The Bold Soul: A Writer's Life in Paris

The Naturalisation Saga, Partie Trois

So, the last thing my case worker said to us during our interview was that there would be no more interviews and I just had to wait it out for a year. Famous last words. Guess what I got in the mail today? A hand-addressed envelope from the Ministry of the Interior/National Police with a convocation to present myself to the Ministry concerning my request for naturalization. I'm to bring copies (again) of my ID, proof of residence, recent pay stubs and a CV (that's a résumé) with a current photo. I haven't had a résumé in 15 years since I've been self-employed and I sure as hell don't have one in the French CV format. The letter also doesn't mention whether or not Georges needs to be there. Oh, and by the way, the date they want me to appear? Is the last date I'll be in New Jersey. They very thoughtfully provided a phone number I could call if the date and time isn't convenient. I am also instructed (in BOLD CAPITAL LETTERS) to use the same phone number to confirm (it's IMPERATIVE!) my appointment. Small problem. I've been trying to get through on that number for HOURS... Read more →

The Naturalisation Saga, Partie Deux

I sent in my dossier to the Bureau de Naturalisations on a Tuesday, having no idea how long I might have to wait until I received any sort of acknowledgment or response. I sent it via La Poste using what they call a Chronopost envelope, and I paid for next-day delivery before 10am; this gave me a tracking number so I was able to see that the Bureau had, in fact, received it, so no excuses about "Oh, Madame, we did not receive your file! Tant pis!" A little more than a week later, I got my first response, in the form of a letter telling me I had allegedly forgotten to include proof of my French skill level! (You can read all about that here.) Fortunately, a phone call from Georges straightened that right out, and later that evening I received an email from my case worker (hey, I have a case worker!), Mlle. H, with the date and time of my first rendez-vous. The letter didn't give us the option of picking another date and time, and both me and Georges had to be there, which meant he had to do some quick rescheduling -- because the appointment... Read more →

The Naturalisation Saga, Partie Un

(By the way, this marks my 2,020th post. 20/20 - that seems appropriate somehow.) As you know if you've been following along for a while, I've been preparing to request French nationality. And since I still get questions about how it works, why I'd want to become French, and what happens to my American citizenship if I do become French, I thought I'd go through it all again here. Maybe it will help someone else who is considering doing the same. First, let me say that everyone's situation is going to be different. There are all kinds of reasons foreigners living in France might want to take French nationality, and different rules apply depending on each case. For instance, the current rules about how long you must wait to apply for citizenship vary, depending on whether you are applying for naturalisation via marriage to a French citizen (you must be married for at least 4 years) versus all other cases (I think you must have lived here at least 5 years in most other cases). For married people, it used to be a much shorter wait time but in 2006 the government got a lot tougher on us immigrants in... Read more →

Friend-lag

It's been two days since my best friend and her daughter left to go back to the States. We had 9 days (and a morning) to hang out together, and we haven't had that kind of quality time in about 4 1/2 years. Every time I go back home for visits, my time is, by necessity, divided up between family, sight-seeing (since we've brought the kids along a few times) and shopping, and whatever's left is what I get to spend with my friends. And there never seems to be enough time to spend with everyone. Never. It makes me feel like a bad friend, that I am not able to give my friends more time, and I mean ALL my friends back in New Jersey. Because I really do miss them. I also have really good friends here in Paris now, and I'm very lucky to be able to say that. But the fact that my life is here now does not make my "back home" friendships any less important to me. In fact, in some ways I think it makes me value those friends even more. (You all know who you are.) So on these rare but wonderful... Read more →

Why I don't watch reality TV (other than the fact that it's just stoopid)

So I think we've finally caught our breath just a bit, with our post-vacation lives. Georges caught a nasty head cold on the flight back, and I'm still trying to get over the air-conditioning-induced sinusitis attack I got while we were away. I've done the food shopping and a few loads of laundry, although not all of it, and I still need to get in touch with the cleaning lady because this place is a disaster. (Also? Our piece-of-shit wood-laminate floors, newly installed before we took possession of the keys, that looked so nice and so pretty, are now heaving and buckling with the summer humidity and extra rain we've had, so our entry hall and living room looks like we've got a skate-boarding obstacle course instead of a floor. Luckily, we're just the renters, but STILL.) I've booked my flights to/from NJ and we've lined up child-care for the Little Guy for the days when I'll be gone and Georges will be working, so that's all good; unfortunately the timing of this trip means I will miss both the school rentrée AND the Little Guy's 9th birthday, but I'll look around for some novel or interesting special gift to... Read more →

