Being illegal alien for 8 days

My resident card was expired and I only got the new one 8 days after. I was not sure if I was legally staying in France, since the Prefecture didn't give me a temporarily one. I only had a letter with me stating that I could pick up my new card on which day. Luckily I didn't plan to leave the country so life just went on as usual. I only got a notice from my HR asking me to send them the new card as soon as I have it.

The whole renewal process has changed since last time. We had to take an appointment online, directly with the Prefecture (not my local Town Hall anymore). I couldn't find information regarding how many month in advance I need to start the renewal process, so I played it safe. Went to the website in December 2018, 7 months before my card expired, and got myself an appointment in March 2019. It was a smart move, as in May I went to the website to check again, the earliest appointment I could get was in October. It would be a big problem if I got an appointment after the card expired.

I was choosing which category I could apply, and I tumbled into an EU permanent resident status, where you no longer need to renew your card. It was permanent, forever. I photocopied all the documents : income taxes, payslips, proved of residency, a statement saying that I would follow the values practice in France...All these were useless. The officer only took the prove of my address (an electricity bill) and my photos. She told me I came in too early, since my card was still valid she didn't need to give me a temporarily one. And, she told me I can only apply the one category : marrying a French. I have to renew it every 10 years. She said she would send me a letter in April telling me when I can come to pick up my card.

I left the Prefecture with a very sad feeling. The whole atmosphere made me felt like a second class citizen, like I was begging them to let me stay. In fact they didn't do anything to me, but an officer was yelling to people in waiting room. There were lots of foreigners, begging to get an appointment because they didn't know how to do it on internet, some didn't come with the right documents, or the original documents... they were anxious, they were hopeless...

April came, I didn't get any letter from the Prefecture. I started to get worry, because how if they didn't take into account my renewal application. I have no proof that I was there. I sent the Prefecture an email, but no reply. Luckily, in early May, the letter finally arrived. I was to collect my new card 8 days after my current expired, even though I started the renewal process 4 months in advance.

Came the day to collect my card, I arrived in the Prefecture, and saw a line queuing from the building outside. Since I have an appointment, an officer let me in directly. But people in line, they mainly came to ask questions. Like, their cards expired in two months, and the earlist appointment online they could get were in 5 months. And they needed to leave the country. A very messed up situation if you asked me. I so didn't want to be in their shoes. I was observing people around me when waiting for my name to be called. This time the atmosphere was a lot better. The officer who was yelling last time stayed calm this time. She was very polite and  helpful. Someone didn't pay the duty fee, she said ok and allowed him to come next time. Ok, I paid 269€ for this renewal, I wonder if that person was waiting for his salary to arrive before he could afford to pay the fees. 

It was a no hassle process for me. Book an appointment online, pay the fees online, come one time for the renewal process, another time to pick up the card. The appointment times were pretty much respected. However, for people who are not family with computer and internet, who have complicated situations and need to ask questions, it could be a very stressful situations. Long queues every time at the information counter, and they are not always courteous.

French birth certificate in English for free (Extrait plurilingue)

Thanks to internet, I managed to get Aelig's birth certificate with explanation in several languages including English. I'm very glad as this has saved us 62€, the price per page if ask to be translated by a certified translator. We paid for it for Hubby the last time we applied for a marriage certificate in Malaysia.

Anyway, it seems that most Town Halls should have the service but for some of them you have to call them instead of requesting through internet. For detail see here. The languages available are: German, English, Bosnian, Croatian, Spanish, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Serbian and Turkish.


It consists of a piece of paper (front and back) with 11 lines of information. At the end of the front page there are footnotes in several languages regarding abbreviations used.


The back page explains line by line in different languages of what was written in the front page in French.

This is definitely a great service, I just hope that they could improve the applying workflow. When I requested through the Town Hall website, I received no email notification but simply a PDF file stating that I asked for the service. Then no news from nobody. I didn't know if they have gotten my request, or it was processed. Two weeks later I call them and was informed that it should have been sent to the Town Hall in my area. I then called my Town Hall, the staff said they have received it and I could pick it up anytime. Well, someone could have at least sent me an email no?

Note: For non French readers, French citizens can ask for their birth certificate for free in the Town Hall where they are born as frequent as they want. The certificate is updated according to your marital status and in the case of death.

Note 2: The Embassy of Malaysia does not provide this kind of translation service.

Note 3: I got an email from JPN Malaysia asking for birth certificate in Malay or English so I hope this would serve.

