Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The unbearable lightness of being (incidently one of my favorite films EVER)

Lightness might not be the right term; it's actually more the unbearable instability and uncertainty of being in France...

Uncertainty at the workplace:
Everyone at my primary job is on strike. Last week, I had no idea if I would have any students. Very few came. Some classes happened, some didn't-- it was about 50/50 on Thursday and then I only had 1 student on Friday. It's equally uncertain if I'll have any students at all this week. And then next week is vacation. Vacation from what, you may very well ask. This teachers' strike is on top of a general strike 2 weeks ago-- I have 1 class that I haven't seen yet since the start of the second semester! Will I ever see my writing class again so that I can tell them that we're changing our Friday class to Monday and thus give me a fixed, accurate schedule at the university? I only have 2 other jobs to fit the university hours around...

Uncertainty at the other potential workplaces:
I recently had 2 job interviews for part time teaching jobs, both went well and I was hired. Supposedly. No contract has materialized. One of the jobs hasn't yet answered my email accepting their offer and I have no idea if they've changed their minds or not and if there will be a contract to sign. I find it telling that in French "eventuel"/"eventuellement" doesn't mean that something will happen in the future, but that it might possibly happen... The other job seems a little more certain, although they don't know how many hours they can promise me because of my already planned vacation in the US in June and I just got a cryptic email about their schedule. I don't understand if this would be my proposed schedule or if it's just to give me an idea of the demand they have for English classes right now. Only in France would you wonder if you were really hired after someone said you were were...

Uncertainty about housing:
Will I be moving in May? Where would I live? It all depends on whether or not my landlord can renew her visa in Canada, which seems unlikely. She really wants to stay, but the Canadian government is under no obligation to make that happen for her...

Uncertainty about money:
When, O, when will the university pay me for the 100 extra hours I worked last year? An extra 3 grand would be welcome ANY TIME, especially considering the possible move.

Uncertainty about love:
Will I ever go on another date? Are intercultural relationships truly possible? How many successful intercultural relationships can I really think of? Does British/American count or are those already pretty close? It seems like all my college friends are getting married THIS year, the year we turned 30. While this sudden phenom is a little suspicious, it also makes me wonder, will I ever move in with someone? Marriage, I am not worrying about yet, I would content myself with moving in with someone eventually (ha, in the French sense, of course) and this seems like a rather necessary first step before considering marriage/pacs-ing or adopting cats together.