Arrêté de Nomination

On July 30, 2020July 29, 2020 By notyouravggiraffeIn TAPIF1 Comment

Hello again from your favorite “stressed out about moving to France” blogger! Okay, maybe not favorite, but a girl can dream, right? This process is still very much day by day, but things are moving along, so take that information and do with it what you will. As I promised to document my journey, here is the continuation of my progess, and what’s going on, in my journey of getting to France.

More communication! I got an email on 23 July from the rectorat de Dijon with some logistical explanations of the process, along with paperwork that I needed to fill out/have. This included an accusé de reception (a document I signed to accept my position), OFII paperwork (needed for the visa application), and my unofficial arrêté de nomination. I do want to clarify that not every assistant who heard from their rectorat got all of these documents – some got more, some got less so this isn’t in any way an indication of what all communication looks like, just what I happened to get! Anyway. It was very exciting to get another email from France, and to “know” of another person there who will be helping run the show once we arrive. I’ll admit that my heartbeat speeds up a little every time I see an email in French, but in a good way!

What’s an Arrêté de Nomination?

One of the most valuable pieces of paper that you will get when doing TAPIF is the arrêté de nomination. This is essentially your work contract. It’s needed for opening a bank account, (potentially) finding housing, and most importantly, for getting your visa. As I mentioned above, I received an “unofficial” arrêté (non-tampponnée). This means that it doesn’t have the official stamp from the DIRECCTE office that is needed to make this document valid for visa applications, or anywhere else where you need an official documentation of your work. If you are participating in TAPIF as an EU citizen, you don’t need the official arrêté to do the job since you don’t need a visa, but it’s always smart to have stamped documents while in France (the bureaucracy, my friends). Just because I’m still waiting for my official documentation, doesn’t mean that the unofficial arrêté is not valuable. Unofficial or official, it provides you with your schools, and which is considered your “principal” school. This is technically the school where you’ll have most of your contact, and where you should go first when you have a question. While you may have more hours at this school, I’ve got a 50/50 divide of my time (so far), so I should be divided with my time evenly at both the schools where I’m assigned.

What does an Arrêté look like?

In case you’re wondering if you’ve been sent your arrêté, scan the document for the words “arrêté de nomination.” This will be on the paperwork regardless of whether it’s the stamped version or not. It lays out the contract dates, the title of your position, and your school(s) where you’ll be teaching. I had received this information already, but the last time I did the program, the arrêté was the first time I saw my schools’ names! I think that’s typically how you find out your schools, but since this year is a little topsy-turvy, some of us got contact in other forms before the arrêté. The arrêté also provides email addresses, and telephone numbers so you can introduce yourself to your school (usually the principal will see it), but since they’re all on holiday now through end of August, the rush to email seems to not be there (for me, at least). I have edited out the names of my schools since I’m not there yet, but I thought there may be some curiosity about what an arrêté looks like!

As an update of where things are in the process, there’s still no word on travel to France for Americans or anything in relation to visas. The rectrice in her email said that she would send the official arrêté de nomination as soon as she had it, but due to previous communication, I’m not anticipating that before the end of August at the earliest. We did, however, get a date for when teachers will be back at work for when we could reach out to them, which is at least a milestone to put on the calendar. I would recommend, regardless of whether you get an official or a non-official arrêté first, that you print the arrêté and put in a folder of “documents to bring to France.” I’ll write a post about all the paperwork I’m bringing with me once I get closer to my actual departure (fingers crossed), but it’s always a good idea to have multiple copies of things, so starting early will reduce stress on that end.

That’s my update for now, but as always, I hope I’ll be back with more as I continue on in this journey! À bientôt! Xx

First contact!

On July 20, 2020July 20, 2020 By notyouravggiraffeIn TAPIF1 Comment

It happened! I received an email on Saturday 18 July at 12:15 am (yes, I was awake when I received it) from the person in charge of language assistants in the académie de Dijon. I was surprised to be receiving any kind of communication over the weekend, but especially so since I had resigned myself to not hearing anything from France until September. It was definitely a pleasant surprise, and I’m not complaining!

The email was fairly lengthy, with information about the region, and what the next steps would be. The best part, though? I got my school placements! I’ll be teaching in a high school (lycée), and a middle school (collège) in Dijon proper! I’m absolutely thrilled to be able to have the experience of working with both levels in secondary, but even more so to know that I’ll be in Dijon itself. There’s no guarantee for city placement when you participate in TAPIF, and even though I had requested specifically a big city, I was a little worried considering there aren’t any *big* cities in the académie de Dijon, and I had read somewhere that many assistants end up in medium sized cities. I’m truly over the moon to be somewhere that’s well connected via trains and public transport, and I would be lying if I said I haven’t already started doing research into all things Dijon and fun day trips I could potentially take. Ironically, based on some preliminary research, Dijon seems very similar to Angers, just on the other side of the country! I’m excited to see how my experience with TAPIF this time around compares to last time (pandemic notwithstanding).

