Ma carte de séjour est finalement arrivée!

Received a letter yesterday and I went to the local mayor office for collection!
yes, 10 years! 

We can now forget about all these hustles of going to the prefecture almost forever!
Can you imagin my hubby and I have a big smile on our face?

Because after this, the renewals will be handled at the local mayor office and we don't need to go to the prefecture. And we can apply 3 months prior to the expire date.
No queuing, no waiting!

What will I do, what will I be.. by the year 2020?

Soldes Soldes Soldes

The Winter sales have just started on Wednesday. More or less every shops cut their prices for up to 50% - each week there'll be a further reduction, so whether you buy at 50% or wait for another reduction is up to you - but the stuff you liked may not be there anymore in a week's time. 

soldes soldes soldes

 

rue d'Antibe

I strolled down the rud d'Antibes in Cannes on the first day, just to see how many people are there - I didn't see that many people. I didn't mean to do any shopping... but yes, indeed, it is tempting so I ended up coming home with two cashmere jumpers from Massimo Dutti - two for the price of one!
I have been looking for a pair of boots in black - I'll wait for another reduction, as I am not really a fuss about how they look - they'd look more or less the same.  If I find something nice, I'd buy two pairs, so that they'd last longer.


There're a few marchandisers at the marche gambetta, you can find some famous brands for cheap price - Jones, JCrew etc. - I must compare.

pole emploi - problem...

I might have mentioned this before that I've been on the benefit. If your contract is fixed duration (CDD - contrat durée déterminée), you can claim your beneft by presenting your job certificate (attestation de travail) to pole emploi after working more than 6 months.  

The earlier in the year, I had to have my title de séjour renewed(it's my 2nd récépissée) at the Nice prefecture. On the same day in the afternoon, I had a regular meeting with pole emploi so I left them a copy to update my status.

only Friday morning, I had a call from the pole emploi saying that they have not received that they'd cut my benefit as of 11 January. They love papers but they'd lost my very important document - so typical. Within an hour, I was at the pole emploi office nearby, with a copy again - to ensure that they'd sort that out.


Yesterday, I received a letter saying that i didn't act according to our notice therefore they are closing my benefit account as of 11 january.
Can't believe it - I thought I was being organised but for nothing!!! With a help of my hubby, I had written a letter with sufficient evidents so hopefully they'll put my account back in.

My last vin chaud?

sorry mon amour, can you hold the glass for a sec?

Here in Cannes, we have X'mas market perhaps like any other villages in France - wished they'd sell more X'mas stuff, rather than soaps and souveniers - but never mind.  
We made a quick visit to the final day of X'mas market after we went for a walk to the Suquet. The market is usually located by the port and this year, there's a little skate link for kids - but not with the real ice! (shame on you!!)

This winter, I enjoyed having a glass or two with some friends there - vin chaud! 

Perhaps this drink would be much more appreciated in the cold places - the day we were there, it was quite mild temprature - I could've done with a normal glass of wine - nope, I enjoy the atomosphere too.

my muppet experience - English 1

Learning language is a never ending challenge - I still don't feel like I've perfected English and I have French to worry about at the moment.  But I do enjoy learning languages.  I am fine at work and I love reading - daily papers, paperbags magazines and watching films and TVs. I used to make loads of mistakes in English, it still makes people laugh.


Let me tell you what my Scotish colleage did to me, in a winter 1997.

It was when I was planning a trip to Edinburgh with a friend who's from Japan.  I've heard that it's a great place to be and luckly, I have an expert in the pub crawing - so he told me to make sure we'd cover all the pubs on Rose Street. 

New Year's Eve Diner - à la Japonais

Clockwise : Soba noodle maki, Roast beef with japanese sauce, Namasu salad, Hidjiki and Dried Tofu in sauce

Agedashi Tofu

This new year's eve, we spent just ourselves in Cannes, it's a first time in three years.  I usually woke up at very early in the morning on the new year's day to call mum on the webcam, where our family and relatives in Japan are getting together. It's really funny whispering to them over the camera as the rest of our family in France are still in bed!
This year, I only talked to mum and dad on their new years time, and we made excuses not seeing them over the webcam but tell everyone Bonne Annee!

As we are at home, I kind of missed some Japanese comfort food...(my hubby had his comfort food up in North) so I decided to cook something nice to celebrate the coming year.  Usually you'd eat this special meal on the new years day, but I mixed Japanese custom and the western custome together to eat them on the new years' eve. Some food has it's meaning in our culture - I think it's really sweet.

For example, 
Namasu salad - it's a grated white radish and carots (put some salt and leave them for 5-10mins and squeeze off any excess water) in sugarly rice vinegar (you can use Sushi vinegar). We consider "red" and "white" as happy colours, so this salad symbolise the happiness for the new year. 


Soba noodle - we traditionally eat it on the new year's eve.  As the noodle is long, it represents as "Live Long". You have a number of ways to eat soba noodle - hot / cold, with tempra etc.  I made a simple maki with sushi seaweed, after cook them according to the instruction and cool them with water. Cut in pieces. Eat with the same sauce (1 cup dashi stock, 2tbs soya sauce, 2tbs mirin)used in the Agedashi Tofu.


There are many other things to add on this box (usually it's three stockable boxes), but I served 1 box per person, like a bento box).
Roast beef with japanese sauce: make the roast as you prefer with garlic, salt and pepper.
For the sauce (meat for 800g) - prepare a zippable plastic bag, in it, put 1 large grated garlic and same portion of grated ginger, 1/2 cup red wine, 1 cup soya sauce, 1 onion sliced, 1/4 cup of lemon juice (or less, depending on your preference)
Soak the roasted beef in the bag for at least 3-4 hours or 1 day max in the fridge. Serve cold. If you prefer it hot, omit the lemon juice and cook the sauce with low heat (don't boil it), add corn flour to thiken.

The colour of eyes - not important to me

I watched [L'amour dans les pres] on M6 last night.  It's one of my few faviourites French TV program. It's a reality TV to help people working in the agriculture/ farming industry to find their love of their lives.

Carte de séjour - still continue

I've got my récépissé renewed for another 3 months this morning. It only took us a half an hour waiting in the office. (15 mins outside)  It went very smoothly.

The lady at the desk told me about the current status of my carte de séjour - I should receive the letter for collection very soon. That's a great news. 
As I am currently on the benefit, I have to hand over the copy to the French version of job centre(pole emploi). 


I can now relax a little bit.... once I get the 10 year card, I should feel much better!

Carte de séjour - continue

As I went to prefecture for renewing my carte de séjour in mid-October, I've got a receipt that's valid for 3 months. You usually keep it together with the old carte de séjour until your new one arrives.

McDo's Hot Apple Pie

Look!! A friend of mine sent me these before Xmas! These are mini size object of McDonald's products. Apparently you'd get one, when you buy the menu at the restaurant in Japan.  (Thank you K-san!)


In France, they'd call it McDo (pronounce it like Mac Doo), rather than Mac.. it's funny, as it's same in western Japan, like Osaka. In Tokyo, it's called Mac.

Happy new year 2011!

Wishing you all a happy new year! 
Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope to keep on writing my blog whatever cropped up my mind as often as possible.

I hope whoever read this blog enjoys reading as much as I enjoy writing to you.