I love David's blog. He an award wining American pastry chef living in Paris. His cookbook THE PERFECT SCOOP is fantastic. I had to sell my Cuisinart Ice Cream maker when I move here so I can only make granitas from the book for now. Sadness.
Anyway this post cracked me up. I know many expats here can relate to number one and number two in particular.
This paragraph brought back nightmares of my trips to the Comune (municipio numero uno) shudder.
"Coming up soon is my visa renewal, which most of us foreigners have to take care of annually. For some reason, they can't tell me how long one has to live in France to get a Residency Card. Last year, the woman at immigration said, "I don't know. We don't have that kind of information!"
I wanted to point out that since she works in immigration, perhaps she might privy to immigration information, but that's just me being silly."
One comment suggested a new reality TV show ala a Euro Cup for bureaucracy. There would be a battle between France and Italy. ha!
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
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8 comments:
Thanks for the link...I thought I was the only person that tried to legitimately immigrate only to get MORE static than illegal immigrants!
I love David's blog. I've made several of his ice cream creations before and had to stop when my pants got too tight.
But back to the post...I'm still shocked how little the internet is used with most business and gov't issues in Italy. I move a fair bit and can go online to the Cdn gov't agency and chance all my information with a click of my mouse. I guess every country has it its own quirks and kinks. That is the joy of immigrating.
Funny I just read this and thought of you!
The reality show idea is brilliant... I'd watch it, hell I'd even audition to be on it ;)
I love the Eurocup idea. And yes, this sounds like a great post.
My husband wants (in his dream) to be a stand up comedian about the bureaucracy in France and the funny (or tragic) differences between French people and American.
Usually, when he's driving, he starts laughing out loud about the things he would say in his show/movie/book.
I just read the post, very funny. I might write about it on my blog.
May I link to your blog?
Thanks.
lilacspecs - ha. you're welcome.
ms. violette - David is very talented, a great cook and writer. Yes every country has it quirks. I was reading a book that said telecommuting would never take off in Italy. The writer said his people need human interaction.
glamah16 - So glad I don't have to go every year like David does to renew my paperwork. Poor guy.
romerican - ha. Could you imagine? I think the woman from the Comune who likes to yell should be on it too. I hear red tape in Spain is not a joke as well. Oh well at least the food in all three places is fantastic.
jen - It's very funny.
sissi - of course. I'm sure your husband has a lot of material. It good to have a sense of humor about these things.
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