I’ve had a gurgly stomach and painful abdominal cramps since Monday. Since my stomach is generally able to withstand pretty much anything I throw at it (the only exceptions being gluten and casein), I figured it would get better, but instead it’s worsened gradually. I could barely sleep last night for the pain, and was unable to move due to cramping after eating breakfast.

So, this morning I emailed our offices to let them know I was ill, then called my general practitioner at 9:20 am. My regular doctor wasn’t available until tomorrow morning, so I asked if another was. (I’m grateful to have found an office with three doctors, all of whom are good, upon my arrival in Nice nine years ago.) Another was indeed able to take me at 10 am — 40 minutes later. I took a quick shower, then walked to the doctors’ office, which takes 10 minutes.

I waited a half an hour, reading a couple issues of L’Observateur. Then the doctor examined me, diagnosing a bad case of indigestion, and prescribed me a proton pump inhibitor to take for a month (pantoprazole for anyone curious), an antispasmodic, and rest. He gave me an arrêt maladie (permission for work absence due to illness) for today, ran my carte vitale through his reader, and I wrote him a check for 22 euros, all of which will be reimbursed by the sécu and my supplementary insurance.

Then I went to a nearby pharmacy to fill the prescriptions. I presented my carte vitale; they already have my supplementary insurance on file. The pharmacist replaced the branded medications with generics, wrote the correspondences on the boxes so I’d know which was which, put them in a bag, and said “bonne journée, au revoir !” The medications are fully reimbursed, so I didn’t have to pay anything.

I was home by 11 am. It took less than two hours for me to make a doctor’s appointment, take a shower, go to the appointment, get diagnosed, pick up medication, and walk home. Total cost, once the 22 euros are reimbursed (tomorrow): Zero. Although I will admit the walk wasn’t much fun considering how tired and weak I am, but still, it was free monetarily speaking. It’s taking all the self-restraint I have not to make a scathing remark comparing this French experience to the US. And in my ten years in France, this experience is the norm — I usually get an appointment on the same day, within a couple hours of calling.

Related post explaining more about France’s sécu, the carte vitale, supplementary insurance, and why I paid at the doctor but not the pharmacy: Health care in France – Basics

For about a year now I’ve been toying with the idea of continuing my studies, having always wanted to get a Masters degree. After my BA in French, I was actually accepted to a Masters program in the same subject, but decided instead to stay in Europe. It’s a decision I’m glad I made, because in the years since then I’ve come to know myself much better. Ten years ago I thought teaching would be great, but after experience teaching privately, I discovered it’s not something I enjoy as much as I’d imagined. While I would like to teach children in public schools, you have to be a French or EU citizen to even apply for the degree programs. Meanwhile, in the time I’ve been working as a translator and in IT, it’s become increasingly clear that my dream career would be something that combines my loves of literature, languages and computing. This was what I kept in mind over the last year.

Lo and behold, such a dream career does indeed exist: librarian. With today’s information systems, being a librarian now entails having IT knowledge, and a common degree is the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS). While public librarians may be the first to come to mind, there are other related careers as well: information retrieval specialist / reference librarian, archivist, information subject specialist, knowledge manager, manager of library and information organizations, technical services librarian, Web librarian, and so forth.

I looked at various programs in the US and in France, hoping to stay in France since leaving for more than 3 months would mean losing my long-term resident status and having to start over from zero if I ever returned to the country. But how to finance my studies in France? A friend answered for me: in France, there’s a program funded by the Fongecif for the Congé Individuel de Formation (CIF), or Individual Continuing Education Sabbatical. For continuing education programs of at least 6 months to a maximum of 6 years, on approval of your proposal, the Fongecif can reimburse your employer for your salary, while you do your studies. In other words: you continue to receive your full salary, if it’s less than twice French minimum wage (which is about 1300 euros gross a month), or if it’s more, you get 80 to 90% of your salary. On agreement with your employer, you can return to your company after finishing, or find work elsewhere. There are differing requirements to qualify for the Fongecif depending on your situation; in my case, as a permanent employee (I have a CDI), I need 2 years as an employee, which recently became the case.

