At the beginning of June, I was contacted by a woman in St. Priest (Celine, my first "contact person"). She told me I'd be getting my arrete soon enough, but before she went on vacation at the end of June, she wanted to ask if I wanted to live in the apartment used by previous language assistants. Of course I immediately freaked out and said YES YES YES. After that I didn't hear much....
....until I sent an email back to Celine, asking for more information about the apartment... hoping she would respond, "Oh yes, the apartment is yours!" Instead, she gave me other information, which was helpful. It's a 3 bedroom, fully furnished apartment, on the 4th floor of a building very centrally located in St. Priest, just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the bus or tramway that goes into downtown Lyon. On google maps, it shows that it is very close to a movie theater and the police station (so I'll have fun AND I'll be safe!). I was also given the email addresses of the most recent language assistants. One girl (whom I think is from England because her emails to me sounded very proper) has been very helpful in sending me details about the job and the apartment. But besides finding out more specific details about the apartment, I still didn't know if I had a room mate or if the apartment was, without a doubt, in my possession, immediately when I arrive on the 22nd....
....until I wrote an email to the new contact person (Laurence). After the first email from Laurence, I wasn't really sure if she'd be very helpful. She was the"new" contact person. She was very nice, don't get me wrong, but she started by saying she was new to St. Priest and she'd have to "see about this apartment." Of course, that made me a little queasy, but after a few weeks, and a nice email containing information about my orientation, I thought maybe she'd been in the job long enough to know more about the apartment.
So, I waited a couple days... and finally decided... "What am I waiting for? I should just ask!" And what do you know- not even 24 hours later, I got an email, on the weekend, from my French contact (much quicker than I could have imagined!). And it said: "I was going to let you know next week, they called to see when you're arriving so it will be cleaned. For now, you are alone in the apartment because the other assistant is looking for a place with her friend. If something goes wrong and it isn't ready, you are welcome to stay with me until it's settled. Don't worry, have a nice weekend, and as for picking you up at the airport, I'll have a sign with your name and a red scarf!"
YAY YAY YAY!
On the schedule for today: go get a backpackers backpack for my carry-on, stretch and run the 9-11 5k, and celebrate my birthday (again) with some friends! Hurray! What a good day!
Yay - Especially for the "safe" part.
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