In addition to my school placements, I was given contact information for my prof référent at each school. Your prof référent is a teacher at your school who is assigned to help you (the assistant) navigate the process of being an assistant, and to help you get settled into the position. I immediately (or rather, next morning), reached out to both of them, introducing myself. I’ve already heard back from one, but not the other – not surprising though, considering it was the weekend when I reached out to them.

Unfortunately, this email did not include an arrete, so I still don’t have any official paperwork for the position. I was told that due to delays (virus related and not), that I should not expect to have my arrete before the 20th of August. That means I still have at least a month before that comes through, so the waiting game is still not over. I don’t need the paperwork to apply for a visa luckily (you do if you need one, though), but I still can’t officially move to France, find housing, or open a bank account without that official piece of paper. Not that my moving is 100% happening either, but I’m trying not to focus on that.

Now that I have my schools, I can officially (oof, I’ve said that word a lot in this) start scoping out housing. It’s possible that my school will provide housing, or have resources for me, but I also want to do research on my own in case they don’t (again, there are no guarantees with this program). Usually, the recommendation is to wait until you arrive in France to start looking for housing, and to just book yourself an AirBnB for a minimum of a week while you go out and search. That’s not something I feel particularly comfortable doing this year, given that I want to quarantine myself as best as possible after I arrive in France to do my part in keeping the curve flat. Last time I participated, I had secured a room in a foyer before my flight even left American soil, so I’m looking down that route again as a possible option. The flexibility with a foyer would allow me the option to find alternate housing if I wanted once I was settled and felt safe doing so. Obviously, I’m not going to be making any decisions now regarding housing, but it’s definitely something at the front of my brain.

There’s still a lot up in the air, but I’m so pleased to have received that email over the weekend. Even though this latest update may seem benign, it means that things are certainly moving. I’m still very much having mixed thoughts about the whole thing, but I will admit that when I got the email, I was very excited and buzzing about my placement – so much so that I couldn’t go to bed for another hour! I’ll finish this post with an outline of what to do once you receive contact information for your prof référent/conseillier(e) so if you’re in this boat, you can stress less than I did when sending my introductory email:

Emailing your contact(s) in France

Once you get contact information for your prof référent/conseillier(e), you should reach out to them as soon as possible. I wrote a decent sized email, but you can write as much as you’re comfortable with in your email. I sent an identical one to each prof référent, only specifying the school where I would be teaching in the body of the email depending on who would be receiving that particular email. I wrote my email in French, but received a reply in English from one of my two contacts. If you’re teaching at the secondary level, there’s a higher likelihood English will be used in communication, but if you’re comfortable, I’d recommend writing the first email in French. Here’s what I included:

Subject: Bonjour de votre nouvelle(/nouveau) assistant(e)!

Brief introduction of myself: name, age, where I live, whether I’d lived in France/visited Dijon before
Asking for any information that would be relevant to my preparation for the year as an assistant (anything in particular I should bring from home for teaching?)
Asking for recommendations for housing in the area/what previous assistants have done for housing
Previous relevant experience if you want to add it (for me, this was my past participation in TAPIF)
Signed off asking them to let me know if they needed any further information from me, and reiterating how excited I was to work at (insert school) in the upcoming school year!
If you’re writing in French, be sure to sign off with “cordialement” rather than a simple “merci”

There you have it! You don’t have to write a super long email, especially since you’ll probably have more questions based on their reply (I know I did). Ask whatever is most “urgent” for you to know now (such as whether housing will be provided, or if there are any recommendations), as opposed to something you can wait to discover (which bank branch you should use, or your hours). Considering that my first contact from them was in July, there’s still a lot that they probably don’t know, and things that will develop between now and my (hopeful) departure.

Once you’ve formulated your email, click SEND and you’re good to go 🙂 Hope that was semi helpful – I know I fretted over the content for a while, but I know that they expect these kinds of questions, especially in a first email. Just be yourself (corny, I know) and send that puppy off to France (electronically, of course).

Let the planning for French adventures continue! À bientôt!

The wait continues…

On July 16, 2020July 16, 2020 By notyouravggiraffeIn TAPIFLeave a comment

If you’re a theatre person, you’ll understand when I say that I feel like that bit in “I know it’s today” where Sutton Foster just belts out “the waiting, the waiting, the WAIIIIIIITING” at the moment. For everyone else, it’s a song from Shrek the musical and Fiona is singing about being stuck in her tower her whole life. My waiting is not that extreme, but it certainly does feel long. I made a decision to document my experience with TAPIF this time around more, and this is my attempt at doing so. I feel like it may be boring to read, but not only am I trying to get my writing skills up to snuff for whenever I can get to doing more (which hopefully won’t be too long from now), but also because this year’s program is taking place during such extenuating circumstances. We’re truly navigating uncharted territory, and while that’s always an element of that within the program, this is on another level.