Round 2

I've had several lovely, peaceful months without any French red tape whatsoever, after more than a year of constantly jumping through hoops. It's been wonderful not to worry about immigration issues for a while. Then, the other day, Georges reminded me that it's nearly time for me to start the process of renewing my Carte de Séjour, which is funny because it feels like I just got it -- which in a way, I did, receiving it in December even though I'd applied in August and the card was dated October. So tonight I dug out my folio of notes from the immigration classes I had to take in January and February. The powers that be had thoughtfully provided a sheet with a phone number printed in GREAT BIG TYPE, so that I could easily find the number to call to make the rendez-vous for my renewal. (Unlike last year when it was my first time around, I will not have to go without an appointment and wait in line for FOUR HOURS. Merci to the Préfecture for this!) Then I noticed in smaller type on the same sheet, it said I could also go online to a web site... Read more →

The hardest part of living abroad

Damn it. In 24 hours I will be on the RER-B headed toward the airport. I'm going to the States - again. My mother recently had double knee replacement surgery and will need someone to stay with her while she gets back on her feet, literally. My sister, who lives nearby, has been taking care of our mom through this process the past few weeks and I need to come home and give her some much-deserved time off. My mother sort of decided at the last minute that she wanted her "French" daughter to be around, too, and so she gifted me the airfare. I'm glad to be able to go there and be supportive of my mom, and I'm especially glad that my freelance working life allows me to just go when I need to go without having ask some boss for the time off. But it comes at a price, this "free" trip. I also have to be apart from the person I love the most in the world in order to be with other people I love a whole lot. This is the hardest part of living abroad. It's the part you don't really want to think... Read more →

In which I discover yet another way I am not really French

Gentlemen, you have my permission to skip this post if you'd rather not read about "girl stuff" -- like my first visit to the gynecologist in France. First things first: I had to get there, and it wasn't anywhere near my neighborhood. I opted for the slower but infinitely more tranquille bus route with just one change. It took a full hour to get all the way to Levallois, but the bus stops right next to where I needed to go -- the British Hospital -- and I arrived 15 minutes early. Most of the staff there seem bilingual and it was kind of a relief to just walk in and easily ask for directions to where I was supposed to be. I had expected to have to fill out a lot of forms, like I do in America each time I go to any doctor and especially the first time going to a new doctor, but other than producing my Carte Vitale, I didn't have to do anything except check in and take a seat. A short wait later, I was called in by the doctor, a young-ish British woman who seemed pleasant enough. So far, so good, and... Read more →

Sometimes, he just KNOWS

I have been spending most of my day today dealing with immigration/marriage paperwork. Yet again (I know, it seems endless, doesn't it?) I had three objectives today: (1) to find out what I need to do in order to change my name on both my US Social Security Card and on my US Passport because I still haven't done either one, and also to renew my passport before my trip to the US in a month (passport expires in June); (2) to take stock of all the reams and folios of documents I have collected over the past year and re-organize them a bit differently so I can quickly get my hands on things when I need them; and (3) to make sure I have a system for creating a paper trail that will prove that Georges and I have a real marriage when the time comes for me to renew my Carte de Séjour this fall (even though I JUST got it in my hot little hand in December, it actually expires in October 2009 and I have to start the renewal process no later than 3 months in advance which is JULY. Which means I'll probably start in... Read more →

"Obama is not the President of the World, you know!"

That's what the instructor at my Saturday all-day class on Living in France said to one of my classmates. What happened was, on the morning coffee break, a woman named Marie approached me to ask me why I was in the class, because I was American. She was astonished that I was there (there was only one other American in the room) and she proceeded to say, "Well you have an American passport, so why should YOU have to be here?" It took me a minute to realize what she meant. She thought that being an American gave me a free pass to go anywhere and stay as long as I wanted. In all seriousness, she believed this to be true, and when I explained that being American didn't give me any special privileges in France or anywhere else, that wherever I traveled I was expected to follow the same rules and laws as everyone else, and that in order to live in France -- even with a French husband (she has one, too) -- I had to go through the exact same process she did if I wanted to live here, she couldn't quite get her mind around it.... Read more →