Pride

Can I just tell you guys how proud I am of myself? The word of the day is: fierté (fee-air-tay)= pride or fier, which means proud. Why you might query am I so proud of myself on this particular day? Well, sit back and I shall tell you.

It's quite simple really. I accomplished a few small tasks in French. That is the reason for my fierce fierte. This morning after dropping Josh off at CERN, he had promised me the car today to run errands and, naturally, he missed the bus. I shouldn't complain, but sometimes I wonder about his time management skills (Honey, if you're reading this I'm obviously over-exaggerating to make it more fun to read - obviously....) Umm....anyways. It was actually a good thing I had to drive him in because it meant I got off my butt and out of the house early instead of farting around twiddling my thumbs growing more and more anxious about my upcoming task of talking to the insurance company. Now, this is something that would make me neurotic in the States, just think how I felt at the idea of having to accomplish this feat in French! I gathered together all my insurance info, along with every ounce of courage (ironically courage is the same in French, just pronounced more French like). So, armed with proof that I had insurance there, mon courage, and a French/English dictionary I bravely entered the insurance office.
I sat nervously awaiting my turn. A very nice gentleman asked if he could help me and with a flustered smile I began with my usual phrase, "Je suis desole, mais je ne parle pas tres bien francais." For those who know French you know there are a bunch of accents left off, it's just that it's such a pain in the arse to put them in, so I'm leaving them out for now- please forgive me. Back to the story at hand. Josh thinks it's pretty funny that I start out every meeting with a French person this way, but in my mind it tells them straight off the bat, "hey, look I'm trying. If I sound like a child you know why." It also, often, helps in getting the native French speaker to immediately slow down their insanely fast French so I might actually understand 1/3 of what they are saying.
Upon hearing the word inondation (flood - see Tuesdays post if you don't know what I'm referring to) I was ushered into this kind gentleman's office and the paperwork was pulled out. All-in-all it was a pretty easy process. We didn't have much damage to claim and through hand gestures and words pulled earlier from the dictionary I was able to describe what had happened and how our landlords proposed fixing the problem. They are having a drainage pipe installed along the side of the house and they are supposed to have someone put a sealant on/in? the kitchen walls and floor. Who knows when that will happen. Because we only had a rug that was damaged (and second-hand at that, though I didn't tell the insurance agent) I don't know as we'll get any compensation. We need the receipt for the rug, which we don't have. The insurance man suggested I go to the store and see if they will give me another receipt. I have no idea if this would actually work, who knows!?! Maybe I'll try it anyways.
After accomplishing that hurdle, with very few problems, I might add it was on to my next big task. The Bank. dum dum dah. When we first got here and opened our bank account we were told that we really didn't need checks. Most people don't use them they just do money transfers from one account to another. This was surprising to us, but seemed the thing to do so that's what we did. I have to say it's pretty convenient. Every month our rent is automatically deposited into our landlords account, our electricity, Internet, and phone, are all paid automatically. All we have to do is ensure that there is enough money in the account to pay for everything (a difficult task in and of itself) The problem comes when you receive a bill for something new, something that you can't just run down to the local branch and pay in cash. We received 2 of this sort of bill. I was stumped as to how to pay it. One was for an a doctors exam. I had paid the doctors bill, in cash, at the office (I find it hard to believe that neither the dentist or doctor that we've been to thus far accept credit cards -it's cash or check so now we make sure we have loads of cash on hand when we visit - but I digress, again) but then I get a bill in the mail for the lab fees. oy vay what to do now? So, this morning I made my way to the bank, started off with usual deprecating sentence then asked how to pay these bills. One was easily taken care of, he just entered the transfer into the account. The second he told me I had to go to a Swiss post office (the bill was from Switzerland and in Swiss francs) and do it there. I wasn't terribly clear on what exactly I could do there, except I know he said it was free - gratuit - all I could gather was that it is maybe similar to a money order. I haven't done this in States, but I know it can be done. So, next week I shall venture to get this bill paid, or perhaps this afternoon. Once the glow of accomplishment wears thin and I need another shot of fear induced adrenaline and the following rush of pride at managing to get some small task finished in French and without breaking down into tears.
Yay, for me. I'm giving myself a nice little pat on the back. Hope your day is filled with little accomplishments as well!