being well-organised

i'm not the most well-organised person on the planet, obviously.

i haven't met all the people on this planet, so i can't claim the above.

but the french are famous for being so "well-organised", as you've already heard so far through different channels.

lemme just elaborate on this in the following.

first of all, the whole application thing.

it was so well-organised that i was only contacted twice (okay, maybe 3 times) during the entire process.

the original cultural attache finished his appointment in sheepland half way through our application process.

the new one came in and got in touch with us just 2 weeks before i got my actual visa.

well, that wasn't particularly helpful of her, was it?

on the other hand, the french french side of things are just "pretty-looking".

on my assignment contract, there's no final destination.

meaning, i was only given a visa to come to work in france, but god knows where.

might as well be high up in the mountains doing random sh*t like counting sheep.

well, according to someone who's done this programme before, this is VERY normal.

all i wanted was a visa anyway, so i guess i can accept that.

then it just got prettier.

i was meant to start my assignment on 1 oct, so i figured that i shall arrive here a week earlier to get myself organised before my assignment starts.

but i had to know where i was going to begin with, hadn't i?

so at the end of august, i sent an email to the contact person.

no reply after 2 weeks.

well, it was the first 2 weeks into the new school year, i guess it is normal?

then the third week, still no response, even my dad was kinda worried for me.

i re-email the contact person by copy-pasting the exact same thing.

couple of days later, she told me where to go, but still no more specific information.

it was like they're sending me to do some highly confidential assignment or something.

cos why else you wanna be so mysterious?

isn't that just a fine example of how well-organised the french are?

anyways, i told her that i was gonna arrive in france and would text her to know what time i shall be arriving so that i would get collected from the train station.

guess what?

to keep the consistency of being well-organised, after i texted her on my day of arrival on the tgv, i got a reply saying, "sorry i don't have anyone to get you from the airport, take a cab."

if you think this sucks, then keep reading.

we were meant to be having an induction today in a different city.

so we took a bus early in the morning to go there, and we were told beforehand that we would be collected by a bus which would get us to the induction place.

guess what?

well, you're right.

the bus never came.

turned out the bus wasn't gonna come.

we had to catch another bus then walk all the way to that school from the train station.

so well-organised you guys!

i'm feeling like i'm experiencing the authentic french life.

and after all this, i'd like to say that even sheepland has a very efficient bureaucratic system.

well, at least they won't stand us up by not sending a friggin bus.