I Won!

I'm feeling pretty bad ass right now! The French government has nothing on me!

Sure it took two visits to the CAF, 3 phone calls, and a few trees were sacraficed for additional copies, (not my fault), but the paperwork war is over and I am victorious. Elise gets to stay at school for lunch and we get to pay for it! Ha, Ha CAF! That's right, we get to pay! Wait a second, who won? We're officially responsible for the fees. Ah crap!

So it really only took two visits to the CAF despite my predicted three. On the first visit they told me that Elise had moved out and I need to obtain a french birth certificate to prove that my three year old still lived with me. Awesome! But the rest of visit #1 included a successful deposit of our 2008 declaration resources and the avis d'impots. So, I'm half way there. We need visas and proof that Elise is still ours, she is alive and well, living under our roof, and then we're done. One more strike on the triangle of doom!

Wrong!

Because, on the return visit, exactly one week later and a few phone calls by my friends at the beautiful BACE here on campus, they had lost my 2008 declaration resources, avis d'impots, and I still only had one daughter, Elise!!! Yeah, in the week since my first visit, Elise came home but Celia took off. It's like musical chairs of daughters. I don't know where they go but they have some tag team thing going on according to the CAF. They are morons (not E and C, the CAF!). However, like I said, I WON! I won't be defeated and I am armed and ready. I brought everything with on visit #2, hence the sacrificed tree, and I met their every demand. Bank account? Check! Visa renewal? Check! Bring it on! And although I did not leave the CAF with my Quotient Familial, (it will take another 10 days to process since they have to re-enter ALL our paperwork!), I did leave the CAF with a spring in my step and a lot lighter (of course, I just unloaded 10 kilos of papers!)

Oh, and to fill you in on the rest of the triangle of doom...

(1) The visa thing worked out beautifully! We picked up our recepisse (the receipt that says you successfully applied for your visa and the real thing is coming. Why they can't just give you the real visa I'll never understand but that's the way it goes! Welcome to France!) on Thursday and I could hear the triangle of doom crumple as I walked out of the prefecture.

(2) Even though CAF visit #2 didn't end with the QF, I went to the Mairie anyway to see if I could register Elise for the canteen. Maybe I'll get a nice guy for ONCE and be done with all this! Well, the stars were aligned. It was beautiful. He didn't even care about the QF because, dah, you can calculate the cost of lunch based on pay stubs. (So, why do they ask for the QF if they don't even need it? I'm not going to get into that. This guy is nice. He's completing l'inscription pour Elise. I'm going to run with it and bust out and not ask questions! Welcome to France!)

So BAAM! We're pretty much done. I need to follow up with the CAF on other issues however it is not a crisis and I'm not going to lose sleep or money over it. The most important thing here is that Elise can eat and we're not going to be penalized for not registering her by the end of September. Funny how such a little thing like paying for lunch consumed my life for the past 3 weeks. I can't decide if I feel bad for getting caught up in this silly game of bureaucracy with the French or if I feel proud for (a) figuring out the game, (b) winning the game, and (c) actually being able to communicate and understand about 43% of the game! I guess looking back on it all, I feel proud but a little silly for letting it stress me out. I should know better by now that even though they have their rules, rules are meant to be broken. I flash a little smile or show my Celia's red runny noise and I get a little sympathy and help. For as much grief as I give the French, I have yet to meet a person who has treated me poorly or made me feel terrible. I live in their world and I don't speak their language but 98.5% of the people I have had to interact with are patient and kind. I feel very lucky to be in such a welcoming place where even though I have to battle, it's always a friendly game!

Triangle of Doom

This week I embark on a journey from which I may not return. I am off to the CAF, La Caisse nationale des Allocations familiales, to obtain our Quotient Familial, QF. I am off to the place where souls are lost and people have gone missing in the vastness of paperwork. Lost, never to be seen again!

Why do it then? Well, Elise has to eat! At school that is. And the CAF is one of my stops on the triangle of doom that has consumed my world for the past 10 days and will continue to until I can successfully tear it down with a (1) avis d'impots, (2) quotient familial, and (3) l'inscription au restaurant scolaire. The trifecta of doom and my life this moment!

Thus, this week it's the CAF, followed by the Maire next week to figure out la tarification et la facturation au restuaurant scolaire. This after a fabulous trip to the centre d'impots last week for l'avis d'impots, Ad'I!

Oh, the avis d'impots? It's like your key to life here in France. From what I'm slowly, painfully, learning is that when a frenchman receives his/her avis d'impots in July, (basically it's your tax statement saying what you owe or are receiving from the French government for last year's taxes), you scan it into your computer, make 835 copies for all the government officials that will need to see it, laminate it in plastic, downsize a copy to fit in your wallet so you can show it off like a picture of a loved one, and then laminate it in gold and lock it in a safety deposit box where it will be stored for the rest of your life because you may need to show it at any moment. Key to life, no exaggeration. And until I started the registration process for Elise's canteen, in which I needed the QF but couldn't get that until I went to CAF with my Ad'I, I had never heard of the avis d'impots because we had not received ours yet! Thus, the first stop in my triangle of doom, the centre d'impots!

Here we go....Thursday I am armed with every document of my and my family's existence. Birth certificates (in English and French), salary stubs, marriage license, tax forms, passports, visas,...Everything! I'm ready for a battle with the tax man. Ninety minutes later I'm speaking with a tax woman about the missing foreign bank account information that has halted the delivery of our avis d'impots. They can't process our taxes until we give them our American bank information. Ah, but lady, flip over the last page of our paperwork. Yeah, that's right, it's all there. You received it in May. You just needed to flip over the page of our renseignements! Aaugh!!!!