French income tax return

I'm not the one dealing with income tax return so whenever I receive something about taxes, I just hand it to hubby.

This year, I had a glance and something just caught my attention:
My taxable income is higher than my gross income.

As far as I know:
Taxable income = Gross income - social contributions

So what went wrong? The more we investigate the more headache we have, there are FIVE different amounts we were given to declare ONE source of income.

The tax form (Déclaration préremplie revenue 2010) indicated two sources of income: one from my employer and one from CPAM. CPAM is a government agency who handles expenses on health-care, it was the one paying my maternity leaves in 2009 - 2010. It makes sense that I got income from it but not as much as it declared (they should have sent us a statement that they declared that amount to the tax office but we never received it). Let's call this amount A.

Confused, I checked the CPAM website and looked at my account, which lists all the reimbursements paid to me (In France we pay the doctor first then get reimbursed later). It is a very well done tool and I managed to find that maternity leaves statement which is meant for income tax purpose. From the website, I requested payment details for my 4 months maternity leaves. 2 days later I received a statement with amount B, which is around 6k less than amount A!.

I still couldn't figure out how they came out with the number so I sent another email to CPAM, asking them to explain why my taxable income is higher than my gross income. Two days later I got a mail, saying that they have forwarded my request to the department in charge, apparently this time my case was too complicated for them to reply within two days. A week later, without any notice, I received a letter from CPAM, with a corrective tax statement giving me another amount, which is around 500 less than amount B. Let's call it amount C.

This is not the end of the story. 2 days later I received an email reply from CPAM telling me that they made a mistake on my tax statement, the correct amount should be D, around 200€ more than amount C. They sent me later a tax statement in mail.

Now, I have amount A, B, C, D to choose from to file for my income tax. The problem, all these amounts do not match what was stated in my payslips during the months I was on maternity leaves. A payslip expert explained to hubby which line in the payslips I should sum up and we ended up with amount E. The expert explained it is not unusual for CPAM to mess up when the maternity leaves touch two income tax years.

I think the best solution is to go in person to the nearby CPAM office. I'm not keen on doing this and I'm afraid they are going to give me another amount. The case is closed for me and I'm happily passing the whole mess to my belove hubby. :-)

Why can't we have replacement holiday in France?

This year there are three public holidays in France fall on Sunday:
1 May = Labor Day
8 May = World War II Victory Day
25 Dec = Christmas

May is usually the month of holiday as people will take the "pont" or the bridge resulting in long weekends of 3-4 days. This year, since both important holidays fall on Sunday and Ascension and Pentecôte fall in Jun, May 2011 has become "No holidays May".

Some companies do compensate their employees by adding days to the annual leaves or adjusting their RTT (a result from working 35 hours a week), but not everyone get compensated, it is rather a "tant pis pour toi" or "too bad for you" situation.

I wonder why can't France have replacement holiday just like in Malaysia. In Malaysia, when a holiday falls on Sunday, the next Monday is automatically a holiday. This applies for public sector and majority of private sector.

"Well, you already have too many holidays in France, you should not complaint just because you lose 2 - 3 days", some might say. For me, it is a yes and no statement. True that we have 5 weeks vacations + 2 weeks RTT + about 10 days public holidays, but you are forced to take leaves for certain situations:
1. The laws require that a baby sitter could work maximum 48 hours a week. That's less than 10 hours a day and unfortunately, we do need more than 10 hours a day for work + transport. To respect this, we have to take half day off every week, that's about 26 days a year, shared between hubby and me = 13 days per year. That means our RTT is pretty much gone just for this purpose.

2. A babysitter enjoys 5 weeks vacation just like everyone else. So when babysitter is on holiday, unless we find a solution (grandparents, another babysitter), we will have to be on leave to take care of our child.

3. A babysitter could be required to attend some trainings. In our case, the sitter will be gone for a total of ten days, spread during several weeks. We have not yet found an alternative so one week for hubby and one week for me are gone as well.

4. When a child is sick, the babysitter might not want to take him/her. In this case, one parent has to stay home. Some companies do have sick leaves but there are limited to certain days.

5. Some government agencies only open from Monday to Friday when you and me are working, so if you need to deal with these agencies, and you no dot live close by, you will need to take some time off.

Due to all these situations, we do not have the privilege to have personal vacation just to chill off, so 3 days of replacement holiday could be really cool. I know I'm dreaming. :-)

Passport

Aelig has her own passport!
The application process was so fast and efficient. It was probably done in 5 days but we went to take it 10 days later. I thought it was going to take 5-6 weeks so was happy to discover the speedy processing time. Now we could bring her anywhere outside France. Plan in process: Switzerland in Sept and Malaysia next year!

