An encounter with French health care

It’s almost time for me to return to the states. After nearly 10 months of living in France, I never succeeded in signing up for Social Security, and therefore health insurance (although I believe that since my pay checks were deducted for this that I would have been reimbursed- eventually- for any medical bills). So, clearly administration in France is a nightmare. However, a recent incident reassured me, that if I were to get sick, I would be taken care of and it wouldn’t cost me les yeux de la tête (an arm and a leg). This incident gave me a glimpse at the system.

My sister came to visit for two weeks in May. It was her first time to Europe, her first time out of the country if you don’t count a few days in Mexico when we were too young to remember. I wanted her to have a great time and for Paris to have a great impression of her. Unfortunately, our staircase had another plan. Her second night here, she missed one or two miserable steps. At first, she was fine. But overnight her foot swelled. My first thought was to go to the pharmacy.

Pharmacists are honestly just awesome here. When I explained what happened to the pharmacist, he took us to a room and looked at her foot. He said he didn’t think anything was broken but recommended she go to a doctor to make sure she didn’t need an x-ray. Nervous, I asked what an x-ray would cost since she wasn’t covered by French health insurance. He grimaced. Oh no. 100? 200? More? I worried. With an apologetic tone he said, “Without French health coverage, it could be up to 30 or 40.”

Next, I accompanied my limping sister to the nearest clinic to make an appointment for later that afternoon. When we came back for the appointment, they asked for her carte vitale (insurance card). After explaining that she’s just visiting France, again with an apologetic tone, the lady said, “then you’ll have to pay the whole fee for the appointment now, but we’ll give you a form and maybe your American insurance will reimburse you.” How much? “22 euros.”

We waited for about 45 minutes in the waiting room where we watched 5 patients be called before us into the exam room. Curious thing about doctor offices (or at least clinics) in France: there are cabines (changing rooms) connected to the exam rooms. So as patients were called, we watched the doctor go through the main door to the room, while the patients went to the cabine. I explained to Jenny that they are probably stripping down and may not have gowns to wear. There are no frills at the doctor or the hospital in France, I hear. “No way am I taking off my clothes for my foot!” she exclaimed. I agreed that would be ridiculous, but after this long day I told her to suck it up if she had to. Luckily, when we were called, Dr. Arnaud just asked her to take off her shoe. She sat on the table and the doctor asked me, “Elle a fait quoi comme bêtise?” (What stupid thing did she do?) I like this guy.

Dr. Arnaud confirmed that nothing was broken and that an x-ray wasn’t needed. She had une entorse (a sprain) and he wrote her a prescription for an anti-inflammatory cream, une attelle (a brace) and a set of cannes anglaises (crutches, but those that you hold with your hands and don’t go under your armpits). The doctor even assured us that we could take our trip to Mont Saint Michel and that she could even ride a horse. He even included a funny horse riding demonstration from his chair.

Back to the pharmacy we went for the brace, cream, and rented crutches, which cost about 50 euros. So the day’s worth of medical bills, without coverage, cost under 75 euros.

The standard fee for seeing a (non-private) general practitioner for adults in France is 22 euros. If you are covered by the Social Security health coverage (which are all citizens and residents here long enough to get paperwork finished), 70% of that is reimbursed. Back in March, the doctor unionists (yes, doctor unionists) went on strike. They were demanding that the fee be raised to 23 euros. Well, from what I’ve found on the Internet, it didn’t exactly happen. Some doctors have begun to charge the extra euro, but the Assurance Maladie (Health Insurance) website assures that patients have the right to refuse to pay the extra euro. For Francophiles, this article is interesting if you want to learn more, and this site explains the basics about doctor fees.

I indeed sympathize with the general practitioners who feel constrained by politicians and unappreciated, and I think they deserve the extra euro. Clearly I must admit that there are problems and downsides to the French health care system. Yet, I firmly believe that my sister, as small as her incident may have been, was in competent hands. She was well taken care of, and even without coverage she didn’t have to forfeit all of her traveling money for medical bills.

