finishing up...

My job contract was supposed to just be for the month of August. Then the end of August I found out that I was renewed for 2 more weeks. Then last Saturday I found out that they added 1 more week. So technically I'll finish up tomorrow. I'm replacing a woman that comes to work maybe a month or two out of the year and as she has a CDI contract they can't really fire her. But as she is often out "sick" she might come back and then leave again.

The other good thing is that now that I've "proven" myself in a local branch the chances could be good that they call me for another position in a different town. In the meantime I'm on the look out for that dream job cause I don't hate this one but it isn't a job I see myself doing for the next 5, 10 or 20 years either... hard to say because the money and the advantages are quite good!

pulling my hair out

I was a sub back in June for a couple of weeks. Then in the middle of the summer the Pole Emploi requested a copy of my pay stub. So I called the admin office - the phone rang and rang and rang. I finally went on the website (which happened to be updated!) too bad, they were closed for a month in the middle of the summer.

Then I started working in August and by the time they reopened the only times I remembered to call were either first thing in the morning before they opened, at lunch or in the evening. Had I remembered to call at any other time they probably would have been on their coffee break anyway....!

So today I call. "Oh, I'm sorry, this is the wrong service, you'll want to call this number.." Ok... I look at my colleague and say, this is going to be like that scene in the Auberge Espagnole...

I call the second number. "Oh, no, this isn't the right service, please call this number..."

Finally the third number. "Oh, we can't send you your pay stub without a written request." Me: Can I send an email? "Sure, here is our email address."

I send an email requesting that my pay stub be sent to my house asap. At the end of the day I get an answer: "Your pay stub has been sent to the school where you were subbing..." Umm.. notice the past tense? Yeah, thanks, I DON'T WORK THERE ANYMORE. Why on earth would you send a pay stub to a place where the person is no longer employed?? So I wrote back a rather terse email demanding that a copy be sent to my home de toute urgence. Honestly, I'm not going to drive 45 minutes to pick up a pay stub, it is the job of the administration to do that, god knows they don't do much else!

Last time I work for them!

.... rant over

back to the grindstone

I got a call on Friday from the DRH from where I used to work in Caen offering me a 1 month contract locally for the month of August.

I jumped at the chance - not only does it look good for the unemployment office to see that I am "actively seeking work" but it might be my foot in the door working for them in the future.

I start August 2nd.

And am totally nervous.

See the thing is that I've never worked in a 100% French environment, all my jobs here up until now have been to utilize the fact that I speak English and therefore there is a certain leeway when it comes to language stumbles etc. It will still be an asset that I speak English given that there are English customers and tourists around but it will not be the focus of the position. And it is a customer service position so I'm going to be face to face with (French) customers all day long.

I am totally looking forward to the fact that I'll have an 18km commute each way instead of 118km commute each way!

The good thing is that if it all goes well it gets my foot in the door and if it really is not my cup of tea then it is only a month (and with decent pay, no SMIC this time!)

payday shock

I finally got paid today for the substitute teaching I did for the last 2 weeks of June. It was the second time I was a substitute teacher but the first time doing it in the private sector.

Mystery Guest had asked me at the beginning of my contract with them how much I'd be earning... I didn't know, I assumed it was fairly well paid as I remember being pleasently surprised after being paid for my subsitute teaching in the public sector.

Alas I spoke with a friend yesterday who has been doing longterm subbing in the private sector for the last two years. She confirmed my worst fears - you get paid SMIC (minimum wage). Granted there are other "benefits" according to some forums when I was looking things up (you can get unemployment benefits after working in the private sector etc) but come on people - MINIMUM WAGE! They ask you to be at least Bac +3 and have teaching experience and then they pay you the same as a housekeeper or cashier (maybe even worse depending on where you are housekeeping or cashiering...)

Yeah, that's the last time I work for them. Come on, I'm Bac +5 (from a French uni) and have over 6 years teaching experience here in France. I think I'm going to rethink my plan of subbing in the fall and take the job teaching adults that was offered to me this spring. It's not paid well either for what it is and the qualifications that they ask for (20 euros an hour gross) but at least I can try to get as many hours as possible and make some money.

Cause 9 euros an hour isn't going to cut it.

the joys of unemployement..

I finished my contract the end of February. On March 1st I filled out my online declaration to the unemployment people. They sent me a convocation for a RDV today. FYI the people that work there have reputation of being incompetent and most importantly - unable to find you a job.

The first lady was the one who was in charge of me getting paid (woot!) my unemployment benefits each month. Very professional, friendly and quite on top of things. I thought to myself well maybe with the new merger a few years ago things have changed around here...

Ohhhhh did I think too soon. Too soon my friends.

The next lady (in charge of helping me find a job) takes the cake, fulfilling each and every stereotype. She was nice enough but instead of getting me motivated about finding a job she had the opposite effect.