Here are the papers that you need to gather to apply for passport for a minor:
1. Application form (could get it from the Town Hall or their website)
2. 2 photos (could take it from any photographer or directly with the Town Hall)
3. Application fee (in stamp form) = 17 euros with photos, 20 euros if the photos are to be taken in the Town Hall
4. The livret de famille (French family book listing the married couple + kids)
5. Any document that could prove the French nationality from any of the parents
6. Any paper that could prove your current address

When filling the form, we didn't know what to put for her eyes' color. Sometimes her eyes are blue, sometimes they are brown, sometimes they are mixed color. The officer approached Aelig and had a close look, she said we might want to put "other". Eventually she entered a color that we predict to be the right one in two years. We shall see in two years if our prediction is right!

One month pregnant & we already had to do all these...

We went for a doctor visit to confirm my pregnancy.

Doctor: "You are one month pregnant, expecting a Christmas baby. Now, let me tell you things you have do.
- First, register with a hospital/clinic that you would like to have the labor.
- Second, take appointment for your first ultrasound.
- Third, register with your local government run daycare center.
- Fourth, prepare documents to inform the government agencies about your pregnancy."

We were overwhelmed. I thought she was over worried so I didn't pay much attention. Hubby went online, browsed through forums to compare the 4 hospital/clinics in Nantes. About two weeks later he chose the Clinique Jules Verne. He called the clinic and was informed that they are fulled for the whole month of December! How did those people managed to reserve a bed then? They called when they were one week pregnant?

I got awaken by this news. Ok maybe In Nantes we just need to act fast. So I quickly called the second clinic in our list. Luckily the secretary informed us that they have plenty of rooms and I do not have to worry too much. However, for the first ultrasound, they were fully book on the Saturdays I wanted. Since the doctor said I have to do this between 11 to 13 weeks of pregnancy, we had no choice but both me and hubby had to take a day off.

As for the daycare center, there are three in our community with about 70 spots. The one closest to us closes on Wednesday, so it doesn't really suit our need. We were immediately discouraged by these information. They are so many babies in our areas, how can we fit into these 70 spots? We should we put the baby on Wednesday? We concluded that we should instead get a baby sitter. Friends told us that even for a baby sitter, we need to book early as in some cities the demand is higher than supply.

Gosh, so much work to do at 1.5 months, we are not even having the baby yet.

Got my 10 years carte de resident (resident card)

Cool I got my 10 years permanent resident card (carte de resident)! No more renewal every year.

Yesterday morning we walked in to the Town Hall, surprised that they are open during a holiday season, and we were the first to be served. The officer handed me a card similar to this one:


Some differences between this 10 years card and my previous one are:
- The title of the card has changed to "Carte de resident" instead of "Carte de sejour temporaire".
- The motif of stay is "Toute profession en France Metropolitane dans le cadre de la legistration en vigueur" instead of "vie privee et familiale"
With this new motif of stay, I can work in any part of France except her overseas territories.

It was a hassle free process ever since I moved to Orvault and renew my card in the local Town Hall instead of the Nantes Prefecture. This Town Hall opens every Saturday morning so I don't even need to take a day off. No appointment needed and no long queue like in the Nantes Prefecture.

2 months before my card expires, I went to the local Town Hall with a list of documents:
a. 4 recent passport size photos
b. my passport + photocopies of the first page, the entry stamp to France and the visa and it's validation date
c. hubby's ID card
d. le livret de famille (family book you got from the Town Hall during your civil wedding)
e. document that can justify your home address : electricity bill (EDF) or others
f. both me and hubby have to be present and provide at least 2 documents which can prove that we are still living together, example our tax return form (with both our names on it), our bank statement...)

Five weeks later I received a letter from the Town Hall, asking me to pick up my temporarily card (recipissee).

Another five weeks later I received the convocation to pick up the resident card. In the convocation it states that I need to bring along my expired carte de sejour, the temporarily card recipissee and an OMI stamp with 70 euros face value.

Now that I have my ten years card, I'm thinking about getting the French nationality. However, since Malaysia doesn't recognize double citizenship, it means that I would lose the Malaysian citizenship, something that is still precious in my eyes. I just hope that one day Malaysia will change the laws and allow her citizens living overseas permanently to keep their nationality.

