Social Security Fiasco

Tuesday mornings I would normally teach one course in the professional school, but as the students have internships until January, I am off Tuesday mornings. I took the opportunity to get some things done.

I caught a bus downtown at 9:30 and went to the Social Security office which is on Avenue de la Gare, just past the Espace de Jeunesse, or in the Kerandon area of Concarneau. I got there and walked into a waiting room that was poorly lit and had a few people standing around with apparently as little idea of what to do as me. Eventually I saw the signs asking you to sign in and wait until the next assistant was available. I only waited around 7 minutes or so until I was called--it was really quite efficient, as I waited seven minutes and during that time three other people were called before me.

It was around this time, upon being called, that I realized I didn't really know what I was there for. I had been given several times a list of things I needed to take to the social security office once I had it all.....but no one had ever told me what I should ask for when I render these items. So I sat down in her office and she said, "Je vous ecoute." (I am listening to you.) .....which led to me saying that I didn't know why I was here, but I had papers to give her. Haha. She asked me what my situation was and I told her. She pulled out a form for me to fill out, but left the office (form & papers in hand) before giving it to me. Well....to make a long story short, you have to live in France for three months before receiving social security. I have everything that is necessary for it except for three salary statements from my employer. Super. So, I was told to come back with the form filled out and all my necessary documents in mid-January. Once I go back it will be around 9 days to get my card.

If I get sick before then it will be up to me to pay, but I will be reimbursed upon receiving my SS card. Bit of a hassle (and, plainly put, stupid), but it's what I've come to expect in France whenever bureaucracy is involved.

I was more put out, if anything, that Julia had not told me this was the situation. The woman remembered Julia's case (or perhaps Lorena's or Rachel's) from last year, so I was in luck there because she knew how to streamline all the confusion.

I left, went into town, bought my train tickets for Rennes, bought some bus passes, some bread and stopped at the Tourism Office to ask about the Christmas markets. Marches de Noel in France are famous. These are little markets, arts & crafts fairs so-to-speak, that pop up all over the country during late November & early December. There are two in Concarneau. One is this weekend (Nov 28 & 29) at the Chateau Keriolet. Another is next weekend (Dec 4 & 5) in Kerandon. Guillemette told me that the one at Kerandon is better because at Keriolet is very commercial. So much the better because I don't think I will have time this weekend to go to the one at Keriolet what with my schedule. It's a little bit of a shame, though, because I still haven't seen the chateau up close and I bet a Christmas market would be great ambience there.

It's also a shame because I was hoping the market would be open while Kim (my sister) would be here, but no luck. We will have to look for one in Paris and/or Nantes.

I came back and headed to the school office to put more money on my lunch account and then to talk with the Secretary, a bit of the head-honcho of the administration. I cleared missing Monday to go to Rennes for the medical visit, talked about the SS issue, ask about getting the pay stubs, and just touch base as it had been a few weeks since I'd bothered him. I then went to the Vie Scolaire to inform them of my absence Monday--all good. Now it rests to tell the teachers--Diana, Nathalie & Marine, but that should be fine as well since there really is no choice. It is a bit of a shame, though, because I only work in one of Marine's classes and I seem them every other week. I also missed out on her classes at the beginning of the semester, so I've seen her students probably twice the entire time I've been here...now I'm missing again. :\ Life goes on & they'll get over it, but it's still a bummer.

Today I had fun with my classes. I played icebreaker games and made Thanksgiving Turkey-hands with them. You laugh, but there was lots of basic vocabulary that these seniors in high school had forgotten since sixth grade and lots they still didn't know concerning food & holidays. It was also a fun way to discuss Thanksgiving--the event, the history, the traditions. It's fun, but at the same time makes me a little sad. I just have to tell myself that Thanksgiving with IES will be great. Not the same, but great nonetheless.

