So i'm finally experiencing those mean french people everyone always talks about but i've been lucky enough to avoid until a year into my life here. I need to stop letting the frustration of my experiences get to me and think of it all on the positive and first off say a good ol thank you that its taken me a year to have experiences like this. i have thought in the past few weeks that if any of these "foreign" things i am going through would have happened in my first few months here in france then i probably would've contemplated booking the next flight back.
I got news last night that my navigo has been rejected yet again. remember that the navigo is my ticket to do anything or go anywhere. its the unlimited pass to use the metro. and for one whole month i have had nothing but tickets. and while tickets are fine for passer-bys -- they are not practical for the person living in the city. they are expensive and when you have friends and are running errands its very limiting in where you can go and how often. a book of 10 tickets cost 12.50 euros. on an average saturday i can use the metro 10 times which means i would have spent 12.50 in one day. um --- not practical or wise. and especially not on a budget like mine. the french rejected the paperwork once again for reasons unknown -- basically they didn't inform my employer that infact we could not just send in a copy of my passport to correct their mistakes but we needed to fill out a whole new form and mail that in separately. again -- the waiting period is 1 month. ONE WHOLE MONTH. so to make myself sound less dramatic let me explain ---not having a navigo is like you; texas person; who depends on your car for life; taking it to the dealership and expecting it take a few days to be fixed but then messing up time and time again and you having to depend on rides or walking everywhere. you'd be pretty mad as well yea?
The other catch is that while the problems are NOT my fault ---they are stupid french peoples mistakes -- this is NOT america where you can call and complain and have it fixed immediately. I was skyping with my mom last night and she kept coming up with all these wonderful solutions -- if i lived in the states or if france has any type of customer service like america did. but I don't and they don't so I have to figure out the french way. The french way means WAITING and being patient. I could go yell at the guy who gives me the paperwork to fill out but the thing is that while the guy who gives me the packet of information to fill out and the guy who processes my paperwork a month later probably work for the same company (the government) they don't do the same job and view their positions as not interrelated meaning they could careless your problem because it doesn't involve them. very hard for an american to understand this concept as it would not work like that in the states--i get it --- i am american -- i know both sides...but i have voluntarily chosen to live in the land of no customer service and no concern for time or its people so i'm stuck learning lots of patience and learning how to forgive a whole nation of its stupidity. ok --thats a bit harsh (and forgive me for my harshness as I am super frustrated with the french right now and i'm clearly taking it out on the country as a whole) because i do have some very lovely french friends who i would never consider part of that category but as of right now --- all french people are the enemy.
have i mentioned my visa woes???
the thing keeping me going today ..... 5 euro pizzas at pizzza hut!
its the small things in like right?
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