All posts filed under: DC

Endless Summer of Fun–employment

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Even though today is the first day of October and it’s been a chilly, rainy week and schools started at least a month ago, I still feel like I’ve been on summer vacation since May.  This isn’t the nice beach vacation you have in mind though. It’s the forced vacation of being “funemployed.” After what feels like a million unsuccessful interviews, I kind of had to accept the fact that for the types of jobs I wanted, I either should have applied for them while still in France, or I would have to wait until schools were starting up again, when theatre seasons were starting up again and therefore making new hires: August/September. Let me tell you, that made for a pretty depressing June and July. (Sidenote: Is it really normal for employers to interview you twice and then never ever contact you again, even avoiding your multiple polite emails on the subject? I’m asking because this happened to me more than once, and it just seems extremely rude, not to mention inconvenient. I literally missed out on other work …

To TAPIF or not to TAPIF, that is the Question

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Since returning home, I’ve felt more and more like I’ve been living a double life. In my first weeks back home, I was so surprised by the number of times I described myself as having “just graduated” which I suspect is because taking a year to teach English is France feels so unconnected to the rest of my experience learning and creating and teaching theatre, to the point where I feel like it didn’t even happen. I am striving now to find avenues to connect my professional and personal life to my experience in France, so I can feel like it was worth it, like it meant something in the greater scope of my life, but it’s not easy.

One Month: A Countdown

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So, dear readers, I have now crossed the one-month threshold. One month until I return to France. One month until I leave DC. One Month. I still have a lot of things to accomplish in the next 4 weeks. The last week of camp, including my middle schoolers’ public performance of the musical we’ve been working so hard on for the past month, Honk! jr. Helping my sister move to Chicago. Figuring out plans for my arrival in Paris. Calling AT&T to ask about options for suspending my plan. Unpacking. Repacking. Savoring DC and my friends while I can! That last task on the list is the subject of today’s post. While I count down the days until I leave, I’ve also compiled a list of all the things I want to (try) to do before leaving on a jet plane. I love DC. Despite all of its crazy problems, I really do love it. I’ve lived 5 minutes away from DC for my whole life and worked there for many summers, but I feel like …

Trip to the Embassy!

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Last week, I completed another step in my journey towards France: The Visa Appointment. I’m very lucky because I live so close to my regional consulate. The same consulate also serves people from DC, Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland, so some people have to make full day trips, while I just missed a two hours of work. On Friday, I left work early and made my way to the French Embassy/consulate in Washington, DC. It is a complex of pretty ugly buildings in a lovely neighborhood in Georgetown which was quite beautiful to drive through. Luckily, I have an amazing mother who helped me get there and back, since it is not very Metro accessible. I spent the previous few days gathering all the information the consulate lists on their website: the visa application form, my passport + 1 copy of the info page, my arrêté de nomination + 1 copy, a passport-sized photo, my Virginia identification card, and a prepaid envelope.  When I arrived, I had to show the woman at the gate …

ONE MONTHIVERSARY!

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That’s right, gang. It’s June 15 which marks exactly one month since I arrived (May 15) and one month until I return (July 15). Pretty crazy, right?! Since I now have lived in two of the greatest nations’ capital cities, I present to you the following lists to commemorate this momentously bittersweet occasion. Top Things Paris is doing better than DC 1) Bread. Step into any boulangerie and you’ll smell what I mean. Unless you go for the artesanal Harris Teeter Bakery loaves, most of the bread we eat in the States is square and comes in a colorful bag. Which is not to say that stuff doesn’t exist here because I guess some people make sandwiches out of it. The last bag of “pain de mie” we bought was actually called “American Sandwich” I kid you not. But that’s because the French have even perfected the sandwich beyond what we can handle in America. Take a look at the popular baguette sandwich. Compact, flavorful, hearty, everything I love in a sandwich plus the added benefit of …