Carte de séjour

This was taken at 8am at the Gare d'Austerlitz while I was on my way to the immigration office to (finally) get my carte de séjour. About 30 of us lined up outside the office before the doors opened at 8:30am. They checked our papers, measured us, weighed us, checked our eyes (by having us read a paragraph by Diderot in a *tiny* font), took our blood pressure and did x-rays of our chests (which we were given to take home - a souvenir?). Finally, we got a pretty sticker to add to our passports. Hurray, I'm glad that is over with!

J and P had a lot more fun at les soldes. They picked up some really nice things and had lunch in the cafeteria with a view at Galeries Lafayette.

Ch was dreading her teacher's reaction this morning as she had forgotten her French book on Friday so wasn't able to finish her homework due this morning, but her teacher let her finish it during English class and didn't get too angry.

We enjoyed our second Christmas here tonight, opening gifts from my sister that were meant for our Christmas stockings but that got left in Toronto on J's last trip. There were very nice things from home in them: blistex lip balms, coffee crisps and lululemon headbands for the girls. J also brought me all the Christmas cards that arrived at our house in Toronto and they were lots of fun to read! I'm missing many good friends at home tonight as a result.