Rotting at home

Time flies when you are doing nothing
Since 18/4 to 4/5 is the school's holidays, with the girls at their grandparents' home,
Im also on holiday from work for 2 weeks
And sadly, almost half the holiday is gone with me doing nothing
I was supposed to take the time to practice my french
but I guess motivation is not my best friend
The only achievement will be collecting my carte de sejour!

So basically, I was given a 1 year family visa in March 2014
which is a sticker in my passport that no one ever checks it
even when i took flight or train
In 1 of my older post, I wrote about how we went to renew my visa 
before we went to Singapore
Basically, I needed to ask for an appointment 4/5months before the visa expired
Then the appointment to give all the documents, get a temp visa,
and to collect the visa after 2 months

Finally, the day arrived that my visa was ready for collection
Unlike previous visa, it will be in form of an ID card
Since we think that it will be a simple collection process,
husband did not go with me for the collection.
The letter indicated that my card will be ready for collection from the friday 17/4,
so the blur us thought it was only to be collected on Fridays
haha

Anyway, i did went to collect last Friday, as the coming Friday is a public holiday,
I was little unwell and didnt managed to get out of the house as planned (like 830am)
Only managed to drag myself out at 10am.
Based on previous experience, where the queue to enter is long, even at 8.30am
I was sure I will be stuck in a long queue to enter and collection 
That it will end up be the lunch time where I will need to wait till the afternoon

Surprisingly, there was no queue to enter when i arrived at 1035am
However, there was a lot of people standing, sitting, squating area the area of collection
I went to the ticket machince to get my number, 168... sounds lucky?
But the current number was 98!
So, i decided to sit at the stairs like many others around

While painfully waiting for the number, 
Okay, its quite fast, less than 5min for a number.
A lady came out of the collection room, and spoke to everyone
well, in french and so soft that i have no idea what she was saying
but everyone started to pass her their numbers and collection letter
i assumed that she was collecting the papers to look for the cards first
so that the queue will be faster.
Before I could cut through the crowd to pass her my document,
She went back to the room.

About 30mins later, she reappeared and repeated the process
So, I managed to pass mine to her.
But i realised it didnt really matter, because some people still hold on to theirs,
and bring in when their number arrived.
Oh well, Im just being kiasu

At 11.45am, the number was 140+
Husband was sure that i was to leave the building during the lunch time
and return after lunch time to continue my queue
while im still hoping that i need not waste 1hour of lunch time loitering
and i do think if it will be close for lunch, they will stop the number taking etc
as lunch time is really like IMPORTANT here in france, opps
At 12.10pm, the number was 150+
Maybe because lunch time was near, or the effect of the earlier collection,
the number started to move faster and it was finally 168 at 12.20pm!

So, i went in to the collection room,
gave the necessary stamps (which is representative of 106eur cash)
sign the acknowledgement slip
and walk out of the room with my card proudly 
like everyone else did previously

The crazy thing is,
the issue date of the card is February 2015, the date of our appointment,
its valid for 1 year, means at the end of the year, i will need to repeat the whole process
So, the real validity of the card is only about 7 months???

Oh well, I am just happy to have my card,
although is no different from the visa sticker in my passport,
I just feel better to have a card that at least indicate my marriage name.

Till now, im still wondering whether the collection office closes at lunch..

Making spectacles in Paris

Husband has been complaining of headaches due to his spectacles for the longest time.

4 months ago, he finally went to get an appointment at the optometrist's clinic to get his eyes tested

and received his eyes's prescriptions and to go for eyes 'physiotherapy' (which he didnt go)

Apparently, the prescription is of 6 months validity, 

after dragging for 5months, we finally went to spectacle store to make his new spectacles.

Spectacles stores are really common in Paris that we can easily find 5/6 of them just in our street

Husband decided to return to his old spectacles store, which i feel was really expensive 

Their spectacles frames are branded and costs average 350eur!

