Well, not really. My horoscope actually claims that I should be having the time of my life with new love interests, fun times, and prosperous work projects. The past week has proved to be quite the opposite.
My first week of vacation was spent searching for a new job: sending out emails, calling businesses, editing my resume, and writing letters to any work I could find in relation to my major or past experience. My head killed, my legs wanted to run far far away from my problems, and my lack of social interaction (all my Lyon friends are gone now) made me one delightful person.
Friday brought good news: a job offer in an international multilingual school. I was estactic, that is until I realized the next hoop I have to jump through in order to stay another year in France: the visa renewal process. You would think it would be quite simple. I have a valid passport and visa, I have a job contract, and I have all of the necessary documentation, as stated on the website. All I have to do is go to the préfecture and get in line to get a ticket to be able to talk to a representative. Sounds like the deli counter you say? Yes, it does. The only difference is that it takes 10 seconds to get a ticket to order your cheese and meat, whereas here in France, it takes, oh you know, all morning. I arrived at 7:45, thinking that being a little more than an hour in advance would suffice. I got the bus, then the metro, crossed over the bridge and walked with high hopes that I could get everything done in one day so that I could FINALLY go on the vacation I planned to start on July 5th. Once I made it to the street corner, my mouth dropped. OH MY GOD, Zane was right, I though. This is exactly like a new Ipad launch. I made my way to the end of the line, a half of a block away from the doors, and immediately became antsy. People were pushing to cut the line, yelling in all sorts of foreign languages, and one lady even dumped her water bottle on another person for giving her trouble. At 9 am the doors opened, at 9:20 they closed for the day. I waited in line with a bunch of persistent people, hoping and praying they would re-open in an hour or so. The police came to action in an attempt to break up the people who didn't get a ticket and make them go home. Their response to the protests, « It's normal to wait like this. Get here earlier tomorrow. »
I decided to go back later to double check that I really did have all of the necessary documentation. Tania had told me that when she went, what was published online, was not the same as what they actually asked for in the office. I barely was able to get out my first sentence when the man cuts me off, « It's over today. I can't help you. We don't have anything. You have to come back tomorrow. Bye, have a good day. » Asshole, I muttered to myself. How are you supposed to get anything in this damn country.
Afterwards, I accompanied Tania as she went to hand out resumes for a new part-time job. She previously worked for McDonalds. They gave her a week of vacation around the same time that school ended. When she went back the following week for her schedule, they said she didn't have any shifts because she was missing paperwork. Paperwork for what? Well, first they claimed it was renewal paperwork. She went back multiple times every week to make sure everything went through and was ready to go. And every time she came back home frustrated because the secretary had screwed something up, either forgetting to send a document or call someone to check on what was actually missing. Today, she went back once again to find out that actually she's been working illegally the past year because they never filed her paperwork LAST YEAR. Not sure how they can pay her in checks illegally, but that's the excuse for this week. Furthermore, she found out that the local director of the Department of Labor came to McDonalds last week, solely for her paperwork, and McDonalds failed to contact Tania. Now, the Department of Labor is closed to the public and she has lost yet another week of her time and money. Finally, while walking around, a lot of the employers we approached gave us bizarre looks. « So, you're French or Bulgarian? » « Bulgarian but I've lived in France the past 2 years. » « Sorry, the job isn't available. » I've never been one to accept stereotypes but France is really starting to make me reconsider this with their oh so obvious discrimination against foreigners. To anyone who's ever been discriminated against in the USA, I am sorry on behalf of my country.
Today I woke up and was at the préfecture at the advised time of 5 am. I was a lot closer to the doors this time, but apparently not close enough. Je peux plus France, je peux plus. I can't take it anymore!
Within those four wasted hours, I was able to make friends with the people around me. The lady behind me was from Senegal (and had a beautiful accent when she spoke French), the man and his mother in front of me came from Tunisia, and the lady next to me was from Russia. Mothers pushed their babies up and down the street, elderly couples took turns waiting in line so one could rest their feet, and police cars drove down the street every so often to check up on us. I attempted to test my Arabic as I listened to the men next to me(I remembered my numbers and a few key words but not much more unfortunately), listened to my Ipod until the battery died, and stared at the skyline wondering why I was even doing this. It was a long four hours. What got under my skin the most? When people on their way to work either stared us down like animals in a zoo, or avoided our eye contact completely as if we were going to give them the foreigner disease. The Philly attitude boiled deep in my blood and I was tempted to shake them and yell. We are the same as you; it's your damn government that makes us stand out here at all ours of the day because they can't be bothered to get their shit organized and make an online reservation system. It baffles me that local French people call this normal; I mean, don't you get fed up too? I know you're all used to the slow pace, but seriously! It's disgraceful to make over 400 people fight for 100 tickets. I essentially waited 4 hours to be told that ACTUALLY you need to sleep on the motherflippin' street to get a ticket to even be considered for the day. « Like dogs, » my one neighbor yelled back. Indeed my friend, they treat us like dogs. The same man from yesterday came to take apart the barriers and once again ignored any and all questions fired at him. Some people must just enjoy ruining everyone's day.
I have the oh so slightest feeling that whenever I get inside the building, I will continue to get hassled because my French isn't good enough or my accent is hard to understand.
I think my rant has gone on long enough for all you out there. Thanks for letting me take out my anger. And here's to all who waited in line with me the past two days. God Bless you all.
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