Bah

Today has been a very difficult day.

The French administration confrontation did not go as well as I had hoped. I had visions of really letting them know who's boss, but of course I am always too polite and abiding than these situations call for. Why is it that I can be so bold in English but I tremble in French? I hate that.

Regardless, I might have to "suspend" my work contract for awhile until all of this gets sorted out. I am trying to remain zen, as we all know that stress only creates knots in your back and nothing much else.

With all of these complications, I have decided to apply for other jobs. I was going to do so in a week or two anyway, but I have upped the deadlines just in case things don't go my way.

After spending the morning working with the administration people, I went to the 16th for my first physical therapy meeting. Not knowing what to expect, I was certainly surprised when it turned out I had noted the address incorrectly and the building was in fact on the other side of the city! In my defense, the physical therapist only works with a cell phone, and I told her when I made the appointment that the service kept breaking up. I even repeated the address to her and she confirmed, so it's not entirely my fault. Still, I spent 40 minutes on the metro, ran for ten minutes in the rain (I was late, by my always-must-be-fifteen-minutes-early standards), and then got back on the metro for another 40 minutes.

Afterwards, I went to the post office to send official documents in their official folders. It officially cost me eleven freakin euros! Argh.

I also wanted to make some photocopies of said official documents, but the photocopy only took 10-cent coins, and I only had four on me. So I made four and agreed to save the rest for later.

TheKnitter and I met up for coffee, which was a pleasant and necessary break from the otherwise gloomy and slighly depressing day.

And then I went to the grocery and stocked up on veggies, ready to make a big fat salad this evening with my tastalicious feta cheese. You people have never tasted feta cheese like this, I promise you.

As soon as I walked in the door, The Boy asked how the morning appointment went with the administrators. I relayed the information I had gotten, and he began yelling at me about how I need to learn to yell at those people. "This is the way people do it! This is the way things get done!" he kept yelling, and I finally yelled back, "No, Boy! That's the way YOU do it! You need to just accept that we don't go about things the same way, and I will never learn to yell at people in public the same way you can. So stop getting on my case about it. I have spent the whole day in the rain, unsuccessfully hopping from place to place, and I don't need to come home to someone yelling at me about how I need to yell more!"

Man, I was really, really unnerved. I unloaded the groceries grumpily and just felt sorry for myself for awhile.

Some day off, huh?

But then, I started going over plans. I wrote an email to the head of the program I work for, asking for advice. I'll have to hound him, because these people never respond quickly enough. Still, I felt better having sent it. Then, I began looking for newer, better jobs. I would be thrilled if I could get a position teaching adults over the summer... I need something semi-flexible so that I can still go ahead with some business plans, and so that I can still help out The Boy with his, but I would really like having that additional income finding its way into my account. I figured the only way to climb out of this administrative hole is to get proactive, and so I have been re-hashing my CV and working on Cover Letters. I even sent one to my top choice... for some reason the advertisement gave me a positive vibe. I'm highly doubting they'll call me, even though I am clearly qualified for the position. French people tend to think the paperwork is more complicated than it needs to be (which, granted, they're probably right).

Still, things began to turn around. It has been pouring out all day, and early evening the storm really picked up. Then, out of nowhere, the sun started shining. The buildings across the street lit up with a sort of creepy glow, and the air got that sort of stuffy cool breeze that comes with intense rain. Then, like magic, I saw an enormous, enormous rainbow fill the sky.

Below are two pictures that go together. Side-by-side, they show the semi-circle of rainbow that was outside my window. A few minutes later, two rainbows were next to one another, forming double arches.

See? I try to stay optimistic.