Appart Hunting 101...Agence Style

So, I know a few of you specifically are interested to know more about apt hunting en France. As someone who is currently going through this, I deem myself capable of informing the masses(and by masses I mean the 2 or 3 of you reading this.) So, here she goes:

I was looking for a T1 bis or a T2. T1 bis can have an alcove so that you could put a curtain or divider up and separate your chambre. T2 has a chambre separee. Lesson 1 of apt hunting: The proprio can call an apt a T1 bis a partir du moment ou la cuisine est separee, so be careful, T1 bis doesn't always mean it has a renforcement for your lit! I technically started my search three months before I wanted to move. I signed up with Seloger, Logic Immo, My local newspaper, Leboncoin, Vivastreet and Pap to get email notifications of available apts and then checked the sites occasionally on my own as well. However, there was little to nothing available at that time, so I didn't actually head to the agencies until 2 months before I wanted to move. I went to 3 agencies at that point and it was pretty evident that there was very little available because 2 months ahead of time was "too early." I think it's definitely worth it, though, to go to several places and see if there even is anything available. I found that online, it sometimes says the date that apparts are dispos, but not all that often, so it's always good to go into the actual agencies. Lesson 2: If you see something online that interests you, go to the agency in person and ask about it. I did that for one place I thought looked great and it wasn't available, but I ended up having 4 visits with that agency qd-mm, so you never know.

Due to Xmas vacation, I didn't get to head out to more agencies until early January. At that point aka 2 weeks ago, I went to 2 agencies that had nothing and then the third had something that was maybe interesting, so I arranged a visit for that same week on Wednesday. Then, I went to an agency that a friend had used and I scheduled 2 more appts for that Wednesday. I also arranged for 3 visits with another agency(where I liked the apt, but it wasn't available anymore) for that following Thursday and I brought along a friend. Lesson 3: Always try to have at least a second opinion! Well, that ended up only being 2 visits because the 3rd apt's proprio decided to sell. So, that first week, I had 5 visits total and only 1 apt that interested me out of all of them. The next week, I arranged for 2 visits on the Tuesday and again had that same friend come(that was the apt in the quartier des putes!) On Wednesday, I had previously arranged for a revisit(you can do that!) of the apt I liked from the prior week, but I got a call on Tuesday night saying the agency had to cancel the revisit because the apt had been rented that day. Lesson 4: If you like something, do NOT hesitate. This apt did have a few questionable factors such as only containing a kitchen sink, but I later learned not to be surprised by a cuisine non-equipee. Tant pis, someone else got a reasonably-priced apt in the quartier I wanted, I knew it just meant something better would come along.

Though disappointed by the loss of the apt I liked so much, I continued on and scheduled 3 more appts for the following Thurs and 3 for the following Fri, these both ended up being only 2 visits each because those 2 apts had current locataires in them, so the agency didn't have the keys and had to get their approval, but of course, they didn't call the agency back. Oh well. So, the apts on Thursday, I had that same friend come again(this means she did 6 visits out of a total of 11 and I'm really glad for it.) The apts on Thursday were nice enough and located in the centre historique, but one was cher and the other was on the 5th(!!) floor with no elevator. Which brings me to Lesson 5: Know what your criteres de recherche are. If you know(like me) you're lazy, don't even waste time seeing something that's up 5 flights with no elevator. I should have listened to myself and not bothered, I can't imagine moving in and carrying furniture and boxes up 5 flights or even carrying my heavy weekly groceries or my heavy school bag. Although, Lesson 6: Don't rule an apt out just for one small thing. Know your deal breakers of course, but see things even if the photos look ugly for example(case in point: the first apt I liked looked very moche sur les photos, but ended up a lot better in person.)

Which brings me to Fridays visits. I saw one apt in the quartier I wanted, but there wasn't a separate bedroom or a way to separate the living room to make a bedroom and this was one of my deal breakers. I gave it a chance even though I saw it said T1 and usually that just means the piece de vie is one big room, but it just didn't do it for me. Then, the other apt I saw, I was wary of the quartier, but though it's not located exactly where I'd want, it at least had more of a neighborhood than the one in the quartier des putes aka Ho Hood. It met all my criteres plus more and was really nice. And, my big news, I've dropped off a dossier for this apt and as soon as I can get 3 quittances de loyer from my proprio this week as well as a garant all I'll need to do is wait. I even got the proprio to baisse the prix by 2o euros. Lesson 7: Don't rule out an apt that's at the maximum of your price range or slightly over it. As you can tell from my experience, negociating can be had. If you find it expensive, let peepz know! Lesson 8: If you notice an apt you like that could do with a paint job or new tapisserie, ask the agency if it's already set to happen and if not, if they could ask the proprio to do so. It maybe won't happen, but it's always worth a try.

