I found a home!

            The last couple days have been bizonkers. Going into Friday I had 2 leads on possible housing arrangements: there was Célia, a French girl looking for a roommate in her 2 bedroom apartment in Guyancourt (where I teach). Then there was a woman looking to rent out a studio in Paris. She usually rents to the Middlebury College study abroad students and her girl had decided not to come at the last minute. 

           Friday was also my first day of work at the high school. I had been told that Friday I should come in to Lycée Villaroy at 9am. I would be introduced to my mentor teacher and would sit in on a number of English classes to get a feel for what I’d be doing. It's about an hour ride between Paris and Guyancourt with all of the different modes of transport. I figured while I was down there I would go see Celia’s apartment and then come back up to Paris and see Mme Noble’s studio.

            I had to get up at 6:30 to catch all of the transport that would get me there on time. That felt real early. I used to get up at 6:30 for work all this past year, that last month off must have made me soft.

            When I got there, they started with all the forms and were adamant that I really needed to find a place to live quick so that I could get a bank account. Otherwise, I wouldn’t get paid and I would get behind on all of the paperwork that I need to make myself legal in France.

            Then they brought me up to my mentor teacher, who appears to be one of those embittered teachers who doesn't really like kids or what she does anymore. She wasn't mean to me, but she's clearly uninterested in being a mentor. As soon as I was escorted into her room she tried to tell me to go back down to the office to do paperwork and she'd talk to me later. I’d just done all the paperwork I could do without a “domicile fixe.” The office people had been unsure what to do with me and had insisted that I come up to her room. So, I said I would just sit and watch her class.

             Afterwards, she led me to the breakroom where she introduced me to another english teacher and then disappeared (I'm 95% sure to smoke a cigarette). And the other teacher was like "I'm not in charge of you, I have no idea what to tell you, you need to find her again." When my mentor finally showed up again, she asked me if I had a bunch of stuff to do like find housing, etc. I said yes. She said then I should go because I’d just be wasting my time there that day. I asked her when they'd get my schedule together and she said I could be around for observing classes next week. The week after that they'd have me start leading a supplementary english conversation class for students who are taking an oral exam at the end of this year to graduate. 

            That's what's up with school. I'm curious how that will be. In the breakroom, some of the English teachers were talking about having a bunch of disciplinary problems. I feel like I won't have to deal too much with that. Either because students won't mess around too much because I'm young and american and that's interesting to them. Or because, when they do mess around, it won't be my responsiblity to deal with it.                       

            Anyways, I was all done by 10:30am. It seems like a pretty relaxed faculty, which is frusturating while I'm getting started, but will hopefully make for a much less stressful year. 

            After all that I went to meet Célia and see her apartment. She was 21 and in her last year of school. She was super nice and the apartment was decked out with a dishwasher, washing machine, flat screen and I would get a queen sized bed. It was ideally located on a busstop with a line that goes directly to my school and another that goes directly to the train station to Paris. Parfait, right? BUT, I said I was willing to rent until the beginning of June because I'd probably be leaving mid-May. They're looking for someone who will take it for the whole year. Because it’s in a university town, if I left in June she would almost certainly not be able to find a subletter and her mom would  have to pay the extra rent in the summer. She said she'd have to talk it over with her mom and take a look at all of the other offers she's got (she got 5 calls in 24 hours so I am NOT alone in the housing search). We left that saying it seemed like a good fit, but the dates are off so we’d be in touch if the studio didn’t work out and if she couldn’t find anyone for the year. 

            On the way home from that, Mme Noble called and asked if I could come take a look at the studio at 9am Saturday morning instead. I was ready for my day to be over so I said that was fine. It was rainy and cold so I went home and put on sweatpants and Clare and her boo and I made some dinner and drank some wine.

            
            I got up earlyish on Saturday morning and met Mme Noble outside the studio in Montparnasse. I did a tour and decided that, despite being a little out of my price range, the place was too awesome to pass up. I’ll have to pick up a second job, but I’m only working 12 hours a week at the school so I probably should have picked up another job anyways. So, I have a place to live!!! And it’s cool too!