Busy times ahead

Two Sundays ago I caught a ride with Pierre, an organist at St. Guenole, to mass where I sang with the choir for the second time. The mass is really not prepared for a choir on the level of equipment, habituation, congregation, but it does seem to lively things up a bit and so we'll push on. I went with Clementine to Guillemette's house for lunch (boeuf bourguignon) with her family; always a pleasure (and how it makes the time go faster!). She loaded us up with tons of craft supplies to make Christmas cards with, something Clementine had proposed.

The week passed rather quickly and before I knew it, it was Friday and we were headed yet again to Quimper. Thursday was Zach's (30th) birthday and we all arranged to meet up in Quimper. Julia and I took a coach up there in which we ran into Sarah, Kymberley and Paige from Quimperle headed to the same place. We stopped at Florence's house to pick up a key in case we spent the night. Then Julia and I walked around to try to find an open grocery store, failed and settled for a kebaberie, making it my first kebab experience this stay in France. In case you didn't know, kebabs are (pretty much) the official sandwich of France, and with good reason. Kebabs are everywhere, easy to eat, available almost any time you'd ever want, tasty, bad for your health, addictive, and cheap (relatively). Of course they'd be more popular than there yummy sandwiches you buy in boulangeries.

Oh yea, did I mention that Florence lives in an apartment in an old manor? It is really striking, like, crazy beautiful, and I only saw it at night. They took this old manor and cut it up into tons of really great apartments. I am envious.

We ate our kebabs on the side of the road until we got a call from Miguel who had just arrived in Quimper by car with his friend Ronand. We met up by Les Halles, backtracking a bit to find them. Finally rolled into Esme's cute apartment smack downtown around 8:30. She had made a gorgeous quiche with zuchini & tomotoes, homemade quacamole & homemade hummus, and we regretted (somewhat) eating our kebabs beforehand, but were glad to have had a full dinner all the same. The evening passed first at Esme's, with the company of some Eddie Izzard skits. Then we relocated to The No Name Pub where we found lots of old French men and two young reggae-ish djs that played reggae/electronica music all night. It was strange, but the longer we got there, the larger our group got, and the more entertaining it all was. By the end of it all we were numerous: me, Julia, Miguel, Ronand, Kymberly, Sarah, Paige, Esme, Jean-Marie (Esme's bf), Cesar, Julia, Zach, & Domin. We four from Concarneau left around 12:30 as Ronand had to work 6:30 Saturday morning & sleeping in our own beds sounded better than sleeping on Florence's pullout sofa.

Saturday afternoon I joined Clementine in her apartment downtown to make cards. I got there around 2:30pm and left at 6:15. I made 8 cards and she made 6, so you can imagine the effort (or maybe more the time) put into them. haha. It turned out to be very useful, though, as the next day we used one of my cards as a birthday card for Marie who turned 24 on Sunday.

Sunday morning Julia went to the pool across the street to help Jeanne (and old student and the daughter of one of her work friends) with her swimming requirements. Afterwords they both came home, we had hot chocolate and started making a pumpkin pie. Premade pumpkin puree in a can does not exist in France. In fact, pumpkin isn't too popular at all, so much so that the only reason we had pumpkin was because a colleague of Julia brought some from her garden because she knew Julia had looked for pumpkin last year. :P So we made the puree ourselves, which turned out to be a cool experience. It is a little disappointing, though, when you eat the pie and you have the following (inevitable) conversation:

"YES! This tastes EXACTLY like how it does at home!"

"You mean....it tastes like the same thing you buy in a can and takes 5mins to throw together?"

So we made the pumpkin pie and then also made Coca Valenciana, a lemony, cinnamony cake, the recipe of which Julia got from her old Spanish roommate, Lorena. They were both very good and were half gone by the end of the soiree at Marie's house.

After finishing the baked goods, we wrote up the card for Marie and headed out to Trevignon with Florence who picked us up on her way from Quimper. In the car we tried to listen to and prepare The Beatles' "Birthday" to round out the "gift" we would present Marie.

We got to Trevignon around 5:20, late (very late) and took a walk along the oceanside--gorgeous. The weather was hesitating between being gorgeous and a giant storm all day, wavering back and forth between the two, and while we were walking the coast it was right inbetween with dark light skies, at the same time heavy clouds and angry waters.