Seriously? Yes, seriously! Here we are, the earthly conscience americans trying to save some paper by printing all our information double sided! I'm done trying to save mother earth while living in Paris!

Alright, so super frustrating but one point down, two to go of the trifecta of doom!

Which takes us to this week...

And although I used this weekend to relax and mentally prepare for the disappointment and dispair I will inevitably feel when dealing with the CAF people and they refuse my request for a QF because we have yet to receive our new visas, which expired in August and we started the paperwork for renewals in June but since no one works most of July and August we have yet to hear about new visas, (breathe), I am hoping for the best! :)

So, wish me luck! Let's hope for minimal paper-cuts and blood loss as I take on l'homme. I have taken down one angle of the triangle of doom and I am not scared. I will succeed! And being the math geek that I am, I wish I could come up with some clever way to defeat a triangle of doom. I can't just square it, hee hee, or cube root it, but I will destroy it! How to do that mathematically will be something I will ponder as I sit in the waiting room of the CAF. So stayed tuned because I am certain to come up with something mathematically witty as I wait!

A sight to be scene

The ladies and I stepped out this afternoon for a last minute shopping spree. We needed things for our spontaneous picnic and the ladies wanted to join me for the quick outing. So for some strange reason I grab the Cadillac of strollers, our BabyTrend Sit and Stand, load up the ladies, and we're off to the only market open on Sunday evenings. (Yes, the only market open. Thus, the busiest! And I for some reason decide to take my two young children???)

The funny thing is that while I'm walking down the boulevard I'm not so worried about the craziness of the shopping spree avec deux enfants. And it's not so much that we're walking in a pousette that is 8 times that of your average European pousette and will definitely not fit in the store. What is troubling me with our impromptu adventure is that we quickly left the house without considering our attire. And as I glance down at my two beautiful children, I can't do anything but laugh. Here is what I see: on this bright beautiful 75 degree day, my Celia is wearing her yellow rain boots, pink tights and poka dot dress that is FULL of stains from the days activities. But that my friend is nothing when you check out the Elise: princess ballerina tutu with fabulous stripped underwear that is totally sticking out and eye catching! Awesome! And to top it off, I am still dressed in my running shorts, gym shoes, and t-shirt from my recently completed run. A huge faux pas in the streets of Paris. Thus, the Fischer ladies are out on the prowl and ready for anything. Especially all those funny looks from everyone we pass!

Oh well. We're out and we're not going back. The ladies are content to be in their huge stroller and shopping. They are happily in each of their own seats (as opposed to Celia being on Elise's lab in the single, more appropriate pousette), there are no tears, no outrageous fits, we look quite silly but we're enjoying ourselves. Thus the adventure continues and on to the G20. And no worries. We completed the task with minor issues and were back at home, safe and sound in our private backyard picnic-ing within the hour.

Being out and creating quite the scene got me thinking about some of the incredible Paris sites and scenes we've had the pleasure of viewing since arriving here last year. We have gotten out to many of the top recommended places since arriving in Paris: The top floor of the Centre Pompidou and the top steps of the Sacre Coeur. We also got to the bottom of stuff: the base of the Arc de Triomphe which is always a thrill to stand under and gaze down the Champs-Elsees as well as the bottom of the famous Montmartre stairs (thanks Dad!).

Like I always say, it's a pretty great opportunity to be living here in Paris. This place is amazing, never a dull moment when you step out, and we've even had a chance to compile our own list of favorite views. Perhaps not found in your guide books or websites, these have become my favorite scenes in Paris, an insiders perspective!

• The pont neuf at night. Take a stroll across the bridge for an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine. You can't beat it. Brian and I stopped there on our first visit to Paris and it's been one of the top place to go for me since. Now granted, I may be stealing this guy from the tour books, but it's pretty worth it.
• There is a fabulous intersection of three streets near the Port Royal RER stop near the Observatory. Stand on this intersection, Avenue de l'Observatoire, Avenue Denfert-Rochereau, & Rue Henri Barbusse, and face the Jardin du Luxembourg. As you glance up avenue de l'Observatoire, you have a fabulous view of the Sacre Coeur. (this one discovered by Brian)
• Another great night scene is to walk from the Ile Saint-Louis over the Seine on the pedestrian bridge connecting the Saint-Loius to the Ile de la Cite. This will take you towards the backside of the Notre Dame which will be beautifully lit up. I think the backside is even more amazing than the front, especially at night with all the lights. But be sure to stop off for a Berthillon ice cream before your stroll.
• A friend and I recently climbed to the top of the Parc de Belleville. This spot offers a beautiful view of the city that is similar to the Sacre Coeur just from a different angle. While there last month, the parc was in full bloom and so very colorful. It's a great spot to catch a nice glimps of the city minus the crowds of the Sacre Coeur.
• After catching the view from the base of the Arc de Triomphe, stroll to the bottom of the Champs-Elsees and pause at the entrance of the Jardin de Tuleries. Climb up the stairs and do a slow spin. There you will catch a fabulous view of the Arc, Louvre, and Tower! It's really quite neat!

Okay, so your next visit to Paris is planned. I'll write more about restaurant recommendations to accompany these fabulous views soon! :)

Other note worthy news:

1. Elise started school on Thursday and she LOVES it! She goes all day, eats lunch in the canteen, and thinks she is the biggest best girl in the world. (I think she's right!) We are so proud of her.

2. Celia's hair is crazier than ever:

We hope you all had a fabulous Labor Day! Happy 3 Day Weekend!