tu et vous = you

Last Friday was a day full of miracles in the land of French bureaucracy.

First, I marched into a local branch of HSBC and secured a bank account within a matter of hours. There was a lot of paper work to sign to open it and I felt a little suspicious at the time, but felt better about the decision after getting home and re-reading the fine print. This is awesome because it means I can get paid for being a professor and have a debit card which has a Carte Bleue (CB) chip in it. The really spiffy automatic train ticket machines at SNCF use CB system. I'm looking forward to being able to use it on my next trip.

Second miracle involved the glorious Madame Alamichel (my "boss") at Marne who instantly registered Jacob in the English Master's program at Marne. This was an extremely helpful step for helping Jacob get his carte de sejour which makes him legal to live in France for the year. It also makes him eligible for securite sociale, covering basically all health insurance costs. As a student in Europe, one is eligible for tons of discounts too which never hurts.

Third miracle was performed by Madame Machet. Upon inquiring about my missing official Marne I.D. card, she scrambled from office to office until she found someone to print a new one instead of sending me away empty-handed. I used the card today to purchase "Dreams from My Father" by Barack Obama and got a 10% discount. I figured I ought to read up on my candidate before he is sworn into office. Madame Machet also mentioned she has heard word from the ANAEM concerning the mysterious missing paperwork and should call later this week when she receives it.

So, after lamenting my undefined position and difficult situation in the midst of French bureaucracy, things are looking up. I must reiterate how much I am in awe every time something gets accomplished here despite the laissez-faire attitude.

One recent theme in my Oral Comprehesion and Expression class was family. It's better to bring in controversial articles about which the students may actually have an opinion, inciting them to express themselves in English than talking about family trees and rehashing grammar class vocabulary, so I made a bold move. I brought in articles about gay adoption. Arguments for and against were represented in the articles so I thought they'd work well. I had two sections of this class (three as of last week, which I'll adress a bit later) where I taught the material on gay adoption. In the first class, the students seemed fairly surprised at my chosen topic and even more surprised when I began to ask their personal opinions on the matter. I could tell from the discussion happening amongst the students that they were interested, but didn't know where to begin so I put it to a vote. I asked the class to raise their hands in support of gay adoption and then against. From there, practically the entire class participated in the discussion and helped deconstruct the arguments in the article and those of their classmates.

As I usually swap ideas with other professors about how to get the students involved, I recounted this story to another English professor, Ethan, who was surprised first at the topic, then at the fact that I had asked the class to 'vote'. Evidently, professors in France may be rather severely disciplined for bringing politics into the classroom, especially in asking students to 'vote'. Ethan informed me it is against French law for a professor to instigate discussion of political opinions much less, ask the entire class to voice their personal political opinion. Oops. I haven't found any sources which indicate how true this is though I am inclined to believe Ethan since he has worked and lived in France for a number of years.

In other, more legal news, after many hunts in the local neighborhood to find a decent street market, Jacob and I have found two large markets which are only a ten minute walk from our apartment. They are held on alternating days so fresh food is available practically everyday. Going to the market has become my favorite pastime. The food is less expensive than the grocery store and much, much fresher. Two tricks: go to the market during the last hour in order to buy bulk for cheap and don't shy away from bartering. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to convince someone to give you a crate of delicious mushrooms for 5,33 euros rather than pay 9,00 euros. Though you may have to eat mushrooms with every meal for an entire week, it's well worth it.