After doing some research about fees and such in France, I decided I needed to learn more about the new health care plan going into effect in my home country. I knew the very basics, but since it passed, I didn’t understand how and when things would exactly change. Some of the first things to go into effect are that people under 26 can remain on their parents’ health insurance, and that insurance providers cannot deny coverage to children due to pre-existing conditions. As a married individual, I can’t exactly benefit from my dad’s insurance (I assume), but I think that is wonderful. How many 22 year olds find a job with excellent benefits right after college? That’s a much-needed cushion in my opinion. And not allowing insurance companies from refusing to give health coverage to children, well how could you argue with that? Is that not simply just?

Before strangers to my blog begin to bombard me with anti-socialist comments, let me say that I’m admittedly not an expert, and let me change the subject. Another wonderful thing to come out of my sisters’ slight misery was my opportunity to speak French in a new environment. Speaking with pharmacists and doctors and learning new vocabulary was honestly exciting and it felt good, since I’ve not had “new” French speaking experiences lately. So, Jenny, I’m sorry you feel down the stairs, but thank you for the gift of this interesting experience.

French with Marie

Whoa, 2 posts in one day, aren't you lucky blog readers!

For a while now, I have been working on my French with a "language exchange partner" who I met at the Tempo Tea Time conversation group. Well, what I thought would be "language exchanges" quickly became hanging out with a friend. A friend is what I was secretly hoping for, so I was pretty happy with that. Marie has shown me and some other lucky anglophones some of the greatest spots in Paris, including an amazing ice cream shop called Berthillon, the Tea Caddy, the Places des Vosges, and the Playmobil exposition.





I had originally envisioned doing 30 minutes in French and 30 minutes in English during our outings- to make sure I really worked on my French. Instead, we just switch back in forth. Sadly, Marie is leaving Paris soon. She just got a job in Germany. I mean, I'm very happy for her. I'm 90% excited for her and 10% sad for me.

I thought this would be a good time to share all the wonderful vocabulary I have learned thanks to Marie. Some are helpful for everyday, and same are downright hilarious.

Here is the list, taken in order directly from my vocabulary notebook (if you think I'm a nerd, Marie has a notebook and a pen especially for English vocab, haha).

se damner
Je me damnerais pour ça - I would sell my soul for that; I would kill for that

un lèche-bottes - brown-noser; suck-up

un cancre - dunce (or the kid who goes to sleep in class)

crade - dirty; gross

un déjeuner-baskets - dine-and-dash

sécher - to skip/cut class (also: to dry)

trinquer - to toast

dégoûter - to disgust
J'étais dégoûté(e) - That disgusted me (can also been that you are jealous)

râler - to moan; to complain

J'hésite entre... - I can't decide between...

le repose merdouille - junk drawer

le gendarme couché = le dos d'âne = le rallentissage - speed bump

un intello - nerd; geek

un montagne russe - roller coaster

There are probably many more I learned when I didn't have my notebook handy.

Thank you for teaching me these great words, Marie, and for showing me around Paris! Maybe it's more like 70% excited and 30% sad.



60%/40%

Ça n'a rien à voir!

Pssst- Scroll down for English. And then learn some French!

Je suis désolée mon pauvre blog et mes lecteurs fidèles (je sais que vous venez tous les jours, sans faute, pour voir si j'avais écrit quelque chose de nouveau...). Je suis plus occupée ces jours-ci à cause de notre recherche pour un nouveau logement et nos aventures administratives. Enfin nous avons eu nos rendez-vous chez l'OFII et nous avons reçu nos titres de séjour! En fait, je suis actuellement en vacances, mais je travaille toujours. Cette semaine je suis intervenante des stages intensifs d'anglais pour un groupe de 12 lycéens.

Alors, je donne mes excuses pour le manque de posts. Je vais écrire longuement de toutes sortes de choses la semaine prochaine, mais en attendant, voilà un peu de vocabulaire. Il n'y a pas de thème, sauf que "ça n'a rien à voir."

I am sorry my poor blog and faithful readers (I know that not a day goes by that you don't check the blog to see if I've written something new...). I have been extra busy lately thanks to our housing search and our administrative adventures. But we finally had our appointment at the OFII and we received our residence permits! And actually I am currently on break, but I'm still working. This week I am leading an intensive English workshop for a group of 12 high school students.

So, forgive me for the lack of posts. I am going to write about all kinds of things at length next week, but in the meantime, here's a little vocabulary. There is no theme, except that "it is not at all the same."