This program is a lot of hurry up and wait, especially in the stages before actually getting to France, and this element has certainly been exacerbated by the current situation and travel restrictions. After clicking accept on my initial acceptance email at the end of June, there was radio silence* from the program until 14 July (Bastille Day, ironically). An update! Okay, more like a check in, but at least it was some kind of communication? It was basically an email letting us know that they’re monitoring the travel situation (nothing concrete there), and that our dossiers were being sent to France, and to expect communication from our schools either within the next two weeks, or in September. Yup, you read that right… SEPTEMBER. This is because the French will be on holiday from late July until the end of August, so if your arrete doesn’t come in before they leave, you’ll be on hold until September, which is an added stressor. Honestly, classic French behavior, but it does elevate the heart rate a bit. I do want to mention that this time frame is not abnormal during normal years – there are many assistants who don’t get their arretes until September, but usually the process starts earlier than mid-July. Now I’m just crossing my fingers and toes that my school will send me my arrete before they go on break to at least alleviate one element of this very lengthy waiting process.

Image of Promenade du Bout Du Monde at sunset in Angers, France — Notice the nervous excitement (and jet lag) on my face from my first time living in France

Usually, there’s all kinds of buzz on the Facebook group about when to book flights, when the ball will get rolling in terms of assignments, and people already planning for their many travels during the eight weeks of paid holiday (yes, eight weeks, pretty lush). This time, the group is filled with posts asking about the visa situation, quarantine regulations, and whether the program will actually run. Currently, work visas are not being issued, and are not under the exemption list of Americans allowed into France. As such, American assistants are not guaranteed entry in France to even begin the program at this point, which is definitely a cause for stress. I completely understand France’s perspective with not wanting to let citizens from the US in what with how the situation is being handled here, but at the same time, it was the French government that hired the assistants in the first place. Wishful thinking I know, but I’ve already had the rug pulled out from under me once with an international job this year, I don’t know that I could handle the disappointment of it happening again. As such, we’re all in limbo waiting for news from France, or any updates that will give clarity about our status as workers in France. I’m lucky that I don’t need a visa because of EU dual citizenship, but ironically, that doesn’t immediately allow me entry into France, either with the current travel restrictions and parameters. If things don’t change, I will have to fly via the country of my dual citizenship first to gain entry into the EU, then onto France, which is an added layer of fun in the journey of finding flights. Lastly, there’s a big question about quarantining – will it be required? Should I quarantine at the airport? Do I need to arrive in France two weeks earlier than planned to accommodate for that? I’m mentally preparing myself to quarantine currently because I don’t want to be the American that causes France to shut down entirely, but those kind of questions are evidence of how different this year of TAPIF is going to be, and the kind of questions participants are having to ask. It’s daunting enough to move to another country under the best of circumstances, now I also have to think about how I could provide food for myself during a two week quarantine without interacting with anyone (amongst other things). It’s enough to make you second guess your participation, and whether it’s a *smart* thing to do in light of everything going on in the US and the rest of the world.

I’m hopeful that my next update will contain information about my actual school placement, and hopefully better news on the situation of getting over to France. I’m already doing my research on acquiring masks (loads and loads of masks) for life in France, and for the 15+ hour journey over to Europe. If anyone has any advice on how to reduce my anxiety about the flight itself, I would gladly welcome it. I know that I’m approaching the situation with some ambivalence, and much as I want to be over the moon excited about going to France, I worry that I might not be doing the right thing by going over there. I may be escaping the way the US is handling the pandemic, but is that fair of me to escape to France and put the onus on them? That being said, I worry that if I stay at home in the US, I will still be unemployed, isolated, and with no change in my situation from where I am now. Going to France is directly in line with my goal of ending up in Europe, and working there, and I’d be lying if I said that I’m not thinking about the benefits of being there for that goal. It’s definitely a conundrum in some ways, and what I wouldn’t give for it to be more straightforward not only for me, but for everyone else taking part in the program. It’s very much a day by day situation, and that goes for my mindset towards it all as well.

So here we are, back to more waiting and waking up every morning hoping for an email from France. I’m not sure if this update is really beneficial for anyone or more just a brain dump of my own, but it’s occupied some time and deviated my brain away from all the (many, MANY) thoughts I’m having about France. I’m trying to remain cautiously optimistic amidst it all, and while I’m not getting my hopes all the way up, I’m not letting them fall either.

*Side note: I would just like to clarify that communication with TAPIF is fairly absent always. The lack of updates is not inherently due to the pandemic, and it’s important to know that this is the same situation I had when I participated in 18-19. Between my acceptance in April, and leaving for France in September, I probably got three or four emails, so this in no way is something new, but is definitely something that can be frustrating about the program… especially during a pandemic.

Not Your Average Giraffe

Month: July 2020