For my dossier, I needed:*

1 copy of my CDS

3 last quittances de loyer

3 last bulletins de salaire

2 last avis d'imposition**

1 RIB

1 garant and all their papiers

1 attestation d'assurance multirisques habitation (in order to get the cles)

*They also asked for a livret de famille, but I explained how I was 'mercan and they didn't have a problem. Btw, they could also ask for your contrat de travail, this agency just happened not to.

**I'm sure if you only have 0 or 1 of these, you could also explain the situation and they would be understanding.

So, now it's a waiting game, on verra if my dossier will be accepted, but the apt is pretty sweet, so I hope so. I'll fill you in on it more once I know if it's a yay or nay!

Grippe-ness

So, I am home with the grippe. It started yesterday before work, but at that point, I thought it was just a mix of lack of sleep, a stuffy bus ride and cigarette smoke at 8 AM. I knew I wasn't doing too well when, at the end of the afternoon, I absolutely had to give my whole class sitting down because standing up was too uncomfortable. I told my kids I was sick so they had to be quiet-this is one of the few times that they will (for once) voluntarily behave. I went home after school and laid around until bedtime when no sleeping was to be had. I was shivering cold, so I put on 4 layers of tops, 2 pairs of socks, slippers and at one point also had my jacket wrapped around me. I knew I would just get hot during the night, but I couldn't do otherwise. Well, I just couldn't get comfortable, I was cold, had a headache, had courbatures, was overall not doing well. However, I went to school anyways because I thought I would try to just get through the day and make it to tomorrow when I only have to work 2 hours. I guess I forgot how if in the states you come in when you're sick, you're a trooper, but in France, you're an evil, germ-spreader infecting everyone else around you. Once the teachers found out I was sick with a grippe, they said I really should head home. Obviously so I get better, but also so I don't infect them or the kids! In the end, they were right that it wasn't that smart to be there when I was in that state, so I talked to the directrice and she gave me the green light to go home.

When I got home this morning, I took my flu meds and went right to bed and that's pretty much where I've been since. It has done me worlds of good and though I am still sick, I do feel better. I think I'm actually going to go to the apt visits I had scheduled for tonight because I don't know when I'll be able to reschedule otherwise and I really need to make a decision by the end of this week. The only apt I've liked so far will be my apt of choice when I resee it tomorrow if neither of these that I'm seeing tonight are goodies. But, I'd still like to feel like I've explored my options as much as possible in 2 weeks' time. So, seeing these apts today will mean I'll have seen 7 apts total which I think is a fair number, although it doesn't exactly feel as such when 3 of the 5 I've seen so far have been immediate no, no, nos. Oh well. Hopefully 1 of the 2 today will be a yes, yes, yes. Although, a couple copines told me that the apt building(the 2 apts are in the same building) is in the quartier des putes. Umm, Rennes even has a quartier des putes? That's news to me! I knew there was an area where the drag queens hang, but I didn't know there was a whole quartier for the prostitues! On that note, I'm off!

Warning: blog post is longer than it appears

So, I've gotten a few requests(hi Crystal and Emma!) for a blog post and hordes(over statement of 2009) of people asking me where the F I've been. Umm, doing stuff? Duh. I can't really say what I've been doing, I barely remember what I did yesterday! That's not true. I checked and my last post was from Dec 1st. Wowza. I know I had soirees up the wazoo all through December, went to the K&K 200th episode bash in Paris, had tons of lesson planning to do, then was sick, then got ready to go home for xmas break, then was home and was busy watching Food Network all the live long day, then I got back on NYE, got thrown into a soiree hosted at my apt but thrown by my amis because I didn't get back til 17h, then I slept a lot because I was all jet lagged-ed and then again with the tons of lesson planning and adding in test correcting, then this week has been apt hunting and that little(understatement of 2009) summary should bring you up to speed! To tell you the truth, I didn't really think that much about blogging or when I did, I just didn't have anything that great to share. And we allll know how well-written I like to keep my posts...or not.

What you should know:

-It was great fun at K&K's 200 episode and I am now officially "Intern Leah." I think that just means I'm supposed to do stuff for them and get paid in M&Ms. I'll gladly take it...as long as by M&Ms, they clearly mean mojitos and margaritas! Je deconne. Yeah, twas fun, met some bloggas(hi Andromeda and ASL!), stayed with my fave Canadian bloguesse(is there a word to distinguish female bloggers because I feel like there should be), saw the ksam and the kkarina and had some rhum-rhums finally. Yay!