As for the program I hope to follow, I jumped out of my chair and started bouncing around my apartment when I discovered that one of the best MLIS programs in France is not only in Lyon, a city I love and miss dearly, but it also offers an option called Systèmes d’Information Multilingues et Ingénierie de la Langue (SIMIL), which translates to Multilingual Information Systems and Language Engineering, with courses in French and English. The school is the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l’Information et des Bibliothèques (ENSSIB), the degree I’m interested in is the MSIB (an MLIS), and they have other programs as well.

The first step is a Fongecif introductory meeting, which I’m going to attend this Thursday. If all goes well, the application process then begins.

Overview
France has a public health system called “Sécurité Sociale”, also known as “Assurance Maladie”. It has a standardized, automatic, electronic system for processing bills and reimbursements. Every French citizen enrolled in “sécu”, as it’s called for short, receives a green card with a microchip, called “carte vitale“. The carte vitale contains only insurance-related information; no medical records are stored on it.

It is also illegal to publicly advertise pharmaceutical products and medical services in France. Quote from the linked article: “Direct-to-consumer advertising is forbidden in France for reimbursed and prescription-only drugs, with the exception of vaccines and products used [to help quit smoking].” Pharmacists, doctors, hospitals, etc. can only have office signs, for instance, and there are no TV advertisements for prescription medication.

Sécu covers a range of percentages, up to 70%, of basic care: general practitioner visits, opthalmologists, dentists, prescriptions, and so forth. Emergency care is always 100% covered. Prescription medication for chronic conditions is also always covered at 100%.

To cover the remaining percentage of basic care, you can choose a private health insurer. In France, those known as “mutuelles” (mutuals) are required to be non-profit, and also cannot advertise. They usually cover 100% of the remainder, with some exceptions for optical and dentistry. I happen to have one that covers 100% of everything, optical and dentistry included. For optical and dentistry there are reasonable limits, which means I can get “only” one free pair of prescription eyeglasses per year, for example, and there is an upper limit to the frames’ price.

Going to the doctor, the pharmacy and the ER
For regular doctor visits, when you go to the doctor, you show your carte vitale, which is put in a special reader. Since doctors can set their own rates — the government does not control them, it only sets a maximum amount beyond which it won’t reimburse — you pay for the appointment at the end. Your payment is reimbursed by the sécu at the going percentage, and the sécu transmits the details to your supplemental insurer, who then reimburses the rest per your policy — all electronically and automatically, direct to your bank account if/when you give your account details. (As a tangent, bank accounts are highly secure in France, and so it’s quite safe to give out a “deposit permission”. No one can take money from an account if all they have is the deposit info.)

When you go to a pharmacy, you again show your carte vitale. If you’ve been to the pharmacy before and they have your supplemental insurance information on record, you don’t need to show it again since they link it with your carte vitale. Since prescription medication prices are set by the government, if your supplemental insurance covers them at 100% beyond sécu rates, you won’t have to pay anything. At all. It’s processed automatically. (This is a VERY weird sensation when you’re an American and used to paying — 10 years later and I’m still not used to being given a bag of medication and just walking out.)

For emergency care, an example: three years ago I fell off my mountain bike and nearly broke my ankle. I had to call an emergency number. The firemen — they’re also trained EMTs here and so answer medical emergencies as well as fires — took me to the closest hospital. I was evaluated immediately on arrival. Only once they saw that I was at no immediate risk did the hospital ask me for my carte vitale. The firemen/EMTs hadn’t asked me for anything; they gave the hospital whatever information they needed. I had some X-rays and the wound was cleaned, then I was told to go to my general practitioner for follow-up, and I was sent home.

That was it. No bill. I was given copies of my X-rays and the doctors’ evaluations to show my GP, but nothing more.

