vroom vroom

Just a quick driver's license update.. I've spent the whole morning on the phone doing all sorts of different things, but one good thing is that I called the DDE to see if they've gotten me a new date to pass the code. I had received a letter a few days ago saying that I would be getting a date sometime in September. I also asked if there was any possibility of either taking it in English or having more time etc because I'm not a native French speaker. He said there is 1 test offered every 3 months for non-francophones and the next one is September. So if I have to wait until September anyway I might as well take that one! It will still be in French but I'll get more time per question and if there is difficult vocab I can ask for a definition. I just think that the testing environment will be less stressful that way and I might not choke the way I did last time..

I also found out that my new carte de sejour is ready and waiting for me at the Prefecture. Problem is that my old one hasn't expired yet so they won't send me the new one. Say WHAT? It just cracked me up that they've actually managed to get a new one done before the old one expires! Normally I'd be waiting a good 4 months for a new one! I just can't believe it! Or the fact that it was the easiest carte de sejour to get ever! All I had to do was send a few documents (in the mail, not even through the mairie):

-proof of address
-copy of my old carte de sejour
-70 euros of OMI stamps
-my last paystub
-the formula they had sent me to fill out

That's it! No PACS docs or anything... I'm still holding my breath but it sounds like I'll have that puppy in my hot little hands next Tuesday! Wow...

that time of year again...

... for all the Administration running around to do! Last Sunday I sat down with my MIL to do my French taxes (let's not talk about American taxes yet...). Normally French taxes are just about the easiest things ever, once you've filed once the forms come to you pre-filled out and all you have to do is verify the numbers and sign it, off it goes!

Buuut since Mystery Guest and I got PACSed last year it made things a bit more complicated. We each had to declare separate "single" tax forms from January 01 to March 11th and then a joint tax form from March 12th to December 31st. That meant breaking down the pay-per-day rate and hours worked per day and then calculating all kinds of funkyness for the month of March. Good news is we will probably get a refund for our combined low salary (whereas I probably would have paid taxes had I stayed single).

Then it was off to tackle my carte de sejour renewal. I had called the sous-prefecture in Cherbourg a couple months ago to ask if I could renew it there, if Mystery Guest was required to come with me, what documents were needed etc. He obviously hadn't delt much with carte de sejours so he was the nicest fonctionnaire ever and called the main prefecture for me! Then he called me back (I know! Gasp!) and sent me an letter containing a list of all the documents needed and a form to fill out and send to the main prefecture. I finally got the list together (needed special stamps to pay for it, new photos etc) and sent it off today. I figured since there was 70e worth of stamps on my application I would send it registrared mail, worth the extra 4e for a little piece of mind I guess...) If they except my meager list of documents (I swear there were only like 5 things to provide, non of them being proof of PACS or anything..) this will be by far the easiest carte de sejour ever!

After reading about Erica's experience, I think as soon as I get a job for next year I'll go ahead and apply for citizenship, that should be a fun paperwork treasure hunt...!

I also found out that I'll have to wait at least 3 months to pass the code again, oh well, more time to study...

Work went well today, I told those very badly behaved 8th graders that the crap they pulled was unacceptable and that all the work we would do today would be graded at the end. That snapped them into place (sort of, it was still amazingly noisy... couldn't hear myself explain something to one of the kids less than 1 foot away...) Tomorrow I finish up with 2 hours and my two favorite classes, the little tykes, they're so dang cute!

pacs-a-versairy!

Today was Mystery Guest & my PACS-a-versairy! Yea! Neither of us really is planning on celebrating this, I'd rather celebrate when we started dating (in December) since this was more a paperwork formality than anything else..

But any excuse to try a new recipe! Chocolate & Sweet Potato Cake - I thought it could be an amazing combination of 2 things we both love, chocolate cake and sweet potato pie! So after work I came home to quickly make it (had cooked the sweet potatoes earlier that morning) and stick it in the oven so it would be done when MG got home from karate class later. It turned out really well! I used gluten free flours which can be dry and compact but with the sweet potato the texture was amazing! It was a dense chocolate cake but not too heavy or rich and the sweet potato flavor wasn't really there although it really contributed to a silky texture.

I was chomping away at my piece when MG noticed a little something in his... it looked like a piece of egg that didn't get fully mixed, or sweet potato perhaps... but alas, it was indeed a maggot! EEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

My first maggot, how on earth it got in there we're still not quite sure (perhaps a sweet potato? I find it hard to believe it would have been in any of the other ingredients, maybe the rice flour?) but it totally put me off finishing my piece. Maybe I'll try another piece later but I'll probably spend so much time picking through it that I won't enjoy it... EW!!!!!

