Merry Bingo and Happy Visa de Retour!
Children go crazy for Bingo. I’ve suspected this is true but now I know from experience. I only give candy to the winners. They wine and cry and go crazy for it but I grin and say “that’s life” and “life’s not fair.” In this way I am communicating the meaning of the expressions in a way that is very easy to understand.
I see about 200 kids a week. I can’t afford to buy them all bon-bons. I probably could afford it, but I’m cheap.
I bought The Dame a mug and some fancy thé the day I left. I was outside myself watching while I buttered her up. But my parents have taught me that sometimes you cire les pompes (lit. wax the shoes) a little bit to keep bridges open, and I think this is good advice.
My new apartment is only 3 blocks away. It is a 40 square meter, furnished, duplex, apartment. There is a bathroom, half of a kitchen and one small window on each floor that leaks light in from outside. It is lovely and all mine.
Today, I’m killing time before I leave. I’m the last of the assistants to go for the holidays. I’m taking the midnight train from Toulouse to Nice and then arriving Sunday afternoon in Milan. Annie arrives at Milan Orio al Serio at 23:50 tomorrow, so I’ll meet her at arrivals. Our flight to Istanbul is at 07:10 on Xmas Eve. I feel like I’ve never travelled before I’m so excited and nervous and ansy.
Part of my nervousness stems from the D.B.B.B.S. (Department of Big Bureacratic Bull S***) that works at a snail’s pace and like all bureacracies, everybody passes you to someone else who is supposed to know the answers. I was told by the D.B.B.B.S. that my Titre de Sejour (my longterm work visa) was not going to arrive before the holidays though I applied for it 3 months ago, immediately upon my arrival in France. I was told that since I will not have the thing, I will not be able to return to France if I leave the country after my current visa’s expires on the 26th of December. So I stressed because I had already bought the tickets. I was going to try to go anyway. Many people told me I was crazy, but because I was flying from Milan I thought I could get away with it thanks to no border controls between EU countries.
Finally, I go to Foix again this Thursday and explain the situation again and ask about the Visa de Retour which seemed to be the answer to all my problems. I had been told before that this visa was for very particuliar situations and it might not be possible for me to have one and it might also be costly. I explained that Annie had gotten one from the D.B.B.B.S near her, without any trouble.
The woman disappeared to confer with her colleagues. Fifteen minutes later she returns. “Ok,” she says. “You can demand a Visa de Retour, but it’s 6 euros.” Each time I visit the D.B.B.B.S in Foix, I spend €3.40 on the train ticket. The round-trip transportation to Istanbul is costing me €300. I smiled and politely asked her to give me the damn visa.
She made me come back the next day for it, and so I missed my classes at Canonges and the children didn’t get to play Christmas Bingo. But I have the visa, and nothing short of the Kurds bombing Istanbul can stop me now.
As far as the last two months, I will be brief. For the November vacation, I visited Annie for 5 days in Flers. We weren’t able to go to Mont St. Michel because it was the off season and there aren’t trains. We did go to Granville and spend a nice day climbing around dangerous rocks and eating panini’s. I took a 15 hour bus ride to Prague and arrived at 6 oclock Friday morning November 2nd. It was wonderful to arrive in a city and know exactly what to do to get where I need to be. I reunited with best friends and had a really warm and antidotal weekend with the likeminded. Finally, it took me around 2 days to get home, exhausted and happy.
For Thanksgiving, I took a personal holiday, and I proceeded to eat at various Thanksgiving parties for the next 3 days.
I visited Alice in Pau for a weekend. She took me around to this bar and that party and we watched the Big Lebowski and her mom cooked an amazing steak and it was all really good as usual.
And now the last two weeks classes have been mostly revolving around Bingo, which as I mentioned before is a huge success. And just over one week ago, I moved, which is also a huge success.
My new address is:
TULLY Emily
24 rue des Jacobins
09100 PAMIERS
France
This café is closing so I will be in touch again from the road.
I see about 200 kids a week. I can’t afford to buy them all bon-bons. I probably could afford it, but I’m cheap.
I bought The Dame a mug and some fancy thé the day I left. I was outside myself watching while I buttered her up. But my parents have taught me that sometimes you cire les pompes (lit. wax the shoes) a little bit to keep bridges open, and I think this is good advice.
My new apartment is only 3 blocks away. It is a 40 square meter, furnished, duplex, apartment. There is a bathroom, half of a kitchen and one small window on each floor that leaks light in from outside. It is lovely and all mine.
Today, I’m killing time before I leave. I’m the last of the assistants to go for the holidays. I’m taking the midnight train from Toulouse to Nice and then arriving Sunday afternoon in Milan. Annie arrives at Milan Orio al Serio at 23:50 tomorrow, so I’ll meet her at arrivals. Our flight to Istanbul is at 07:10 on Xmas Eve. I feel like I’ve never travelled before I’m so excited and nervous and ansy.
Part of my nervousness stems from the D.B.B.B.S. (Department of Big Bureacratic Bull S***) that works at a snail’s pace and like all bureacracies, everybody passes you to someone else who is supposed to know the answers. I was told by the D.B.B.B.S. that my Titre de Sejour (my longterm work visa) was not going to arrive before the holidays though I applied for it 3 months ago, immediately upon my arrival in France. I was told that since I will not have the thing, I will not be able to return to France if I leave the country after my current visa’s expires on the 26th of December. So I stressed because I had already bought the tickets. I was going to try to go anyway. Many people told me I was crazy, but because I was flying from Milan I thought I could get away with it thanks to no border controls between EU countries.
Finally, I go to Foix again this Thursday and explain the situation again and ask about the Visa de Retour which seemed to be the answer to all my problems. I had been told before that this visa was for very particuliar situations and it might not be possible for me to have one and it might also be costly. I explained that Annie had gotten one from the D.B.B.B.S near her, without any trouble.
The woman disappeared to confer with her colleagues. Fifteen minutes later she returns. “Ok,” she says. “You can demand a Visa de Retour, but it’s 6 euros.” Each time I visit the D.B.B.B.S in Foix, I spend €3.40 on the train ticket. The round-trip transportation to Istanbul is costing me €300. I smiled and politely asked her to give me the damn visa.
She made me come back the next day for it, and so I missed my classes at Canonges and the children didn’t get to play Christmas Bingo. But I have the visa, and nothing short of the Kurds bombing Istanbul can stop me now.
As far as the last two months, I will be brief. For the November vacation, I visited Annie for 5 days in Flers. We weren’t able to go to Mont St. Michel because it was the off season and there aren’t trains. We did go to Granville and spend a nice day climbing around dangerous rocks and eating panini’s. I took a 15 hour bus ride to Prague and arrived at 6 oclock Friday morning November 2nd. It was wonderful to arrive in a city and know exactly what to do to get where I need to be. I reunited with best friends and had a really warm and antidotal weekend with the likeminded. Finally, it took me around 2 days to get home, exhausted and happy.
For Thanksgiving, I took a personal holiday, and I proceeded to eat at various Thanksgiving parties for the next 3 days.
I visited Alice in Pau for a weekend. She took me around to this bar and that party and we watched the Big Lebowski and her mom cooked an amazing steak and it was all really good as usual.
And now the last two weeks classes have been mostly revolving around Bingo, which as I mentioned before is a huge success. And just over one week ago, I moved, which is also a huge success.
My new address is:
TULLY Emily
24 rue des Jacobins
09100 PAMIERS
France
This café is closing so I will be in touch again from the road.
Happy Holidays Everyone!!!
posted by emily at 6:02 PM
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