My GP then prescribed physical therapy, an ankle brace, and pain medication. All of it was covered at 100%, and the only thing I had to “pay” for was the doctor’s appointment — as described earlier, it was automatically reimbursed 100%.

Paperwork and prices
To show how basic care is documented, I took a photo of my latest sécu and private health insurance reimbursement statements, along with a shot of my carte vitale so you can see what it’s like.

For information, my GP charges 22 euros. A specialist I go to regularly for my preexisting condition (covered 100%, because there’s no concept of “preexisting condition” in France) charges 45 euros. A packet of ten 500mg aspirin costs about 3 euros over-the-counter; it’s free when prescribed. A three-month supply of the Pill costs 27 euros. (The Pill is one of the only prescription medications not to be covered by sécu, so we do pay out of pocket for that — it’s the only prescription med I’ve ever had to pay for.) I don’t know what ER/hospital stays are charged because mine have always been entirely covered.

My supplemental health insurance costs me 20 euros a month. The national health insurance is paid as part of employer taxes; in my case, my employer pays 320 euros a month. That amount is paid directly to national health care, my salary is not affected. Everyone, not just employees, enrolled in sécu is covered, and as you can see from my case, you don’t have to be a French citizen in order to be able to enroll — you just have to work or study in France.

Conclusion
The only thing I have to worry about is having my carte vitale on me. If I don’t have it, it doesn’t matter, I’ll still be covered — I’ve been able to return to a doctor/laboratory/hospital (yeah, I’ve been around) with my card after minor emergencies when I hadn’t had my card on me at the time, no questions asked. I don’t have to worry how much anything costs. I don’t have to avoid doing sports out of the fear I might hurt myself and lose insurance coverage. I don’t have to worry about being able to afford medication. In the 10 years I’ve been in France, my health has honestly become something I only ever think about when I’m ill or injured, and even then all I need to do is call my doctor. I’ve always been able to get an appointment the same day.

I first went to Corsica in 2002, on a trip from Ile Rousse down the coast through Calvi, Porto and to Ajaccio, then back up through the center via the Restonica gorges and Corte, and finally a tour along the Cap Corse to finish in Bastia. I fell in love with the island then — it reminds me of Oregon, in a Mediterranean climate. Wild, mountainous, with a rocky coastline, and people who want to protect its beauty.

Yesterday I returned for a day trip to Calvi, which also ended up including a trip to Calenzana for a wine tasting, and another trip to Ile Rousse! When I ordered my ticket on the phone, the woman had said I’d be in Calvi the whole time. It’s a good thing I double-checked at the ticket office about the time my “boat from Calvi” would be leaving, since there was no boat from Calvi, it was from Ile Rousse. Lesson learned: when you buy a ticket by phone, double-check at the physical (real-life) ticket office, no matter how certain you are of what you heard.

As always I’ve created a photoset of my Corsican trip. Calvi is a gorgeous town, and with our lovely weather yesterday, the colors came through wonderfully. I also tried something new this time, inspired by vistas like the one you see above: panoramas! Click on the “All sizes” icon above these to see larger sizes:
- Panorama of the Corsican coast in the morning sun
- Panorama of Calvi’s port
- Panorama of Calvi from beneath an olive tree
- Panorama of Ile Rousse
- Panorama of the Cap Corse

It was an enjoyable trip, but a bit much for one day. If I’d had more funds available, I’d have paid twice as much for the two-day trip, which includes a night in a Calvi hotel. (All excursions are described here.) Another possibility is the shorter trip, which is the cheapest available at 20 euros, where you only stay for 5 hours rather than 9, but is available on fewer dates than the others. With the longer trip I took, the rough part was being tired and hungry at 6pm, which is too early to eat dinner in a restaurant here, and too late to do anything else with the boat leaving at 7:15, plus we arrived in Nice at 11pm, adding even more to the fatigue factor. For a day trip, it would be better to lose a few “exhaustion hours” by returning earlier (and it would cost less).

