Verts de rage

These days I'm pretty obsessed with House of cards.  If you haven't heard of it, it is a politic series. There's a another show I enjoyed a lot, is Borgen, a danish serie.  The recurrent themes of those shows are lobbies, media, rumor, manipulations, schemes.  I think this isn't too far from reality.  

Our business is still suffering from the French government decisions, we are victims of political schemes and nuclear lobbies once again.  The state-owned energy  provider is taking action to suppress any growth of green energy in France.  French authority likes to say that our energy is the cheapest in Europe.  At what cost you think?  By preventing green energy to develop, and de facto destroying jobs.  Also, French government often deploys armed forces in Africa, not so much for freedom and helping out Africans, but to secure their uranium (for nuclear plants).  

Whether we vote for the left or the right wing here, the story repeats itself.  We had so much problems with governement laws for solar energy, since we have started, and now Holland has decided to cut off incentives without any notice.  To sum up, last year Holland decided to protect French solar panel industry, by limiting chinese solar panels imports.  He decided to give incentives to the ones who decide to buy european solar panels.  All solar installers and manifacturers followed, but we knew that they are playing with fire by not playing the rules of World Trade Organization, but now we are facing a back-out of the French government.  

The truth is that we are reaching a point where green energy costs less than nuclear energy.  Nuclear lobbyists don't even have to convince the government to cut off subsidies for green energy.  The governement owns partly E.D.F.  Lots of studies have shown that green energy costs less than nuclear, plus, the impact on the environment is less destructive.  If a wind turbine is defective, it only takes a day to take it down.  How do we demolish a nuclear plant? The French don't have the answer.  They take down one piece at the time, put the pieces in bins, and dig a hole and throw the bins in it. 

Other european countries, like Germany took a green turn, since the Tchernobyl catastrophe. France on the other hand, prefers to pursue this nuclear madness.  The environmental party in France is too weak, and have no power whatsover.  We foolishly believed Holland when he said  that he will close down the oldest nuclear plant in Alsace, and he hasn't done anything yet.

If you read French, here's some infos:

http://www.liberation.fr/terre/2014/02/12/dechets-a-bure-le-debat-s-enfuit-sur-internet_979847

http://tecsol.blogs.com/mon_weblog/2014/02/-hollande-fera-t-il-plus-de-mal-%C3%A0-la-fili%C3%A8re-photovolta%C3%AFque-que-sarkozy-.html

Appointment at the Préfecture

Hi, just a quick update on the naturalization application.  I went today for my appointment at the préfecture and it went relatively quickly.  My husband had to be present.  The fonctionnaire took all my papers, but she wasn't enthusiastic about the photocopy of my father's birth certificate.  I told her that I have asked her colleagues by phone several times about not being able to provide an original copy, and it was also mentioned on their website that in some cases, photocopies of parent's birth certificates are accepted.  You can expect different informations from each fonctionnaires.  The other lady scratched one document off the list (of application dossier) and today this document was needed, our last income tax return.  I don't know if I've done enough so far, but it was a long process for me.  If I was born on a country where there was no war and easy access to civil registration, well the process would be a lot easier.  

Not a long time ago, you would have to hand in documents that are less than 3 months-old, which is impossible to do if you were born on a third world country.  Although things in Canada were not really fast either, for my criminal record, it took me more than 3 months to get it. (from finger prints at the Embassy and the waiting period from Ottawa). I'm glad that I made my application through a small "sous-préfecture".  The Préfeture in Lille is too crowded.  I can't imagine applying in Paris.  The fonctionnaire told me that they have only one naturalization application to process and it was mine, that's how small the sous-préfecture is, or maybe people are not in a hurry to apply for citizenship.

That's it for now, I will have to wait several months, or years?!  En tout cas, le sort en est jeté.

*fonctionnaire = public servant

It's about time for an update!

My husband asked when I will post something on my blog.  I've tried several times unsuccessfully.  Let's start with what I was up to since last December.  