"So you were an English teacher before."

Yup.

"Ok, let's put that down." - pecking at the keyboard like a chicken... Do they not pay for their workers to get typing lessons??? "So, let's see... You were an English teacher, and well, American teacher, is that right?"

No, I am an English teacher. "American" doesn't exist. (Sore spot with me but trying not to jump out and grab her throat)

"But it's not the same language."

Yes it is.

"No, there are differences in vocabulary"

"Well there are differences in vocab in Belgium but you wouldn't say they speak Belge...?"

No, it's more like Quebecois.

Sigh.

Thoughts going through my head: Look lady are you really going to lecture me on how I do MY job??? Seriously??? Let me tell you I could do yours ten times over. Nevermind, if you're going to be that pedantic about it whatever put it down if you want.

Smiled sweetly, comme vous voulez.

"Oh no, it's not what I want..."

Sigh... moving on...

Have you applied here? Yes. And here? Yes. And here? Yes. Look lady I know how to get a job but there is no job market here and you won't let me apply for jobs that do not fit into my "box."

Good thing I know how to get a job, but now we know why there is high unemployment in France - not because of socialism, job security or whatever but because when they need someone to help - someone whose job it is to help - utter incompetance.

Rant over. Keith do I win rant of the week?

hot hot hot

Well I dragged myself into the kitchen this afternoon, we've been having a heatwave (I'm not complaining! I looooove hot days but wish the beach were closer...) Anyway, hasn't really made me want to cook but I was invited to a 4th of July bbq in Bayeux tomorrow and last time I was invited to this lady's house I brought my cookies and they were a BIG hit so I offered to bring more. The dough is in the oven to chill for a bit. In this heat if I stuck them in the oven right now they wouldn't stay in nice cookie shapes but form a monster cookie me thinks.

Annnd after reading about making your own dill pickles I was inspired today at the market when I saw pickling cucumbers this morning. Usually in France you find those long cucumbers, which I adore, but I spotted some short fat ones that look just like the ones she used in her recipe. At only 50 cents each I snapped on up to try. I also managed to fenangle some fresh dill from the same lady. I've never seen fresh dill sold as an herb here (dried only) but it was attached to the bulb (finocchio) so I asked her if she could snip some of the dill off for me - score! Free dill! The spice lady also had mustard seeds for a euro a package so I picked some of those up too. Anyway I followed the recipe as best I could (without canning tools) and figured I'd keep the pickles in the fridge after canning them (instead of in the cupboard). I can't wait to try them!! (just found out they have to sit for at least 3 weeks... boo! oh well the wait will just make them taste better!) Grrr... turns out fennel and dill are NOT the same thing, even though they use the same word in French... I wonder how it's going to taste...

Phh I'm beat! I escaped the kitchen and am going to tackle some admin phone calls to the Prefecture (surprise surprise my carte de sejour wasn't ready after all... grr!) and the ANPE but something tells me the reason they're not answering their phone is that they've decided to take Friday afternoon off... grr...

still huntin'

Job hunt update:

After my interview on Tuesday with the social security place I decided that since they would only be offering a contract of 1 month paid minimum wage and that it would likely fall right when my Mom and KC would be here visiting (they arrive tomorrow! yea!) that I would turn it down.

Well they beat me to it, calling me yesterday saying they had picked someone else.

I figured they probably would, it makes more sense for them to have a native French speaker who speaks English fluently than the other way around, but it would have been nice if I were the one who told them no even though the end result is the same!

The other job interview I had at the private school in Caen got back to me yesterday, they can only offer me 3 hours a week. They said they totally understand if I don't take it but that it would be wise of me to get my foot in the door. The problem that I have with that (and I need to email back for more clarification) is that from what I understand that "door" is a vacataire position without much chance of leading to a permanent job .. not really a door that I want to get my foot into. Especially since if I do get another job offer during the year and I end up not being able to take it because I'm stuck with 3 measly hours somewhere else...

So now back to scratch I guess... anyone know if McDo is hiring?

crusin'

Yesterday I had my second lesson at the auto-ecole... I had the same moniteur, who looks about my age, as last time. He's really nice and a great teacher. I finally mastered starting on a hill in a stick shift - without rolling 5 feet back! Whoot! He also explained how the test would work, 25 minutes of driving including 2 of a possible 6 manouvers (parking, parallel parking, backing up along a sidewalk etc..) We practiced some of those and other than the fact that I didn't control the reverse gear too well he thought I did totally fine. When he asked if I passed the code my face dropped though.. so he said that I might as well wait to take other lessons until after I pass my code since I have to wait 3 months.