At 6 we headed back to the house as Marie was expecting others for a "gouter dinatoire" (snack-type dinner). A pre-teen named Leila and her mother, as well as the bartender, Philo, joined us later. We drank hot chocolate, tea, coffee, whisky, port and ate lemon cake, pie, brioche and chocolate cake. Then Miguel, Julia and I sang "I Will," "Amazing Grace," and "Birthday" for them, which led to Julia playing "Hoffman's Horrah" on her clarinet (with guitar accompaniment). She then taught us the dance and Florence, Marie and I dance to it while they played. That led to Marie putting on a Breton music CD and teaching me how to do some Breton dances with Florence & Julia. Finally we started wrapping things up and headed out around 9pm.

Today was the first day in a long time that I did not check the mail. I decided that I check every day and almost always there is nothing, so I would not check; afterall, if there was something then one of the others would have checked. Well, this evening Julia comes in with two envelopes for me. hah. I got one very happy card from Kristen with a pin, card & note (woo! Thanks, Kay!), and I also got one very bothersome letter from OFII. France finally got around to processing my immigration papers and assigning me a medical date. I am to be in Rennes next Monday for a medical visit at 1:35pm. Thiiiiis....well okay. It seemed overwhelming at first because my weekend is already rather packed, but I think I figured it out and here's what I'm looking at:

-teach for the rest of the week

-Thursday afternoon: bus Concarneau to Quimper, train Quimper to Nantes, bus or ride with Beatrice to the IES Thanksgiving dinner, couchsurf (host already down!)

-Friday in Nantes just for fun, couchsurf (host already down!)

-Saturday: train Nantes to Quimper, lunch in Quimper, bus Quimper to Concarneau, chill the afternoon, then get picked up by Florence (the one from church) to go to a church event; bus up to the north of the Finistere with Florence (and maybe Clementine) for a big choral event that will last until 11, putting us back in Concarneau around 2am

-Sunday: sing at mass, bus to Quimperle, train to Rennes, couchsurf (host yet to be found)

-Monday: see Rennes in the morning, medical visit at 13h35, couchsurf (host yet to be found)

-Tuesday: train to Quimper, bus to Concarneau, teach

I won't complain because this has the potential to be a very cool weekend, but at the same time all these plans rolled into one weekend makes me feel too hectic.

After that, Friday we will be celebrating Kymberly's 21st birthday in Quimper or Quimperle, then Saturday we are going with Marie & Florence to a Fest Noz (rock & roll themed :P). After that it will just be one week until Kim comes to visit and another week until going home.

So much up in the air!

Eventful Week

Last Thursday, me, Marie, Julia & Miguel went to a concert by Dominique A in Fouesnant. Miguel's old colleague from Quimperle joined us, too. It was interesting. Several hours of always the same alternative sound was a bit much, but amusing nonetheless.

Saturday we welcomed Sarah (German) & Kymberley (English) from Quimperle. We walked the footpath along the sea, showed them around the Ville Close and then hit up a creperie for some galettes and crepes as a late lunch. After eating I stayed with them in the center until their bus arrived as Julia had a skype date & Miguel wasn't feeling well. We went to a used book store where I bought some Asterix & Obelisk books for my friend Brad who is serving with the Peace Corps in Namibia now.

Once the girls left I headed home and stopped at St. Anne du Passage for the 6pm mass time. I was glad to have been able to catch it. Josh (American) arrived from Quimper almost the same time I got home from mass. We chatted a lot, ate dinner, played some music & eventually all went to bed. It was a great day in all with good company.

Not much happened then until Tuesday. I went to choir rehearsal and then joined the choir plus a priest, an Algerian muslim couple & Guillemette's family at her house to have a soiree with raclette. Raclette is a Swiss/French dish. You have to have this special apparatus, but it is very useful for parties or large dinners.

