Where are the VISAs?

Work Permits

If you plan to work in France, you will need work authorization, irrespective of the duration of your stay. The work authorization requested is dictated by the nature of the work - employee, seconded employee, service provider, self-employed, manager of company, etc.

Works permits are granted by the French Ministry of Labor (D.D.T.E.).

The Ministry of Labor's Authorization to work
An employer in France who wants to hire an American citizen must obtain an authorization from the French Ministry of Labor. The authorization is a prerequisite document for the issuance of a long stay visa by a French Consulate in the United States. If the Ministry approves the contract, it is forwarded to the Office des Migrations Internationales (OMI) for transmission to the appropriate French Consulate in the U.S.. The Consulate then notifies the applicant who can proceed with visa formalities. After entering France with the proper visa, he or she must apply at the local Préfecture of Police for a Carte de Séjour.

Ministry of Labor
Service de la Main d'Oeuvre Etrangère
127 Boulevard de la Villette, 75010 Paris
Tel: 1-44-84-42-86

Paul asked about a work visa and was greeted with blank stares. He goes to Geneva this week to fill out all the forms and paperwork. Maybe he can get an answer to his visa questions.

email from Paul

Hooray

Air France has my bag, should be here tomorrow!!!!!!

(editorial by me..... amazing!)

Where are the linens?

The 'container' will not arrive until late May but Paul is living (you call that living?) in the apartment. It wasn't until he was ready to go to bed that he realized that he had no bed linens. How strange... I carefully packed a whole bag with a sheets, a pillow, a comforter, and some towels. Seems that the bag "dissappeared" along the way. He had so many bags to carry - I think five in all - that he must have lost count somewhere, somehow, as he caught the train from Paris. So he went to the store and bought something that obviously won't fit on the mattress, but it's better than nothing. The fun started when he decided to try to track down the missing bag. Seems they don't have a LOST and FOUND. They only have a FOUND. (Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?) I'll keep you posted on the missing sheets!

Back in the land of communication

I don't have Internet access at my apartment. Well.... now I do. Our trusty system administrator at school, Pat, got me a new blazin' laptop because the screen on my old one was going bad. He also fixed it to find more hotspots around the complex. I kept only seeing a couple of networks but they were all secured. I hate when that happens. Anyway, he adjusted it somehow and told me to go sit by the pool and see if I could find an open network, and voila! Here I am! Tres cool.

I am out by the pool now, it is early morning. Jack is inside sleeping on the couch. He wrecked his car and my new task (added to the list that grows, rather than shrinks) is to make him mobile again. The car was obviously drivable but he said it wobbled and by looking at it, he was hit pretty hard in the passenger side front wheel. Hopefully mobility will be restored today and I will send him on his way.

Jack's wrecked car.

Movin' in

Things are starting to happen because Mdme Helleput is back in town. She is the one who helped us find the apartment and took us to the bank to open an account with no money. She just returned from her trip to Tokoyo where she visited her son.

So Paul has moved into the apartment. I told him that internet access was more important than the refridgerator, stove, dishwasher, etc., so now, *theoretically* we have DSL (and obviously a telephone line). No modem... no telephone... but DSL. Mdme. knew nothing about the internet over cable?! whatever....

About the car... when Paul asked about keeping the rental car for another month or two while the personal car is on order, they told him that the company would get him a car in just a few days - any color we wanted just as long as we wanted gray. So I think the new *gray* Clio will arrive shortly. Standard, not automatic transmission, of course.

Solaize, south of Lyon, where Paul works 

Living in the South

Living down near Solaize has been convenient, yet interesting, for Paul. He thinks he is out in the boonies, in a small town away from the city. He is living at the home of an old gracious French woman. It is not quite a bed and breakfast but more like a boarding house(?) since he is like a house guest there. The woman doesn't speak English so that is good for Paul - it keeps him "immersed". The woman does speak German too, so between Paul's French and German, they do communicate quite well. She has prepared delicious meals and has been a wonderful hostess. Paul said she seems lonely and he will hate to leave.

Should we get this car? 

It has been a while.

Well, Paul left for work in France and took the laptop, along with all my blogging tools. Sorry for the delay in updates. I just hope I can get pictures uploaded without the software for that. We will see.

Paul called today after he went shopping for a car. He said it was quite an experience. First of all, if we buy a new car, we have to order it - there are no car lots - and it will be here some time in June. We liked the Twingo, but since it has 2 doors, Paul preferred to look for a 4 door car. The Clio is what we may get.

At the Send-Off party, saying grace before the meal.

The other half of the group.

A REAL wet bar!

For those of you who remarked that our kitchen looks like a wet bar... well, you are so wrong. This is a picture of a REAL wet bar, that of our friends, Maria and Bill.

This is a real wet bar.

At the party

At the Send-Away party.

The Send-Off party.

Maria and Bill had all the old friends over to say good-bye to Paul (and me) before the big adventure. This group has been together for at least 20ish years. We all met in the cry-room at St. B's when our oldest kids were very young and our youngest kids weren't even born yet. The party was fun and the food was fantastic and we were all a bit nostalgic.

John crashed

A very late-night picture.