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

Tags: and Toes, CE2, English Assistant, ESL, Franc, Head, Knees, Les Pins, Shoulders, Teaching

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So Friday night Alissa and I decided that we should end the year in the restaurant where we began the year, my favorite restaurant, L’Orange Ball. Georgia couldn’t join as as she was busy at one of her school’s Kermesse. Fernando and Isabel were having company over for dinner and so it was just Alissa and I.  We headed down to the Centre Ville around 6:30 and went straight to the restaurant. They no long had my favorite salade, Compagnarde, but they had this amazing salad called Salae Gavroche, which consisted of lettuce, white ham, emmentel cheese, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, and this amazing white creamy dressing.  We ordered a big litre of sangria and had pizza and then ice cream for dessert! It was a great meal!

This weekend was La Fête du Quartier St. Pierre downtown so we decided to check out what activities were going on. We luckily finished dinner right on time as a free Cabaret was about to begin starting with a magic show. The magician was very funny and entertaining and his show went along with very upbeat classical music remixes. He used live animals and rabbits and birds were appearing and disappearing left an right. He was really good and had me fooled the whole time as I was trying to be as observant as possible but couldn’t see through his allusions at all. This may be because of the .5L of sangria I had drank at dinner. After the magician there was a group of Moroccan Belly Dancers that got on the stage.  They were absolutely horrible. I’ve seen MULTIPLE belly dancers in my life time having gone to the International Festival in Columbus many years and even having seen on live at North Commons at OSU during a themed buffet night! We actually saw them practicing for something au Centre Ville the following morning (yesterday) and I took some video! Alissa and I ended up getting up and leaving and making our way through town where we hear accordion music. After some further investigation we found that there was an accordion concert going on in the park so we sat at the fountain and watched. After we grabbed a beer one last time at Byron Bay and may our way home as we had to get up early yesterday.

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YouTube - Click here to see video of horrible belly dancers!

Yesterday we got up and took the bus at 9:00am into town where we bought some food for a picnic and bought Dax Féria (Dax Festival) handkerchiefs (they wear these at the festival).  We also purchased a CD with typical Féria music on it.  La fête de Dax (The Festival of Dax) takes placed in early to mid August, which is sad since we will not be here.  Below you can watch a video of the opening ceremony where everyone holds their handkerchief (like the ones Alissa and I bought) up and sway them back and fourth and sing “la la” to the song, “Vino Griego et Foulards”, which is a very famous Féria song here in the southwest of France!

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After doing some shopping and buying some souvenirs at the Saturday market we caught a bus to the train station and then took a train to St. Jean de Luz to go on Le Petit train de la Rhune (Mt. Rhune’s Little Train). Our plan had been to go with Georgia, Fernando, and Isabel but because they all three were very busy preparing to leave France Alissa and I decided to go and had to figure a way to get out to Col de Saint Ignace where the train station for the Train de la Rhune is located.

La Rhune (or Larrun) in Basque, which means “good pasture” is mountain found in the Basque Country on the border of France and Spain. To get to the top of the train one must go to Col de Saint Ignace in France and take “Le Petit Train de la Rhune” to reach the 905m (2,969ft) summit.

Since Isabel and Fernando invited us to dinner at 8pm Alissa and I had to give ourselves enough time to get to the train station for La Rhune and get up to the mountain and back down. To go up and come back down takes a minimum time of 1 hour and a half. A one way trip up the mountain takes 35 minutes and if you decide to hike back down the mountain it takes around two and a half hours. There is a bus that does go from St. Jean de Luz to a town called Sare, which passes by the Col de Saint Ignace. The bus is called Le Basque Bondissant and on Saturdays during a school period there are two buses from St. Jean de Luz to Sare and two buses form Sare to St. Jean de Luz. The first time 9:15am was too early for as we would have had to catch a 6am train to make it. The 2:00pm bus was too late as we weren’t sure we’d have enough time once we got to Col de St. Ignace to catch the train and get back before dinner. We decided to take a later train in the morning from Dax to St. Jean de Luz and once we arrived in St. Jean de Luz we took a taxi for €23 to Col de Saint Ignace. When we go there there was a long line as the station was closed for lunch and didn’t open unitl 1:20pm. we waited a good half hour in the hot sun and finally bought our tickets and about 10 minutes later boarded the train to take up to the summit.