You buy a raclette thing, this is like a very large hot plate with two layers. You put some cheese on a sort of little shovel that you put on on the bottom plate, the two plates heat up the cheese, causing it to "fondre"--the basis of the word "fondue," "to melt" and "melted" respectively. Once the cheese has started to bubble and become golden you dump the fondue out onto your plate where hopefully you have cut up potatoes and put meat. You put the cheese on the potatoes and eat cold deli meats alongside it, plus things like tomatoes, onions, whatever. You can also grill the meats on the top hot plate.

It is a cool little festivity. We had a very good time, with wines from Amboise which Eric brought (he is from Amboise, a town on the Loire known for it's gorgeous chateau) then the raclettes which were followed by four different desserts--two types of fruit salad, gateau breton, and then brownies I had made (because I didn't know what else to bring).

These brownies were actually a gateau au chocolat recipe I got from Roselyne, but when I got down to putting the batter in a pan I realized that the pan for gateaux was still occupied by the apple cake I told you about in the last entry. I didn't want to take the time to displace the remaining piece and clean the platter, so I put it in a brownie-ish platter. It worked out great; I cut the gateau into brownies and that way there was plenty for everyone to try.

Friday I ran plenty of errands. I ran to the store to get some stuff for around the apartment to buy some recipe books for Brad as I hope to send off his care package soon. Then I went to the bank where I withdrew rent money, went home and paid rent, finally arriving home to realize that there would be a soiree that night in Quimper.

Julia and I decided to go, taking the last bus from Concarneau. We got into Quimper around 7:30, bought some beer & bananas (for the morning) and headed to Zach's place. It ended up being a good group--me, Julia, Josh, Ashton, Zach (American), Rachel (English), Esperanza, Bea (Spanish), Cesar (Chilean), Julia & Dominique (German). We hung out from 8-4 when we finally headed off to Josh's place to sleep. It was definitely much to late to be out, but as long as we had been warm, dry, and amused we didn't want to ask Josh to leave early so we could go to sleep. It worked out alright anyways.

Julia & I got up at 8:30 to go into town and catch a bus. We stopped downtown Concarneau where I got my train tickets for Thanksgiving in Nantes and we applied for our Cartes de Sejour. We took in plenty of papers and all they ended up using was three passport size photos & our passports. I believe they also made copies of the other documents you supposedly need to bring in (ie birth certificate, arrete de nomination, etc), but I'm not sure if they will do anything with it and if it's entirely necessary. Luckily (since she didn't use it), I didn't need a translation into French of my birth certificate which I had read may be necessary in some cities.

We both also asked for an "attestation" which is a bit like a receipt saying you have applied for your titre/carte de sejour and it will let you continue forward with all the other bureacracy you have to do (like getting social security). All-in-all it will take AT LEAST eight weeks to get the carte...oh well. I will try this coming week to apply for my social security and this way I may have coverage before I leave the country. Huzzah.

We caught a bus back to Porzou, took showers, slept & recuperated a bit before meeting Aston, Rachel & Esperanza at the little boat that traverses the port. They had come to Concarneau for the day, but as Julia had a skype dat at 2:30 and we were otherwise exhausted we asked them to amuse themselves downtown until 4pm when we'd go meet them. We took them by the seaside footpath, but the wind was so strong and cold that it was difficult to enjoy the beauty of the sea, turbulent and dark.

By 4:45 we were at home sitting down in the salon with some teas, hot chocolates & cookies. Another gateau au chocolat was in the oven cooking, and the conversation was good. This gateau didn't come out as well as I rushed so I wouldn't be neglecting our guests. I didn't sift the flour and I added the four eggs all at once rather than one at a time. Well, mostly the flour I think was a problem as some of it stuck and created a sort of chunky effect in the cake. It is still tasty, but the texture was great with the brownie-gateau and I while I used the real gateau platter this time, I preferred how it came out before. That being said, half the cake is gone already, so still a success.

Now things are quiet. The girls caught the last bus out at 6:34. Miguel is playing guitar, I am writing this & Julia is preparing for bed.

