Fridge and TEFL

I have fallen behind posting on the blog.  Here are the two main culprits.

 

Here is our new fridge.  The real culprit would be the old, broken fridge.  Thank God I can't take a picture of it because it is FINALLY out of our kitche.

Getting a working fridge into our kitchen took about two weeks of my life.  When we moved here in March, we purchased a brand new fridge.  Over the next eight months, that fridge died three different times.  Each time took countless hours and wasted much food.  Luckily, the fridge was under guarantee so that we did not pay for the "fixing" or replacement of the fridge.  This makes me a little happy, but not as happy as it should because of the amount of TIME that has been taken out of my life waiting for people to come deal with the fridge. On the up side, my large appliance vocabulary has really improved.  We were lucky that our ten days without a fridge coincided with the coldest weather we have yet experienced here.  Our tiny balcony became our fridge and freezer.

After two visits from repair men to see that indeed the fridge was dead, a delivery date for a new fridge was scheduled.  I was deeply (and prematurely) relieved.  Of course, they called to explain that they couldn't deliver it right away.  A few days later, they called to explain that our fridge was no longer in stock and that we would have to go to the store and pick out a new model.  Heroic Pierre stopped by the store after work and chose a fridge.  Of course, there was some mix-up with a canceled guarantee on our vacuum that, combined with the extra cost of the new fridge versus the old fridge meant that I needed to visit the store and pay 60 euros before they would deliver it.  No.  I could not use a credit card over the phone. 

The next day I waited the entire morning for the delivery guys to appear.  They called to say they were on their way 15 minutes before I would have to leave to pick the girls up for lunch.  I gave the guy the door code and prayed that he would hurry up.  About ten minutes later he called to say he couldn't get in the door.  He said he had the code, but the door was stuck and the gardienne was trying to open it.  Our building has two large doors and usually only one of them is open.  For deliveries, our gradienne opens the second door.  I went down to the lobby of our building to see two repair men and our gardienne trying to open the second door into the building.  She was convinced that the cold was causing it to stick.  She is from Columbia and has lived in Paris for a long time.  I was quite sure, since the temperature was not even freezing, that this was not the case.  She was also quite nervous about the delivery guys breaking the door.  The deadbolt that goes into the floor was stuck in place.  My fridge was sitting on a dolly on the sidewalk.  So close, yet so far.  I had to go get my children and the door was not opening.  The delivery guys drove away with my fridge, "Call us when the door is open."  This was, as is always the case, Friday.

Over the weekend, Pierre worked with the Gardienne to unbolt the door and shove the door open.  It also snowed, which made everyone very nervous about everything.  The appliance store was very nervous about all deliveries.  They scheduled a delivery for Tuesday, but were very clear that snow could make it impossible to deliver anything.  Meanwhile, the girls school sent a note home saying that school would be closed on Tuesday because the teachers were striking.  The teachers do not like the proposed changes to the school week for next year.  They do not want to work on Wednesdays.  Usually this would not cause too big a problem, however I have started taking a course that meets all day on...Tuesday.  A friend watched the girls in the morning and Pierre took the afternoon off to watch the girls and wait for the fridge. 

The fridge does not fit exactly where it should and I don't care.  I am so happy to have a working fridge.  If you have talked to me or seen me in the last few weeks, you know that this is really just a synopsis of the trials and tribulations suffered because of the fridge.  I am grateful for cold food! 

Culprit #2

I am taking a TEFL (Teach English as a Foreign/Second Language) course.  I should have a TEFL Certification by early June. It is sucking precious time from my life and I hope the certification will be worthwhile.