-Home was awesome. I was so happy to see my family and be back home. And it snowed! The morning after I got back. I freaking love waking up to a beautiful, white, untouched layer of snow on the ground. It continued to snow throughout the day as well. I heart snow. I have a pic above that I took at like 7 AM or whatever heinous hour the jet-lagged me got up at. Oh and for the first time in a long time, I gave into jetlag and ended up going to bed super early and rising with the roosters(if we lived on a farm which we don't so don't ask why I said that) which was one of the worst ideas EVER because it threw me off schedule for the first 5 days or so.

Xmas eve was at my house and my mom and I made some delish wassail, olive garlic cheese dip(recipe below if I remember), Kariner-beaner's stuffing, roasted chicken with a white wine sauce and veg, eclair cake, apple crumble and other delices. It was so good, but we were SO fullll by the end. Don't worry, I still managed to shove my face with eclair cake at the end. Don't get me started on that...I might still be full from everything I ate over the Christmas hols. I don't believe in resolutions, but I do plan on getting back into faire-ing some sport in the near future which is much needed! Anyway, all in all a good time and I didn't feel ready to leave at all after just 12 days. I think I was spoiled by spending 6 weeks over the summer, those 12 days just flew by! Luckily, I was sent out in style by landing a spot in business class because I arrived so late at the airport due to traffic and there were no more economy seats. I got a seat that reclined, tons of legroom, real silverware and plates, a comfy blanket and the best part!!, a privacy screen so I could pretend the person next to me didn't exist. That was sa-weet. I actually got to sleep more than my usual little snippets of 5 mins at a time before my head jerks up because I'm so effing uncomfortable. I know this because I missed breakfast! I was a little bitter about it at the time, but it turned out ok because I got a bit of food on my London-Paris flight. Yes, I had a connection. I miss Air India's direct flights, but I actually got to sleep for once, so it didn't seem too long. Then later, per usual, I slept like a bebe on the train...that thing rocks me to sleep, I swear!

-I'm on the apt hunt. I've had 5 visits in the past 2 days with 3 different agences and I do have one candidate that is good placement-wise(a bit closer to centreville), c correct au niveau du prix, it's lumineux and has an American salle de bains!!! The major downside is that the kitchen is pas du tout equipee and literally just has the kitchen sink. Isn't there an expression with something about everything but the kitchen sink...this is the opposite, nothing except the kitchen sink. Oh wait, isn't it something about taking everything but the kitchen sink? Then, n-mind, this would be the same. I'm tired. So yeah, that is a big downside because it means money, money, money, money, mo-ney, MO-NEY! But, it might well be worth it. I think I'm going to schedule a revisit tomorrow and hope no one has snatched it up! I have 3 more visits planned for Monday, have emailed a few particuliers and then was thinking of going to another big agence in town tomorrow. I want to be all set by the end of next week. I'm going to be moving in before I know it and I have trop hate, I really do. Thank goodness I'll be moving on a weekend and thank goodness for friends that can borrow their rents' big cars! Also, I'll be on vacation the weekend after, so that should give me plenty of time to get stuff done that I won't have time to do during the week. Yay! Ok, y'all, I's reals tireds, donc I'm gonna go couche myself, but bonne nuit to you all and if I don't blog again soon, just know I really am trying to keep up with your blogs(although jeez you guys write a lot more than me...I had over 2oo posts to read on bloglines after I got back from xmas!) Toodles!

Recipe for delish dip:

1 cup green olives(with pimiento)

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup cream cheese

1 garlic clove

Mix olives and cheeses in a food processor until a little bit chunky but not completely smooth. Grate in garlic. Eat copious amounts!

Quadrice Turkey Days

No, I still have no clue what comes after thrice, but then again, I didn't actually try to look it up either. Ah well, quadrice(or fleetine!) works just fine for me! So, last week was the week of Thanksgivings. I have never eaten more than one Thanksgiving meal ever before in America. Ok, that's not entirely true, I guess you could say two meals actually if you count the leftovers the next day! I had one T-giving in the afternoon on Thurs which was arranged by my school. Pretty sweet. A few of my coworkers actually brought in some decorations and made little quizzes for people to answer about the history of Turkey Day that were placed on each table. It made me very thankful to be a part of a pretty awesome program and team. The Frenchies seemed to be willing(except for that guy that got fries) to try the meal(they had an alternative option) and everyone said how much they enjoyed it. An added bonus was discovering I'm now getting even more of a discount than before on my lunches at the school(thank goodness considering I eat there M, T, R&F and it's not cher, but it can add up!)

