...which is something you already know if you've been seeing my posts about kittens and puppies and the world cup on Facebook (for real though that US-Portugal game).
No, I have survived the wedding despite the forces of the underworld joining together to ensure my defeat. I have survived their rabid attacks and lived to curl up into a fetal position another day! And now, at the end of all of the tortuous, arduous, stressful, and in many cases pointless nonsense I am married to the most awesome guy ever. I shall not say that I would go back in time and do it all again for him, because let's be honest:
1. We would elope.
2. There are way cooler ways to use a time machine.
I can say with absolute certainty that he agrees with me on both points. As far as that goes, we're both content to see it fall behind us and enjoy what's going on now that it's over.
And with 2 out of 3 of these big things complete (graduation: check, wedding: check, France: whoa...wait...what's going on?) we're moving on to that third thing.
So, TAPIF news:
1. I've gotten a few more emails. The first was the assistant handbook which has all the details of what paperwork I need and when and who I should contact about translation work and whatnot. The second was an email addressed to all of the Orléans-Tours assistants so that we can talk to each other (which was pretty much pointless since we basically just used it to tell everyone to join the Facebook group :P). The third was a "hurry up and get your visa appointments booked" email which is kind of stressing me out. My stupid consulate (Atlanta) won't let you book until the month of your desired appointment date. Meaning that right now the only available appointments are in June and I need one for the beginning or middle of August.
2. They started pre-emailing city assignments to literally everyone but a tortured few in our académie. And yes, I am one of the few being tortured. No email. No arrêté (teaching contract containing super important information like WHERE I AM LIVING). And it seems like literally everyone but three or four of us already know where they are living and at what schools they'll be teaching. Some of them already have free housing or are discussing rooming together in apartments they've already found. Can you see me turning hulk green with envy over here? I have been checking my email literally every five minutes since they started placing assistants over three weeks ago. If my fingernails weren't still perfectly manicured from the wedding I would have chewed them down to stubs by now...like I wouldn't even have fingers probably...maybe not even hands. I have nightmares about never receiving my contract.
3. I am babysitting like a lot in a futile attempt to save money to live my first couple of months in France (and you know plane ticket, visa, translations, apostilles, etc). And yes it is futile. It turns out that living in the US costs money too, especially when you have to buy weird things for your wedding that you would never ever think about until the last minute (bobby pins, hair spray, make-up setting spray, nail polish, shoes, guest books, bridal party gifts, etc, etc, etc). Basically I'm super broke and will probably end up a hobo on the streets of France in between classes (just kidding, we'll figure something out...hopefully).
The good news is that despite the futility of actually saving the money, I am making some and have actually been able to put gas in my car and food on my table. So that's cool. Plus, for me, there is literally no better way to make money than to go hang out with kids all day. It means varied activities such as teaching a child how to swim like a mermaid, explaining to nine year old boys why I don't want to talk about poop for forty-five minutes, or discussing the various plot holes, narrative flaws, acting fails, and general ridiculousness of the newer 90210 series that is, apparently, on Netflix (which I know because I was subjected to somewhere around 10 straight hours of it the other day and, I am incredibly ashamed to say, did not hate it nearly as much as I should have)*. And varied is good because, much like the small children and teenagers, I get bored easily.
I'll try to update more once I can actually get this paperwork started. It's pretty impossible to do a lot of it before I get my contract though, so fingers crossed that it comes in soon.
*This experience also resulted in my feeling the moral obligation to chime into the shows discussions on various subjects and explain why it was not a good idea to do what those people were doing. This received many an eye roll which pleased me greatly. Eye rolling means you're doing it right, you guys.