Ça n'a rien à voir. That has nothing to do with it. / It is not at all the same. The first time I tried to use this, I said it wrong. I said "Ça n'a rien à faire," which is closer to the English version, to a student who was asking ridiculous questions, unrelated to the lesson. They all just stared at me! Just last week, my dear friend Sylvie (I'm not making fun, promise!) said in English, "It has nothing to see." I love languages!

Ça y est. That's it. It's finished.

Ça a été? How did it go?

Ça vous (te) dit? Is that okay with you? / Does that interest you?

Ça vous (te) dit quelque chose? Does that ring any bells?

French Administration and 3 Ways to Say, “I’ve had it!”

Before coming to France last September, I had a vague idea of how bureaucratic French administration can be. Trying to get information about different university programs for Tom was a headache in itself, and the fact that French people don’t email as much as Americans do can be very frustrating.

That was just the beginning.

Since arriving in September, and especially lately, French administration has been testing my patience, and my patience has not been prevailing. It seems that nobody is on the same page about ridiculous but result-changing details. I’m pretty sure that most offices in France have less hours than those in the States, and the hours are never 9am-5pm. And everything takes so much time! For my American, non-Frenchy, readers, you may think I am exaggerating. But ask a French person, and he or she will likely back me up. Just today, my French friend Marie said that you really have to be déterminé to survive French administration. In addition, if you watch L’Auberge Espagnol you will see a scene in which a French student goes through the frustrating process of finding “the right form.” But, if you don’t know any French people and don’t want to watch the movie, I have two real life examples to prove my statements.

Example one: official paperwork. We have been in France for over 4 months and still do not have everything finished that we should as residents. Upon our arrival, we sent copies of our passports, visas, etc to the OFII. Around December we were supposed to receive a convocation from the OFII, summoning us to a medical appointment, after which we will receive some type of stamp serving as our titre de séjour, a resident permit. We still have not been summoned. It wouldn’t be such a big deal, except we need the residency permit to register for Social Security (for health insurance) and we need our Social Security numbers to apply for the CAF (housing assistance). Honestly I think that health care (which is cheaper here even without insurance) and housing assistance is better in many ways in France, but for the love of Pete, it’s taking forever to get it!

Example two: auditing a class. Last December, I decided to audit a Political Science class at l’Institut Catholique de Paris. I’m really interested in international relations and wanted to take a class in French, so I chose to take Relations Internationales. I went to the office of the department (which is only open in the afternoons) in December, ready to sign up and pay. I was told to come back in January. I went back in January, filled out a form, and was told to come back later to pay. I went back the next week, arrived at 4:30pm, waited for 30 minutes and then was told they were closed and had to come back. I went back last Friday and watched the lady enter my information from the form into the computer (she couldn’t have done this without me there?). Then, she told me that that’s all she could do. I had to go somewhere else to pay. Oh, but they’re closed on Friday afternoons. The class started on Tuesday, so I had to go on Monday. But, I work until 4pm and they close at 4:45pm. So I ran! And…success! I signed up and got a shiny student card that will get me some awesome discounts.

Tuesday: first day of class. I arrived perhaps 2 minutes late, opened the door to Salle C 32, and heard a professor speaking in English. Huh? I must be in the wrong room, I thought. Nope. The Relations Internationales class is indeed in English this year, although it was not indicated in the brochure as one of the English classes and the lady in the office didn’t tell me this. Just me? My mistake? No, the French students were pretty upset to learn, on the first day of class, that it’s in English.

In Tom’s words when I told him about the class being in English, “Oh mon Dieu.” I have been defeated. I have not the strength to try to switch classes.

In order to deal with this new kind of frustration, there are too solutions. One: remind myself daily how much I love speaking French, eating French food, and getting to know French people. Two: complain in French. Thus, voilà 3 ways to say, “I’ve had it!”

J’en ai assez! I’ve had enough!

J’en ai ras le bol! I’ve had it up to here! / I'm sick of it!

J’en ai marre! I’m fed up!

Frankly my dear: 4 ways to say "I don't care" in French

"Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." It may be strange, but I've wondered for a while how Rhett Butler would have said this if he were French.