Thurs night which is the scene of the pics above was a minigiving/thanksmini at Yuri's place. It was nice to do an actual meal on the day of and in someone's home and Yuri had the wonderful idea, so how could we not take her up on it? It was a smaller scale thing because we all were going to another big T-giving the next night...so I bought some English cranberry sauce, made my cornbread mix and made garlic bread. We had escalopes of dinde, mashed potaters, gravy, corn and a broccoli casserole. For dessert, we had brownies and those patisseries you see above. We were only 5.5 people(1 came later hence the half) so, needless to say, not all of those puppies got eaten. No they weren't actual dogs, excuse the dad language! It was a nice, relaxing meal entre amis.

Fri night was a big shindig with about 25 people that was fun, but not really Thanksgiving-y. Plus, I made stuffing, but didn't have time to cook it beforehand and on top of everything, I ended up being extremely late, so the stuffing didn't get cooked enough and wasn't all croustillant like it should be. Tant pis. On Sat, I headed to Fougeres to a T-giving hosted by a coworker and her pacse. I was glad to be invited(we were 15!) and everyone there was very nice, although I realized at one point that though there were two other girls by themselves it was only because their counterparts stayed home and that meant I was the only single person there. Kind of blechy. But, I didn't have time to focus on that because, as you can see...food galore! Real turkey, real cranberries(and even the fake kind with the can rings...love it!), mashed potaters, green bean casserole, 3 kinds of stuffing(I made a second batch of mine and it was properly cooked this time and delish, thanks to Karina for the recipe I've used 2 yrs now!), sweet potaters, green bean casserole, cornbread(with cranberries!) and even biscuits! For dessert, apple pie and yummy pumpkin pah as well! Many laughs were had and games were played. Turned out to be quite a good night! So, voila, there is my "remember the time I had 4 Thanksgivings in 3 days" story. Hope your T-givings were as bons as mine!

Top ten...

Reasons why I CANNOT wait to move...

~Fishy smelling kitchen because the oven fan isn't put on.

~Roomate being in the salle de bains at the EXACT moment every morning that I need to be in there...I know he knows...grr.

~Cleaning&organization all according to me...mwahaha!

~Decorating!!

~Exciting plans!!!

~Kitty can have free reign of the apt and not be enfermee in my chambre when the others are here.

~Having a place for my parents to stay when they visit me in the spring!!

~No more dishes piled up...and if they are, it'll be all MY fault!

~Singing out loud to my heart's content!!

~Wearing pyjamas on the weekend for hours on end and not having to feel like a lazy bum!!!

Things I'm thankful for this holiday season...

~Moving(sorry, couldn't resist!)

~Rennes' current development(the big new movie theater, all of the construction of apt buildings, the renovation of facades as well as many other changes.) Rennes is a happening spot!

~Celebrating Thanksgiving not once, not twice, not thrice, but FOUR TIMES!!

~The fact that it's almost Thanksgiving and we all know after T-giving, Xmas celebrations begin!

~Xmas decorations in my room and classroom(ok, so I started a bit early!)

~Sending out my homemade Xmas cards!

~Xmas lights up and soon to be lit around the city!!

~The American goodies waiting to be brought back in my bedoroom at home that I couldn't fit into my suitcase(s)!

~My job(s)!!

~My family, friends(espec my new enlargened group of anglo buddies in Rennes) and kitty!!!!!!

Could she be cuter...

...I don't think so!

Random comme d'hab

I think I'm supposed to be eating dinner with my colocs ce soir which is about as tempting as punching myself in the face, so instead I choose to blog. I know I'm still almost as absent as ever, but for good reasons. What with teaching, preparing for teaching and lotsa socializing(note vid above of the third of three Soiree Raclettes in the past 2 weeks), I really just haven't had the motivation/inspiration to sit down and blog. My brain is constantly thinking of about a bajillion things at once and blogging is usually not one of them. High on the list is moving plans and thinking about allllll of the things I will have to purchase when I move. I mean, I have the bare minimum furniture-wise(a couch, 4 chairs and a bed!), but if I were to make the list of everything else I'm missing, it'd be pretty dern long! Though I did more than double my salary from last year(which was pretty meager to begin with, so I'm definitely not rolling in the dough by any means), I've had a lot of stuff to pay off. 140 for a mattress+sommier, 110 for surcharges of our EDF/GDF, 130 in Taxe d'habitation, 500 for a plane ticket home...that's 900 easy euros gone right there. Thank goodness for the bank loan I got because there's no way I would have been able to get by otherwise. And by no way I mean no way besides asking the rents, but I want to avoid that if I can because I am a quasi-grownup afterall.

