The thing about my friends is that whenever we make plans, they fall through, but whenever we plan last minute, it works out beautifully. Tonight we had plans to go to the neighborhood board game cafe, but as we had planned it out, everyone cancelled. This is opposed to yesterday where we ran into each other in town and had a lovely evening, which included a fantastic Lebanese feast (although I was glad to find out that MY tabouli is better). Anyway, since we made plans for tonight, I have ended up at home with time to finish a blog entry.
I have about a zillion things to do before I leave. Seriously... banking stuff, work stuff, changing my address at every office, and figuring out what to do with all of the stuff I have accumulated over the past year. It is so hard to jump around so much every year because I have to start from scratch each year. I am trying to think of ways to save my curtains and blankets because while it might not be the most economically efficient thing to do, I have a strong desire for (at least an illusion of) stability, even if it is just the simple thing of waking up under the same blanket and seeing the same curtains for two consecutive years.
My biggest loose end has to do with public health care, mostly because I missed a
demarche. I can't find a good translation of this word because we don't have so many of them in angolophone countries. A
demarche is an administrative process/formality--something that involves sending in forms and copies of important documents, a lot of waiting, and a lot of dealing with ill-humored bureaucrats. So I missed one (there was no way to know that I was supposed to do it), and now my whole health care thing is screwed up. Last year, my arch nemesis was the Prefecture, but this year it is definitely the CPAM office. It is to the point that I walk into the building, and the bureaucrats shoot each other, "Oh, it's her again" looks. It seems that I can only get the situation halfway dealt with (if the CPAM doesn't lose my dossier again!), but even then I will be dealing with this stuff from wherever I go. It's funny, I thought that by leaving France I would leave this stuff behind, but it seems that it is going to follow me wherever I go.
On top of this stuff, classes finally started back at the university on Tuesday, and it was really surreal. Picking up where we left off over two months ago was really bizarre, surreal. I didn't have many students in class...ironically enough the day that classes restarted the French trains went on strike so some students were not able to come. I felt sort of like a jilted lover in class--my students broke it off for a couple of months, but then suddenly called it back on and now are acting like nothing has changed. We will not be able to recover all of the missed classes, and it seems like the strike has worsened the apathy that the students had before the blocage. Luckily I only have 4 exams left, and my paper grading burden shouldn't be too terribly bad.
Last weekend I headed to Luxembourg because I heard there was going to be a New Orleans festival there. Kat and I went and stayed with Liz, my friend who lived in Metz last year and now works there. It was really great to see her after a year. There is something very stabalizing about seeing old friends when my life is so--well scattered. The festival was just a stage with a food tent and a few beer tents, but there was some decent music and creole cuisine. Liz took us out on the town and we experienced some Luxembourgish nightlife, which was surprisingly festive. I was informed that 50% of the population is from other countries, so the atmosphere is very international. The people I met were raving about the quality of life, the cleanliness of the city, and having well-paid jobs. So maybe I'll add Luxembourg to my list of cities that I could possibly consider living--although I get the impression that it is not too appealing to those who are not interested in the banking sector.
On Sunday after a delicious lunch of jambalaya I met up with another friend from last year Helen who also works in Luxembourg, and she showed me and Kat around the city some more, and we caught up. It is really shameful how seldom I see my friends who live not so far from here!
I am getting rather emotional about my last month in France. It is such a strange thing to be in a place you are settled when you know you will be leaving. And I am so bad at goodbyes/endings; I always just draw it out and make it as sad as possible. I remember the end of college, the "This is the last time we will ever..." thing got out of control. The last time we ever ate macaroni and cheese in the Caf, the last time we ever watched 'Scrubs' together" It was all emotional.
And though in my travel-filled life, I may sound cavalier about moving to another country, but this is not the case. I am definitely nervous about the enormous changes that I have in store. But I am so busy these days, that I don't have a lot of time to dwell on these thoughts.
