First Week

First week in France was rough but exciting. I had a one night stay at our hotel because our hotel was all booked. So the next morning I gathered my luggage and found The Cooper's. Cliff Cooper is our director and he and his wife are in France for the summer getting us and other short term teams set up and ready for ministry. They let me leave my luggage and gave me a spot on their couch for the night.

On our first day Brian, Katie and I walked the streets and looked around. I was just in amazement with all the sights and sounds. France is a beautiful city!

We quickly realized that the way of life is very different. Between noon and 2pm everything shuts down for lunch. Most of the stores were closed and the restaurants were filled.

After a few nights of being on people's couches and hotel rooms, Stanley and I began our apartment search.  We went to a rental agency and looked through a book of apartments. We had 3 that we liked and wanted to check out. We told the woman we liked these three and asked when we could see them . She said right now, here are the keys. We close at 7pm. I was in shock! That would never fly in the States.

We walked to all three places. It felt like we walked the entire city! We spent nearly 4 hours looking and going to all of these apartments.

We saw all three and only one stood out but still didn't meet our likings. The only thing we liked was the living room and the bedrooms were already furnished with beds. Another thing we realized is that many apartments don't come with appliances. Two of the apartments didn't have a refrigerator or stove. So we need an apartment with appliances and possibly furnished.

Later that week Brian and Katie found a rental agency and had an appointment to see an apartment. They had already found an apartment and told Stanley and I to take the appointment. So we went to see it. It was awesome! Very spacious, it was in a gated complex, we had two bedrooms and a large living room. It was perfect! Two really cool things: 1) Katie and Brian's apartment is just down the street! 2) There is a mosque on our street and it backs right into our complex. I thought it was a large church but later found out it was a mosque. How cool is that!

We filled out our applications and put down our deposit. The next thing is to prove we have income, prove we are taking classes and get a french bank account. Easy right!? To get a bank account you have to make an appointment. There is so much paperwork and proof you need to just get an account.

France = Bureaucracy!