Bureaucracy round 2: a pleasant surprise, actually

Opening a bank account was definitely not what I expected.  I had an appointment (that's just how they do it here) and I arrived at the bank at 11:30 am, with my little blue folder of documents that I'm learning to always have with me.  And...one of the girls spoke English!  She came over to help because "they thought it would be easier for me to have someone there who spoke English".  I appreciated their consideration, and there are always those 1 or 2 things that are easier to ask in English.  (Plus, I think that girl enjoyed getting to speak a little English.)  There is a ton of paperwork involved with opening a bank account (surprise!) and the appointment took about 45 minutes.  My new bank buddies also recommended a pub, a radio station, and gave me a short but hilarious lecture, in French, about les grèves.  "Oh, people in France love to strike.  We have strikes ALL the time.  Especially transportation workers, but also *significant glance in my direction* teachers sometimes.  People will strike over all kinds of things.  It doesn't usually do any good, but we love the fight!  *gesture for emphasis*  The French are a revolutionary people!"  *other girl chimes in*  "Well, of course, we're the country of the French Revolution after all!"  *laughter*  I have to admit, I was kind of hoping for a rousing chorus of La Marseillaise at that point.  The girl who spoke English said goodbye to me as I left, "we'll see you last week, when you come in for your card!....no, NEXT week!"  I also taught her how to say "no problem".  (Teaching slang is always fun because the next English speaker she talks to will be impressed.)  It was cute.  And actually her English really was great.  I definitely picked the right bank!

This afternoon I met several of the other primary assistants, which was awesome.  Yay for American friends!  It's fun to have other expats around, because we can share observations (like how difficult it is to cross the street around here.  Seriously, I almost got run over today, partially because I don't know when to walk across so I just kind of wing it.  But I digress).   I tried a kebab for the first, but definitely not last, time.  It was not a kebab on a stick, like they are in America, it was more of a pita sandwich.  I didn't take a picture of mine, but they all look similar:

"...the most beautiful girl I have ever seen with a kebab..."

It just looks like a pita sandwich but it is oh so tasty.  Most likely because the meat is cooked like this:

Yeah, baby.

 Communicating with the kebab seller was an adventure.  Nobody's first language was French, nobody understood anybody else but we all wound up with kebabs of some kind.  A week into the game, I'd consider that a success.