Other good news on the job front, I had an interview on Tuesday with a private school in Caen. It went really well but I'm not sure yet how many people they'll hire or how many hours they will offer (but at least its paid veeeerry well hourly!) I also got a call from one of the social security organizations, they had posted a job offer for a temp job on an English speaking hotline position a while back but when they called I was really busy and hadn't finished my assistantship job yet but they said they would keep my CV on file and they sure did! I've got an interview lined up on Tuesday. I have no idea how long they would need someone, how many hours or how well it's paid but could be random to work on a hotline!

I've also been called twice in the last 2 days by the school district looking for more subs! The first one I couldn't because I would need a car (grrr) and the second one was outside of Caen - feasible on public transport but with a 2 hour commute each way I thought it would be a lot on top of the 18 hours of work a week for at least several weeks... But she said when I called back that someone else was interested anyway - perfect!

Otherwise I'm getting all geared up to go see Obama on Saturday! Sadly our beautiful summer weather seems to be turning and it looks cloudy and/or showers on Saturday... I guess he might get to see our beautiful "norman sunshine" afterall! :-)

job hunt

I swear when it rains, it pours!

This morning it wasn't raining, clear blue skies and no wind! Yea! I caught the train to Cherbourg and then from the station I took the bus to the ANPE building (good thing I didn't try to walk - it was far!) for my meeting with my unemployment adviser-person. The meeting went well, I gave her my CV and we talked about ways that I was looking for a job... which are not many right now, I still have my contract at the high school until the end of April. She gave me a few ideas but other than one of them they weren't things I had already thought of. Now with the merger of the ANPE and les Assedics the government really wants to get on unemployed people's cases and make sure they're looking for a job, so there are monthly meetings. That's fine with me but when I asked if this might be reimbursed because I didn't have a car (yeah... on my CV it says I have my license... I'm working on it but don't want to get ruled out of jobs.. easier to say I don't have a car...) she said no and how is it possible that I don't have a car living in V-town? How could I possibly not have a car and look for a job around there? I found that a bit annoying, especially coming from a Frenchie, but this isn't Paris and if you don't have a car you would at least have a pot de yaourt... haha

Anyway so one of her ideas was asking at the Tourist office in V-town, she said she heard they may be hiring. I would love that! Totally a job I'd have fun doing!

So afterwards I made my way back to the station and then got home. I was just finishing my lunch when my phone rang.

The lady was calling from an adult learning center run by the Education Nationale in Cherbourg. She got my CV in March last year and is looking for an English teacher!! Haha what are the chances? I go to the unemployment office in the morning and in the afternoon I get a job interview?

There are some complications in my schedule.. that's the hard thing about working at the high school, I don't have that many hours but they have big chunks of down time in the middle so even though I'm part time I don't have a lot of free hours for another job. There are also complications concerning the fact that I don't have a car because most of the hours are in Cherbourg but some are in a small town outside, not far, but not acessible by train/bus.

So it would be a good job and possibly 80% if they want to give me more hours after I finish in April but it's another CDD... my big dream was finding the job of my dreams in May complete with a CDI so I can apply for citizenship... but looks like I'll be bouncing around from CDD to CDD for a while...

Anyway the search isnt' over yet, I still have time. But its good to know I have some options out there... even with this crise économique.

bad blogger!

Shame shame! I've been a lazy blogger! But a busy one ;-) Last weekend on Saturday the Katester and I made a little journey out to Cherbourg, complete with rain and al! One of our colleagues from the lycee sings in a choir and they were giving a free concert in a beautiful (but frozen as the heat was en panne..) church. We got into town late afternoon and took a look at the Christmas market. I think that one is one of my favorites! There were so many local stands and not just made in China stickers like in Caen.
As it got darker we wandered around, did some shopping and then ran into a bubble machine! There was a random little machine like some sort of soapy pied pipper blowing bubbles all through the streets!
The concert was fun, but since the heat wasn't working I was so eager to go home and thaw out my feet! We got a ride back to V-town and the next day the weather cleared up and with Mystery Guest we took a drive out to Portbail to do a little geochaching. Sadly we didn't find the cache but we had a great time :-)
Since then things have gotten a little hectic, tram strikes in Caen etc.. But I've also had fun preparing Christmas and Mystery Guest's birthday on the 23rd. :-) I've got a little mystery Christmas presents up my sleeve tee hee.

I've also taken care of a lot of administrative things today, finally got around to calling the Prefecture about my driver's license. It is true that I can pass the written exam (le code) without going through an auto-ecole but it was difficult to get the right info. I went into our town hall in the afternoon and the poor woman there was even more confused, I don't think they get a lot of Americans in asking about taking the French license... ha! I went into an auto-ecole after the town hall directed me there, I was worried about them trying to rope me into signing up there and paying them money but the woman was really nice. She helped me fill out the paperwork and told me that after I passed my code I could come in and take a few hours of driving lessons without having to pay the frais de dossier! Cool beans. I might get through my license without spending more than 200e (if a French person starts from scratch it can cost well over 1,000e!)

