So it has been a while since I’ve posted last. A lot has happened since then as well! I quit my job at Trimold! Yes, I’m no longer employed at the plastic factory what paid me $8.00/hr which is now I believe only $0.75 more than minimum wage. The reason I quit was because I was going to be missing so many days and after missing four days we were terminated. We were off the week of July 4th (which is when I made my first post) and then when I went to go pick up my check on the 3rd they told me not to come back on Monday since there were changes and they had too many people. They told me they would contact me to come back “permanently” when someone quit. Well, Monday came around and they called me to come in because someone had called off and so I went in. Tuesday they called me but I was out with Adrianne Barbo, a girl with whom I took French classes at Ohio State who is going to France to teach as well and who has recently moved to Circleville. When I finally called them back they had found someone to come in that day but they told me that someone had quit and that I could come in on Wednesday. I worked Wednesday and Tursday. On Wednesday I was informed that we would be working forced full production over the weekend and that we would work every weekend until after Labor Day. I confirmed this on Thursday and really started to dread working over 72 days straight without a day off. I knew I was going to miss work for my family reunion and for Chicago and so I called the next day and told them that I wouldn’t be coming back in.

I wouldn’t have done this if I didn’t already have a job. I think I mentioned before how I received an e-mail from the Depart Chair of Linguistics about a linguistic related job for a company called Voicebox Technologies. I applied for the job and had to do a few tests and was accepted to do it. I basically transcribe street and city names for a “text-to-speech” system which will be used in various “voicebox” things like GPS systems. Basically a list of city and street names are fed to a program and the program transcribes how they are supposed to be pronounced in English using this phonetic alphabet called SAMPA. A lot of the times the program does not transcribe the words correctly and a human must go and verify and correct the transcriptions. Below is a picture of an example list that I’ve done!

The weekend before last my parents and I went to Springfield, Ohio for a family reunion weekend. We left on Friday and stayed until Sunday. We went to my brother-in-law’s new church in Christiansburg, Ohio. This was his second Sunday preaching at his new church. My sister and he are preparing to sell their house and move over there. It is sad for my grandparents and parents who hate to see the kids leave. It isn’t as sad for me as I was already leaving. I think that this time around I’ll be a bit more sad living abroad and be more homesick because I really adore my niece and nephew, a lot! I will really miss them when I’m over there. I’m getting a little choked up just thinking about it.

Rylee

Brady

Since receiving my “arrêté de nomination” I’ve been learning a lot more about the program. I’ve looked at websites about the city of Soustons and about the academy of Bordeaux. I’ve looked at train schedules and bus schedules and I’ve concluded that I’ll most likely have to live in Bayonne. There is another city called Dax that is closer to Soustons than Bayonne but the bus ride from both cities is the same length so I think it would be better to live in the bigger of the two cities. Plus, I’ve dreamed (and even requested) of/to live(ing) in the Basque Country. I had been looking for a place to live and went on this website called www.appartager.com (appartager means to share) which is a roommate/flatmate website where you can search for places where people are looking for roommates and are renting out rooms. I found this one below which seemed great! (Sorry if you don’t speak French)

Informations Générales
Rue: rue carlito oryazun
Quartier : Marracq, 64100
Ville: Bayonne
Loyer : 280€ par Mois,150€ par Semaine,0€ par Jour
Disponible le: 31 Juil 2008
Durée minimum: 1 Semaine

Description du colocataire
Sexe : Homme Orientation : Non indiqué(e)
Fumeur : Non indiqué(e) Situation: Etudiant
Age : 18 ans Animaux : Non indiqué(e)

Description de son colocataire idéal
Sexe : Peu importe Orientation : Hétéro
Fumeur : Peu importe Situation: Peu importe
Agé(e) de : de 18 à 29 ans Couple : Peu importe

