towns in the Rhône-Alpes region, I finally made it to Saint-Etienne! It's 45 minutes away from Lyon by train, and only cost a little under 10€ aller-retour Lyon Part-Dieu - St Etienne thanks to my TER Coup de Foudre reduction card for young people (aged 12-25).

Even though I didn't have much time to faire du tourisme - the weather wasn't the best either (it was windy and relatively cold) - I enjoyed my time there and liked the bit of the town I saw.

Cool train station : Gare de St-Etienne Chateaucreux

First view of Sainté from the train station

My weekend (well, actually 24 hours, Saturday-Sunday) with four Frenchies consisted of:

- TV shows online: The Simpsons - in French of course -, Southpark, The Inbetweeners, funny parody videos in French on Youtube, etc.,

- Games: billard at a pub in the town, and the Service Compris board game,

- Food: After a trip to the grocery, we spent the weekend eating pizza, homemade crêpes, snacks, etc.

Bref, I had a relaxing weekend :-)

Paperwork stress

So I got a summer job in Grenoble (adminstration/accounting, June-August), and I'm supposed to start next week. However, the Préfecture... well, in a few well-chosen words...ça fait chier! My récépissé expires in less than two weeks, and today when I went to the Préfecture they told me the new récépissé hasn't been done (although I was told by one of the employees that I would have received it this week!) and that I need to include my grade slip with my application for an extension... grades aren't out as yet! First they had asked me for an acceptance letter, then a pré-inscription 2009-2010, now my grades. It's hard not to imagine that someone might be trying to make things difficult for me, an étrangère with a full time summer job during the recession. Hopefully all this crap/paperwork galore! together with the limited time wouldn't result in a last minute return flight to Trinidad.

Anyway, I'm trying to de-stress. This weekend I'm off to Lyon/Saint-Etienne, so at least I have something to look forward to :-)