The Gray Area

Here’s a picture from one of our balconies. More apartment pictures will arrive soon…

On Monday this past week I loaded our car and took as much stuff as I could to Nancy. It would turn out to be a very big day. I had a meeting with the local program coordinator there along with my 7 fellow students. I then had a break for a while, so I went into the downtown area and looked around for a place to get some work done while I could have Internet access. At 3:00 I went back to Vandeouvre, the southeast part of the city where our apartment would be. I happened to bump into the building supervisor, so she had me come in early to sign papers and show me what to do with all the keys. I’m not sure what I was signing as it was all in French, but sign I did. She handed me about 10 keys for different things, but having the keys in my hand meant we had the apartment and I could stop stressing.

Just about then, our friend Gill came and we did a few more things that the supervisor wasn’t able to communicate to me. Before long, I even had a parking spot in the garage for my car, which I quickly fetched from nearby campus. Instead of unloading it, however, I helped Gill. He happened to be moving out that day and though he had some help, I offered to take an hour or two to help him move. He and his wife were buying a house outside of town and that was his day to move out. They would just load the bigger elevator with as much stuff as they could and bring it down the 7 floors. They sort of just owned the elevator for a few hours. I took note to do that when we moved our stuff in. It took probably 6 loads of this full elevator to get all of their stuff out of their two bedroom apartment.

After I was done with Gill, I said goodbye and unloaded about half of the things out of my own car. It was safe in the garage, so I didn’t care about leaving some things in it. It was getting late, starting to get dark, so I thought about getting dinner and using the Internet somewhere. That’s when my luck sort of thinned out.

I realized that the electricity and the water weren’t turned on. I could see how to turn them on, but I didn’t dare just in case I had to do something else before. That meant no shower or toilet. I admit I was quiet distraught, but then the thought came to me that I could go across the street to the little grocery store and get some big bottles of water, which is what I did after I had dinner and used the Internet. It was a cold shower, but I got the job done with less than 3 liters (about 3/4 of a gallon) of water.

This was the story for the next 3 days. I would buy a 6-pack of 3-liter water bottles. I wasn’t expensive, about a euro for the whole thing, but it was getting cumbersome. I would unload 3 or 4 bottles into the toilet tank to do a daily flush. I had a flashlight, so I could still get a few things done into the night. It didn’t bother me, I was just thankful to have a roof over my head.

I had to stay in Nancy because my intensive French course had begun. It went from 9:00 until 3:00 in the afternoon with a short break in the morning and a break for lunch. I enjoyed the first three days thoroughly. The weather was perfect there the whole time. My two French teachers are excellent and my fellow students are quite pleasant. They are from all over and in Nancy for different reasons. Some are in a Nuclear Fusion program, another is a professional volleyball player from Sweden. I’m in the beginner’s course, of course, but we are learning rapidly and I feel more confident every day. I calculated that we spent about as much time learning French in one day as a typical university would spend in about a week. So, by the time I’m done, I will have spent the equivalent of 10 weeks of coursework. There isn’t an exam, and the homework is optional. I am also able to go to a weekly French class until the end of the year, if I want to ask questions, etc. It wasn’t all fun during the 3 days, however. I did do a lot of bank stuff, etc., while I was there. I got a lot done to get us established there.

Meanwhile Katie was packing boxes for the move. We loaded the Jacksons’ big van on Friday night after I got home. Our home teacher came the next morning with his big van and we, him, and one other friend loaded the rest of our stuff. We went to Nancy, and it took an extra 90 minutes because of road construction, but we got there and unloaded with 3 elevator loads. It went by quickly. We then got lunch, chatted for a bit, then put furniture together. Our home teacher left while Katie and I continued to put the apartment together and drive to a few stores to see prices on fridges and washing machines.

