I lost the pin code to my phone, which means I haven't been able to use it. In hindsight I should have saved the number on the computer so I wouldn't have to rely on a piece of paper the size of a peanut, but such is life. So we recruited our friend JN and his lovely ability to speak French to go to the store with us to figure out what to do next. They told us we could do it online. Long, long story short we couldn't do it online and spent about 45 minutes trying to do it via the house phone and an automated customer service line.
          Having done that, Jeremy asked if JN could show us how to change our password on our banking site so we could raise our credit limit. You see, we had called our bank's customer support line to ask for a credit limit raise because we needed to buy wardrobes (many French apartments don't have closets) and an initial credit limit is €500. They told us to do it online. Have you ever set up an account on a website and they send you an e-mail with a temporary password to use for the first time you access the site? Yeah, our bank did that and sent us the wrong temporary password. So we can't access our online banking information. We told JN this and he said, "Well sure I can help you change your password, but you can't change your credit limit online. That has to be done in person with a bank adviser." Ugh.
          So apparently, the only thing French customer support knows how to say is "You can do that online." Whether you can actually indeed do "that" online is apparently not their concern.
          A couple side notes: the electrician came today (an hour late) and "temporarily" fixed our problem and he will come back on another day with the proprietor to properly fix it. Whether he actually temporarily fixed the problem and why he needs the proprietor here to properly fix it are unanswered questions. I took it to mean the landlord, but apparently according to google translate propriétaire can mean either landlord or owner in French so maybe he meant the owner of his electrician company. If it's anything like the US a lot of electrician companies will have one licensed electrician, in a small business he is also the owner, and apprentices.
          The other side note is I noticed my posts have been void of pictures recently so I took some pictures of my afternoon walk with my dog Kisa. Lately it's been too hot for me to do much outside, but today had a nice strong breeze. It's actually probably been considered nice out to French people, but I've lived a pampered life of air conditioning so I'm sweating through my socks.

          Yesterday was French Labor Day. Jeremy had off work and we were planning on going to a yard sale by the mall. Little did we know that Labor Day is taken seriously here! Everything is closed! This includes the tram or bus we would need to get to the mall, so that idea quickly went out the door. The grocery store, post office, bank, everything was closed. Considering the grocery store is within eye sight from the apartment, I typically shop almost daily just picking up what I need for dinner that night; our cupboards are pretty bare. Not anticipating a store closure, I hadn't shopped in advance. I had enough to scrap together pasta with peas and broccoli with a béchamel sauce but considering I've been cooking pretty elaborate meals lately, it was a little depressing!
          May 1st is also the day to give close friends and family, typically females, lily of the valleys as a token of appreciation or to express affection. It started in 1561 when King Charles IX was presented with them on May 1st. He liked them very much and decided he would give them the the ladies of his court each year. Now on May 1st, they are allowed to be sold tax free.
          While it may also be called May day, it is not the same as the May day that takes place in Great Britain and Italy. That May day is a celebration of spring, involving dancing, typically around a ribboned mayppole. France's May day is simply just for campaigning and celebrating worker's rights, and handing out lily of the valleys.
          There are three other national holidays this month, WWII victory day, Ascension day, and Whit Monday, which means not a single week in May is a full work week.