Tomorrow I will be getting a ride to mass downtown with a couple who live not too far from here as the choir sings at mass tomorrow. Otherwise I'm not too savy as to my plans. Hope to listen to the Packers-Cowboys game. We'll see.

Best to all,
Alicia

Apple Experiments

You may have noticed a trend in my baking habits....lots of apple. This is because within my first two weeks of being in Concarneau we had not only bought green apples, but were given a crate of Spanish apples from Lorena's parents as well as a bag of apples from Guillemette's orchard.
It was very nice of them, but a month later we still had apples laying around after snacking on them and making countless fruit salads.

Thus, I was motivated over break to finish the apple supply with baked items. This began with the Tarte Tartin that you can see in the last post or two.

Then came the Clafoutis aux pommes, or apple clafoutis. I made this without knowing what it was, but it sounded and looked good. I would say it's sort of like apples baked into custard, a bread pudding-like custard.


Tasty, but now it is done and I used the last two apples in our arsenal to make a very simple apple cake, but as always happens when trying things so easy to make in the states, I found we had some impediments in France. Mostly I didn't have a brownie sheet, which is what the recipe asked for. I first tried in a bread pan on a lower temperature, which resulted in the top being perfectly cooked....and then about 3mm beneath that it was completely batter. So I scraped off the top (and ate it, yum) and then poured the batter from the bread pan into this tarte pan.

We have yet to try it, but it seems to have worked much better (and smells so tasty!), so let's cross our fingers.

Either way there are no more apples, huzzah!

La Toussaint, continued

Wednesday after lunch (3pm) I left for Pornichet with Aurelien. We hit some traffic, which was the first time I'd ever experienced car traffic in France, much less in Nantes.

We got in and chilled a little bit, talking to Clementine, Aurelien's neighbor who also is studying engineering. We played some Guitar Hero and then around 7 we went out to a bar called Le Bidule, which is apparently a Pornichet staple.

Le Bidule (not my own image: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_P3ovg2yu-6s/SKalee1F4TI/AAAAAAAAAKI/duUQ2dw3sss/s400/DSC02149.JPG)

This is a bar that closes at 9pm and is thus packed before the sun is down. They serve a sweet white wine that is, really, much too sweet but still very good (and cheap for how strong it is). There are wine barrels set up all around the bar, which is mostly an outdoor terrasse....a backyard half covered with an overhang, and half not. You call over one of the two barmaids (who are always being called out to) who slap down some glasses if you don't already have them and grab the bottle from their hip where there is a sort of a holster and they pour out the drinks and you pay on the spot. In some ways it is not efficient at all, but much more amusing.

After that we headed back to eat dinner and watched "Back to the Future." Hah.

Thursday I walked around Pornichet from 10-12 was Aurelien did work. I spent a lot of time on the beach and especially a line of rocks that run from the sand pretty far out into the ocean that serves as a dividing wall fo the marina.

Lunch, then we did some errands. He took me to St. Nazaire where he goes to school. He showed me around campus and then we walked around the bay just beside the school. I did not have my camera, but it was quite astounding how different the beach at Pornichet could be from that at the neighboring town of St. Nazaire. The bay at St Nazaire was essentially cliffs that dropped down to the water. There was a footpath all along the cliff that was reminiscent of Concarneau, but with many more hills.

The day ended with a walk in Pornichet again, and then Aurelien's school friend Sonya came over to play Guitar Hero. We also went out to a bar called La Terrasse that was giving beginning salsa lessons when we were there at 8. We did not participate, although I wish we had since that was the first time I've seen any salsa (or dance at all) this stay in France. We took some monacos and sat on the terrasse to talk while we waited for the creperie we wanted to eat at emptied out. We then ate some galettes, I made the mistake of getting mine with "poireaux" (scallions/leek) which I mistook for "poires" (pears). Uhmmm, yea I didn't even finish it. We had cidre with the meal and closed down the creperie, having arrived late. We then headed back to his apartment and Sonya left shortly after, which was good because we both went to bed early.

