Narbonne: Tout est possible

Well, I am smack dab in the middle of figuring out my little vie narbonnaise. I've been here a week now, and I've accomplished some things, but I feel like there's still so much to do. I've learned a lot of lessons about my little town.

As far as I know, there are no other American assistants in Narbonne. There are three Spanish assistants (from Spain), and some other English assistants (actually English, from England). So far, I've met Anais, Carmen, and Violeta, the Spanish assistants. I'm sure you will hear about all of our adventures soon! (As soon as we're actually having adventures, that is.) Anais and Carmen have already sorted out their housing situation, so that leaves Violeta and myself to find a little apartment (hopefully!) to ourselves! For now we're both living on our school campus.

Before I go into stuff that's happened and stuff that needs to happen, let me share with you our slogan for the year:

Narbonne: Tout est possible!

(Narbonne: Anything is possible)

We (Violeta and myself) happen to think this is hilarious. You can get on board if you like. It's funny two ways: 1) Honestly, NOT that much is possible in Narbonne. It's charming, but it's no Montpellier, Marseille, Lyon, Paris, etc. No bus on Sunday? No bus past 8:00 pm? You get the picture. 2) The most ridiculous/random things can happen. For instance, a cat might just traipse out of a door at your school like all "Nbd, je suis un chat" (Professor McGonagall, c'est vous?!) or five different people could point you in five different directions to find the place where you should buy a bus pass (this will waste two hours of your time).

Anyway. We love it. We say it approximately ten times a day to each other as we deal with our issues. I'm gonna say it on the ol' blog-a-roo, so now you know why. 

Now on to the lists.

Things I've accomplished/lessons I've learned:

1) There is NOTHING near my school. Nothing. Well, besides a convenience store which has basically the same hours as the school. And a lot of houses. That's it. Luckily we don't need food during the weekends!

2) JK. We do need food during the weekends. And for that, we walk to the center of the city (25 minutes), even if it's cold. And rainy. And windy. (Which luckily it hasn't been since Sunday. But oh, this weekend?! Was it ever cold. And rainy. And windy.)

3) I found out where to buy things! Carrefour: the Target of France. Just a five-minute bus ride away! The first couple days, I didn't have hand soap. Don't ever take your hand soap for granted, people. Now I have a towel! And soap! And some cleaning products!

4) Bus card: bought! €30 for a three month pass because I'm 25 now - it'll get more expensive (€20/month) when I'm 26. But unlimited rides! Normally 1 ride costs €1 so it's still a good deal. I'm also learning my bus route.

carte de bus: handwritten, Narbonne-style

5) I have a phone! Well, Carmen, Violeta, and I all have the same exact phones, actually. Imagine this: You're new to the city. To the country, even. You're tired of being disconnected from the world. You're in an SFR store with your two new girlfriends, and you're stressed. You've talked to/about other phone companies. And it's raining. And it's cold. (And you don't have hand soap at home.) You've been waiting thirty minutes in the store. All of the sudden, in comes a very cute salesman. Guess what? You will buy a phone. In fact, all three of you will buy the same EXACT phone. Merci, SFR. We often think back on our first friend in Narbonne, Monsieur SFR. Whose initials must be, obviously, SFR. We refer to him as Sébastien. We're considering making a "Call Me Maybe" remake with Sébastien, because of the obvious phone number connection. It's going to be amazing.* The good news is, I actually have a French phone number so I can start to do things!

two of our three portables français

(Yes, they're at McDo. There's WiFi there. Don't judge.)

6) I MAY have learned where there's a laundromat nearby. Thank goodness.

7) If you live on a high school campus, there will be high schoolers everywhere. (Duh.) I mean, des lycéens partout partout. (We also say this about seven times a day.) If you want to have a peaceful breakfast at SPAR (our friendly aforementioned convenience store), you won't be able to. Foosball tables + lycéens. You get it.

8) French banks are difficult. And expensive! You want €8/month just to have an account? That's like half my salary, people. Also, everyone wanted a water bill. Well when you're being lodged (FOR FREE!) in a school, you don't HAVE a water bill. And no, an official paper from the school wouldn't work. Our solution: la Banque Postale! €30/year?! That's more like it, y'all. Cheapest, nicest people, took our papers. As of yesterday, we have bank accounts, y'all! On our way!

9) French paperwork in general is getting to me. Come. on.

10) I've learned where to get WiFi. One corner of my window, only during weekends, or OCCASIONALLY during the week. For maybe ten minutes.

ordinateur in fenêtre

11) People in Narbonne are generally really nice! I may have mentioned that before. But I'm mentioning it again. (The bus driver even let me ride for free today when I had left my bus pass at home!) (Yes. Already.)

To-Do List:

1) Get a RIB (routing number) from the bank Monday, finish paperwork for the Académie de Montpellier so I can get paid!

2) Officially immigrate (paperwork stuff, to be elaborated on later, of course).

3) FIND AN APARTMENT: This is the most difficult of ALL so far. It's difficult because things aren't furnished, because French leases are generally three years, and because we don't have a lot of money to spend (and we have to be somewhere accessible by bus). I don't even want to go into all the stress we're dealing with this aspect right now, but it.is.driving.us.crazy.

4) Buy some stuff. I currently need a bigger purse, a smaller wallet, laundry detergent (for the mystical laverie), etc. I can't even remember. But stuff. Stuff I've needed for several days but haven't had time to shop for.

5) Recharge my phone: I'm still getting used to this pay-as-you-go, be-very-careful-with-your-credit system. I've learned about the appel perdu, a phone call where you ring once and hang up to say yes to something or to notify someone of your arrival. Apparently it doesn't cost you anything. It's taking some adjustment from my "unlimited calls, unlimited texts" mindset.

6) Figure out my teaching schedule: This will happen when they tell me it's ready. :)

7) Contact a possible tutor student (YAY! €!)

8) I don't even know. A million things.

So, for those of you who are wondering what adventures I'm up to, don't wonder. Until I get good and settled, I can't really benefit that much from my charming little city. I know that I will, someday. Someday soon I'll see the museums, and eat at the restaurants, and go to the beach. For now, I have to get down to the business of actually living in a foreign county. On y va!

Bonus pictures!

Apparently, there's Le Tex Mex in that direction.
No time to investigate right now... but I will be back. Promise.

my lycée (high school), which is actually composed of two high schools

*It's not really going to happen.