I also have to recommend against the wine tasting option. I actually didn’t take it — between the boat departure location and this, I’m really puzzled about what I was told on the phone! I paid for the 49 euro excursion, which does not include the tasting, but I got it anyway. I’m glad not to have paid for it since the domaine’s wines were mediocre. The red “prestige” wine aged in oak vats was strong and yet without body; their fizzy muscat tasted like 7-Up mixed with grape juice; their orange wine was far too bitter even with a piece of honey nougat; only their Cap Corse was decent, but I’ve tasted so much better that I didn’t buy any. As my tastes in wine go, I love Côtes du Rhône and Patrimonio (a Corsican appellation) reds, Oregon pinot noirs, Mâcon and Patrimonio whites, good Cap Corse, limoncello (a lemon liqueur), and have had homemade fruit liqueurs so strong they numbed my throat — and which I enjoyed because they were good, with real body to them. These were table wines in comparison. Even then I wouldn’t serve the orange wine to anyone.

If you want to go to Corsica to taste wine, stay for several days, rent a car and drive through the Patrimonio region. I did this as part of my 2002 trip and it remains one of my favorite experiences. I’ll never forget one vineyard in particular, where I had dinner served with a different wine every time I finished a glass. Every one of those wines was delicious. I’m looking forward to returning to the island again, for a longer stay some day.

I’m taking a short vacation this week — short by French standards, anyway, with 3 days off before the weekend. In my current job, I get 25 base holidays, 1.5 extra holidays due to length of time with the company, 2 “bridge” days, 4 employee RTTs and 6 employer RTTs, for a total of 38.5 paid holidays. Per year. The “bridge” days are to be used when there’s a national holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday — you can take the Monday or the Friday as a “bridge” (pont). RTT stands for réduction du temps de travail and is related to the 35-hour legal work week in France. Since we work 39 hours a week at our offices, we recover that overtime with extra paid holidays, called “RTTs”. Some are “employee”, i.e. can be used at employee discretion, whereas others are “employer”, i.e. only the employer can set them for the employee, up until October, when the employee can then use them at will. These are mainly used for any unassigned time, since we’re consultants and sometimes, though rarely, don’t have a mission. As for sick days, the concept as used in the US does not exist in France, since if you’re ill enough, a doctor will give you an official form (arrêt maladie) for the number of days you need to stay at home. You’re always paid for those days, and regular paid holidays are only affected by sick days if you miss a large amount of work due to illness (after something like 2 or 3 months’ worth, they might take off a few paid holidays).

So in short, I’m using a few of those 38.5 paid days off to relax! Tomorrow I’ll be taking a day excursion to Corsica, and thought I might share how I pack for day trips in this part of the world. I only take one bag, which is my camera bag. In it I put:
- my camera with a fully-charged battery
- lens cleaning tissue
- my mobile phone, also with a fully-charged battery
- sunglasses
- fold-up brush with mirror (it’s surprising how handy a mirror can come in)
- small packet of tissues, because I’ve had it happen often enough that public restrooms had no toilet paper!
- a few bandages and aspirin just in case
- small wallet — not my usual one — with just one bank card, my carte Vitale (French national health care card), one piece of ID, and a bit of cash (not much)
- prepaid bus card for travel to and from the boat (or train or plane)
- keys to my home, of course
- a pen (always seem to use it when I bring one)
- an extra, small fold-up bag for any purchases

In addition I carry:
- a bottle of water
- snacks

The bottle of water is important, because when traveling in France, you can count on bottled water prices to be much higher than in any regular supermarket. The boat to Corsica is fast, but still takes 2 hours and 45 minutes — you don’t want to be stuck on a boat without anything to drink and where a small bottle of water is sold for €1.50, when you can get them in stores for around 30 cents, or fill your own bottle at home for free!

This way you have a minimal amount to carry, making it easier to explore unencumbered, much easier to keep an eye on your things, and yet you have the right necessities to ensure that all will be well in case anything goes awry.