Friday I left on a train around at 11:42 for Nantes, where I stayed for two hours on a layover. I had lunch at a little boulangerie near the gelato shop in the quartier bouffet which always makes me think of Molly (and her obsession with this shop ^_^). I then sat under the bridge at the chateau (same as I used to) soaking in the sun (not as I used to) and headed back to the train station to get a coffee and wait a few more minutes before getting on the train. I got into Quimperle four minutes to five and waited 40ish mins for the last coach to Concarneau that put me at home around 6:40. I was alone for the night with Julia still in Scotland and Miguel in Paris.

Saturday I made a tarte tartin, an upside down apple tart which is pretty easy to make, but very good. However, it becomes much more difficult to make when you realize you don't know how to start the oven. I had only ever used the oven when cooking with Miguel and Julia, so they had always started the oven. I thought I knew how to start the oven, but when it came down to it, the tarte waiting to cook, I could not get it to work. I had to knock on almost every door in the building before I found someone home. Julien, a neighbor in the other part of the building, came over and showed me how, although the way he did it was more complicated than that of Miguel because he lifted the bottom of the oven, which Miguel has never done. In fact, I still don't know how to start the oven, but I will learn one of these days.

Miguel got home in the afternoon and we decided to make fajitas that night, for which I had bought all the necessities. I made the guacamole from scratch and found creme fraiche that tasted similar enough to sour cream. I bought shredded emmentale cheese and Old El Paso tortillas from the supermarket. We threw together onions, red peppers and chicken with a packet of Old El Paso fajita seasoning (not so great, imo) and attempted some "Spanish" rice with diced tomatoes and onions. As you can't easily find black beans in France we ate red beans on the side, and that worked alright.

We were expecting Julia to be home by dinner, and we also invited Julien and his girlfriend, Cindy. Julia ended up being stuck in London another night thanks to RyanAir and Cindy had back pain, so it ended up just me, Miguel and Julien eating the fajitas along with a local white beer. We'll call it French-Mex; a valiant effort, but not entirely true to form. (Still tasty.)

Sunday Julia finally got home after a very painful travelling experience. Because she is not a citizen of the EU RyanAir apparently requires you to have a stamp verifying your passport in order to reenter France....I don't know. So she had to stay the night Saturday in London to buy a much more expensive ticket with another agency (she was not reimbursed for the RyanAir ticket) that flew her into Dinon, where she then had to hitchhike to get to a train station to get a connection to Brest and then finally arrive by train and coach in Concarneau. Lesson: RyanAir is not worth it.

That day I had tried to make galettes. I made the batter just as Roselyne had shown me several times....and it still did not work out. It came down to a combination of not having a large enough skillet that wouldn't stick, not having the apparatus to smooth out the batter, not using the correct hotness on the stove, and something in the batter that made the galettes crack as they cooked. All-in-all, it came down to around 11pm and we were eating the disaster that was these galettes.

Monday none of us did much. Julia and I left in the evening for Fouesnant, a neighboring town, for choir rehearsal. Which lasted three hours at the end of which I was ready to collapse. Instead we got home at 10pm and I started making tomato basil chicken with rice for dinner, which worked out MUCH better than the galettes of the previous night.

Julia went into the mayor's office today to ask about the carte de sejour....annnnd they know nothing. We compared our current visas to that which Julia had last year. Her visa from last year was for three months and demanded a carte de sejour to follow the months after it expired. Our current visas last the entire length of our contracts, plus a month or two. We'd like to say that we don't need the carte de sejour (which, it is true that supposedly France was going to phase this out), but at the orientation Oct 7 they told us we would still need it. Thank you, Brittany, for being so up-to-date. We have to call into the prefecture in Quimper to ask further questions. For now let's cross our fingers.

Later today I will attempt a clafoutis aux pommes--Apple Clafoutis, which to my understanding is a bit like apples baked in a custard. Not sure. It sounds and looks tasty, so we'll give it a go. News on the clafoutis later.

Best,

Alicia