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YouTube - Click here to watch my video of us ascending Mt. Rhune

The view was amazing and as we went up we saw a great assortment of fauna, trees, and plants. We saw wild horses, sheep, goats and different types of very larger birds. It was a beautiful day to be going up the mountain. At the top there was a hotel, I believe, and restaurants and a souvenir shop as well as a tiny little monument and a big tower, which I’m sure was used for all kinds of things.  Alissa and I climed to the very summit, took some pictures and then found a spot to eat our picnic lunch we had bought. We had sandwiches, pringles, cheese, and La Mie Câline Super Cookies!  We ate over looking the Spanish side of the Pyranees on two of the many rocks that jutted out form the ground all over the place.We both got stung by some sort of plant or bug and had a stinging feeling for a little while. We went and saw the wild horses that had made their way to the top of the mountain. There were many new mothers and happy new foals and colts. It wasn’t that chilly but we did wish we had not worn thongs and had worn proper shoes.  After about an hour or so we decided to catch the train back down. We talked to a lovely German couple the whole way down the hill and once at the bottom we looked quickly around at the souvenir shop, bought nothing (except I bought a 1.5l bottle of cold water) and then went looking for bathrooms and the bus stop.  We were worried that we would have enough money for the bus and the Post Offic ATM machine was out of service. We entertained the thought of hitchhiking or bumming a ride back to St. Jean de Luz but after we found out it was only €2 for the bus we waited for 30 minutes and caught the bus back to St. Jean de Luz just in time to catch our 5:41 TGV back to dax.

Once we got to Dax we went and sat at a café and got something to drink and talked for about a half hour and then headed over to Isabel and Fernando’s for our last final meal together. Fernando had cooked up a concoction of angel hair noodels, peas, chicken, peppers, carrots, and soy sauce. It was actually really really good. They drove us home late and we said out teary eyes goodbyes as they are leaving us on Tuesday and Alissa and I will not see them before they leave. Georgia will see Isabel at school tomorrow.

If you want to see pictures from yesterday click the photo below!

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

Tags: Alissa Morano, Basque Country, Belly Dancing, Col de Saint Ignace, Dax, Féria, Fernando and Isabel, Georgia Irving, Kermesse, La Fête de Dax, La Fête du Quartier St. Pierre, La Mie Câline, La Rhune, Le Basque Bondissant, Le Petit Train de la Rhune, Magic Show, Orange Ball, Sare, St. Jean de Luz, TGV, Vino Griego, Vino Griego et Foulards

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So tomorrow is my last day of class and I can really say that I’m not sad at all. The children over all were very cute and I’m glad I got to know them, but really I’m just one person who has come into their life for a short period of time and will move on and they will soon forget me! I’ve actually not been very good at going to classes these past few weeks and have skipped more than I think should be right. I’ve probably burned a few bridges in the process but at this point I’ve accepted that I wasn’t the greatest English Assistant here in France and I’m sure they noticed it too. It is not a sad ending to be leaving the assistantship program here behind and I’m not even all the sad to be leaving France. France, as a country, didn’t leave all the great of an impression on me like Belgium did. I don’t know what it is about Belgium but I much prefer France’s neighbors to the North. I will, however, miss my experiences that I had with the other assistants and miss the assistants themselves. I’ll miss speaking French in a real French setting on a daily basis and I’ll miss the life that I’ve grown accustom to while living here.

Tuesday, Georgia, Alissa, and I walked to centre ville in the blazing heat of the sun to meet up with Isabel and Fernando to have one final meal together in Dax. We went to this Tapas Bar/Restaurant, which was really really good and had a good time together.

We were planning on going to take a trip down near St Jean de Luz to take “Le Petit Train de la Rhune” up to the summit of the mountain and have a pic-nic but since Isabel and Fernando are leaving on Monday they need to use all day Saturday to prepare their departure! We may end up having dinner with them on Saturday night, which will be the OFFICIAL last dinner of the year! So sad!  Alissa and I are still planning on going to the mountain on Saturday and tomorrow night we plan on eating at my favorite restaurant in Dax, L’Orange Ball, and then going to this little festival they are having in town!

Yesterday I was supposed to meet Diana in Bordeaux but actually forgot to set my alarm and never woke up in time to catch a train to go meet her so I’m heading up to Bergerac on Sunday evening and going to spend Sunday evening/Monday Morning with her  before heading back to Dax to start cleaning up my room and packing the rest of my things to leave.  I have a meeting with my bank on Wednesday to finalize everything and then I’m going to take a train on Friday morning (like 12am Friday morning, so Thursday night) to Paris and then I will spend the day in Paris with Alissa and her parents and then I will make my way to the airport on Saturday morning to finally fly home to Columbus!

