I’ve learned something in the past week about the CAF, which is a governmental housing welfare program that helps those who apply and are eligible, even if they are foreigners like me and the other assistants. The CAF keeps making me go through many hoops and I keep making time to go there in person repeatedly, to wait for over an hour, meet with an employee and sort things out to find that everything was either fine or something very simple. Over break they sent me a notice saying I must sign a paper giving them access to my birth records and then give me my birth records. Of course I have this information and it would have been nice if they had let me know this was needed on one of my many other visits. Each visit I’m told that everything is in order, nothing more is needed from me. A friend works with a teacher who is friends with someone who works for the CAF informed my friend that the government doesn’t want to pay the money to help people so the hoops are to discourage people from actually getting the money in the end. If I wasn’t so poor I might give up with another month of this BS (I started this process back in November) because it is ridiculous and rather disorganized in my opinion. The last time I went I had received a notice that they didn’t have a document, so I made a copy, brought it in and waited over an hour to be told that they did indeed have it. It popped right up on their computer screen. It does make sense. Make getting welfare help time consuming and frustrating for everyone and hopefully they’ll eventually give up before getting money.
Benefit of socialism is the governmental help, which I’ve received already in doctors giving me free appointments and reimbursements from the government on various medicines and I plan on getting eventually in rent. Downside is all the hoops and mountains of paperwork, not to mention the long lines and waiting. When it comes to medicine the states put more money into research which I’ve seen reflected in the awesome meds back home. However, French medicine is better than I thought up until about two months ago. No NyQuil which really pissed me off when I had whooping cough my second week here and no Pepto-Bismol but they have other drugs that work fairly well. For other maladies the medicines I’ve had here work just as well as the medicine back home, some of which are kept behind the counter back in the states but not here. Awesome!
I recently learned that there isn’t a word for “sibling(s)” in French like there is in English. Only brothers and sisters (frères et sœur).
From my recent lesson on Christmas traditions in the US and how they differ from those in France I learned from my students that Coca Cola Christmas lights are called “sans sucre,” which literally means “without sugar.”
I also learned that “beur” is a popular term for first generation French people whose parents immigrated from North Africa. Most of my “beur” students are from Morocco or Algeria so I’m assuming many have immigrated to France from those areas in particular.
Journal entry from le 13 octobre, 2012:
I just saw an Islamic woman running to catch the métro. Usually they look very godly and bored while wearing attire that either entirely, or almost completely, covers them including head scarves called hijabs. Anyway, I took great amusement in watching this woman running full tilt toward her ride, pushing that baby-stroller like a bobsled right out of “Cool Runnings” with her long robes swirling behind her feet like fresh snow that has been kicked up and caught in the wind. Side-note, I have yet to see anything like that since then.
There’s a lot of North African and Middle Eastern influence here, in the Lille-area and almost every time I’ve taken the métro I’ve seen at least one Muslim woman wearing a hijab and the other attire. Most culturally diverse place I’ve ever been to let alone lived (seems appropriate in 2004 Lille was selected to be the European Capital of Culture due to its diversity).