          Jeremy and I started going to a tutor recently for French and he gave more information about apartment shopping in France.
          First off, which I had my suspicions about but he confirmed, France is like the UK in where the 1st floor is actually the 2nd floor. While in America we say 1st floor, 2nd floor, etc., the French call the 1st floor the ground floor, the 2nd floor the 1st floor, and so on. So if you're checking into a hotel and you're on say the 5th floor, it's actually the 6th. In apartment ads, floors are characterized by T# or F#. For example, if an ad says T4 or F4, that means you're on the 4th floor (5th floor for us Americans). Also of note, if a building has 4 or more floors, it is required to have an elevator. Anything with less than that is not required to have one, so be careful while shopping.
          Another thing I kept coming across that was a little confusing was how many rooms an apartment has. For example, I would come across an ad for an apartment with 4 rooms but upon reading the ad I would find it had 7. They don't count the kitchen, bathrooms, or restrooms (I will explain the difference further on) as rooms. So even though it had a kitchen, bathroom, restroom, living room, 2 bedrooms, and one office/small bedroom, it was only listed as a 4 room apartment.
          Onto restrooms versus bathrooms. Restrooms have a sink and possibly a toilet, but no tub or shower. Bathrooms have a shower or tub, usually a sink, and either may or may not have a toilet. Toilets tend to have their own little closed off room inside or besides the restroom or bathroom. Restrooms are abbreviated as les W.C. in ads (leh doo-blah-vay-say) but when speaking of them, you typically say les toilettes (leh twah-let) and bathrooms are abbreviated as SDB, short for la salle-de-bains (lah sahl-duh-bahn).
          A lot of apartments come with cellar space. This is basically equivalent to renting out the smallest space of a storage unit in America but with lower ceilings. It's also typically difficult to get to (stooping and a flight of stairs are typically involved) so it can't be used to store larger items because it would just be impossible to carry those things down there. This includes motorcycles or bicycles.
          Another thing you might see on an ad is vis-à-vis or sans vis-à-vis. Vis-à-vis (veez-ah-veez) means your view from your windows is poor. Typically, you're facing another apartment or building, sometimes close enough you could probably play catch with your neighbor. Sans vis-à-vis means you have a scenic view. While ads typically tend to leave out if it has a poor view, don't assume just because it doesn't say sans vis-à-vis that it will have a poor view because I have found plenty that have gorgeous views but for some reason the Realtor or whoever didn't up-play it.
          The hardest thing I found to differentiate was yard types. Everyone seems to have their own definition. There are cour intérieures (koor in-tair-ee-uhr), espaces vert (eh-spahs vair), and parcs. Cour intérieure is when the apartment building(s) encompass a large area for parking. You will drive through an archway into the center of the apartment building(s) to park. It's typically cement and gravel with no yard. Espace vert has a wide range of definition but is mostly used for small patches of communal yard. Kind of like here in America where there is a strip of grass in front of apartments of between two apartment buildings. It's not huge, maybe there's one tiny tree or something, you can't do anything with it, but at least your dog has a spot to squat. However, I have seen larger areas still defined as espaces vert. Then there's parcs. A parc is a large area of grass. There are trees or shrubs and enough room to play fetch with your dog.
          So let's take all this and give an example to translate. This is an actual ad from leboncoin.fr:
Type de bien :Appartement
Pièces :3
Référence : T3
Description :
Bel appartement de 73m² dans immeuble récent, comprenant un grand séjour lumineux donnant sur balcon de 10m² sans vis à vis, cuisine séparé non équipée, 2 chambres, sdb, wc indépendant, un parking privatif, espaces vert communs.
          This would translate to:
Property Type: Apartment
Rooms: 3
Reference: Floor 3
Description:
Beautiful apartment, 73 meters squared in modern building, comprised of a large, bright living room with a balcony of 10 meters squared with a good view, non-equipped seperate kitchen, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, seperate restroom, private parking, and a communal green space.
          I hope this helps people in the future, as it was quite a headache for me and I still would have had questions if the tutor hadn't helped me out. Thanks for reading and, as always, feel free to comment! Don't forget to do your amazon shopping through our link on the Support Us page!

          The Realtor in Besançon got back to us. Apparently all the things we're asking for in an apartment is not very "doable" in center city. We want an apartment that is at least 70 square meters (753 square feet) but preferably 80 or more with an elevator, fully-equipped kitchen, washer and dryer, 2+ bedrooms, parking, and a green space for the dog. "Bonuses" would be a balcony, cellar, community garden, and ample closet space.
          We wanted center city because the taxes are cheaper, but according to the Realtor green space, elevators, and balconies are rare. Unfortunately, my dog can't climb steps and I'm not carrying a 37 lb dog up and down who knows how many flights of stairs who knows how many times a day, and she won't go to the bathroom on concrete, so an elevator and green area are definite requirements. We'll have to talk to her again and make sure we're on the same page about what a "green area" consists of. I'm not expecting a park or huge area for her to run around in, I just want her to have enough grass to happily do her business in.
          Unlike American apartments that come with a fridge, dishwasher,stove, and oven, most apartments in France come without these appliances. Even a fully-equipped kitchen, or fitted kitchen as they call it, doesn't come with a refrigerator or dishwasher. It seems "fully-equipped" loosely means hob, oven, hood, and sink. Also, while apartments can come with the set-up for a washer and dryer, the appliances themselves are not included. These are all extra expenditures we were not counting on, as in our experience, apartments always came with all major appliances.
          The size we're asking for is a little problematic as well. Apartments are ridiculously tiny over there, with apartments as small as 25 sq. meters (270 sq. ft.) being the norm for a single person. There are some, but we won't have our pick of the litter like here in America where I don't think I've ever seen an apartment smaller than 650 sq. ft. outside of a major city like Philadelphia or New York. Our old apartment was 870 sq. ft. and now we live in a house so we are not willing to adapt to the French norm in this circumstance.
          You may be asking why we're not looking into purchasing a house. After all, we'll be there for at least three years, right? The reason we're not looking into buying a house in France is simple. You know how in America you usually put around 10-15% down on a house and mortgage the rest? Yeah well in France you're expected to put at least 80% down. Holy smokes! No wonder why every one rents there! I mean, houses are cheaper there than here, but that's still a whole heck of a lot of money! As for renting a house, that's a pretty expensive option as well and out of our budget.
          Our trip to France to look at apartments will be the first or second week of November. Hopefully we'll have some things figured out by then! Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to comment!

