Paperwork... DONE!

I spent a nice Thursday evening out. I took Pierre-Antoine to the Japanese restaurant Fuji where we shared potstickers, sushi, and fried chicken bits. We were craving sweet afterwards, so we went to a place called Le Haricot Rouge (The Red Bean). They are famous for their hot chocolate with flavors added and their authentic XVIIth century chocolate. I took Le Spécial that had cinnamon, caramel, and pistachio added with whipped cream on top! PA had a delicious moeulleux de chocolat—a denser, darker brownie than in the US. And yes, we ate outside in the not-too-chilly evening.

We left there about 8:45 to meet our groups for the night. He was going to a party of classmates in his current American studies master, and I was meeting other English assistants at Melody Maker, a bar that plays cool rock music right around the corner from Sainte Anne. Caely and Emma were there when I arrived, and I had a Saint Benoît beer (light but hoppy) with them. Later came Marie and Berit. We compared school working environments and gave each other tips on the paperwork to be done in addition to just chatting. Reminding myself that others are having the same difficulties as me makes me feel so much better—that sounds weird, but I just feel less alone when I hear an assistant voice the same concerns and then listen to everyone’s ideas on how to solve the problem. I also learned about a bunch of group activities for the weekend, so I might be visiting the Saturday market, the art museum, and an assistant dinner at the crêperie under my apartment!

I have no work today, so I spent the morning taking care of social security and free transport. I got lost finding the Caisse première d’assurance maladie where I had to go for social security/basic health insurance. I just handed the woman all the papers I had, and she sorted through all of it to make my dossier. So now I get reimbursed for around 75% of medical expenses and medicines!

Then, I went to a community center to get free transport since I make less than €976 a month. The woman at the information desk kept saying that I couldn’t get it if I hadn’t lived in Rennes for a year already, but I told her that I knew another language assistant who just did it and insisted on talking to someone else. The next woman was much nicer; she took my work contract, passport, and address and charged my Carte Korrigo for six months of free metro and bus!

So the morning was a productive success! Even though I probably said very dumb things in French, everyone understood me enough to put everything together, and that is a very nice feeling.

Now that all my paperwork is done, I hardly know what to do with myself! Since PA has afternoon classes, maybe I’ll just go downtown with my FREE transport card and wander around :) Or maybe God will smile down on me some more, and I’ll get the phone call to pick up my apartment keys!

PA is going to Normandy for the weekend, escorting students to the Bayeux Tapestry and the World War II memorial in Caen. I have thus lined up some activities with the assistants. Should be busy... I hope!