A quick overview :

-A little get-away in the Netherlands for the new year.  My husband suggested Germany, but instead we went with "familiar", so Amsterdam it was.

-Then, we had a one-day trip to Paris to legalize my birth certificates, mine and my parents.  I got to visit the C.a.m.b.o.d.i.a.n embassy.  I can't believe that there was so many people lining up for a visa.  We then headed to the Canadian embassy, there was nobody and the security check was ridiculous excessive, similar to an airport.  I had to wait 30 minutes because some girl needed her birth certificate to be legalized.  She seemed in distress because she only had a copy of her birth certificate and not the original. Apparently, she wanted to apply for health care in France and they needed the document to be legalized.  When I first arrived in 2005, nobody asked for a legalized document, just a birth certificate and I had the "carte de séjour" rapidly.  We also slashed a tire on a sidewalk in Paris while parking (I was not driving), but managed to return home without a problem. Let's just say that my trip Paris didn't come cheap. And now our car needs to be checked too for its 65 000 km. So January is the month of spendings, with "les Soldes" (sales clearing), so I'm totally broke.  What a great way to start a year.

-The winter is really mild so I'm not complaining.  

-I drove 700 km so far, with my husband.  Two more months, and I can pass the driving test.  I am still struggling to park.  I have to stick a logo behind the car to let everybody know that I am a "learner".  And that encourages other drivers to be aggressive.  In Canada, we don't have to put a "learner" sign. 

-I have an appointment this Friday with the Préfecture to drop my naturalization application.  My husband has to come too because it is a naturalization by marriage. I'm annoyed by the whole process and I'm pretty sure they will ask for another ramdom document. 

So, that pretty much it for now.

ps: Here's a few pictures of Amsterdam, it was rainy and grey, but never boring.

Another Painful Visit to the Préfecture

Today I dropped by the sous-préfecture of Dunkerque.  I didn't wait too long, because it is not Lille.  Just ahead of me was a person who wanted to apply for French citizenship.  He said he couldn't provide any of the document that the préfecture wanted.  The two ladies looked really annoyed by him, because he wouldn't leave and he hired a lawyer for his application.  He was sent off and that was it.

 Then it was my turn.  All I wanted to do is get the list of documents needed to apply to the naturalization.  A lot of the documents were not even listed on the préfecture website.  I thought I have gathered even single stupid document, but now I have to "legalized" the documents (Birth certificate).  What on earth is a legalized document, well having a birth certificate from C.a.m.b.o.d.i.a is suspicious, so I would need a stamp from the C.a.m.b.o.d.i.a.n embassy in Paris to prouve that the document is authentic.  Of course, they will do it, for 35 euros, and I need to "legalized" 3 birth certificates, not only mine but my parents too.  And I have to "legalize" my canadian criminal records too.  

I have searched a bit on document legalization and only European applicants are exempted from this crap. Great, another unexpected spending ahead.  I hope they will not reject my application because the documents will get older by the day by the time I will submit my application.  French Government is so suspicious that they would ask as many documents as possible.  And to top it off, they also want birth certificates from my French In-laws.  I am this close to throw the towel, but I have spent a few bucks already and this is the final step before handing the dossier.  The Préfecture also wants a 55 euros fiscal stamp, which was also not mentioned on the Pref's website.  Seriously, I hate French bureaucracy.

December Update

Time passes too quickly, especially on December.  We had plans to go to Canada, but I decided not to go.  Because my budget went somewhere else (see last post).  In fact, I'm just back from an hour of driving, with an automatic car.  It was heaven.  I just want to kick myself for not starting with this driving school from the beginning.  I have to drive with the instructor for a couple of hours and I will be good to drive with my husband for 3 months.


December is nice here in Lille, with all the Marchés de Noël.  There always the Big Wheel in the Grand' Place.  And lots of chalets.  Alsatian bretzels, hot wines and ciders, it smelled good.

Bonnes fêtes de fin d'année.