Warming up

The job interview the other day turned out to be for a position as a telemarketer. It appears that in France, just like in the States, it's the temp agencies that find people to fill these jobs.

I'm not taking the job, obviously. I sent the agency a resumé and cover letter geared towards a secretarial/administrative position, so I was surprised when I found out I'd been called in for a telemarketing position.

But, there's other positive news.

Acadomia called me back about my application to tutor English. As I told B, maybe three times is the charm, since it's the third time I've applied to tutor for Acadomia.

And I got an email back from a place that sends people to offices to teach English during the work day. There's no interview yet, but at least the email didn't say "Thanks, but no thanks." I'm hoping I'll at least get an interview.

Maybe best of all, I was able to register as unemployed with the transit system in Toulouse and I have unlimited subway and bus rides for 6 months. I'm not getting any unemployment checks (and I don't think I'll get any in the near future), so free public transportation for me will help out a lot while we're living on one salary.

Speaking of unemployment checks, we spent Sunday afternoon/evening with a friend of B's who lives in Toulouse, and I found out he'll get benefits for almost a year. Last year he was working at a university (I thought as an intern...) but he decided to not pursue a doctorate, which the job would have been research for. He's slowly looking for a job, but since he has benefits for at least another 10 months, he's not in any hurry.

I don't want to say that I blame him, but I just felt like that was really unjust. I'm busting my ass applying for jobs all the time, but I don't get any "allocations".

I do have an appointment now with the local ANPE office to get help with my job search. A week or two ago I couldn't make an appointment because my file was still in my old town, but things are moving along. I want to find out if I'm eligible for any of the special job contracts and how the "Cheque de Service" works if I do private tutoring and decide to use them.

The city itself is moving along as well, and most of the trees have decided it's time to bloom. It's ski vacation, but the parks have stepped things up a month or two. I went out today with a coat, but I really didn't need it since it was about 15°. It might have been 20° the other day. Whatever is happening to February?

Meanwhile, my 6 week average has caught up with me and I have a cold again. I can't seem to go much more than 2 months without getting sick, and most of the time it's just 6 weeks. Well, that gives me an excuse to get comfy in bed now and organize the pictures B had printed and put them in albums.