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

Tags: Alissa Morano, Assistants, Assistants in France, Belgium, Bergerac, Columbus, Dax, Diana Barger, Georgia Irving, Isabel and Fernando, Le Petit Train de la Rhune, Paris, Tapas, Teaching, Train

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So, in this region, as far as I know, every elementary school plans an end of the year event to raise money for the following year. They call it a “Kermesse“.   This word comes from the Dutch word  ”kerk” (church) and “mis” (mass) and has developed a meaning of “festival”.  At these Kermesses, the children perform dances and sing and there are games that the children can play to win prizes and there is usually a bar that serves anything from “cidre” (low alcohol) to wine to pop. There is sometimes a large dinner or a nice snack provided, for a price.  Everything has a price as the schools are trying to raise some money for the following year.

On Friday, my least favorite school, Les Pins, was putting on their Kermesse and since all of the elementary assistants in Dax have a class there we decided that we would go, except Alissa, who went to the Kermesse at her school Sully, which I’m sure was much more exciting and better organized. Georgia and I walked down to Les Pins as it is right down the road and we met up with Fernando and Isabel. We arrived just in time for the class performances and had missed the “fun and games”.  The atmosphere was nothing different from a normal day aux Pins and it was total chaos. The children were running around like crazy animals and the parents were just as feisty and loud as the children. M. Lesfauries, the principal, had to ask for everyone to be quiet so they could start the show.

Some of the classes did dances such as country dancing, flamenco, Russsian dancing, or just plain old crazy fun dancing. Other classes sang. One class in particular sang but it was impossible to hear them as everyone was talking and children were running around, like I said, like crazy animals! During the show, we were lucky enough to witness  domestic violence episode between a couple, who obviously had been estranged.  The man kept trying to approach the baby carriage to kiss whom I assume was his daughter but the lady whom I assume is the girl’s mother kept pushing, kicking, and cussing the guy to get him away. They were causing a big scene and it was then that I realized that the children act the way they do because their parents don’t act any better!

One particular group of dancers really caught my attention. I think it was either the CP (1st grade) class or on grade lower (kindergarten).  The girls were dressed in white tops and had on red type dresses and the boys wore dark tops and shorts with a light colored vest. There was one boy who was not wearing the same outfit as the other boys and instead was wearing a white top with a red dress.  He was performing all the female parts and when they had to pari up with a male partner he joined hands with another little boy and dance his part. It was really really amazing to see this outward destruction of a gender role in front of a crowd of about 200 people.

I’m not sure what the circumstances were that this boy performed the female role whether it was by choice or they were short girl and asked if one of the boys would perform the girl’s part.  After looking at my pictures again I counted 11 boys and 8 girls.  The little boy made it 9 little “girls”. Whether the boy was asked to do the part or he chose to I think it shows a lot about the advancement of the French culture and especially in a school like Les Pins where there is a lot of ignorant closed minded people. I do think some of the people in the crowd were shocked but no one really said anything negatively and the boy did a great job!

I think it is ridiculous that as a society we force these gender specific roles on our children. “Boys don’t play with dolls!” Blue is for boys, pink is for girls! We should not force these ideas into children’s heads and let them grow up and decide which role they prefer or which things they are good at doing. Fathers should show their daughters how to build things and show them how to change the oil while mothers should teach their sons to bake! I don’t think it should be a forced thing, I think it should be natural and parents and teachers and society should show the role they live everyday to ALL boys and girls!

Yesterday, Georgia, Alissa, and I went downtown to meet Fernando and Isabel at the statue of the matador and the bull in front of the Arena so we could go to the Music Festival that is going on in Dax this weekend. Since we were a little late Isabel and Fernando went inside the Arena. We joined them and watched children from all the schools in Dax sing songs traditional to this area. They sang for a half hour with the local Dax orchestra. After, the official band of the “Corrida” came and played. Isabel and Fernando had to leave to prepare for guests that they were having and then we ended up leaving a small time after that walking through town taking pictures and making our way home finally.

If you want to see pictures of the Kermesse and from yesterday click here: La Kermesse & La Fête de Musique

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

Tags: Alissa Morano, Assistants, Bull Fight, Corrida, Dax, Dax Arena, Dutch, Gender Roles, Georgia Irving, Isabel and Fernando, Kermesse, Les Pins, Teaching

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So! I only have 24 days until I’ll be on a plane going home and sleeping in my very OWN bed! Well, technically it isn’t MY bed as there is a new mattress and box springs! But, it will be in my OWN room! I can’t wait! Today I did the normal Tuesday thing, stayed up watching Amazing Race until about 3AM, hating my self at 6:30AM when I had to get up to go to work. While I was at my first school teaching I got a text from my other school that said I didn’t need to come in today! I went to the store and got some minor provisions and then headed home and watched some MORE Amazing Race and then passed out for five hours! I really need to get my sleeping habits in better shape next year as I can’t live like this in Grad School!

