La Jour Première

2 Octobre 2008

Today we went to look at apartments with Franck, a representative from Coloc. After picking us up at our apartment, he took us to his office to fill out some paperwork. Even though he speaks perfect English, he spoke in French the entire time. I prayed Matthew understood what was being said as he signed the documents. Hopefully we have not just signed a legal document forcing us to name our first born “Franck”.

Frank took us to see 2 apartments in Chamalieres, which is just beside Clermont. I was pleasantly surprised with the first one. There are several buildings for this apartment complex. Each building is no more than 3 or 4 stories. The buildings are scattered around, so when you walk between them, there is a court yard feel. It could not get more French because in the first floor beside the entrance to “our” building is a chocolate shop! This apartment had 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (very rare). Although there were no closets in the bedrooms, there was a closet in the entry and one in the living room. One of the best things about the apartment was the large balcony that had an alcove at one end where you could put a table. It had a roll down metal shutter so that even in bad weather you could use that space. The bad thing is that there is nothing in the kitchen. When I say nothing, I guess I am slightly exaggerating. There is a sink. But…there is no refrigerator. There is no stove or oven. There are no cabinets. There are no countertops. We have been told that this is not uncommon though. The apartment is walking distance from downtown Chamalieres where there are lots of shops (a boulangerie, a patisserie, a boucherie, and don’t forget the chocolatière). From what I have heard there is also a wonderful farmers market every Thursday that is a very short walk. We can also walk to Place de Jaude, in the center of Clermont, in about 10 minutes. For Matthew, it would be a very easy, short car ride to work. It would be about a 15-20 minute walk, which wouldn’t be bad at all on days that the weather is nice.

The second apartment was bigger, nicer, and of course more expensive! But it was just too far out of town. I would feel completely cut off from the rest of the world all day when Matthew is at work with the car (and he would definitely have to drive to work each day).

We are going on Tuesday to look at more apartments, but we feel really excited about the first one we saw today. The other good thing is that it is available now, so we could move in quickly.

We also took our first trip to the grocery store today. We were able to get everything we needed and didn’t make fools out of ourselves. The biggest difference is that you weigh your produce and hit a button (thank goodness for pictures) of the item. It prints out a sticker that you put on your plastic produce bag. You also have to bring your own bags or buy ones there; they do not give you plastic bags for your groceries. It was also strange to see all of the cashiers sitting down in office-like chairs behind the registers. Matthew said it is because of the unions here. Who knew that even grocery store cashiers have unions! Only in France probably!

Tonight we met Freddie Page (he and his wife, Jen, and their 3 kids will be moving here in January) and 2 of his colleagues for dinner. We went to this tiny restaurant called Le Caveau. It is on a little side street and although there is a red neon sign outside, walking up you are really not sure where the restaurant the sign is referring to is located. Both Matthew and Freddie have eaten there before, so I followed them down this little set of stairs to a door below the street level. Here we walk in right beside where a very large bald French chef is cooking very large steaks in skillets. We sit down and the menu is written on a chalkboard on the wall. Matthew orders a steak and the rest of us order a meal that includes une salade, jambon (ham) et truffade (a skillet of cheesy, garlicky, fried potato deliciousness!). The restaurant was small and you feel like you are eating in a dug-out cave, but the place practically oozes French charm, and the food was fantastic.