Photos from my excursion will likely be up on Friday.

In January, we copropriétaires (owners of apartments in our building) voted to redo our building’s sad interior. The exterior had been redone just before I moved in, which was a major selling point for me — un ravalement de façade (façade cleaning, renovation and repainting) is very expensive, but doesn’t need to be done often. As for bargaining points, I was able to lower the price thanks to the electrical hiccups along with the downright ugly state of my entrance and the rest of the building’s interior.

It looks so much better now, it’s incredible. I’ve done a couple other small DIY projects inside my place too, putting a glass shelf in my bathroom and, today, getting a new light fixture for the kitchen. With our big summer sales on now, it was half off at Habitat, which always has nice quality light fixtures. I was very glad to replace the flimsy old wood fixture when I took it out and realized that the previous owners — them again — had bolted the fixture directly into the electrical wire hole. As in, they had drilled a metal screw into the same hole as the electrical wires, using a wood light fixture.

I admit I’m increasingly tempted to call them up and tell them never to touch anything electrical ever again in their lives, because every single electrical fixture they’ve done has been a fire hazard. Not to mention the shower (they built a tile-bottomed shower without waterproofing the bottom) and water heater. Water heaters are supposed to be hung on load-bearing walls. The previous owners hung it on a cheap partition wall. And only used one bracket instead of two. Brilliant. I noticed the water heater issue when I first visited; it will be fixed along with the shower once I can afford all that in a few months, which I’m really looking forward to.

Juhannuspäivää is the name Finland gives to midsummer. On midsummer day, Finland and the Scandinavian countries have huge communal parties that are immense fun, and so on 21 June I always have warm thoughts of Helsinginkeskus (Helsinki city center) overtaken by youths in graduation sailor caps, dressed in overalls and, well, drinking. Lots of drinking. For at least 24 hours straight.

This is my patio as it looked a few moments ago. In a month or two I’ll finally get my tax refund and have paid off the majority of the non-mortgage loans I had to take out in order to furnish my apartment last year. (My previous apartment was a furnished rental, so I had practically no furniture of my own and, especially, no appliances.) To pre-celebrate, yesterday I got myself something I’ve wanted for the longest time: a deck chair! It’s a solid oak frame, sold by Habitat and on sale once a year — which happens to be now. Once the tax refund has well and truly arrived, my next purchase will be a small oven, since I’m going mad without one. As I’ve mentioned before, I have a gluten (wheat, oats, etc.) and casein (all animal milks) intolerance, which means I can’t just order out for pizza, for example, and nor can I buy regular pies and cakes. Gluten- and casein-free baked goods are sold frozen and require an oven to cook them. Homemade pizza, freshly-baked lemon and apple pies… I can hardly wait.

Meanwhile I’m making do with delicious market finds. Today there were vegetables grown in Nice for sale, so I got some courgettes trompettes (flower zucchini) and an aubergine. I also got a type of melon I’ve always wanted to try, called le puits d’amour, “the love well”. Last week I tried a Charentais Carlencas melon, which was the most divinely delicious melon I have ever had the pleasure to savour.

I do have an update on my mentally ill, abusive neighbor: a few months ago she once again put crap (literal crap) on my patio and screamed at me, so I called the cops on her. Three VERY large gendarmes (national police, not local) took statements from another neighbor, myself, and the culprit. Two of the policemen had a private chat with her. When they returned they were visibly unnerved and said she was clearly off her rocker and among the most abusive people they’d had to deal with. The good news is, whatever they said to her had a strong effect: ever since, she hasn’t dared to speak to me, much less touch my patio (apart from some benign things like broken pens and paintbrushes). It has been wonderful to be able to use my patio. I do still keep a close eye on the kitties, of course. Her divorce should be final soon, and according to the police, she’ll have to move, since being unemployed (and unemployable in her mental state), she likely won’t be able to afford to buy out her husband’s half to her apartment. We’re all hoping that’s the case.