Speed ticket and la carte de vitale (healthcard)

Note: This is not the real speed ticket, who could have driven at 348km/h!

I have finally received the speed ticket. In fact I was driving at 117km/h, 7km/h above the speed limit. After some technical adjustment, I was being fined for exceeding 1km/h over the allowed speed. Talk about luck! They are nice enough to give you a discount price at 45 euros if you pay within 30 days through internet.


On the other hand, I was overjoyed with this new healthcard (la carte vitale). Since the arrival in France, I was always holding a card with hubby's social security number. The fact that we have been living together for more than 2 years entitled me to have health care access like everyone else. However if we separate, I would have lost this right. Now that I'm working, I get to have the card on my own social security number, which means I'm eligible for the healthcare system in total independent from hubby. I feel like a grown up now, not having to depend on anyone else anymore.

Carte de séjour and timbre O.M.I

Timbre O.M.I (OMI stamp)


This is the third time I renew my permanent resident card (carte de séjour). The process was fast and simple. Two months before my card expired, I submitted the necessary documents to the nearby Town Hall, at a small town right at the border of Nantes. The process was a lot easier compared to the Prefecture in Nantes:
1. Call or email the Town Hall for the list of documents required
2. Submit the documents to get a temporarily card (récipicée)
3. The Town Hall will send out a letter once the récipicée is ready
4. Pick up the récipicée
5. Wait for the letter from them to notify that your card is ready
6. Go to pick up the card with the récipicée, the expired card and an O.M.I stamp with face value of 70 euros.

I was lucky to get the card just 10 days after it was expired, even before the temporarily card expired. The tricky part was to get the O.M.I stamp, which is only sold in certain places like the Prefecture and the Treasury office. For working people who can only do it on Saturday, there is only one choice in Nantes: go to the bureau Tabac de Sillion de Bretagne (Tabac Presse) inside the Commercial centre. I wonder why they are the only shop selling this kind of stamp.

He killed a man by jealousy: What is your verdict?

Yesterday I was watching a high court process about this case: a man killed a man out of jealousy. It made me discovered some differences in the trial process, comparing to Malaysia and USA, learnt through TV dramas and series. I would like to note that this is a real case and real process, approved by the French High Court to diffuse through the television.

Differences:
France: You are guilty until proven innocent. (a scary concept to me)
USA and Malaysia: You are innocent until proven guilty
(Need further verification)

France: The judge is called "Mr President"
USA : Your honour
Malaysia: My lord (correction after indicated by Angie)

France: No death penalty and life long sentence
USA and Malaysia: Death penalty (in certain states in the USA) and life long sentence

It seemed weird to me that it has 3 lawyers: one from the government, one from the victim family and one for the defense. Isn't it we usually see one lawyer represent each side?

In terms of the attire, after watching so many soup operas from Hong Kong, I thought every lawyers and judges have to wear wigs and bands and robes. Fabien was laughing like hell when he saw all these wigs and bands. The French just like to do thing differently. The middle photo is the family lawyer from this case. They never wore wigs! I read that the lawyers in US and Malaysia don't wear these anymore unless they have to go to the High Court.


The case:
Between the night of 13 and 14 August 2004, a man was found dead in a burnt car in a small village in the North of France. The police found out that it was not an accident but the man was assassinated. They found Jean-Léon Cazier, a garage worker, 50 years old, to have the biggest suspect. He was jailed for 3 years before the High Court open the trial in June 2007.

The suspect admitted that he killed the guy. The trial was just to find out whether he planned the whole killing scene (first degree murder), or it was unintentional (second degree murder). It all started when the suspect found out that his wife, who worked with the victim's parents, was home late everyday, so he suspected that she has a lover. On the night of 13 Aug 2004, he went to the victim's parents' house, wait outside for 30 minutes before the victim said goodbye to his parents and went inside his car. The suspect went directly toward the victim, warmed him to leave his wife alone, beat him, then later hit him with a stone. The victim fainted and the suspect put him inside the car, drove away, still remember to honk the car, imitating what the victim would do every time he leaves his parents' house. All these time the suspect didn't forget to bring along a gasoline container full with gasoline.

He then drove the victim to a farm. The victim woke up and tried to run away, but was hit again by the suspect. At this point, the suspect decided to make it look like an accident, he spread the car with gasoline and burned the car. He then run away.

During the trial, the wife admitted that she and the victim have kissed and touched each other. She is living with the suspect's 81 years old mother and their children. The victim left behind a wife and 3 daughters, all grown up.

