Friday blog Part 1: Paperwork

Allo le monde,

(That’s actually a title to a song; they don’t say ‘allo le monde’ here, lol)

Today's blog will be divided into two categories: 1.Paperwork (not all of it will be about the paperwork I've been doing, but most of it will be) 2.School (mostly about my assignments and the French primary school system)

I’ve had so many things to blog about in the past week, it’s overwhelming to be sitting here now, attempting to get it all down…but I will try, or at least I’ll get part of it down and blog again later. It’s difficult to blog about everything right after it happens, because by the time I get back from a, we’ll say “blogable,” event I’m exhausted and just want to pass out! Luckily, I’ve been taking notes on some of the things I’ve wanted to share.

For those of you curious about what kind of paperwork and steps teaching English in France requires, here’s a little preview:

-Application to program

-Letter of acceptance of post (just a little email saying “I accept the offer to teach English in France”

-Medical form (to be filled out by a dr.)

-Passport (if you don’t have one, you’d better get one!)

-Visa application (plus a trip to submit said visa)

-Plane ticket (around $1,000)

-Housing (which you may need a guarantor for…often someone who actually has a French bank account, you will also need a deposit plus the first month's rent up front)

-Bank account (which you actually need housing for)

-Renters insurance (50 euros/$69)

-Civil responsibility insurance (20 euros/$27)

-OFII form (to get permission to stay in Europe longer than 3 months…housing needed prior to filling out form)

-Social Security forms (bank account and housing needed)

-Medical insurance (105 euros/$146)

-Medical visit in France (scheduled by the OFII after papers have been processed…needed before applying for CAF)

-CAF form (a great offer from the gov. for people under 26, giving them money back on their rent each month depending on their income)

-Little papers here and there (i.e.tram/bus passes, “carte 12-25” [a discount card, costs 49 euros, but gets you half off of any train trip around France…a really good discount!]…)

Now, before getting more into paperwork, let me tell you about this morning. I woke up at 6am in order to catch a bus to another town an hour away at 7:35. I was out of the house by about 7:10 and power walked my way across the city center to the bus station (normally about a 25 minute walk, it took me about 13), only to find out that the 7:35 bus was canceled (there goes my trust in the internet…oh AND the fact that I went to the station three days ago and it was still on the schedule). The next bus isn’t until 10:50, but I was supposed to be picked up in this other town by an English teacher whom I was to be shadowing all morning. I had to call this poor woman at 7:30 in the morning to tell her that I wouldn’t be there until 11:43, and she told me she felt bad for ME! What a sweetheart. It didn’t sound like picking me up later would be too much of a problem, which is lucky, so I guess I’ll just be shadowing her in the afternoon instead. I had hoped to use that time to finish up my social security papers and to pick up my new French debit card (one of those European smart cards with the chip! Now I really feel in the game!), but I suppose that can wait until tomorrow. Who needs a social security number anyway? ;)

PAPERWORK

Speaking of social security…yes…let’s do. Let me tell you, I think it’s a law that all countries have to make it difficult in at least some way, shape, or form for foreigners to obtain their social security number. In the case of Orléans, it’s the actual finding the office itself that is the trick. There is a social security office almost literally right next to my apartment…but of course that’s not for foreigners. Oh no. We lowly folk must take the tram all the way to it’s very last stop to the north of the city (which I’m pretty convinced is NOT the city anymore) and then walk half an hour through tiny neighborhoods until coming to a highway of sorts, at which point said foreigner(s) will have to play rock, paper, scissors to decide which way to turn, as the building is nowhere in sight, and then hope that scissors lead the right way (in our case it did). Luckily for my three foreign buddies and me, once getting to the office, we were in great hands! The two women who helped us could not have been more helpful, unless, of course, they filled our papers out themselves. Unfortunately for me, I did not foresee the trek out into the middle of nowhere and, thus, did not bring my work contract or RIB (bank account information), so I have to send my paperwork in, whereas the other girls got to turn theirs in right away. *sigh* Anyway, the helpful woman made extra copies of everyone’s papers JUST so that they could have some on hand should they need them in the future. AND she gave us each these mini spiral hardcover notebooks with neon page markers and post-its inside as well, and then told us an easier way to get back into town. Overall a good trip!

We also got the paperwork for the MGEN (health insurance), which costs 105 euros for 7 months (the first three months being free, and they break it up into three installments, so we just have to pay 35 euros a month in jan, feb, and march, which is really nice!). In order to get the MGEN to cover 70% of medical costs instead of just 30%, all we have to do is find a dr. and get him/her to sign a paper saying he/she will be our “main” dr.! So that’s another thing I’ll be doing this weekend…well…Sat., as EVERYTHING in Orleans (and I mean EVERYTHING) is closed on Sundays. I also have to write a letter to the OFII office, which apparently thinks my 6’s look like 4’s and got my address wrong (yet somehow the letter still got to me, luckily)…so That’s exciting. However, the good news is that after Tuesday (which is when we sign our work contracts), just about all of my official paperwork should be done or at least very near done.

And THEN begins my work assignment…