Jet Lag and Bureaucracy

Wow.  It has been a crazy, incredible month.  After nine airplanes, four different cities, and two countries, I was definitely ready to sleep in my own bed and see my apartment.  Valérie and I are still trying to get over jet lag, but it's going away slowly.  

So yesterday we went to Lille, to make an appointment to apply for a residency card here in France.  As you know, I got my visa from the French Consulate in San Francisco without any problems, but that didn't give me permission to do anything except stay in France while I apply for my residency card.  No social security number, no legal work status, nothing but permission to apply for all of that stuff.  In three months we have to go back for our interview, where they will either supply me with a Béret (one of those little flat caps with a mini-ball on top), a pencil thin moustache, and an "I'm smarter than you" smirk, and say, "Welcome to France!!", or they will drug me, throw me into the bottom of a ship with everybody else that they rejected, and sell me into slavery in some French protectorate.  Obviously, I want them to grant me residency, but if not I'm hoping they send me to Tahiti.

Anyway, when we made the appointment, the lady was really nice to us.  And on our first look at the paperwork, there isn't that much to do, and it doesn't look as difficult as we expected.  But still, I'm pretty sure I'll be nervous when we go for the appointment.  

And I'll make sure to hide some bread on my person, just in case.