Since I started learning French, I have always looked for the best way to express "I don't care." I, of course, learned the most neutral expression, which can be found in the dictionary, when I was at AU- "Ça m'est égal," literally "It is equal to me." This is fine for expressing simple lack of interest or stating that you don't care whether you go to this restaurant or that one. However, when stronger emotion is needed, "Ça m'est égal" just won't do.

One reason that I love being able to live in France for 10 months is learning some very useful, though sometimes vulgar, expressions. There are so many ways to express "I don't care" in English, from "It doesn't matter to me" or "I couldn't care less" to Rhett Butler's stronger expression or the same expression with the f word. As in English, there are a variety of expressions in French. Here are those I've learned and heard frequently since being in France. They go from weak to strong, from polite to vulgar.

Ça m'est égal- Again, this is simply, "I don't care," "I don't have a preference."

Je m'en moque- Still pretty polite. I've heard teachers use this in front of their students.

Je m'en fiche- Not the strongest, or the most polite.

Je m'en fous - The strongest. It is vulgar. I've heard kids at school use this, and then tattle on each other for saying it.

Now, I can be pretty sure that Rhett Butler would have said something like, "Franchement chérie, je m'en fous." What may be stranger than my wonderment about the translation of this phrase, is that I've never actually seen Gone with the Wind! Maybe I should put that on my to do list. Do you think there is a version that has French subtitles, so I can see if I'm right about the translation?

Marchés de Noël. Christmas Markets.

Hot wine, baked goods, and Christmas lights. I have really caught the Christmas spirit this year. Perhaps it's because we're experiencing it in a very different way. The Marchés de Noël (Christmas Markets) have been a delightful and exciting part of December. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed to find that most of the booths weren't selling originally, hand-made, or traditional items. Actually, we found pretty much the same things at each market, including magic scarves, magic wallets, and magic wooden boxes. Yet, it's been fun strolling around, drinking vin chaud and eating beignets. We even found a few Christmas gifts.


Marché de Noël Number 1: Champs-Elysées. Beautiful lights but we went on a rainy, muddy day. This is a picture of the little roller coaster and fake snow.


Marché de Noël Number 2: La Défence. This was my favorite one because the set up is like a little village. We went with our new friend Katie F, who took this picture of us with our vin chaud.


Marché de Noël Number 3: Notre-Dame. Very small but kind of cute.


Marché de Noël Number 4: Trocadéro/Eiffel Tower. Nice set-up and, obviously, great location. We also went ice-skating here, but Tom's supposed to tell you about that....

Christmas Markets take place all over France, but it's really a German tradition, I hear. The best ones in France are supposed to be in Strasbourg, a city on the German border. We're a little disappointed we won't be able to see Strasbourg at Christmastime, but we're really excited to be spending Christmas with a French family in Nantes! We leave on Wednesday.

Now, of course, a little vocabulary I learned or encountered at the Christmas Markets:

Le Chalet - Stand/Booth

Le Vin Chaud - Hot Wine

Le Chocolat Chaud - Hot Chocolate

La Barbe à Papa - Cotton Candy (literally Papa's beard! hahaha- by far my favorite new vocabulary)

Le Bonnet de Noël - Santa Hat

Le temps passe trop vite! 3 mois déjà!

Ça fait 3 mois déjà que nous sommes en France. C'est vraiment incroyable. Ma famille et mes amis me manquent, bien sûr, mais je ne veux pas que le temps passe aussi vite! Il nous reste à peu près 6 mois, mais il me reste beaucoup à faire. Surtout, il faut absolument que je fasse plus du progrès avec mon français. C'est peut-être une bonne idée pour une résolution pour le nouvel an? Je suis en France, je dois en profiter! Je parle déjà souvent français, mais il y a trop d’anglais dans les écoles et avec les autres américains au foyer. Il me faut de la structure. Oui, je prévoirai des temps pour parler et écouter le français. Après les vacances, je parlerai régulièrement avec ma partenaire d'échange, et peut-être je chercherai une deuxième partenaire. Je écouterai plus le français sur Internet. Voilà. Je m'y mets*.

Time is passing too fast! 3 months already!

We've already been in France for 3 months. I can't believe it. I of course miss my family and friends, but I don't want time to go by so fast! We have about 6 months left, but I have a lot left to do. Above all, I absolutely have to make more progress in French. Maybe that's a good idea for a New Year's resolution? I live in France, so I should take advantage of that while I can! I speak French pretty often already, but there is too much English in the my schools and with the other Americans at our residence. I need some structure. Yes, I will plan time to speak and listen to French. After Christmas break, I will regularly speak French with my language exchange parter, and maybe I will look for a second one. I will listen to more French on the internet. There. I'm going to do it.