I also made sure to call the unemployment service this week since there had been a miscommunication concerning my last paystub. I had good news though! Because I took a job this year that was a big pay cut from last year I get a certain amount of compensation from the unemployment insurance per month! Cha-ching! I thought I was only going to get money for the month of September when I was unemployed but actually it keeps coming! Great! I guess it makes sense, the thing is that I would be getting more money by being on unemployment than taking a low paying job (like this one) so it encourages people to work I guess. Works for me anyway!

allll good!

Busy day but a good one!

I had a short meeting at the lycee where I'll be teaching. They were so friendly and nice and the school seems relaxed and there seemed to be a good atmosphere between administrative staff and even among the students (love country schools, the kids - even if they pretend to be - are not punks :-) er.. hopefully I'm not eating my words next week! lol)

I met a lot of the other teachers and it's always funny these days to be introduced as the new "assistante anglaise" because 1. even though I know they're referring to "anglaise" as my language and my status I am not English 2. the "assistant" is usually a freshfaced just out of college student. This just confuses the hell out of everyone because I'm neither "anglaise" nor "freshfaced" so they start speaking very slowly to me "WEL-COME to the SCHOOL"... er, gotcha :-)

It's not that I mind that they're speaking slowly, I would have appreciated it 5 years ago but it does crack me up. Then when I start talking they look all taken aback which makes me giggle inside. I was talking to one of the English teachers and she told me, wow you've been here a while, your French is so good no one is going to want to speak to you in English. Which is always nice to hear but I don't want to think that I'm putting off some sort of vibe that makes people think I'm going to make fun of them! Oh well.

Anyway seems like a nice school, they haven't figured out my schedule yet so I'm going to go on Thursday to a meeting to try to sort that out.

After lunch Mystery Guest dropped me off in Cherbourg for my meeting with the unemployement people. It went really well, they were nice and told me what to do. Looks like I can get benefits for the month of September and since I'll be in the system when my contract runs out in 7 months I'll automatically start getting benefits again unless I tell them I've got another job. There's just some paperwork I have to ask the university for since they'll pay my unemployment and not the government directly. Should be fine though.

After the meeting I had time to kill before my train so I went into town, Cherbourg is a really nice town, especially when the sun's out! It was such a nice stroll along the port and in the old center (not bombed out during WWII like the rest of Normandy was..) I stopped a few bookstores to browse and treated myself to a "double pain au chocolat" which I've never seen anywhere else - its a pain au chocolat with 2 bars of chocolate inside and then doused with chocolate on the top.. yum. :-)

So the good news is that besides my meeting Thurs it looks like I'll have the rest of the week fairly free to stay home and FINISH this memoire!!!

Need. To. Work.

update

I finally decided last weekend to turn down the job, it just wasn't well paid enough for me to survive with the hopes of eventually getting a CDI... It was such a relief to finally make a decision. I sent off an email explaining and said that if they needed me to teach the 2 classes I was scheduled for this week I could while they're looking for someone else.

I also signed up (for the first time) with the ANPE (unemployment agency) to help me look for a job. It was all done online and yesterday I received my convocation for an appointment next Monday. The money would be nice but its also a great job resource and although I have a few leads they're mostly just odd hours here and there - nothing more full time. It would also be nice to get a job closer to home. I sent off a letter to the Rectorat as well just in case they need an assistant at the last minute.

I figure the month of October I'm gonna bust my butt to 1. finish my memoire (getting there! had 2 great meetings with my profs yesterday, I'm on the right track but lots of work left!!) and 2. passing my French driver's license, which will open up tons of doors on the job front.

All this to say that yesterday I took the train early in the morning to go teach, as long as I get to bed at a decent hour the train ride is so nice! Its dark now when I leave the house but as I was on the train there was the most beautiful sunrise... I wish I had had my camera! As we went towards Caen we passed through some semi-marshland and if you can picture it there was the minty green of the fields covered in a low fog, the cows were already out grazing and there was the pastely pinks and purples of the sunrise in the background. It was so quiet and I was glued to the window looking outside. The commute really wouldn't be a problem I think, it is such a relaxing way to start the day, the train is quiet with commuters reading newspapers, catching up on homework or sleeping. I sit there with my ipod (often listening to K&K!) and just zone out, my own little me time :-)

I also happened to catch the sunset on the way home (god the days are getting short!) it was spectacular as well! Hot and orange really lighting up the clouds with a neon light. wow.

I'm feeling good about the decision, I have 1 more class to teach tomorrow and after that its time to buckle down and get this Masters wrapped up!!!