APRIL 2011

I make a verbal agreement with three different private schools to work as a full time English Language Assistant for the upcoming academic year

JULY 2011

I receive my contract from all three schools. At this time, these contracts are also sent to be approved by the office of immigration in Paris where there is a minimum 2 month holding period before they will be passed through to the French Consulate of Chicago.

JULY-SEPTEMBER 2011

I impatiently await my invitation to go to the French Consulate of Chicago to begin the process of immigration to France. In the meantime, I miss my scheduled flight back to France due to all of the bureaucratic delays, as well as miss my beginning weeks of work.

3 SEPTEMBER 2011

I receive my invitation from the French Consulate of Chicago on Monday, and make the first available appointment the following Friday. At this appointment, which I must be physically present for, I give several signed documents as well as my passport which can be kept for up to two weeks. While my passport is being held, French officials insert a temporary work visa on one of my passport’s visa pages. In short, a glorified sticker.

23 OCTOBER 2011

I fly back to France with my passport and visa! Although I can legally fulfill my work duties at all three of my schools, the paperwork isn’t over yet. I still must get my visa  verified. Upon my arrival in France, I send a copy of my passport, visa, and official passport stamp proving my arrival date in France to the Office of Immigration in Lille, France. I await my invitation to come to Lille in person to complete my work papers and finally, attain my “titre de séjour”.

DECEMBER 2011

I miss my appointment due to a school closing (my mailbox is in the school that I live and work in), and I will not be able to read my mail and discover I have missed my appointment until after the Christmas holiday. I call for a make-up appointment and am told I must wait another several weeks for another invitation in the mail.

JANUARY 2012

I receive my invitation for the 21st of February!

21 February 2012

After ten long and stressful months, I am on a 6am train to Lille to jump through a final bureaucratic hoop: the medical appointment. I nervously wait in a small waiting room filled with people from all over the world, some of which don’t speak any French at all, until my name is finally called to enter the exam room. I am measured, weighed, given an eye exam, blood test, and an upper body x-ray and am told to return to the waiting room until my name is called again. “Kree-stan Grrrrrrrai?” and shortly thereafter, I was sent out of the bureau of immigration with my completed visa in my hands and my heart, filled to the brim, ready to burst with  happiness.

It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever gone through in my life. My relationships as well as my morale suffered during this long and dolorous period. In the digital age we live in, it’s not always easy to tiptoe around the paperwork and bureaucracy which France runs on, but I’m thrilled to say that I made it to the finish line!

To anyone currently in any stage of this process, my thoughts are with you and I wish you nothing but the best of luck.

1/ Pour toi, Janvier, Février, Mars est la meilleure période de l’année
2/ Tu sais ce qu’est un wish, mais que c’est toujours délicat de l’expliquer à quelqu’un qui ne connais pas
3/ Tu trouve ça normal de jeter du poisson sur une foule en délire
4/ T’es fier d’avoir vu un morceau de ta plage dans Bienvenue chez les ch’tis
5/ Tu connais l’histoire de la tour du menteur
6/ T’es offusqué de rencontrer encore à notre époque, des personnes qui ne connaissent pas Jean Bart
7/ Des noms de ville comme Herzeele, Armbouts-Cappel ou Téteghem ne te font plus peur
8/ T’as déjà été au moins une fois à La Panne pour faire un tour de voiture à pédales
9/ Tu connais exactement l’emplacement de chaque bar sur la digue
10/ Tu t’es habitué à la température de la Mer du Nord
11/ Tu t’es habitué aux usines et au port lorsque tu te baignes l’été
12/ Tu sais que personne, en dehors du Nord-Pas-De-Calais, n’imagine qu’il est possible de se baigner à Dunkerque
13/ Tu dis haut et fort que tu prête gentiment ta plage aux Lillois l’été
14/ Tu sais qu’il est possible d’appeler une discothèque ‘Le Kreul’hoeck’
15/ Tu connais par cœur l’A25
16/ Tu cries haut et fort que tu es Flamand et pas Ch’ti
17/ T’as du vent ou de la pluie, parfois les deux, un peu plus de 300 jours par an
18/ Tu sais qu’à St Pol, on lève son col
19/ Tu sais exactement où est caché le radar sur l’A16
20/ Tu trouves que l’Islande c’est quand même vachement loin pour du poisson
21/ Pour toi on doit écrire le mot ‘Les Prout’ avec une majuscule ET SANS S !
22/ Tu te repères plutôt bien dans les petites rues de Malo
23/ T’as beaucoup plus d’oncles et de tantes que la moyenne
24/ Tu sais ce que c’est le Potschevlesh
25/ Tu sais que le Roi de la Moule, ce n’est rien d’autre qu’un bon restaurant
26/ Tu connais au moins une personne dont le nom commence par ‘Van’
27/ Tu préfères être dunkerquois que calaisien ou boulonnais
28/ T’as déjà fait de l’optimiste, du char à voile, du kite-surf, de la planche à voile, du catamaran, du dériveur… Ou de la pêche au moins une fois dans ta vie
29/ Il y a toujours très peu de monde dans le train quand t’arrives à Dunkerque, parce que c’est quand même le terminus
30/ Tu ne sens plus l’odeur de la pollution, surtout si t’habites Fort-MardykTu es de Dunkerque

