Let us start at the beginning .....
On Thursday morning, we were still sitting in the caravan on the campsite, just a hair away from murdering each other! We were of course, waiting to go see the estate agent (immobilier) here in Montpon. The meeting was at 2pm, but it felt like the longest wait ever! We arrived at the estate agent's office, met the landlord and his wife (who were both incredibly nice!!) and began the meeting. ..... An hour and a half to just go through the lease ... this should have been an indication of things to come. Afterwards, every page had to be signed - all 20 pages - and most are both sides! Then two extra copies need to be made for each of the parties - plus a whole bunch of extra papers about the energy efficiency of the house, local information and so forth. Right! We're all done then?! Um ... no. We were ALL off to inspect the house. Every door, every handle, every light needed to be tested and ticked off. Discussions about what repairs (painting mainly and a light fitting etc) needed to be done, The garden didn't escape attention - no, in-depth discussions were held about what was to be done in the garden - what was to be taken out, replaced or cut back. Finally, when the keys were handed over (and yes, they were indeed some ginormous keys in there!!), we felt like we'd run a marathon!! It was 5:45pm at the end of everything!! Then we still had to go back, get the caravan, and take it 'home'.
Now of course, we had nothing much with us, so the caravan is still where we need to cook and where the fridge is .... just for a couple of days though.
Friday brought it's own set of stresses. School enrollment and bank accounts. yay. (Can you feel my excitement?!)
Our first stop was the Marie's office (Mayor's office, and very helpful people!). They handle most things in the towns. And .... more paperwork. But, we managed to get my daughter enrolled into the village Primary school. It's a school of 75 children. Her old school was over 400 kids. We had to be back for 3:15pm to meet the head teacher. Right. Off to Montpon (8km away), to get the boy enrolled into the school. And ..... MORE paperwork. Birth certificates, passports, two photos, marriage certificate, school report and vaccination certificates - all needed for enrollment. After a short wait, we met the head teacher and the assistant head. Lovely people, very understanding, but very clear about the challenges ahead. Of course we had the all important supplies list too - and there goes another big chunk of the forest! TIMBER!!!
Then we rushed off to the bank. All we needed was a simple current account. Nothing particularly fancy. But it's a full on 'sit down interview'! I felt like I was being 'checked out', whether we were in fact the right sort of people for the bank. Thankfully, we made it though and ....... then the paperwork started. It must have been at least another 20 pages - double sided and two copies of each account's paperwork AND an extra copy of everything for the bank too. I can hear the forests groaning!! After an hour and a half, we STILL weren't complete, and were asked to return after lunch. The entire TOWN closes for lunch from 12 noon to 2pm.
So we returned home (8km back), had a quick lunch, and arrived at my daughter's school for her meeting. Of course the head teacher was in a rush - something about another appointment - and spoke a lot of very complex sounding French at me. I gave my best 'I'm English and I haven't a CLUE what you're saying' facial expression, but it made little difference - she still spoke at me with great speed and zero clarity. Thankfully my husband understood enough to 'Uh huh. Dacaor' back to her. But we are still sure there were some things we missed. And that was it - she was enrolled! And we had yet another supplies list to complete. ....yay.
Of course it wasn't over yet, oh no!! So we dutifully returned to the bank, and continued the process of opening our bank accounts - for another hour and a half!!! By the end of it I felt like my head was going to explode. It was the most intense day I've ever experienced!
The following day, Saturday, was 'Buy all the supplies' day. So we trundled off to the huge hypermarket in Pinehleau (about 22km away), in the hopes that they'd have a reasonable selection. It took about two hours, and the help of one very patient shop assistant to get most of the supplies together. At the end of it, I was so tired, I felt like I should have been put in the trolly and wheeled around!! And the cost of all of this? 200 Euros. <falls down> Good grief. It's not cheap having kids in school - especially secondary school! And the books!! Sooooo many books! TIMBER!!!!! Also. a quick spiffy new haircut for the boy on the way home - his mop turned into a far more stylish cut by the talented William.
Sunday should have been a day of rest, but in our house, it was a day of labelling. Every pen, pencil, colouring pencil, ruler, chalk stick or compass had to bear the name of the child. Everything. The books were easy once we'd deciphered which ones were for what (large format, medium format, which subject needs folders, and which needs files etc), but everything took soooooo much time! And tissues! How many packs of tissues does one little girl need?!! It's beyond me. And of course all the tissue packs need to be labeled as well! It was a task that took the ENTIRE day. I started just after breakfast, and finished just as dinner was being served. The whole day. I was shattered.
Monday was the least stressful, but still stressful enough. It was the little darling's first day at French school. Both were so nervous, they looked like scared jackrabbits, ready to bolt at the tiniest sound. But, they had no choice, it had to be done. My son was first. And of course .... more paperwork. Bus, and school dinners had to be arranged. But we couldn't hang about - we were off again to take the girl to school. We arrived, and thankfully got to meet her teacher this time (was only the head teacher before). A lovely young Frenchwoman, who looked like she'd get on well with my girl. And that was it. Kids dispatched, and we were off home again ..... just in time to meet the painter, and the gardener. They worked away, and before we knew it, it was time to collect the girl. SUCCESS!! She had a great time at school, and everyone wanted to be her friend! Awww!! Next was the boy at 5pm (kids here have longer at school than in the UK, but they get very little in the way of homework, and if they DO get any, it can be done in the study periods!) and he too had a great time. Perhaps this whole thing really will work out after all. Fingers crossed!On closer inspection of both timetables, it seems that they both only have school in the morning on a Wednesday. the afternoon is at home. Nice! Except, he STARTS at 8am on Wednesday. Yawn! That's going to be fun! But they've both made a start, and small mercies - there is no school uniform. They get to wear comfortable clothes - that they actually like. There's got to be a bonus in there somewhere!!
No comments:
Post a Comment