          While this is the week of waiting, it's also the week of doctors. I have a whole bunch lined up. I want to get everything imaginable done before I go to France. Don't get me wrong, we're gonna have awesome health insurance over there, I would just prefer to speak with doctors who fluently speak my own language! I can't imagine what it's going to be like over there trying to speak broken French when something ails me.
          Speaking of health insurance, you don't need to be married to be under your significant other's plan. We have to sign a document stating we're sincere to one another, but that's it. This is a huge relief considering I won't be able to work while I'm there.
          That's right, while all we need is a paper stating we're sincere to one another to be under Jer's health insurance, we need to be married for me to work. This was a huge blow because they originally told us that after 6 months, I would be able to work. Turns out there was a misunderstanding and they had thought we were married which is why they told us that. Since we're not married, I will be going under a "long term visitor" visa, in which I am not allowed to work. I could try to find a job once I'm there that's willing to get a work visa for me, but France is very strict about hiring outside of their country. The company needs to prove that no French person could do the job that they would be hiring me to do. If I had the other visa, this could have all been bypassed.
          Considering I'm a veterinary technician with no other schooling, the chances are very slim. The government has a teacher's assistant program but you have to take a test proving you can speak intermediate French and you can't teach for two consecutive years. That means that, if I'm lucky, I'll be able to work for 7 months out of the whole 3 years we'll be there, as each year's program only goes from October to April. The application for the 2015-2016 year is due this January and I doubt I'll be able to pass the test by then which means I won't be working until October of 2016. If I'm lucky.
          We're going to be scraping by, that's for sure, so please support us! Under the Support Us page in the upper right-hand corner of this blog, there is a link to shop Amazon. There is no extra fee for you but we would get a small commission (very small but hey, every penny counts). Please try to think of us and use our link every time you need to shop Amazon.
          Thanks for reading and, as always, feel free to comment!

           We have a dog and a cat, so I’ve been learning what is required to bring them. I went to this website and learned basically all I needed, but I’ll sum it up for you. Keep in mind this is for France only, if you’re going to another country, go  here and select the country you are going to.          
           Dogs and cats (and ferrets!) need a few things to make their way to France; they need a microchip, current vaccines, an official health certificate, and an airline approved crate.
           The microchip needs to be a standard ISO 11784 or an annex A ISO standard 11785 which are 15 digit microchips. If your pet already had a 9 digit microchip, you will need to purchase a scanner and bring it with you. Even as little as two years back, 15 digit microchips were not used as much in the US. It wasn’t uncommon to have to purchase your own microchip online and bring it in to your vet to insert it. However, it is becoming more common to use these universal, 15 digit microchips.
          My personal favorite is the Home Again chip, that’s what my office uses (for those of you who don’t know me, I’m a veterinary technician). We’ve never had any issues with reactions at the injection site or migrating microchips. If your vet only has 9 digit chips and you need a 15 digit chip, you can purchase one very cheap at amazon. If your pet already has a 9 digit chip, you can purchase a scanner at amazon as well. It’s possible to re-chip your pet with a 15 digit when it already has a 9 digit. It’s much cheaper than buying the scanner, but there can be complications if a universal scanner is used. The original chip will not be taken out of your pet, but the new chip will be placed in about the same area. Since a universal scanner picks up all frequencies of chips, 9 digit or 15, an error in the reader can occur. This can cause problems at the airport and problems if your pet ever gets lost, so please purchase the scanner versus re-chipping your pet.
          Your pet also needs to be current on vaccines, specifically rabies. Something very important to mention is that the vaccines will not be considered current if your pet was vaccinated before getting microchipped. Vaccines have to be given after  microchipping occurs (or at the same time according to a representative of the USDA I spoke to). Vaccines also have to be given at least 21 days prior to leaving the country. This stinks for me and my dog, Kisa. She was vaccinated in January, which covers her for three years, but she isn’t microchipped so she will have to receive another rabies vaccination before we go. Poor pup!
          There is also an official health certificate that needs to be filled out by a certified veterinarian within 10 days of leaving the country and then signed by a USDA agent. You can find your state’s agent contact information here. I would also print out the copy of the certificate with explanatory notes in case your veterinarian doesn’t feel like looking up what something is or means. That way the explanation is right there (it happens)! Also, it wasn’t listed on the site but I’ve read in forums that the certificate should be filled out in blue ink only. This is allegedly the “official ink color” used for French documentation and could be turned down if in black ink. Don’t worry too much though, because in the same forums everyone agreed that no one at the airports paid much attention to the certificate anyway!
          Lastly, there’s the air port carriers. While there are minimum requirements, each airline can request more so check with your airline before buying.
          Thanks for reading and don't forget to comment if you have any questions or just want to add your two cents!