And oh goodie, no mail for us today. The email of distress has been sent.
The French government is not making a very nice first impression on me right now.
In other news,
I DID finally receive a placement email for Tours. Which was very exciting since I am much less likely to get lost and die of dehydration there.
I have been talking to two, possibly three (although we doubt we will find a house big enough for four of us in the city) roommates. So at least I know that if I ever actually arrive in France I will have a nice team of house-hunters with which to share the unnerving adventure of finding housing before my hotel reservation is up. We have one lead on a house in Tours centre that, at least based on the pictures, I'm kind of in love with. One of the girls contacted the agency and we're setting up a viewing when we arrive in France. Hopefully it is as awesome as it seems and if so, hopefully we can snag it. This is in-the-last-hour information by the way, aren't you impressed?
In addition, I've been in touch with lots of other assistants that will be arriving in Tours for the fall. We've created a nice little support group and everyone is stressing out together. It's nice to know that stressing out over government paperwork is an international constant, I guess...is it nice?
Update: Fast response from the embassy. Apparently, I should have also received a scanned copy of my contract by email. I have received no such document. The embassy is getting in touch with my academie. I'll let you know how that goes.
Other than a ton of visa paperwork and preparation (which will be a separate post), I have also gotten two French court translated copies of my birth certificate as well as having the Secretary of State here attach apostilles to my original birth certificate copies (official copies, scans aren't acceptable). The translations cost me 76€ which I was able to pay through paypal. Can I just say how useful it is that they do the currency exchange automatically? The process was really simple. I used Tetrad services by recommendation of our assistant handbook and I was really pleased with the experience. I emailed back and forth the owner and main translator, Terence Atkinson. He was very kind and really went above and beyond to help me understand the process and to tell me about his experience in the region. Another plus was that because he is a sworn court translator, it isn't necessary for me to run around the consulate here trying to figure out how to get my translations authenticated. They're already completely acceptable to the French government.
Update 2: The embassy is impressive with their response time. If I have to, I can use a scanned copy of my contract for my visa appointment next week. Assuming we can find the original to make that scan, I guess. At the moment, we're still trying to figure out why I never received either copy.
I guess other than that, I've been trying to decide what the best wardrobe mixture is. It doesn't get much colder in Tours than the colder days of January here. It does rain a lot though. Unfortunately, I've never had a job for which I needed to dress professionally...so I'm looking at having to buy quite a few things before I leave. :/
I promise that one day these posts will be full of pictures. Unfortunately, I haven't reached the part of this journey that involves picture taking. I believe the Atlanta road trip for my visa will be the first. Right now though, it's all words and imagination. Which is pretty much how I feel about the whole process.
More updated soon.
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