Lots of great posts to come. Stay tuned. Monsieur Ayers might even write soon!

* Je m'y mets. I love this expression! I've seen it mostly in regards to a diet. Literally it means "I'm putting myself there." My translation is "I'm going to start/I'm going to do it."

Il pleut à Paris

Il n'y a pas un seul jour pendant les trois dernières semaines où il n'a pas plus, au moins un peu. Je vous jure. Il y a deux semaines il pleuvait des cordes. Le tramway était en panne et alors nous sommes rentrés à pied. Nous étions complètement mouillés. Puis, la semaine dernière, nous sommes allés au marché de Noël aux Champs-Elysées, et il pleuvait encore. Le vent violent a rendu mon parapluie inutile. Nous avons marché dans la boue. Après, dans le métro, nous avons vu que nos jeans étaient couverts de boue jusqu'aux genoux! Mais je ne vais pas plaindre, parce que j'habite à Paris!

There hasn't been a single day in the past three weeks when it hasn't rained, at least a little. I swear. Two weeks ago, it was raining really hard. The tramway wasn't working and so we had to walk home. We were soaked! Then, last week, we went to the marché de Noël (Christmas bazar?) on the Champs-Elysées, and it was raining again. My umbrella was useless because of the strong wind. We walked in the mud. After, in the metro, we saw that our jeans were covered in mud up to the knees! But, I'm not going to complain, because I live in Paris!

Some vocabulary:

Il pleut. Il a plu, Il pleuvait. It's raining. It rained. It was raining.

Il pleut des cordes. It's raining very hard/It's raining cats and dogs.

Il pleut à torrents. It's pouring. (I heard a teacher say this as she rang the bell after only 5 minutes of recess).

Il fait du vent. It's windy.

La pluie. The rain.

Un parapluie. An umbrella (I thought for so long that this noun was feminine...)

One Little Word

Si.

Yes, I said si. It's a French word, I promise! And I can't get it into my immediate vocabulary. I know how to use it, but can't manage to remember it fast enough.

What does it mean? It means "if," but also means "yes" in a special circumstance. Oui of course is the word for "yes" in French, but when you are responding "yes" to a negative question, the word is si. And I never get it. It always comes out oui, and as soon as that word slides out of my month I know it's wrong.

A Real Life Example from Yesterday:

French friend: Tu ne l'aimes pas? (You don't like it?) - referring to my new haircut

Me: Oui, je l'aime. (Yes, I do like it.)

French friend: Si. (She corrected me.)

Me: Arg! Je sais! (Arg! I know!)

Time to learn some vocabulary. C'est parti!

Voilà quelques mots et expressions que j'ai appris et que j'entends souvent. Attention! Je ne vous donne pas les traductions du dictionnaire, mais ce que j'ai compris par ces mots. (Here are some words and expressions I've learned and that I hear frequently. But beware! I'm not giving dictionary translations, but what I've understood them to mean).

C'est parti! I have heard this about a million times over the past two months! I can't think of one good way to say it in English. Several possibilities are: Here we go! And we're/they're/it's off! Ready go! It's begun! I also saw that this was used in the subtitles of the movie Away We Go when Burt says "Play ball."

Turbulent. Wild, noisy, crazy. As in: Les CE2s sont toujours turbulents. (The 4th graders are always wild, noisy, and crazy.) Yes, I learned this word from a teacher. I did cheat here and looked up the actual dictionary translation, which is boisterous, but I like wild, crazy, noisy better.

Se débrouiller. To manage, to make it. Several people have told me concerning my French "Tu te débrouilles bien." I'm only managing? :( Not excelling? ;)

C'est chiant! That's annoying! This is very familiar and maybe vulgar (?), but I hear it all the time. The first time I heard it was when my French friend Julie said it. I said I didn't know that word and she kind of smiled when she explained it to me.

Tranquille. Calm, relaxing/relaxed. I've heard people say this when answering to ça va? (how are you?) and comment s'est passé ton week-end? (how was your weekend?).