THEN my Canadian counterpart and I found out our schedules were going to be completely changed because she had been assigned to 3 schools and I was only assigned to the CIV. Now I'm dropping several classes from my original schedule to pick up her priority classes so she can travel to the other schools. I don't know how it came about that there are 4 lycees in the area needing assistants and 2 English assistants available, but I'm only at the CIV and she is at 3 schools. I will never fail to marvel at how little sense this program makes... So anyway, everyone's stress has been mounting and we won't have any definite answers on anything school related until after the le Toussaint break.
Saturday was spent apartment hunting with my Canadian counterpart and the German assistant at the CIV. The Canadian and German have been sharing a studio apartment this month and I have been sequestered to Cap d'Antibes all by lonesome, none of which are great situations and certainly not long-term solutions. We started with a 9am appointment at a great location, but it turned out the couple renting the place wanted two months' rent security, renter's insurance, tons of documents we don't have yet because we haven't gotten our residency permits, and we would have had to buy a bed for the third person. All told we would have had to magically come up with over 3,000 euros within the next two weeks and we were pretty sure these people had no intention of returning our deposit money in April.
After grabbing a 1 meter-long sandwich from a "Snack" in Vieille Antibes, the three of us sat on the wall to the ramparts eating and talking about our situation. By the time we had our 1:30 appointment we had decided to not take the first place but to definitely all live together. The 1:30 appointment included 2 apartments. The first one was near the bars in Vieille Antibes, which is awesome, but was small and didn't have a good layout for 3 people. We were also competing with some party boys who wanted the place so we let them have it. Luckily the second place we were showed was the same price and oh so nice with a modern kitchen, big bathroom, and plenty of space for 3 people to have all the privacy and personal space she needs. It's a bit farther from town, but still much closer than any of us are right now and a comfortable 10-15 minute walk to the bus station.
We were thrilled to find a place and are all so excited to move in. Unfortunately I cannot move in until end of November because I'm paid up at the studio until then, but I think I can handle a few more weeks here knowing that I have something fabulous waiting for me in December. We celebrated by window shopping at a mall near Nice and grabbing some dinner at the asian fast food place in Antibes. It was a pretty expensive day from buying food to bus fares, in all about 20 euro, but it was necessary and included a successful apartment hunt.
Aside from work and apartments, I was invited to attend a "teachers party" on Saturday night, which turned into an awkward and bizarre situation. Basically, a teacher at my school wanted to make the most out of the week her kids were away and throw a wild party. The only problem is that nobody she invited was really wild. The guests included a handful of French teachers from the area, all around the age of 40 and somewhat calmed down, and the English assistants from the schools in and around Antibes. The age difference between the two groups was very noticeable and the fact that the hostess was trying to set everyone up with dates was even more noticeable. After a group of French college students came up to crash the party and all of the French people had the chance to represent their 'hood by proclaiming the area code where they grew up, I was ready to leave. Myself and another assistant dropped heavy hints to our designated driver that we were exhausted from the long day and really wanted to go home. We were luckily on our way home by about midnight.
Sunday was spent cleaning my apartment, cooking a little bit and generally being lazy. Tomorrow is my day off but I have errands at my new French bank and I have to go to Nice to get my birth certificate translated into French- so annoying/expensive! I might make it fun by walking the Promenade d'Anglais and taking pictures if it's sunny. The beaches in Antibes are great, but the water in Nice turns the most fantastic shade of blue.
In other happy news, Leigh lands in Nice on Friday morning!!! Then we travel Italy the following week!!!!
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