Everything's all falling into place with the paperwork and such. Which makes me happy.
For one, I'll hopefully have my Aufenthaltstitel (residence permit) on Thursday. All I have to do is go to the Foreigner's Office, pay them € 50 (~$70), and I'll have a pretty sticker in my passport.
The other thing is that some of the paperwork I'll need for my stay in France is coming! In order to work as a language assistant in France, I need a visa, and this visa requires a work contract. The work contract is on its way to me right now, and I'm aiming to apply for my visa in the middle of August. The visa's free of charge, but I have to personally go to Frankfurt to apply for it (they don't accept applications by mail). Accordingly, I'll just turn my consular visit into a day of sightseeing in Frankfurt, a city that I'm not too familiar with save the airport. But, regardless, I'll be working at both a lycée (high school) in the city of Clermont-Ferrand and at a collège (middle school) in a suburb called Gerzat. I presume I'll find out more later, probably after I contact the people in charge of the schools. Also, this means I should probably start looking for housing and accommodation (but not too hard yet, as one of the schools might have arrangements... and I don't yet have my visa).
Also, I figure a few pictures are in order. Clockwise from the bottom, we have scenes of the Speyer Dom, a very large cathedral in Speyer (30 minutes from Ludwigshafen) and the resting place of several German kings of old; a random church along the Rhein; and the Wasserturm in Mannheim, a rather prominent landmark with pretty gardens. (Yes, I like flowers.)
And... that's pretty much it for now. Have a good remainder of your week.
