An American in Provence

Lack of a job or classes to take is starting to make me focus my energy towards different areas. Nothing worthwhile like bettering my French or learning how to cook of course. No, instead I prefer to learn calligraphy, take up painting again, crosstitch like crazy, start to learn shorthand, and buy a recorder (hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns, yeah you know what I am talking about.) Of course, my restless state of mind means that I pursue each of these activities (in between frantically searching on the internet for new job postings) for about two days before moving onto another pursuit. So I have half-finished scrapbook pages, wedding stuff that still needs organizing, and various other projects in various states of completion all around our apartment. Which is itself in a state of confusion. But it is getting there. I keep trying to remind myself that when I do have a job (okay, if) I will look back on this time with envy, when I had enough time to go to the grocery store, wait an hour in line at the post office, etc. But I can't enjoy it now because I feel frustrated and frazzled.

Yesterday I took the TGV up to Dijon for an interview with a headhunting company for a post here in Marseille. I have never been to Dijon before, so I was quite excited to go. The train left Marseille at 6 am, so I got up at 4:30 to get ready, and Alain accompanied me to the train station. The train stopped in Lyon and a few other small towns on the way. It took a total of 3 hours and 40 minutes to get there. Once I arrived in Dijon, I took a bus to my interview. The interview went well, lasted about an hour. After that, I walked back towards the center of town (it isn't a huge town) and wandered around for awhile. Found a cute, original place to eat near the Notre-Dame cathedral. Alas, it was cute but the food was only so-so and the service indifferent. I had the menu for 19 euros, which included an appetizer (cold jellied ham), main dish of beef burgundy (when in Burgundy right?), and a dessert (some sort of nutty icecream). Then wandered around some more.

The mascot of Dijon seems to be an owl. It was on everything- signs, shops, etc. I think it is because there is a small stone carving of an owl on the cathedral, and if you touch it, it is supposed to give you good luck. I went and touched it with my right hand, and a passing Dijonaise told me "La main gauche!" (the left hand). I asked her why it was supposed to be the left hand, and she said because with the right it doesn't bring good luck. So I touched it again with the left.

I am a self-confessed train dork. For absolutely no reason, I really enjoy riding on trains, even though it stresses me. Always worried I will end up in Spain instead of my intended destination.
Though I usually like my train riding to be for a purpose (job or vacation, not just for the purpose of riding a train). This past week, I received two phone calls from two "cabinets de recruitement" head-hunting firms. One was in Paris and wanted me to come last Wednesday (Valentine's) and the one in Dijon wants me to come this coming Wednesday, the 21st. The jobs I am/was interviewing for are here in this region however.
The ANPE, which stands for who knows what, is the national job search agency. They will pay for plane or train tickets to go to an interview. The companies rather abuse this in my opinion. I think if a company is interested in a candidate, they should foot the bill. Oh well.

So I went the next day to the ANPE office to get the forms to then go to the train station and reserve my tickets. I spent several hours at the ANPE because the companies had not sent me the correct attestations. The attestation needed to list the time, CORRECT date, name of the post, the company, location of the interview, whether it is for a permanent post or not, etc. So I made some calls to the recruiment agencies, asking them to please fax the correct information to the ANPE. Furthermore, I had two interviews that afternoon, one information and one for a position that afternoon, so as much as I would have LOVED to spend all day at the ANPE, I couldn't. Finally I got the forms and headed off to the train station, Gare St. Charles, waited in line for about 15 minutes, got my tickets (paid 20 euros for my free tickets. Basically you have to pay the reservation which I am guessing means for them to hold the spot, not for the trip itself). Got home and got ready for my interviews and found out that I didn't need to go to the one in Paris the next day (bye 10 euros!). Would have been fun to go up there, but not just for a day.
We live closeby to the other train station in Marseille, Marseille Gare de la Blancarde. It is about a ten-minute walk from our apartment and serves the areas east of Marseille- Toulon, Nice, and further out.
On Friday I had another interview with a company in Aubagne, so I decided I would try to take the train and see how that worked. I left at 3 for my 5 p.m. interview. The trains are fairly regular, but not the buses. Paid my 5.40 for my aller-retour (round trip ticket), and took the ten minute commuter (stuffy, crowded) train to Aubagne. Got off, realized that I had just missed the 3:30 bus to where I needed to go. Got some information on the bus routes, got on the 4 p.m. bus to go to my interview. Was sitting there (another 1.10 down the drain) when I got a call from the secretary, saying that they needed to reschedule my interview for next week. Got off the bus before it left, took the train back to Marseille, walked home.
So today I got to repeat the whole procedure (actually made it to the interview this time), and then am going up to Dijon on Wednesday, which I am looking forward to. I have never been there, and planning on spending the afternoon wandering around Dijon before taking the TGV back (3:40 hours direct).

(photo courtesy of www.train-suisse.ch/)

So if I should get this job in Aubagne, I will be quite pleased to take the train every day. A monthly ticket is 28.40 euros, which is much cheaper than gas would be, without the added pain of traffic jams and searching 20 minutes for a parking spot.