The verdict of the jury: It was a well planned killing case, the victim was to go to the jail for 20 years.

For the victim's family, the guy should be sentenced to the death penalty or whole life in the prison. 20 years is too little for a punishment. As for Jean-Léon Cazier, his wife and the 81 years old mother think that it was too much a punishment, that they would want to be able to have a normal life again with him. What would be your verdict?

Zero income tax! It's that possible in France???

Well, France is well known as one of the countries that impose the highest income tax in the world. Unlike the US system where income taxes are withdrawn from your pay check each month, and at the end of the tax year you could gotten back some tax return and be happy about it, the French government will in contrast tell you how much you owe them after you file for your tax return.

So you can imagine my reaction when I received the income tax form. Zero? We owe the government nothing??? How could this be possible, in France?

At first I thought I had a horrible French just couldn't understand what was written in the form and just forget about it and let hubby deals with it. But hubby said the same thing.

The trick? Get married in the middle of the year! That way you divide your income into two since you are now consist of 2 people, thus too low to "qualify" for tax payment.

This could be one of the reasons hubby wanted to marry me?

Annoying tax return!

I posted sometimes ago that I needed to declare my tax return (required by bank to apply for the housing loan) even though I was not working thus not earning a single cent. We went to the tax office but the woman who received us was firmed that I have no right to fill a return since I was a foreign student. When I got to the other tax office for the declaration, I was told that since I was married in 2006, I needed to do one pre-wedding and one post wedding declaration.

Soon after that declaration, I received a letter from the the same woman, who remembered me and repeated that I have no right to fill a tax return pre-weddng due to my foreign status.

Today, I received a letter marked urgent, telling me that they couldn't find my pre-wedding return so I need to do it as soon as possible.

What the hell? One told me not to and threw away my pre-wedding declaration, now the other tell me to do it bcos I didn't do it? Well these two people should meet and agree among themselves.

Admin day

Today is an admin day for me bcos I was seeing 4 different type of government agencies.

1. ANPE - as an unemployed people have to have this kind of meeting with the officer talking about the future plan.

2. Tax office - this time is to submit tax return for my hubby.

3. Prefecture driver license - yah finally got my French driver license, didn't cost me anything. I'm so glad that I don't have to retake any driving test.



4. Prefecture foreign affairs - got an appointment to renew my resident card.

Have to say all of the civil servants have been very friendly and helpful. Didn't give me any pains. They were all smiling and nice, except that the wait in the prefecture is always killing.

Work accident

There is another case here proving how inefficient the adminitrative is here.

I had a work accident in April, I thought it was not a bit deal so didn't do anything to it.

Until I saw my doctor, she advised me to report this work accident so that next time if I have any problem related to this accident, the CPAM (the French medical reimbursement) will be wiling to pay. So I called up my employer and she agreed to send me something.

That something never came, but I received a letter from an agency who deals with work accident, and she requested my livret de famille (family book) to proceed with this report. I sent it.

Today I received another letter from the same woman, asking me for another document: medical certificate.

Why can't she ask from the first letter? Just include everything she needs and I will give her everything at once. Does she have to verify that I'm really married to a French guy then only she can proceed to the next step?

I don't know what medical certificate she wants, as the doctor gave me some document but she told me to send them to CPAM, not to this agency.

Please wish me good luck!

Back to the tax return problem.

I went to the tax office yesterday, and she won't let me fill the 2005 tax bcos in my carte de séjour I entered France in Aug, thus not fulfilling the 183 days requirement of staying in France. In fact I came in Jun but as a tourist, so she asked me to prove it.

I came back this afternoon with my passport, but the woman was busy so I was handled by another woman, who happily accepted my form without any questions.

Now, the tax return is submitted, but who knows if they are going to give me pain again? I need this tax return badly. If I don't have it my bank will cancel the mortgage loan, and we will have to negotiate another one with higher interest rate and longer term of paying back. Yes we are talking about thousands of euros here.

I secretly counted my stay in France in 2005, and if I count the 4 days in January I was here for the Christmas holiday, it makes 183 days. Talking about luck.

Please declare your zero income!

If not bcos of this incident I wouldn't have known that as a foreign student I'm obligated to fill the income tax despite the fact that I was not allowed to work so had zero income . Gosh! Why the school have never even thought of telling us and now this is giving me a bit mess.

