"Apt is a little different. It is .. how you say.. dead?"

It's been a whirlwind of a few days around here. With getting settled and trying to take care of all the necessary tasks once getting here, I have barely found time to eat, let alone enjoy much of the city!

Yesterday was my first full day in Apt. I slept in after that incredibly long journey the day before. Once I woke up, I went straight to le service intendance - this is the place at the school where I go to pay for my rent and meals, etc. I had already known in advance how much my room was going to cost but I was not sure how much for the prepaid meals. As he starts explaining with his southern accent how much the meals are, I misunderstand him (count #1 for misunderstandings). I end up handing him 248 euros and he suddenly asked me why I was handing him that much, that I only needed to give him 100 euros to set up an account. With that passed us, he formulates receipts for me and I ask if I have to pay monthly for the meals like the room (#2 for misunderstanding). He tells me how the system works (for petit dejeuner 1,20 euros for dejeuner/diner 2,48 euros - which explains where I got my first complication). After that, we register my hand for the meals - although the school and town itself is in the middle of the hills of the Luberon (ie: middle of nowhere), they have biometrical hand scanning system for lunches. This surprised me, as the rest of the school seems quite old!

I thought that was all I had to do with M. Hautecour but he finally hands me a piece of paper with an extra task for me to complete. At first, I thought it was my justificatif de domicile, my proof of housing document that I need to open a bank account, to give to the office of immigration, etc. But when I ask this at the end, he says "non, pas de tout". He then takes the back and highlights a part of it: attestation de responsabilité civile pour les locaux. I tell him to explain what this document was, as I had never heard of it before. He tried his best but I was not sure of what he was saying (#3) so he told me to ask the other assistant for this year. After asking her, the assistant from last year, numerous other people here at the school, no one could explain to me what exactly this document was (they tried but I still had no idea what they exactly were saying). All I could understand was that he wanted basically renter's insurance for the apartment, but I don't have any. Today, I returned to the office as I was supposed to, empty handed and very confused. I spoke with the secretary, and then the two of them spoke, trying to find me an example of this document from a past assistant. I heard them talking in the hallway, and thought I heard them say they couldn't find one. The secretary came in and said "laissez tomber" - forget about it. After a day's worth of work and searching, the form ended up being useless.

Out of everything I have noticed so far, the thing I have noticed the most is that the French LOVE their paperwork - even if it may be a little beyond ridiculous. Just to get a library card, you need to have an ID and proof of housing document for at least two months. When I went to my rendez-vous at the bank today, I brought the three pieces of documentation I was told: a copy of my passport, my receipt of my rent paid (which is acting like my justificatif de domicile), and my work contract (arrêté de nomination). When I showed this to him, he asked for a copy of my visa page of my passport as well. That was fine, I had it on me. Then he asked me for my water, heating, and electric bill, which I didn't have as my rent includes everything. But even with that, to open a bank account you need all these records to show? How different. The man that helped me set up my accounts was very helpful, he understood that I wanted to try to do the whole process in French but he also wanted me to understand exactly all of the specifics of my account, so he switched back and forth from French to English. He also was fascinated by all of the things I told him about America and asked me why the heck I would want to live in Apt. I said that I applied to this region because I had studied in Aix-en-Provence and loved this part of France. He proceeded to respond with the title of this post: "Well Apt is a little different. It is.. how you say .. dead?"* I have noticed that Apt has that small town, Provençal charm - I wouldn't call it dead. When I told him this, he replied "Just wait, you will see..." Besides that, his genuine kindness and help put me the most at ease since I have been here. Merci, Monsieur bank man!

With the exception of the situation at the school, the people I have interacted with here in the city are incredibly kind and go out of their way to try and help me understand when I have difficulties. I have successfully got my phone service (from Orange), my internet (from SFR), a bank account, set up payments for rent and meals at the school - all in two days. I have made time to go use a meal at the cantine as well, where the chef Bernard always goes out of his way to ask how I am doing and makes me feel welcome.

Now I'll put a few pictures of my room and the town:

My room. And guess what, the bed is actually long enough for me, hooray!

Sink and beday attached to the bedroom.

Desk, shelves and large wardrobe. Also, a closet on the opposite wall - LOTS of clothes space!

View outside my window, favorite part of the room!

Common living room.

All the stuff past assistants have left: books, movies, games, maps, takeout menus, lesson plans, etc.

Dining room, with a cabinet full of dishes, heating plate and microwave.

I have a washer in my apartment, yay! But I have trouble doing laundry in America.. any guess on how to work this?

The hallway between all the rooms has maps from the homes of past assistants.

Was so thrilled when I walked in the first day and saw this, made me instantly feel more at home! (and my coordinating teacher was confused by this, as she thought I was canadian)**

Bathroom (there is a shower around the corner and a toilet in a little closet to the right)

My French wifi and my French (Spanish) telephone that I borrowed once again from my sister-in-law Brenna.*** Thanks again!

First sunset view from my bedroom window

Walk through the outskirts of town

Place de la Bouquerie, one of the main squares in town

I know this was a long post but so much has happened these past few days! This weekend will be a little more relaxing: tomorrow I plan on going to the markets here in town as I've heard they are extraordinary and just do more walking around and exploring around the center of the village. Sunday, Mme Richardot (my coordinating teacher), who called yesterday and asked me if I had plans for this weekend, invited me to spend time with her in town and at her house as she has some friends coming over who would probably love to meet me. Quelle gentillesse! I cannot be more happy or blessed to be where I am. Sometimes I feel like I am struggling to stay afloat here, but I know that if I keep putting myself out there like I have been, I will continue to improve. Ça prend du temps - translation: it takes time.

*I am dead serious, he said it exactly like this. Just like Saison Marguerite, Interplay friends. I was holding back my laughter in a small place inside.

**#accentproblems - why does everyone think I'm from Canada?? OOOhh yeah..

***It's my Spanish/French phone as I borrowed it from Brenna the last time I was in France, but the language on it is set to Spanish, as Brenna used it in Spain before. And I can't seem to figure out how to change it.