Surprisingly it took almost two whole months, but Kathryn and I finally witnessed our first car accident. We were walking home from the Carrefour after doing a little grocery shopping, when a car driving down the Grand Boulevard turned right, and cut off another car going straight through a green light. I say "surprisingly" because the French are not the most observant drivers in the world. They don't seem to be as bad/reckless as Greek drivers, but they have their fair share of problems (to put it lightly). They seem to have the biggest problems when they're required to make some sort of tactical decision. By that I mean they are fine going straight, but if they have to: slow down for pedestrians, or turn, or even just cross an intersection, you better keep your eyes open. Even if the cross-walk shows the little green man (signifying that it is ok to cross) that apparently means nothing to the French. That is why we figured the person to blame was the turning car rather than the one going straight. I'm sure this will be the first of many to come.
We also had our "visite medicale" on Friday to get a check-up, and be declared eligible for health insurance. Kathryn and I passed with flying colors despite the fact that Kathryn has been sick too many times to count since arriving (she's fine now). They gave us chest x-rays, measured our height and weight, and tested our eye sight. I guess they were a little surprised by how big and strong I am (the French are known more for their food than their athletes for a reason) because they also checked my blood sugar to make sure I didn't have diabetes (I don't). They didn't check anyone elses. Once we were given the O.K. we got our passports stamped and they glued in our "carte de sejour" so we are official French residents for this year, and entitled to all their social security benefits. It also means that we can come and go from the country as we please without having to jump through any bureaucratic hoops, and we will not have to notify our schools or the Rectorat before leaving to come home to Chicago for Christmas!
After we got all our paperwork filled out by the doctors, we took the tramway to Gare Lille-Flandres and purchased train tickets for our upcoming trips to Dunkerque (where we went this past weekend) and Paris (the first weekend in December). Dunkerque was so much fun. We did a ton of walking, and got to have a little Thanksgiving meal with some of the other language assistants teaching in that city. I plan on writing a seperate blog about that trip when I have a little more time to spare, and we get the pictures off the camera and onto the computer. Check back soon!
A bientôt,
-Jordan and Kathryn
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Its good to hear that you are en bonne sante. What other treats do you get now that you are officially French for the year? Your Canards won a nailbiter Saturday evening in double overtime. The "Civil War" will be for the Rose Bowl this year.
ReplyDeleteThanksgiving preparations are underway. (Perhaps we will reprise the meal when you come home.) We'll be home Wed-Sun and will keep the computer on so GIVE A CALL!!
Love,
Dad
I believe the French promised a duck in every pot and a beret on every head? or maybe it was a baguette in every hand? Im not sure but I dont think there are too many perks, I think if we show our card at restaurants in paris they wont spit in our food and make smug remarks to us in french. I saw the highlights of the Ducks game, it looked pretty intense and I was really disappointed that we missed it. I never thought I would be so upset that my favorite teams got so many nationally televised games. We are going to have to set our alarms for 3am to watch the civil war.
ReplyDeleteWe would love to reprise Thanksgiving when we get home, it is quite sad that we will be missing it. It's one of my favoirte holidays. Im not even sure if they sell whole turkeys here. Anyways I'll definitely give a call thursday, maybe before then too.