Catching up

Yikes! I've been meaning to write about lots of fun stuff, but I haven't had the time. Now I'm peacefully relaxing at B's parents' place and although technically I should be working on job apps, I simply can't let more time go by without writing about recent events.

(No spoilers, I promise) So, many of you probably heard about pirated versions of Harry Potter that were available on the internet in pdf format. B being the huge Harry Potter fan that he is, and also not being able to wait for his copy to arrive in the mail from Amazon, he stayed up till almost 3am last Friday night reading the pirated copy on a pda while in bed. Saturday when his copy arrives, B opened it and said "Wait, this isn't the same as what I read last night!" Looks like he read 150 pages of fan fiction! Rest assured, no one got to read Harry Potter before the books were released. Now that he's finished the real one, B's going to go back and read the fan fiction to see what happens. He said the stories had nothing to do with each other. I'm waiting for my American version to arrive because I like the cover much better and I didn't want to read about Harry wearing a jumper when the correct word is sweater. ;-)

Yes, the Tour de France came through my town and I didn't even get up to see it. I probably could've collected a lot of free stuff from all the sponsors, but I didn't feel like bearing the crowds by myself.

I'm so engrossed in all the nitty gritty details of immigration laws and requirements right now, that I'm surprised when someone doesn't have the slightest clue. I'll admit, there aren't that many Americans in the back country, but people have this impression that if you want to live and work in France, you just ask for a Carte de séjour and the préfecture gives it to you. Maybe that's why they're so against immigration: they think anybody can waltz in and stay forever without a job or another official reason (studying, family). Immigration being toughest in the most "desirable" countries, I wonder if you can just kind of show up and stay in countries people are leaving, like Romania, Turkey, Croatia or El Salvador. Makes you wonder.