Description de la chambre et de l’appartement
Type de logement : Immeuble rénové Etage(s): 0
Nb de chambre(s): 1 Chambres dispos: 1
Nb salle(s) de bain : 1 Parking: Oui
Animaux : Non indiqué(e) Superficie appartement: 14 m²

Concernant la chambre :: Meublée, SDB privée, Propre, Calme, Internet/Wifi, Entrée privée
Concernant l’appartement :: Proche commerces, Balcon/Terrasse, Proche transports, Calme, Cuisine équipée
Commentaires :
je suis le propritaire Jamain Jean-louis, j’ai des Studios ou chambres en colocation à loyer dans un quartier très tranquille Marracq, proche des transport et des commerces, 5 mm à pied Fac de Bayonne et 200m de l’hopital de Bayonne
Tarif de Periode de location:
Studio:
Du 01/09 au 30/06 est 350€/mois
Du 01/07 au 30/08 est 500€/mois, et 150€/semain,

un appt duplex 7 chambres en colocation, au première étage, cusine américane équipée avec machine à lave vaisselle et linge de 16m2, salon 18m2 + verenda A 16m2 et il y a 3 chambres qui sont déjà occupées par 3 étudiants de FAC de Bayonne,
Le tarif par mois du Septembre au juin(au deuxière étage)
- 1 chambre à 14M2 280€
- 2 chambres 15m2 + accès direc au véranda de 8M2 au deuxière étage à 330€
- Chambre 16 m2 à 300€

I contacted “jean-louis” and corresponded with him through e-mail a few times. He insisted that I call him and I told him that I did not have a phone card and that it was expensive and so he offered to call me. A girl ended up calling and leaving a message on my phone. I ended up telling them that I was no longer interested at this time because I was informed by other prior assistants that I could be moved (city wise) when I get there and that many of the primary assistants receive more than one school after they arrive and since I don’t have this information it is better that I wait until I arrive in France to find a place to live. It is very stressful and I have no idea what the heck I’m going to do! I went ahead and bought my plane ticket for $487.00 one way from Columbus to Paris. I’ll be leaving September 18th. The Itenerary is below!

Thursday
18-Sep-08
Air United Airlines. Flight: UA7539. Confirmed
Class: Economy. Seats: 1.
Aircraft: Embraer Jet
Airline Ref: P60TN6
Depart: Columbus Port Columbus Intl Apt at 1:34PM
Arrive: Chicago O`hare Intl Apt 18-Sep-08 at 1:56PM
Terminal: TERMINAL 1.

Thursday
18-Sep-08
Air United Airlines. Flight: UA942. Confirmed
Class: Economy. Seats: 1.
Aircraft: Boeing 767-300
Airline Ref: P60TN6
Depart: Chicago O`hare Intl Apt at 6:00PM
Terminal: TERMINAL 1.
Arrive: Paris Charles De Gaulle Apt 19-Sep-08 at
9:20AM
Terminal: AEROGARE 1.

I made an appointment for August 4th (this coming Monday) to get my visa. In order to get a visa for France, one must go, in person, to the nearest consulate and apply. The nearest consulate for Ohio is Chicago. To apply for a visa one must:

Please provide us with the original + 1 copy of each document

1. Passport valid for at least three months after your return to the US + 1 photocopy of the identity pages. Make sure your passport has blank pages left to affix the visa.

2. Processing fee : the visa is free of charge

3. Two long stay visa application forms fully filled out and signed – Note that this form is only available in French and must be filled out in French

Long Stay Visa Application Form

4. One picture glued/stapled onto each application form + 1 picture left loose. All photographs must be recent, in color on a plain white background, of full front view, taken facing the camera. No side or angled view are acceptable. Chin to top of hair should measure about 1″

5. For “assistants de langue vivante” : Your “Arrêté de nomination” stamped by the French Ministry of Labor (Direction Départementale du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Formation Professionnelle – D.D.T.E.F.P.).

