Summer bumming

Why not start writing now. This seems like a good a place as any to complain about the stack of paperwork facing us this summer. All I've done is glance through the assistant's handbook to determine that there's nothing I need to take care of right away, as long as the Acadédemie de Nice hasn't sent me my arrêté de nomination--a contract stating that I have work in France--yet. But just glancing tells me that we're going to have to apply for visas, for a social security number so we can get health benefits, which will require us to translate our birth certificates, and probably for welfare so we can afford rent on our apartments. There are acronyms all over the place and if I weren't numb from post-graduation lethargy I would be panicking right now. It sounds like Natasha has already perused the handbook and all the websites, so she could probably explain it better. She also had the great idea of making educational materials this summer, like videos of us grocery shopping and entertaining ourselves The American Way. That will be fun!