good news and bad news...

the bad news....

what is it with the transportation systems here??? the last bus to gondecourt leaves lille at 7:15pm...i arrived at the bus stop last night around 7:10...and i waited ...and waited...and waited...that damn bus never showed up!!! this would normally not be a problem, except that it's 0°C...after an hour, i couldn't feel my feet (i must admit this was my own fault, i shouldn't have worn my chuck taylors...they just can't cut it in this weather)...so at 8:15 i realized i needed a plan b...luckily the german assistant, ester and her friend were waiting at the other stop...after a quick text message, we decided to try taking the train to seclin and calling a taxi to take us to gondecourt...on the metro ride to the station, we realized that the train workers were on strike today and there is only a limited number of trains running!!! fortunately there was one train left which we caught in plenty of time...

so we made it to seclin and started asking around about taxis...a nice gentleman offered to call for us and he finds out that there are no taxis in seclin...the nearest ones are at the airport and refuse to come all the way out to pick up three very cold foreigners...after chatting with this guy, we realize his daughter goes to the middle school in gondecourt and is one of ester's german students!!!! he offered to give us a ride, which we gladly accepted (i can here my mother scolding me now for taking a ride from a stranger...but really mom, the only other choice was to walk for an hour in freezing weather...i would take being axe murdered over hypothermia any day...) so, in the end, we all made it home, in one piece, to our warm apartments...

the only upside of this situation...the bus stop faces a youth sports center and most evenings i sit and watch kids practice the pole vaulting...(it's quite entertaining and i get to laugh when they fall)...so yesterday some kid was practicing wearing a santa costume!!! i wish i could've gotten to my camera phone in time to get a picture....it would have been quite a surreal shot...

the good news...

i finally got word today from the secretariat that my carte de sejour will be ready on monday...i was beginning to panic since my visa expires on wednesday and my mom, sister and i leave for italy on the 25th...you're not supposed to leave the country without it and i was really worried i'd get stopped at the boarder coming back to france...but it seems the beurocracy gods have decided to smile on me...fingers crossed that it will actually be ready on monday...