            Before going in, she prepared me to think the studio was super small, but it’s actually a pretty nice size and it includes a toilet and shower and a little kitchenette. Since she normally rents to students studying abroad, the studio is set up with everything I need: wifi, sheets, towels, plates and silverware, frying pans etc. It was really clean, but she left lots of traces of past students. Postcards and keychains and things. It’s clear this place has quite the history. I inherited a futon for guests, oodles of tea and spices and a half full bottle of cognac.

            The location is really cool, too.  I don’t have to walk more than two blocks in any direction to get to: two major metro lines, a grocery store, a post office, a bank. Not to mention all the cafés and things. I'm in the 14th arrondissement, in the Montparnasse neighborhood and there's all this cool history attached to this area. There’s been numerous famous artists that lived on my block. Man Ray used to have his studio up the block from me in this crazy building that is occupied by some rich guy now. In À bout de souffle, the dramatic final scene with the extra long shot of Michel running down the street with a gunshot wound was filmed on my block. He dies at the end of my street by one of the very conveniently located metro stops. So unreal. I’m excited to explore and read up on it all.

           It has a lot of history, but there is still a lot going on here. There are a number of active artist's studios on the block still. I'm surrounded by cafés and cinemas. There are markets up the block from me a couple days a week. I wandered through one today and it was like a huge yard sale. Everyone had blankets and tables and had laid out all of these old books and vintage jackets and airsoft guns and ceramic buddhas. There were shit tons of people. There were a lot of people. There are pretty much always a lot of people everywhere. I’m starting to realize how many people there are in Paris. I’m glad I got myself a little hidey-hole because it can be pretty overwhelming.

           As soon as I sealed the deal with Mme Nobel, I ran over to the bank and set up an account and then moved all of my stuff in. Moving on public transport is a pain in the arse, but it went about as well as it could. The worst part was probably dragging my bag up 5 flights of narrow winding stairs. My muscles still feel a little weird.

           I got done moving at like 10pm on Saturday night and then went to meet Clare and co. Yesterday was Nuit Blanche, which is a big all night festival in Paris where they have events all over town until 7am. We popped around to a couple different exhibits and ate some street meat from a vendor out on the sidewalk who had the biggest wok I’ve ever seen. I saw the Eiffel Tower light up for the first time since I moved here. It was actually more exciting for me this time than the last couple times I was here as a tourist. I wonder if that’s because I didn’t expect anything from it this time. It caught me by surprise. 
           There was a Native American performance happening and I realized how exotic that must be to people here. We got some pints of 1664 at the Palais Tokyo. There weren’t any exhibits in it at the moment, but it seems like a really cool space. I hope to hit it up again sometime in the next year. Anyways, we made it until about 2:00am before we were all exhausted and started riding the metro back. I was so tired from such an emotionally exhausting day that I was kind of nodding off while I was on the train. I was genuinely worried about staying awake long enough to get off at my stop. I managed to make it home though and I slept like a rock until late this morning.

           So, things are kind of coming together. The housing is a huge weight off my back, but I have a number of other hoops to jump through before I can really breathe.  Right now, I’m stuck in another Catch-22. In order to get housing you’re expected to pay the first month’s rent plus “caution” (or security deposit), but my American bank account won’t let me take out that much money, they’ve put a bloque on my account. So I need a French bank account, but I had to get the housing before I could set up the bank account. Basically, it’s like no housing without the money and no money without the housing. Great. 
           Mme Noble was really nice and helped me fill out the stuff for the bank and let me just pay her the first month's rent until I’m able to transfer funds. It looks like transferring is going to be a serious pain and I can’t wait until that’s all taken care of. I’m really short on funds for the time being.

It was so nice, Mme Noble came by and gave me some food today to help me get by until things get sorted out. It was really sweet of her.

           Things are definitely looking up, but I’m excited to be done with all of the establishment stuff. Then I gotta go find some French friends.

à bientôt!