Mystery Guest seems to think that there was only one in there, otherwise I would have noticed - which is probably true.

Anyway I highly suggest you try the recipe, just leave the maggots out.

PACsed

Well Mystery Guest and I have taken that leap, we are now PACSed! We had dropped off all of the paperwork (birth certificates, certificates that we are not pacsed already, that we are not brother and sister etc...) and then we got a letter for our appointment.

So this morning we showed up at the Tribunal and the lady showed us everything, went over the paperwork, had us sign 2 things and we were done! 10 minutes, easy-peasy!

His mom surprised us with a lovely bouquet of flowers and took a couple pictures. Then we headed back to Caen because afterall it was a school day :-) Then this evening we headed out to a little dinner, at Buffalo Grill bien sur! Yum, I started with a little Sheriff Bubbly (ie Kir Royale) and then moved on to some ribs baby! Yum yum!

Here are a few pictures of the day.

(note to self: even if you want to look cute, wearing a skirt when the wind is blowing at 110km per hour is a baaaad idea!)

busy bee

I feel like writing something witty and highly entertaining but alas no little anecdotes come to mind.

Things are going well. I'm working on my 2nd memoire, getting the outline all planned out, should start writing soon-ish. It's hard to stay motivated but this is my last year and I want it done and over with!

Work is going well and since Thursday I've been on vacation. We leave Tuesday to go to Venice for 3 days. I have been itching to go for a while and about 2 months ago I realized that we both had the same February vacation and the tickets were way cheap after Carnival is over! So 2 RyanAir tickets were bought and we're off on an adventure!

Currently out at Mystery Guest's house, we're just chilling, eating brioche, watching Lost and getting our PACs papers in order. They are all set to go, we just need to drop them off at the Tribunal and ask for a rendez-vous!

Another big trip is on the horizon, Mom gave us our graduation presents early (his L3 (BA) and my Masters2 are finishing up this year!) and we're off to the US for 24 days in August!!! We're researching rental car prices and are going to do a big massive road trip. I'm so excited!!

2008 is going to be a good year, I can feel it :-)

yes!!!

Karina 1, French bank 1

I had to stop by my bank today to set up an international transfer of 27.40CHF to Switzerland to pay for my birth certificate. For the first time ever my lets-charge-for-every-simple-thing bank was nice and transfered it with no fee! The fee was 14euros and would have been almost as much as the transfer itself!!

I didn't even ask, that was the best part, the girl just told me, no problem I talked to your banker and he said it wasn't worth charging you, we put it down as free...

Happy dance as I left the bank :-) God that feels good!

Rennes

Today was quite the adventure! I took the train up to Mystery Guest's house Thursday evening and early Friday morning we left to drive the 3 hours down to Rennes. We caught a beautiful sunrise over the water on the way out and had a spectacular view of sun through the frosted fields and low fog.

We made it down there without a problem and after a little hunting around and a quick call to Sam we found the American Presence Post in Rennes (like a mini-embassy). I had to go in person to get 2 different documents to get PACSed - yup yup Mr. Mystery Guest and I are gonna be civil-unionized baby :-) It was a piece of cake and I'm so glad that I went to Rennes instead of the mad-house that the American Embassy in Paris is.. yuck!

As soon as we could we shot out of town and to Merlin's forest. We tried to go to this great creperie nearby but it was closed, I think I shed a little tear.. So we went off to the forest. I just love that place, it is so beautiful and this is the 3rd time we've been there. Who says it rains 100% of the time in Brittany? Everytime we've been there we've had unbelieveable weather! The scenery is stunning and it was warm, sunny and no wind, felt like spring had sprung.

Afterwards we went in search of a geo-cache in the forest near Fougeres. It was just one of those magical days of sunshine after a long grey winter (which according to the Groundhog is not over yet!)

Since we couldn't get our crepes in Brittany we stopped by a fantastic creperie in Caen - le Vieux Pommier if anyone is interested. It is teeny-tiny with about 20 seats and one woman who runs the whole show. She's the waitress, the chef and the dishwasher and believe me it is impressive to see her work (always smiling) when the restaurant is packed! Today we called at 6:30 to see if we could make a reservation and when she asked what time and I asked when they would open she said anytime, I can open now! So we were the only ones in there for the first half of our meal.

It was a fantastic day, got a seemingly paperwork headache out of the way and got to enjoy the sunshine, the adventure of a road trip and great company for the rest! ;-)