For “lecteurs de langue étrangère” : either

- an agreement from ANAEM. For more information contact the University in France that will host you or the ANAEM. This document is usually sent directly by the ANAEM to the Consulate.

- or a “protocole d’accueil” for scientist, to be provided by the university.

In both cases, make sure you get these documents before coming to the Consulate.

6. If the visa cannot be issued on the same day according to your citizenship, a pre-stamped “express mail envelope” from USPS for the return of your passport and visa.

The consular administration has full authority to evaluate and request more documents than those submitted by the applicant. Please be aware that submitting the aforementioned documents does not guarantee the approval of the visa.

Since I only had 2 passport pictures left I went and got some more taken today. The picture is just hideous!

I made plans to go to Chicago this weekend with my friend Ellen but she totally canceled on me and now my best friend Tommy is going to tag along. We’ll be staying with a friend of mine with whom I went to Belgium. I haven’t seen in these past 5 years since Belgium so it will be totally great to see her! I can’t wait! I promise I’ll update more so that my posts aren’t as long!

Agur!

This post is stored in the category of Contains Photo(s), Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Aparment Hunting, Apartager.com, Arrêté de Nomination, Basque Country, Bayonne, Belgium, Brady, Brother-in-Law, Chicago, Chistriansburg, Columbus, Ellen, Long Stay visa application, Paris, Rylee, SAMPA, Sister, Soustons, Tommy, Voicebox Technologies

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So I did finally end up getting a job at what used to be Circle Plastics but what is currently called TriMold which is a subsidiary of Honda. I actually had to go through a temp company called iForce which is really annoying but ohwell. I’ve had this week off and when I went to pick up my check today they told me that I didn’t have to report to work on Monday because they were doing some rearranging of some people. The woman, Heather, informed me that I wasn’t fired but that she would contact me to come back to work by Wednesday. This news put my dad into a bad mood as usual. It kind of scares me because I really need to make as much money for France as possible.

Speaking of France, I received my arrêté de nomination which is a form that basically says that a certain school is hiring you to work for them. One needs this form so they may apply for a visa. The bureaucracy of it all is just obnoxious. One needs the arrêté de nomination to get a visa that lasts for like three months and then one needs the visa to get a CDS (carte de séjour) which is what one needs to stay in France legally for the 9 months.

So my arrêté de nomination told me that I’d be closer to the city of Bayonne than I would be to the city of my académie, Bordeaux. I’ve been assigned to a school district that has its main office in a little town called Mont-de-Marsan but the actual school that I will be working for is called Village Scolaire Isle Verte. It is a primary school and my contract runs from October 1st until June 30th. The school is actually locatd almost an hour from Mont-de-Marsan in a very tiny town called Soustons that has near nothing, transportation wise (i.e. no train station). I’ve done some research and found that the closest train station is about 8 miles (at €0,75/km 8mi=11km) away in a town called Saint-Vincent-de-Tyrosse but that 8 miles equals an hour bus ride to Soustons and the train schedule that I saw wasn’t that great either so I’m leaning towards looking to live in the city of Bayonne which is the biggest French speaking city in the Basque Country. The bus ride from Bayonne to Souston is about 45mins so I thought that living in Bayonne, a semi-big city with access to the TGV and a great bus system as well as the cities night life, would be better than being stranded in a tiny town such as Soustons proper. Even if the school were able to offer me a room for a small fee I’d rather pay €100 or more to live in Bayonne where I can learn to speak Basque, I hope!

I hope I can find a reasonable apartment for pretty cheap. It is quite scary and stressful to be looking for an apartment in Europe. I’ve looked at some “roommate” sites to see if I could possible try living with a Frenchman/woman but I haven’t seen anything recent. Maybe I’ll have more luck when it gets closer to school starting. I need to get working on my website so I’m going to end this post. I’ll try to do a podcast soon!

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Apartment Hunting, Arrêté de Nomination, Bayonne, Europe, iForce, Made in France, Rommate, Soustons, TGV, TriMold

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