Validated, just in time for the holidays

As you can see from my title, the Christmas holidays here are fast approaching. Now, this is not to be confused with winter break, as that happens in February. It might sound like the same thing, and if I was living in America, you would be right; but here, those are two separate vacations. So as I write to you on this Monday evening, I have three more days of work and then I am officially on holiday until school returns on January 3rd. In addition, I write to you tonight as a fully legal French resident, as of this past Thursday.

How did I obtain this honor? On Thursday I traveled to Rennes, which is the biggest city in Bretagne and the capital of the region. I was summoned to the French Office of Immigration and Integration, where I was thoroughly examined by a doctor and deemed to be fit and healthy enough to reside in France. This meant checking my immunization record, doing the usual tests that one gets at a physical, and randomly enough, taking a lung x-ray. Once this was all completed, my passport was labeled and my visa officially validated, enabling me to stay in France for the rest of my contract.

Since I was attending a compulsory appointment in Rennes I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to explore the city. I took a very early train and stayed much later than I needed so that I would have a full day to get my tourist urges out. The city reminded me of a smaller version of Lyon, where I lived two years ago in the opposite corner of France. Both are not nearly as large as Paris, yet each has its own metro system and is by all definitions a bustling city. However, Rennes is unique because of its wooden architecture. The buildings in the original city were all made of wood from the forests nearby, and while there was a huge fire in 1720 that destroyed much of the city, some of its wooden structures remain. The pictures posted on this blog are all from my day in Rennes.

In addition to walking the beaten tourist path in town, I stumbled upon a few holiday surprises. Two markets attracted my attention during the day; one was an artist's exposition, with anything from wooden to glass masterpieces while another was a traditional Christmas market. Most of my time was spent at the Christmas market, where I actually had a chance of affording what was being sold, which was mainly food for me. And I did not resist. I also did not want to miss a chance to buy myself a present, so I am now a part of the world of owners of cool Nepalese hats. For those of you left out, these are basically large beanies that cover your ears and have strings to tie at the bottom.

My holiday spirit was revved up a bit today at school as I showed "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" to a class. While they may not have understood much of what was said, I thoroughly enjoyed reliving my childhood. I forgot just how much of Dr. Seuss' writing is not actually English and is hard enough to understand when you are a native speaker. Nonetheless, the movie is easy enough to follow, and they enjoyed this taste of American pop culture.

My computer clock, still set on Eastern time for no good reason, tells me it is 12:40 pm which means it is time for me to make dinner here. So I leave you with those anecdotes, and I will check back in one more time before I leave for my holiday travels!
A bientot
T.A.B.