French Resolutions

This year my resolutions are strong and I have a thirst for change.  Honestly, I haven't written many posts for this blog for a few months for one simple reason.  I'm supposed to tell you wonderful stories about my life here, and since I really can't it's better for me not to write.  To be honest, I do not like Metz anymore.  I do not enjoy teaching English to people who do not wish to learn it.  Moreover, I have no desire to go out in this town anymore.  I know all the streets, shops, restaurants, cafés.  Even meeting new people here brings me no new pleasure.  It's drab routine in a climate where it rains everyday and gets dark at 4pm.  Believe me,  I wish I were not announcing this awful fact, but it's true.

My Christmas break has served me to realize I absolutely must have change, perhaps even drastic change.  For the last couple weeks, I have been working hard to get rid of as many possessions as I can.  So far I've managed to throw out about half.  The destruction actually reinvigorates me.  Have any of you ever felt the pleasure of smashing a table because it's the only way to get it out of an apartment?  My goal is to get down to 5 or 6 boxes but I'm still too far away from that.  Few belongings brings freedom, and face it, you are only mobile when you're light.  I have handed in my notice to escape my apartment and soon plan to quit every single one of my jobs.  Sometimes it takes a leap of fate, a hail mary pass for a better life.  It's possible I'll have regrets.  I really hope not.  I never thought I would identify so much with Tracy Chapman when she sang "I want a ticket to anywhere!"

My life here will always be the same.  I can have the same jobs forever, live in the same flat, buy my groceries in the same supermarket, go to the same cinema.  I do have that security in this town. I acknowledge many people would love to have it.  I have a beautiful view of the cathedral from my window.  Yet, I cannot deal with tedium anymore.  Perhaps this is what is meant by provincial life.

It won't be easy nor swift.  I'm starting as of now.  So, my lesson for you today is, remember, nothing is quick in France.  Rental contracts are not easily broken.  You must give 90 days notice before you can leave an apartment.  Getting electricity, water, phone or internet service disconnected is a headache too.  In France you have contracts with them as well.  Banking is a huge mess. It's difficult to change banks since you are assigned to one particular local agency, the one in which you opened your account.  A Banque Populaire client may not deal with another branch of the same institution.  In some cases, contracts cannot be suspended.  Monthly deposits, bills and tax payments are almost always automatic transactions in France. In addition, as you may know, work is measured out from an end date backward here, not a starting date forward.  For example, when you teach a course they give you a contract with a set number of hours already planned out. After every class you cross out one day.  I suppose it does give job security to see clearly you have guaranteed work in May, but nowadays I tend to see it more like a prison sentence.  For each class I take on, I do time until I'm free from it.  This gives a very different feeling from creating something new and original step-by-step.

All in all, I'll be around Metz for many many more months, but I shall leave.  That day will be ever so sweet!  The big question is where to next?  That, my friends, I have not figured out.  Perhaps you can give me some tips. :)

Documents needed for French Naturalization

I'm in a cleaning mood.  I'm happily throwing out lots of papers I've hoarded for far too long, but before I throw out this I thought I'd share the contents with you.  It wasn't easy to compile this list.  It took me a while to find out the requirements by visiting one organization or another and/or talking to different civil servants in France.  Some say you need to see a lawyer, but almost no one does.  It's a waste of money.  Anyway, here is the list of paperwork you need to become a French citizen.  It's for asking the "privelege of being naturalized French".  If you marry a Frenchman, have French blood, or were born in France there is a slightly different process.  In those cases you are asking for the "right of being naturalized French".

French Naturalization
1)  Fill out the naturalization form (twice).  It's found on the gouv.fr site or available at any prefecture.  It takes a lot of time to fill in.  They ask for extensive information about family, studies, jobs, lifestyle.
2)  You need an original certified copy of your birth certificate with an Apostille on it (official seal from the state in which you were born).  This all must be translated into French by an official certified translator.
3)  You also need a copy of your dad's birth certificate, your mom's birth certificate, plus their marriage certificate.  All of them must also be translated by an official certified translator too.
4)  A copy of your original foreign passport
5)  Four photos of a certain size (don't remember, but you can get them easily from any photographer in France).  The photomaton machine at the Prefecture is fine enough.
6)  A photocopy of your "titre de séjour" or "carte de résident".  You must have lived in France legally for five uninterruped years.
7)  Three years of work contracts and payslips.  The contracts must indicate salary, starting and end date, and job occupied,  Slips guaranteeing monthly unemployment allowances also count.
8)  Go to the Trésor Public in your French town and ask for a "Bordereau de situation fiscal" for the last three years.  This proves you have paid all the types of taxes you need to pay and you are in a good situation.  For this you must go to the National Treasury Office
9)  Photocopy of your "Avis d'imposition" for the last three years.  This is a document also related to income taxes and revenue that you can obtain at the Income Tax Office (le Fisc).
10)  Photocopy of rental contacts for the last three years or documents showing you have bought a house.
11)  Photocopy of EDF bills (electricity bills) for the last three years or telephone bills for last three years.
12)  Copy of a bank statement from your French bank
13)  A "Extrait de casier judiciaire"- a police/ military document certifying you have committed no crime in the last ten years.

14) After you have taken those documents to the Prefecture and they have been approved, you will be told to schedule an interview with the French Gendarmerie (National Police, equivalent FBI/CIA) which will be a thorough investigation into your background.   (This is the most stressful part, but goes well if you have nothing to hide). They will ask many personal and professional questions.
15)  You must schedule an oral exam at the nearest prefecture to prove fluency in the French language.

These were the requirements as of December 2013.  Perhaps they have changed since but I doubt it.  It has been the same for many years already and the government is reluctant to amend this.  Hope it can be of some use to somebody.  So, yes, once again, France is a nation of paper and bureaucracy.  Do not get rid of any important document.  It could come back to haunt you.  If your goal is to become French, start thinking about this a few years in advance so you can be sure to have all the required documents.