A better than expected morning

Hi friends,

I had been dreading today for at least a week or two. See, my first order of business was at the préfecture where I had an appointment to change my address. And going to the préfecture is no walk in the park.

When you're a foreigner living in France, you're supposed to change your address within 7 days of moving. So I tried, but when I went to the préfecture in my arrondissement, they told me they don't do that and said I needed to go to the commissariat. So, I called the commissariat to see if I needed an appointment, and they said that no, they're not responsible for that either. They informed me that I needed to go to the préfecture at Cité (the big one), but they said that first I must make an appointment online. So I did, and I took the first available appointment which was much further out than 7 days (and which was not at Cité at all but in a nasty part of town that I try to avoid whenever possible). And that's the appointment I went to this morning. Only when I got there, the guy (the one out of 5 who was not doing the crossword puzzle, mind you) told me that the commissariat handles that. For those of you that are new here, welcome to France. So...I turned around and went to the commissariat. Well...almost. First I had a detour or two to make.

See, my carte de séjour (residency card) expires in July, and you have to schedule the renewal appointment two months in advance. Since I was already going to be enjoying the pleasures of préfecturing today, I figured I might as well do that too. So I went to Cité where I have to go to renew the CDS. I got to the office, and believe it or not, there was no waiting line, and the guy (super nice) made my appointment in 2 minutes flat, and I was on my way. Now, I thought, this is more like it.

By now (10:30), I was hungry and decided to stop for breakfast. I never eat breakfast out, but when I have to go to the préfecture at Cité, I try to make morning appointments. And since I usually don't eat breakfast first, if I get finished before lunchtime, I take the short walk to Brasserie Balzar over by my old stomping grounds, La Sorbonne and enjoy their 6€ breakfast...best breakfast bargain in town. So today I made that little detour too. Memory lane with a café crème and a croissant. A nice treat.

So then I went to the commissariat. Waited in line for 5 minutes, then was helped by THE nicest lady in French administration (she even smiled...unheard of). Five minutes later I walked out with an official document declaring that my address had been changed.

In other words, the day I had been dreading (préfecture appointments usually involve hours of waiting both preceded and followed by chilly service delivered by surly government employees) had a rocky start which moved nicely into smooth sailing and 2 missions easily accomplished.

So, I am grateful for the turn of events in my favor, the two super-nice préfecture peeps who helped me today, the nice little breakfast treat at my favorite breakfast spot, and the fact that I have those two dreaded tasks finally behind me. Now I only have to go through the renewal process. But I'll think about that later. (Wish me luck!)

And you...what are you grateful for today? Would love to hear!

bisous