If only I ruled the universe....

Well.... that was one way to spend 3 and half hours of my time. If I were queen of the universe, inefficient systems like this would not exist. (This delicious picture displays my reward to myself when the nightmare was over. I thought I'd add it to the top to lure you in so you'd have some motivation to read all the way to the bottom.) Here is what happened:

This morning I went into Lyon to go to the Rhone area prefecture (which deals with visas, passports, and driver's licenses). On Wednesday, when I was there around noon, they told me that although the office opens at 9am, I would be too late if I got there at 9... and they were right. Anticipating a long line, I arrived at the prefecture an hour and 10 minutes early (7:50am). Too my surprise, the line was probably a good 200-300 people long already (but it was hard to tell as people sort of lined up in rows of 5-7 people making it look more like a mob than a line). I got in line, telling myself at least at 9 the line would start to move and I'd get to wait inside and hopefully sit down.

By 9, I was probably about the middle of the line. The line started to move, slowly, especially after someone came out to separate the heard (driver's licenses upstairs, visas stay in line). It was probably 10:15 before I even reached the gates at the front, and 10:45 before I was inside. So... from 7:50-10:45, I stood in line, reading a book. For some reason, the beginners of the line didn't line up against the wall... we were in the middle of the sidewalk about 3 feet from the wall of the building. I was afraid if I went to lean on it for a minute, I'd lose my spot. And, people were cutting in line like nobody's business, so I wanted to make sure I stood my ground.

By the time we got inside, I had made friends with the 2 guys behind me (and by friends I mean accomplices in keeping cutters out of our part of the line and waving away smoke from the jerks who thought it was ok to smoke 2 feet away from others in line). Both guys were in line for a renouvellement (or a visa renewal). One was from Columbia and he's doing some sort of nuclear engineering in France. Apparently it is very, very hard to maintain temporary residency in France if you are from Columbia. He said the last time it took him an entire year before the process went through, even though he was working for and hired by a French company. The other guy had a similar story, but he was from a French speaking country in Africa, so it wasn't quite as hard to stay as for the Columbian. He even had some sort of special letter that was hopefully going to get him through quicker. Both guys said that once you get to the front of the line, you explain your situation, show your documents, and if you have everything, you take a ticket. Then, you wait several more hours before they call you up. The guy from Africa said that the Paris office is even worse. The people who were at the front of the line today in Lyon probably got here at 4am (according to him), but people in Paris basically start lining up the night before and camp out over night in order to make the cut. I thought, mon dieu, I'm glad I'm not in Paris!

Sure enough, once we were in inside, I noticed that there were probably only about 50 people behind me waiting in line. The others had been sent away (gasp), which means, had I actually gotten here at 9, I would have been sent home. By 11:15, I was up next and I went to explain my case. I started out with, Hi, I'm an American, living and working here as an English Teaching Assistant (I figured if this part of the country was more American friendly, I ought to go ahead and play that card first). The man behind the glass took my passport and said... err usually it's too late to do this for you now... and then made a phone call. After about 10 minutes on the phone, he handed my passport back to me and said, the stamp you received at the immigration office is good until May. If you wish to live here past the end of May, you must come back with a renewal of contract form. I was like.... so you're saying I don't need anything until May. He said correct. I said, now really, I'm good until May. I can live here without anything else, even though my visa expires in January. He said, Forget about your visa. That was just to get you here. You have the OFII stamp which is what matters now and it is good until May. I was like, oh huh. Thanks.

I left, thoroughly happy that I would not have to wait in line any longer... but as I got outside and started walking away, I realized I had just gotten up super early for nothing, wasted more than 3 hours of my life, standing in line for nothing, and all after asking 2 people who should have known to tell me I didn't need to stand in line in the first place (one being the contact person at the French Embassy in the US, the other being the guy from the prefecture in Lyon). AH!

But- it wasn't a total waste. Because my legs were stiff from standing so long, I walked down the river and happened upon the big flower and fountain. I think I've posted a picture of it before, but if not, here's another one. I decided that what I needed what a pick-me-up... a reminder that I'm glad to be here, not bitterly angry at such an inefficient bureaucracy (why, why, oh why do they not make people sign up for times online or something more civilized???). So, I stopped for a pink praline brioche and a cup of hot chocolate. Both delicious. The brioche was by far the biggest one I've had, and one of the sweetest, but it didn't stop me from devouring it after being in that long, horrible line. (The picture at the top is the brioche turned upside down to show all the gooey yummy pink praline goodness.)

Now I'm home... it's a gloomy day and I'm not really in the mood for anything but maybe a cup of tea (I know, weird right? I am not a tea drinker, but the French mid-morning break has forced me to enjoy it because they always ask if I want some and it's hard to say no) and a movie. Tomorrow will be a better day. I'm doing more laundry (which isn't that exciting) and then going to the Tony Garnier museum with my friend Hannah.

Hope you all have better Fridays than I did!

Reste cool:)