I’ve been obsessing about my website lately and the design of it. I want a more sleek minimal theme using only white and grey but I want to have an awesome colorful banner at the beginning that kind of looks like this design here:

I worked on doing Photoshop 3d Lettering but I just couldn’t get the shading and lighting correct like on the big letters! I ended up tweeting the dude who did this one and he said he would put a tutorial up soon and that he used Cinema 4D, a program that ONLY costs like $700! I may have to figure something out! I want to spice up my buttons and make image buttons where they show the link in IPA but when you hover over it it changes to the Latin alphabet. I’m getting my “conlang” gene again and I’m thinking of creating a language and blogging about it the whole way. I’ve decided to create a separate Language and Linguistic blog and blog about all my language and linguistic material on that blog so that those who may want to follow it don’t have to read posts like this one and get bored!

I have the day off tomorrow! If it is nice out Alissa and I may go somewhere. If it rains then I’ll end up staying in, as usual, and working on my website! Look for the new blog on the new linguistic and language page! The funny thing about my personality is that I start one thing and it takes me forever to finish it! I start 20 things at once and some of them suffer and never get finished! I promise by the end of summer I will have my “about me” section totally completed!

Also, I really really want another tattoo but I know I can’t afford it! I was planning on getting multiple scenes from “The Little Prince” on my leg but now I think I’m just going to get the Baobob scene. It represents me quite well. I need it to remind me to not be lazy and to continue with my daily tasks so that my life isn’t taken over by Baobobs!

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

Tags: Alissa Morano, Amazing Race, Babobs, Blog, Grad School, Home, Tattoo, Teaching, The Little Prince, Web design, Website

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So I’ve accomplished quite a bit since my last post! As you can see I have a new blog? Well it is the same blog but I’ve been sold back to Wordpress and I imported my blogger.com blog over to Wordpress. The thing I like best about Wordpress is that you can have pages along with your blog! This way I can post my video/podcasts on a separate page and not have them with my blog. Also I have a separate page on which I wrote ALL about myself! The only downfall to the move is I get less options on page layout and they won’t let me post javascript which means I can’t have my videos and podcasts on the page directly. I have to upload my videos to google and then post them here as I have to just link to my podcasts and if you have a MAC it will play for you in the browser if you have a PC it will make you download it I believe. I think the layout is more clean and professional. I haven’t only been working on this blog but I’ve been making a guide for future English Assistants to follow for information and tutorials. I purchased my carry-on luggage. I got a rolling adventure duffel bag from L.L.Bean. It is pretty cool! You should go look at it here! I got the medium sized (carry on size) gold one with the monogram “DSB” on it! I also designed my own messenger bag at Timbuk2 but it was way expensive! Here is what it looks like in case anyone feel generous and wants to buy me this bag!

I feel like I’m spending tons of money! I ended up buying my train ticket from Paris to Bayonne for the 23rd of September. I got an e-mail from the Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs de la Côte Basque telling me to send them the information sheet ASAP. I filled it out immediately then and sent it back to them by e-mail. Hopefully they will have a room for me by the 23rd. I will probably need to e-mail them back ASAP and tell them to tell me if they don’t have anything so I can set something else up just in case. I found out that it was going to cost $175 to cancel my phone plan so I’m going to keep it and my parents will pay the bill for me. I also bought a phone card to call over to France to call my school to see what the heck is going on but I forgot that they were off on Wednesdays so I’m going to have to get up early again tomorrow and try calling again. Whatever you do don’t buy a 1000 minute phone card from Walmart! It costs $42 and you only get 250 minutes to Europe! What a rip off! My parent’s would probably have paid less if I had called directly from their phone! I have to buy a few more things and then I’ll be ready to start packing. I’m feeling more and more prepared for this trip and I can’t wait to just get it started. Whatever happens the stress better be worth all this hassle!

I went with my grandma today to visit my grandpa. He is still up at Mt. Carmel and they are still planning on doing the open heart surgery. He was moved to the rehabilitation center for the time being so he can get stronger for the surgery. He is still having trouble breathing and he is still pretty miserable and wants out of the hospital STAT! It has been over a month since his heart attack. We’re glad he is still around and I’m sure going to miss him when I’m across seas.

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

Tags: Bayonne, Europe, Grandma, Grandpa, L.L. Bean, Made in France, Mt. Camel, Phone Cards, Rehabilitation, Timbuk2, Walmart, Wordpress

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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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