We go to the Paris préfecture to start the process to renew my carte de séjour (residence card -- it expires in April). Not sure how difficult it will be - at least this time we have a timed appointment, so we don't have to drive to Versailles at 5:45 in the morning and stand in the cold (Marco) for hours.
But we still have the same difficulties about our lodging, and hoping that our friend comes through for us with the justificatif de domicile (proof of our living situation). Since we are not renting directly from the owner, but rather our friend rented on our behalf -- since we wouldn't qualify to rent with our low salaries - we don't get the electricity bill in our name, and it's about the only document the French goverment will accept as proof that you live where you say you do. Anyway, hopefully in the end Vasco will come through. I think it will be okay.
Also, as of yesterday, I'm no longer a legally licensed driver in France. My US license was good for the first year, and if I had lived in one of the few U.S. states that has a reciprocral agreement with France, I could have simply traded it in. Alas, I did not come from one of those states, so now I'm technically license-less. That's kind of a shock to my driving-loving soul, but it in order to acquire a French license from scratch, you have to enroll in an auto-école and pay about 900 euros to them to "learn" how to drive and to register you for the tests and accompany you for the driving portion. We just don't have that kind of money, and anyway, neither do we have a car nor have we any weekends away planned that would necessitate renting a car. So that's my new reality.
Vasco did have the idea that maybe I could get a license in Italy (as spouse of an Italian, and using Marco's parents' address), and it would then be good in France. It's worth looking into anyway.
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