We made it back to Gimsbach by 7:30 pm, thankful that Katie’s mom and her sister could watch the girls. We have had so much help with this move. We had the local coordinator’s assistant for my program help us a lot. We had a lot of help from Gill and his wife, A LOT. We also had help from other people so we could even contact Gill in the first place. We also had someone willing to co-sign for us, which turned out to be unnecessary, but it was nice to have that backup if we needed it. We had all kinds of help from the Jacksons including van use and babysitting. Our home teacher also did a lot in helping us move. We are very grateful and humbled that so many people helped us in so many ways so we could get to this point in our lives.

Those were the highs. Now the lows. Well, there is really only one low. I learned this past week that I didn’t pass my one exam I had this past semester. I was shocked because I enjoyed the class, the material, and studied very hard for the exam. I answered every question and felt very confident that I got a respectable grade. I started shaking when I found out because, not only did I feel stupid that I didn’t pass, but I now had more work to do. The professor kindly offered a re-sit to do an oral exam in two week’s time so I would have time to study further.

But, two days later after hearing the news, I’m no longer in the depths of despair. I emailed the program coordinator who is in charge of my program and she just figured it was bad luck. The thing is, if I can’t keep my grades up or earn the credits I needed, I could potentially lose my scholarship which is our primary source of income right now. So, a lot hinged on this resit. At least, that’s what I thought. It turns out that I have enough credits without it, both locally at Saarland and my first year LCT requirements. Besides this course, I’ve done quite well this semester, so I’m less worried. I will still resit the exam and do the best that I can. If the worst happens, we’re still okay.

At least that’s what our friend in Nancy wrote in his email to us on Friday (wir haben gewonnen!). That’s right, we were accepted and now have a place to live in Nancy. I will drive down there on Tuesday, pay money, sign papers, and get the key. Not a moment too soon, either. I start class (sort of a 3-week precourse) on September 1st, which is Wednesday next week. So I’ll go myself with a carload of stuff to sustain me for a few days, then I’ll come back over the weekend and we’ll load up a few vans and move in.

I will be a three-bedroom apartment on the 8th or 9th floor of a huge apartment complex. It’s located right next to campus. It’s right by a grocery store, two nice parks, and it’s easy to get to. We have a few issues we’ll have to deal with, but we’re optimistic that the pros outweigh the cons.

I’ll give a full story of our efforts to get an apartment later because I won’t feel 100% worry-free until we are moved in and have rent established with the agency.

We had gone to Nancy on the 15th to meet up with a member of our church at the local ward there. He’s retired and had some time to help us. He only spoke German and French, so we communicated in German. He was moving out of his apartment, so he offered to take us to the agency to try and help us get his apartment, a two-bedroom. The four of us went, had lunch with him and his wife, and they all went to the park while he and I went to the agency. Their apartment was already taken, but they had plenty more, so we gave them our information. We had to wait two weeks before a decision was made as to whether or not we would be accepted. Well, that day came on Wednesday. We got a frantic email saying that we were still missing some important documentation. One of the things they wanted, they already had. The other thing was from the prefectural office stating we were legal to be there, a little more than the Visa that was issued to us at the Frankfurt Consulate.

We were shocked. One can’t get that approved unless one has a French address. Well, we all decided to go to Nancy on Thursday and try to work something out. Katie and I went, met with our friend, and someone from the Agency who spoke a little English. After talking to him, we went to the Prefectural office in Nancy and then things started to change. The lady we talked to said that a law had changed and we don’t need that paperwork done before we move in. She gave us a copy of the law to give to the agency, which we promptly did. Well, we got an email Friday afternoon saying we got the apartment.

Amazing how it all worked out. I was looking into hotels for short-term lodging until we could find something, but things were getting expensive. We figured that even if we could move in, it wouln’t be until the middle of September, but even that worked out in our favor. We are thrilled and delighted. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re excited nonetheless and look forward to a year in France.

Sorry, no pictures yet. I’ll post pictures after we move in and Katie makes everything cute.