I packed for three weeks and left France for Michigan, my little hometown, & this time with a Frenchman at my side. I will soon be here for five weeks instead as the arduous fight for work papers continues. I think I’m almost out of the dark, and I await the news with eager anticipation.

N stayed here with me for several weeks to see the sights and also my origins. I introduced him to all the people that were important to me, and to all the places that made me love coming back. We started with the city I was raised in and it’s quaint afternoon strolls and duck ponds and storefronts and small town charm. Through his eyes, it was all Norman Rockwell and milkshakes and dogs on porches, not the crowded highway and pollution and head-in-the-sand attitude that eventually drove me away from this place. We went to the Henry Ford Museum, Mackinac Island, Chicago, Detroit, and didn’t leave out the things I love that remain unlisted on tourist sites. I had him taste Michigan beers, we picked out some pumpkins at a Michigan Cider Mill and he carved one for the first time. We spent ages sifting through my favorite dusty record stores for American vinyls to take home and play, and walked my favorite streets hand in hand while observing . I showed him my world and it was so much more beautiful and fresh with him there, seeing it for the first time.

The question I’ve most received about his visit is how difficult the language barrier was. To be honest, it wasn’t easy. But I introduced a part of the world to someone who would have never seen it otherwise. It was beautiful. Now, pictures!

I surprised N with a visit! My life in France without me was making me glum, and I was anxious about jumping into work so unprepared, so I hopped on a plane to take care of some business and made a cute frenchman very happy. Feeling very optimistic about my work papers going through. It’s been a heck of a ride this summer, and I’m very much looking forward to buckling down and getting back to the grind.

This week I visited the three schools I will be teaching in. I will be teaching in two middle schools and one high school, with two additional elementary school classes. I have been so warmly welcomed, and am grateful to be part of such a professional and enthusiastic team of educators. 

I cannot fulfill my work duties until I my visa is processed, but the day it is will be so much sweeter knowing now what an fantastic work experience awaits me.

Oh my, I’m embarrassed. It’s been quite a long time, hasn’t it! Several days ago marked the one month anniversary of my arrival in Detroit. To be honest, it’s been a bit of a rollercoaster. I’m about to explain to you pourquoi. To preface this entry, it is important to know that I have found a job (hurray!) in the city of my dreams (hurray! x2) and I’m boarding a plane to go back…in a while. Now then. Ahem.

WHY IT IS HARD TO BE AN AMERICAN IN EUROPE.

1. I need a visa to work there, whereas Europeans can hop around as they please like carefree little bunnies (&I am mad with jealousy)

2. The application process is long and thorough, as to make sure I don’t do anything silly…like SHOW UP TO WORK ON TIME IN THE FALL (!?!??)

3. The United States has gone practically entirely digital, however the bureaucracy on the French side of things is much more paper-oriented, and in other words LONG. The wait-time is astronomical. 

4. French people are not known for being punctual, and I come from a nation of fast food, drive through banks, and accelerated teeth-whitening strips (whiter teeth in up to two weeks!) Needless to say there’s a difference in paradigm here.

In other words, I’m playing a waiting game to get back to France. It’s been a series of emails, phone calls, letters, and more emails. It’s frustrating, but the good news is I have a job that I love in the most beautiful part of the world, and a wonderful work year ahead of me. It’s just a matter of time before the paperwork is in my hands and I can board my plane. 

&The day will be glorious.