Ho hum. I woke up last night in a panic about renewing my visa. I thought that making an appointment with the prefecture in Paris would be as easy as making an appointment with the consulate here in Atlanta. Silly me. Why on earth after living in France for a year would I think it could possibly be that easy? I have tried calling the office directly as well as filling in the online form (which does NOT work for those of you who are trying) and nothing seems to get through. You have to make the appointment up to 3 months from when your visa expires. My 3 months starts August 12th. SO, I have been scrambling to get everything in place. They told me back in January those were the conditions, but I have no idea what was told to me back in January. I still have the paperwork, but unfortunately it is in my apartment in Paris so that doesn't help out so much.
I sent Chloé an email last night just reminding her that I will be needing my proof of social security and a couple of other documents and she called me at 6:00 am this morning in a bit of a panic. She thought I meant I needed it before I left the United States to get back to France. They aren't quite sure what I needed for my renewal.
French paperwork is made out to be such a big deal. Its such a process and you wait in excruciating long lines just for a 5 minute long appointment. I guess it doesn't bother them, because they haven't figured out a way to correct the problems. Once I have the opportunity to renew my visa, it becomes a 'carte de séjour.' Which is technically, a residence permit. I will keep you all updated on the whole process, and am seriously considering writing a French au pair/student visa 'how-to.' I have tried looking up the information online and can't get any help. And its such a frustrating process that I think it could really benefit a lot of people!
Still enjoying my last week at home, had a wonderful weekend with the girls. We were able to swim a little, visit the amish, and of course spend some qt with my family.
Oh yea, and we ate. A lot. Mom cooked, Bev cooked, I cooked. Every time I turned around there was something to stuff in your mouth. I did manage to squeeze in a few macaron recipes though. I made chocolate with sea salt like I had made in my class at Le Cordon Bleu, and I tried a new recipe I found with plain macaron cookies and raspberry filling. The raspberry turned out to be my favorite.
They didn't really rival with Ladurée, but they were pretty tasty! We also did a little damage to Laine's car...per moms request.
And spent a little time decorating Abby's cast.
She was thrilled...if you can imagine it. I hated to see those girls leave, but we had such a wonderful weekend together. Seeing Margaret as well just topped off the week! Doing some last minute visiting this week before I pack my bags and head back to Paris on Saturday!
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