Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
happier post!
I'm sorry for the small size of the photos, but you get the idea...
Above are some pics from Malou's moving day. We were a movin' machine. We got everything to her new apartment in 2 loads and Yann's little blue truck was a mighty champ. That truck really was loaded to full capacity. Yann really wanted a picture taken with everything lashed to the top. He was very proud of his truck that day. We attached Malou's little American flag onto the front of the car, and we were amazed at how many stares we got. And then I got to keep the flag as a moving gift. It is hung above our guest room bed, waiting patiently for my American mom's arrival....9 more days! yeah!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
ok....
well, since i last wrote all kinds of stuff has been going on! Some good...some bad. well, i don't want to drag the bad out longer than it have to, but i would like to update you on the situation. Basically, after getting married we needed to go to the Prefecture. This is where all immigrants/foreigners go to apply and renew for visas. Yann & I thought that because we were married that it would be a piece of cake to get my Carte de Sojour at the Prefecture. This is the card that grants me the permission to work, have free health care, and be allowed to stay for as long as i want in france. Well, first let me tell you that the Prefecture is crazy and completely inefficient. In the States, lines move pretty quickly and one can be processed in a reasonable amount of time. In france there is a lot of inefficiency, red tape, and bureaucracy. Every day the Prefecture is open there is long line that has already formed 2 hours before it opens in the morning. Once you get in you wait in even longer lines to been seen. It's easier to be granted a visit by the Pope.
Anyways, as you can see, we are both very tired and annoyed with the situation. I know after things get all ironed out in a couple months, we will be happy! It's just a rough patch right now. My mom and dad are coming to visit soon. Actually, my mom is coming on May 13th and my dad on May 18th. They will be staying until May 30th. We are very excited to all be together and celebrate our marriage.
So, anyways, we have all our documents ready and we go to stand in line outside and wait for it to open. We get there at 7:00am and it opens at 8:15am. As soon as it opens we run upstairs and grab a ticket to be seen. We were happy because we got number 12. There are only 35 tickets issued per day, so we thought we did good. We waited to be seen for another 4.5 hours. In 4.5 hours the woman only processed 11 other people!!!! how is that possible? that means each person before us got an average of 25-30 minutes speaking with the woman. What were they doing in there; having tea and biscuits?!
So, finally we get called and literally, I am not joking, she was so rude to us; she gave us exactly 6 minutes to talk with her, and then she buzzed the next person in while we were still talking to her. Yann is polite, so he got up to leave, before getting all our questions answered. But i was so pissed, i just glued myself to that chair and wouldn't move until she explained more. The next people were standing right behind my chair, mad at me for not budging!
So, here is the deal: Basically, i need to go back to the States and go to my local French Consul, which is Miami. Once there, I need to ask for my VISA de Sojour. This is something they stamp on my passport and it allows me to stay in France for 2 months. But in Miami once I ask for this Visa de Sojour, it may take up to 2 months to be ready for me to pick up. So, during this time i have to wait in the US until they notify me by mail that it's ready. Then i go and pick it up and fly back to france. Once in france, i go to the Prefecture again, and stand in that horrendous line again, and ask for my Carte de Sojour. This Carte de Sojour is the thing that allows me to stay in france, have health care, and work. This may take up to 6 months to have!!!!!!!!!! So, during that time i get a card that is a temporary card. It allows me to legally stay in france until i get my Carte de Sojour, but i can't work!! which is something i really need to be doing now! By the way, this temporary card expires every 3 months so when that happens i need to go stand in a 8 hour line again at the Prefecture. And once my Carte de Sojour is ready to be picked up at the Prefecture, I'll of course have to stand in that damn line again!
Basically, it is a nightmare. We had a horrible day when we found all this out. We are pretty devastated by the fact that we are newlyweds and we have to be separated for up to two months. This totally sucks, and it is a bizarre situation. I just want to say to any of my friends, i.e. Meghan K.H., that were considering moving to France, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it will be truly impossible for you to come and work here. They have made it totally impossible. I'm sorry! it frustrates me too. I am married to a French citizen and I can barely live here.
I have a plane ticket to fly home on June 1st from Marseille to Miami. I will be going straight to the French Consul when i arrive in Miami and dealing with this. I will be staying in Sarasota with my parents until i am notified by mail that i can go pick it up and then i will head back to France. This could take 3 weeks or the full 2 months. So, anyways, I know Steph, Kate D, and Keely will be happy that I'm coming home for a visit!! I can't wait to see you guys! That's about it!! I'll be putting another post up soon!
Friday, April 25, 2008
our day
on tuesday april 22nd we got married!! and here is a little re-cap...Our wedding time was at 2:30 pm, so Yann's parents arrived in Marseille in the morning and before the ceremony we went out for pizza. to make sure we were on time for the wedding we arrived 15 minutes before our scheduled court time. well, as we entered the office the woman gives us a curious look and asks us why we are here. We tell her, because we are supposed to get married here in 10 minutes. She tells us, no, we need to go all the way to the other side of the city where we had just come from!! Ahh! we were kinda scared at this point; thinking at least they couldn't start the wedding without the entire 5-person wedding party!
so, finally we got there, 15 minutes late, and as we ran around this huge, old building trying to find which door to enter, we were getting blown around by this very, very strong wind. We entered into the court room and it is very quiet and there is the mayor and his notarie. So, all in French, they began the ceremony. I hardly understood what they said, but when they asked me something directly I looked at yann like, "What do I say??!" and he whispered, "Say, oui!" So, I guess that was the moment we became official!
we signed the marriage papers and exchanged our rings. The whole thing was very short & sweet; it lasted probably about 15 minutes. We received our "family book", which we record important family events, such as births, deaths, ect. Then we were on our way to take pictures outside and have some champagne! So easy and so not stressful. This was a perfect way to get married if you don't want all the stress of planning a wedding. However, I'm still looking forward to having a bigger wedding in Sarasota next year. I think until i'm married by our pastor, in front of God, and my family & friends, I won't truly feel married.
His dad brought a bag of rice which was thrown at us as we came out of the building. The wind was blowing so hard, the rice was stinging our skin as it pelted us.! We took the pictures ourselves and when a guy walked by we asked him to take some photos of all of us. Talk about a do-it-yourself wedding. Besides the wind, there was bright warm sun and a BEAUTIFUL view of Marseille from where we were. We went over to a hotel across the street and his father bought us a bottle of good champagne to celebrate and toast.
Then, JC and his parents all had to leave to get back to work & home to Paimpol. So, there we were back in our old, comfortable clothes and having the rest of the afternoon free we went grocery shopping. We went to this huge asian market and bought things for sushi rolling and we came home and had a big sushi feast to celebrate.
The next morning at 4am, i had to drive Yann to the train station because he had to go to work...sad!! but he will be back on Sunday night, so it's ok. Nothing about this marriage was traditional, but we liked it that way. The next day I went over to my friend's pottery studio and threw pots all day. She showed me around the Panier area, which is an artist's area, and she introduced me to all the local artists. I think it's a possibility that I may try to get a studio in that area. we'll see...more info on that later.
Yesterday I went to the French Alliance and had my first French class and my second is today. There are 5 of us total in the class; it's a total beginner class. But hopefully in no time i'll be speaking french! Ok, hope all is good with everybody and talk to you soon!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Gehan
Thursday, April 24, 2008
more coming tomorrow...
i just wanted to post the pics from the wedding and i'll write tomorrow more about it. i'm so tired right now, i think if i wrote about it it probably wouldn't make any sense!! ok, bye!
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