In the end, husband chose a 390eur frame and total cost was 600+eur for a pair of  spectacles!

I mean there were the lower range of 50eur frames, but husband sure has expensive taste..

Thankfully, the social security covered 30eur and our mutual (insurance) covered 80percent

that we only need to pay 30eur for the spectacles or else i will definitely not allowed him to buy it

Previously, he didnt had mutual and paid 300+eur cash for his spectatcles!

Husband asked me how the poor people can buy spectacles if they are so expensive?

Well, i guess they will not choose a high-end store with expensive frames

The spectacles will be ready in a week,

and i do hope he will not complain about headaches again...

hmmm, i dont think mutual can cover for sunglasses for people like me with perfect sight??

Mental block

Dont really have anything to blog recently
Maybe due to the fact nothing much has been happening,
nothing has changed for better or worse
and im simply going through day by day...

Job
Im still continuously sending applications for full time job
But is either no response or rejection emails,
I have yet to score even one interview.
Seems like my goal to get a full time job by July/Sept is impossible
Good news is my boss's husband asked me whether ill like to continue another year
as babysitter with them from September.
Which means i wont be unemployed if i take it up.
Yet, it will mean another year of commitment to part time babysitting,
and i will find it hard to quit even if i find a full time job.
So, shall see what is going to happen in next few months,
before i take the offer.

Finances
Husband received a 5percent increment and a small bonus in Apil
which is not a lot but at least better than nothing.

Appartment
When i first arrived at Paris, I was happy to have a place to be our home
even though it is rented
As time passes, my negativity towards the appartment grew,
and i think the appartment sensed it and trying to make me feel worse
It started with 1 leaking pipe next to the toilet bowl,
to 2 leaking pipes, to broken tap and constant mould growing
Since it is not our appartment, we really dont want to spend money fixing stuff
yet, more and more breakdowns seems to be starting...

Buying an apprtment
Since the euro fall and interest rates hits low this year,
people around us are starting to buy appartments.
We really want to buy an appartment too
but prices in paris is really crazy like 400,000eur for 40m2 appartment
I really dont mind moving to suburbs of Paris as prices are more affordable eg 250,000eur for 40m2
and i do prefer the quieter suburbs,
Yet, it will take husband 1.5hrs to travel to work
which, he strongly rejects the idea 
Shifting to a smaller city, eg Lille, will be even more affordable eg 100,000eur for 40m2
but with the bad economy in france, Paris seems to be where the jobs are...
In any case, we are still saving for the required 10percent cash required for deposit and fees.
It doesnt help that i dont have a full time job so that we can get a better bank loan
Apart from location and price,
We also need to consider the size and environment since we hope to start a family soon
Oh well....

French
My motivation for french is dying... because it is so difficult!!!
I have stopped my classes in December 2014 and has not signed on for any new classes.
Initially, i wanted to sign up for the cheap french classes at the townhall (90-150eur/semester)
although its classes are in the evenings or crazily strange hours.
I missed the registration and test deadline in February due to our trip to Singapore
and that was for the class to start in April/ September
In any case, the class hours will clash with my working hours and i can only wait till September 
To register for 2016 classes.
I do have a few schools to call and asked about their classes,
which i gave this responsibility to husband to call them and he has not do so.
So, im blogging it here so that he will remember to do so.

To be considered
Thinking should I take up the TEFL (Teach English as Foreign Language) certificate
Which means I may be able to find some English teaching jobs after
but is an uncertainty, without French, there is still a limit 
and most schools prefer to teachers to have degree related to education and TEFL
The thing is I dont even know my English theories (eg past participant and verbs) 
I really have no confidence in doing this at all

I want to strike lotto (Toto) soon...

Oh, Im a fan of Peppa pig now! Out of all the french / french dubbed cartoons, eg OuiOui, Tchoupi...
I think the french dubbed Peppa pig is the most enjoyable, at least its not talking about how to be a good kid
Yes, is for preschoolers, well, at least i need not struggle to understand them in French...