I almost/could've/might be screwed up the whole mortgage application just bcos I didn't fill the 2005 income tax. The mortgage loan is even signed, but the banker "threaten" to cancel the whole thing if I can't provide him the avis d'impôt 2005. He could have told us 2 months ago that he will need this and it's mandatory. Now the contact is signed and he realised he has committed a professional mistake, he got scared and want to screw us up. I'm not sure if it's even legal that he can cancel a signed contract just like that, as in the contract he's supposed to have satisfied with all the documents provided.

So, I went to the tax office and was told that they can't handle my case bcos I was a foreign student in 2005 thus I'm not fiscally recognised by them. I sent an email to the tax office hoping someone else will give me different response but I got the same reply. Here was what I got:

En réponse à votre question, je vous confirme qu'étant étudiante étrangèreet n'ayant pas de revenus vous n'avez pas à souscrire de déclaration. Le service ne la prendrai d'ailleurs pas en compte. Je suis désolée mais dans votre situation, je ne peux accéder à votre demande. Vous n'êtes pas fiscalement reconnue et je ne suis pas habilitée à vous délivrer une attestation.

I gave up but my hubby continued his battle and he successfully got someone agreed to let me declare my zero income. I went to the place this morning to realise that the office was meant for "courses" and the yellow page has mistakenlly included a "tax services" to this address. This guy was very nice and after hearing my situation, he said that foreign students DO HAVE to declare their ZERO income and it will all be handle in Paris. He then sent me to another office for a more accurate advises.

I have finally arrived in the right office, and the receptionist said that I can fill the income tax but I will only get it in 3 months.

Lessons: Declare all your incomes eventhough it's zero, who knows in ten years you will still need to provide it to someone else. When you get a "no" from a French administrative, try another office and never give up until you get a "yes".

Since it's free

I have to praise the medical system here. Under the careful treatment of a doctor, my hand is recovering well. I procrastinated the treatment until a week after the accident, as I didn't think it is a big deal. I still have the Malaysian mentality in terms of seeing a doctor, go only when it's really serious. Well, since it's free and people around keep telling me about the risk of tetanus, I went to see a doctor. The doctor actually injected the tetanus vaccin, in which I don't know whether I had taken in Malaysia. Now I'm given a small card to record all the vaccin I have taken. The doctor is very professional and friendly, she knows that I don't understand all these medical terms so she patiently explained them to me one by one. Yeah, more vaccination to take to catch up with the French. :-)

On the other hand, I was told by an optician that I can replace my glasses for free. I'm hesitating so much as my current one is still in good condition. Brief, I don't need a new pair of glasses. But it's free he claimed. At this time the Malaysian mentality still overtake the French one. No wasting eventhough it's free. But give me a couple of years, I will think like the French. Scary.

Who is Mr Tom

I was in a bank. Have an appointment with Mr Tom. The conversation went this way.

"Hello, how may I help you?"
"I have an appointment with Mr Tom."
"I'm sorry, but I don't know any Mr Tom here, are you sure your appointment is with our bank?"
"Yes I'm sure."

The guy went away and come back.

"I'm sorry but I really don't know any Mr Tom here."

Then he went away with his client.

Furious, I called Mr Tom. No want picked it up. I started to think that this Mr Tom doesn't exist in this bank. Call again, a guy picked up the phone, and it was the guy in front of me who was speaking!! He was in the room next to the reception, and something on his table display his name, Mr Tom.

There's no way I pronounce it wrongly, there were only 3-4 counselors in the bank. How can they don't know each other?

Feeling the good customer services again

Yesterday I had to call US for some banking information. The phone numbers are available on the internet, and since calling from our internet provider Free is free to US, I didn't hesitate to call.

And the feeling came back. Good customer services, people are actually there to listen to the phone and answer your questions, and the service is free.

I had never called any service phone in France simply bcos it costs money. My friend used to call her internet provider and after spending money paying for many phonecalls, her problem was not solved.

Pre-wedding counselling

We were asked to attend a one day pre-wedding counselling. Overall it was good as we talked about many important topics that will somehow appear in our daily life after marriage.

There were 8 pairs of couples. The organisers said there used to have more, but it seems that more and more people choose to get married only in the town hall and not having the religious wedding.

I think this is quite similar to those wedding seminars in Malaysia, mandatory for the muslims but not non-muslims.

At one point I was bored bcos I couldn't understand well the doctor who explained about the childbirth related issues. Then during a group debate, I wish so much that I speak French like my mother tongue, as I wanted to participate but got hold off by the fluency of the language. I imagine that I will be more proactive if the counselling were taken place in English or Mandarin.

Anyway, I think every couple should go to this kind fo counselling.