Here it is, Monday morning. Up since 8:30, Steph's back at work, the bathroom is clean, clothes are in the washer and I've got a few minutes before I have to make a boulangerie run and start lunch. Oh, it was hard, friends, to move our lazy bodies this morning.
Meanwhile, quite a lot of things happened last week. First off, I forgot to mention that I left Doc's house with more than your usual holiday gifts of boxes of chocolate. She's found cheddar (yes! real cheddar!) at a local shop and graciously gave me a small block to bring home, which became taco topping the very next day. She also gave me a pack of Rolos which were one of my favorite candies when I was a kid. Those were gobbled up pretty quick, too. Thanks again, Doc!
Friday we went to Troyes to pick up my third carte de sejour, or residence card. We're pretty lucky that, living in a relatively small town (compared to many of my transplant friends in Paris or other big cities), our wait at the Préfecture is pretty short, usually about fifteen minutes. However, it seems like every year there's something new to drive you just a little bit crazy. This year, it was the tax stamp, or the fee for processing the card. In years past, we simply walked across the hall to pick up our stamp, but this year we learned the Préfecture doesn't offer this service anymore. So off we went to the Centre des Impôts, or the Tax Office, to pick up the sacred stamp. We parked the car, flew across the street and glided in the door fifteen minutes before they would be locked for lunch. The good news is that the Tax Office is pretty quiet when taxes aren't due (much like the lead up to April 15 in the States) and we were in and out pretty quick. After lunch with the in-laws, we went back to the Préfecture to finish the business. Something else that's changed is that this year, I got a real card! Not a sticker in my passport, but a real card! Hurray! This will hold me until September, when we will be able to apply for a ten-year card, thus leaving this messy business behind for a little while.
Otherwise, it was a quiet Christmas vacation. I finished up my research and writing on the guide for Troyes and it's resting in other hands now. I can't say my French grew leaps and bounds working on it, but it's funny that this came into my life when I'm experiencing a growth spurt in French, so it gave me an opportunity to test out my new found confidence. Don't worry, I should be plateau-ing any minute now! More importantly, it gave me something to focus on, which is something that has been frustratingly difficult for me these last couple of months. But more about that in my next post - for now it's enough to say the guide is done and I'm looking forward to my next project.
Well, my time is up, I've got to get on with the rest of my day. Actually, while I'm here - someone mentioned in my comments that my RSS feed isn't working (thanks Amy!). Is this because I haven't gone to Blogger beta? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
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