So, I won't be buying out any expensive furniture store anytime soon, but I will be hitting the Trocante, Ebay and a couple places I've heard of in Rennes where you can get new products with not-so-grave defauts(like dents, scratches, wrong colors) for way cheaper. Although I don't want to get too much before I move because that's just more stuff to have to move! I think I'll wait for a)the soldes which tombes bien because I'm moving end of Jan/debut fev, so I can hopefully grab some of the bigger, more expensive things then. But, I'm thinking even the little things I don't have are going to add up fast...vaccuum, broom, mop, toaster, microwave along with all the cleaning supplies I will have to buy as well. My detail-oriented personality(read:a touch of OCD) makes me want to do things like guesstimate prices of aluminum foil+mop rags+windex=?? I guess I shouldn't think about it too much in detail because it might, maybe just maybe, stress me out a bit. I think focusing on the caution, first month's rent and agency fees are quite enough, thank you very much. Plus, not all of what's on my lists(yes, you read that right, that's lists with an 's') is really priority. Take cheese grater for instance, I can live without it. Yes, my lists are specific. I should do that for a job except that I don't wish to organize other people's lives, just my own.

So yeah, I've got moving on the brain a bit. Plus, exciting plans for when I do actually move(Yur, you know what I'm talkin bout!), so I'm looking forward to actually getting stuff sorted. The sooner, the better. It's a maladie, I tell ya! Sur ce, here's a little meme that I've wanted to do for a while but for aforementioned reasons, I never got to. Taggees, find your names at the bottom.

Six things you probably don't know about me:

1) I only give myself 30 mins in the morning to get ready. I value sleep too much, so I take showers at evening or nighttime and I oftentimes wake up with yesterday's makeup(yes, I know this is bad.)

2) I am very sensitive to certain noises(what's interesting is that my sis is like that with smells and can't go near a perfume shop.) I was that girl that stood inside watching the fireworks from afar because the sudden BOOM! just didn't bode too well with me. I've gotten more used to it as I've gotten older, but it still bothers me a bit. It's now translated into standing far away from people opening bubbly wines or champagnes, although that might also have to do with my fear of things going into eyes.

3) I can tell when meeting someone for the first time if they are someone who I could be good friends with. I haven't been wrong yet. Bizarrely enough though, unless it's blatantly obvious like they are a jackface or a creepster, I have a hard time placing exactly what it is about people that just doesn't rub me the right way.

4) I have a strange fear of falling into open spaces. My mall back home has its' second floor overlooking the first and I avoid being near the railing like the plague. I constantly think about what if someone accidentally bumped into me or what if I was leaning on it and the glass broke. This goes for sewer grates, metro stations and any cavernous space of any sort pretty much.

5) I can never remember who I tell what to. For instance, now that I'm thinking about it, I might have mentioned my fear of falling into open spaces on here before, but I'm not sure. In some ways I have a really good memory(like useless random facts or memorizing things), but other times, I have a hard time remembering very specific details of a general thing if that makes sense. I did well in high school for instance because it was a lot of memorization(which is a big part of why languages came so easy to me), but college was more difficult because I am not so analytical and it takes time for me to organize my thoughts.

6)I am random. I start talking about one thing and then end up in a completely different place. Hence the blog. Oh and speaking about organization, I am so organized sometimes I forget how organized I am and try to do things like a normal person. Say I'm going to use the same photocopy for 2 different classes. Well, I will do something like make a photocopy and put it in the folder for each class, so that I can have the copy in the 2 places I need it instead of having to remember that I need to transfer it from one folder to the other after I'm done with the first class. Then I file the orignal away because I like to get $h!t done. Then, I proceed to forget that I have done so and spend time looking for the original(that I have already filed away) so I can make copies for the second class and then remember that I am so ridiculously organized that I already not only have filed away the original, but also have the copy that I need in the folder for that class. Yeah, so that probably only made sense to me. What was I saying about being random again, I forget if I mentioned that here or not. Cycle vicieux.

Je tagge: Fellow Canuck, Going to Episode 200!, hopefully also going to Ep. 200!!