Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Comme je suis bête!

Ok, so I guess I got a little ahead of myself for the Paris dream. I should have known it's not as simple as one, two, three. After some thankful feedback from some follow expat bloggers, I realized that I can't just pack up my bags that quickly or that easily.
I'm just really anxious to begin a job that I enjoy, that I actually want to do and that I can excel in, and that most importantly, pays a decent salary. I've got student loans to start paying off very soon. I've already deferred them for 2 years now...
So again, I've made a decision lol. Paris will have to wait...for now. We've decided to keep the apartment in Besançon for a few more months. That way, we will know what Christophe will be doing in the fall, we'll be able to keep our residence commune, and I will be able to take advantage of my connections here. There is a possibility of being a vacataire in the secondary schools, which is a basically a sustitute for the English teachers in collège and lycée. Apparently it would pay about the same as the assistantship but I wouldn't be paid during the vacations. Hey, if it's only for a little while, I'll do it.

I'm also starting to panick about money. I'll have a salary until the end of June but afterwards I'll have no more source of income. I just asked the dad of the little girl that I babysit for if they would need me this summer and he gave me a pretty straight answer, "well the kids will be away at camp so we won't need you."
Shit, I really needed the extra money for July. I guess spending a week at the Mediterranean this summer is out of the question.. I wanted to have at least 2000€ saved for next year. It will be a lot less than that.

But I do have some good news, Aer Lingus is having a sale to the US this summer so I jumped right on that wagon. I'll officially be spending August back home in Connecticut! Yay! I bought a round trip ticket for 550€. Is that even possible to find airfare that low in the middle of the summer? If any readers out there are looking to go to the US from France (or even from Europe) the sale is going on until May 28th. Here's the site:
Aer Lingus USA sale from Europe

Well better get back to watching cartoons with the little girl. Thanks again to KSam for her helpful feedback.

6 comments:

BlondeInFrance said...

The internet is a very useful place!

I'm anxious too to do something I really love, which is why there is now all this stress about the masters and my own cds situation next year! Though I always told myself I'd be happy either having a super job in a lame city or living in a cool place and taking whatever job I could. And living with a super strawberry-tart-making man doesn't hurt (mine does an amazing vodka sauce) ;-)

Ksam said...

No prob - I've learned a lot of these lessons the hard way, so if I can spare anyone else the trouble/stress, I totally will!

When will you be eligible for the cds VPF? The only reason I ask is because once you have that, there is a good chance you will be eligible for chômage. And even though I'm definitely not a fan of assistants receiving unemployment (because we pay less taxes than a normal French employee), at least you would be able to use the "pôle emploi" resources for finding a new job.

Katie said...

Andromeda - I agree with you too about the having a cool job in a lame city or having an ok job in a great place. I'm just ready to move out of Besançon!

Ksam- I'll eligible now! we've been living together since May 2008 officially. I did hear that I might be able to get chômage. Yes I do feel a little guilty too, but it would really help until I find a job in the fall. Don't I also officially register with the ANPE and they help me find a job?

Ksam said...

That's how it used to be before - you registered with the Assedic (and they paid your chômage) and then the ANPE helped you find a job. But they recently merged and now they're both called "pôle emploi", which supposedly has simplified the whole process....

Happy Harry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MilkJam said...

hey sorry i had to delete my comment but i was logged in as Mystery Guest! Opps!

Anyway what I wanted to say is that although being a sub does not provide steady work (I have heard that there is a high demand right now...) it does pay better than an assistant! The Rectorat told me that it pays 28e per hour net, so I'll be making just over 400e for this week of 15 hours, not bad! especially if you put that into a 4 week per month salary, but again unstable..

Try to get on the list anyway, it doesn't hurt! :-)