With all the space I have on my terrace, and empty pots after growing tomatoes last summer, I decided to try growing some plants that sprout in winter and bloom in early spring — daffodils and irises, namely. Irises are my favorite flower, especially the finer ones; the bulbs I planted are Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’. The daffodils are sprouting in the two front pots, with three iris plants peeking out in the black pot. Cyclamen plants are between and behind. It’s been a dark winter this year, since we’ve had storm after storm go through, and so my cyclamen haven’t yet bloomed. Hopefully the sun will come out enough to help them along.

For those who have been following the saga of my kitten-threatening, mentally ill neighbor, I have some good news, and an enlightening background on her. The good news is that she goes before the judge tomorrow, and one of her neighbors (the same lady who gave me Kanoko) goes before the judge on Wednesday. To make things easier to follow, I’ll use false names for the two women from now on: “Gertrude” is the mentally ill neighbor (she’s German), and “Francine” is the kind neighbor, who lives above Gertrude (she’s French). Francine came by last evening to pick up photos I’ve taken of various dirty tissue papers and animal excrement left by Gertrude, who’s threatened to kill Kanoko. I also gave Francine photos of my terrace that show just how closed-up it is, since it’s important to prove that indeed, my kitten cannot bother anyone except for me.

While chatting with Francine, I asked a few questions about Gertrude. It turns out that I was mistaken on an important point: I thought that Gertrude had attacked her niece without any witnesses. It turns out that she had actually attacked her in broad daylight, in public on the street, with several eyewitnesses, who testified to police. Naturally I asked why on earth Gertrude was still free, since she also physically abuses her children and husband, facts which are also known to the legal system. (Her husband is divorcing, the children are being followed by French social services, and they have their own psychiatrist. However, Gertrude has forbidden the psychiatrist from getting anywhere near her.) Francine told me that Gertrude had been warned that if there was ever any further complaint about her, swift punitive action would be taken.

This is why the French justice system has moved so quickly following the official complaint lodged by Francine’s (and Gertrude’s) building management in December. Everyone in their building (they’ve all had problems with Gertrude) was served notice to appear before a judge this month and in February. In part thanks to insight from a visitor to this blog who mentioned the possibility of psychiatric internment, Francine is going to insist on psychiatric monitoring for Gertrude rather than requesting any financial compensation. We know that financial compensation, while nice for the recipient, doesn’t get at the root of the problem when you’re dealing with an irrational person who holds to grudges like a pit bull in fury. It would in fact probably make things worse. We all want Gertrude to get treatment, for her own sake, for her children’s sake, for everyone’s sake.

I told Francine that indeed, I’d wondered what Gertrude must have gone through in her childhood to become someone so twisted, fearful and angry. “How did she and her husband meet, anyway?” Well, Francine explained, Francine and Gertrude’s husband, “Robert” (not his real name), had grown up together, so Francine knew him well. Robert had been an avid traveler in his youth. As soon as he got his license, he bought a motorcycle and with nothing but a backpack, rode to as many countries as he could, often for months at a time. Robert never had a girlfriend; he loved travelling too much. He went to Germany in 1989, when it was still divided between East and West. Gertrude and Robert met and married in East Germany — she didn’t speak a word of French. They came to France just before the wall fell in November of that year.

Gertrude learned French very quickly, said Francine. Robert bought them not one, but two apartments — the entire ground floor — wanting to give her a beautiful home. Gertrude wasn’t supposed to be able to have children, but made the most of France’s health care system and sought out the best doctors, getting pregnant soon after. It was then that Gertrude’s neighbors started hearing loud fights, and noticing her husband going out with bruises and scratches. Since they had children, he didn’t want to leave her. But she abused the children too, and lied about it to him and everyone else, until finally her lies became obvious a few years ago. It was only last year, however, that Robert finally left and demanded a divorce — she’s refusing it.

Francine promised to tell me how her visit to the judge goes on Wednesday. She’s dealt with Gertrude’s lies about her to others (Gertrude has done the same with me, as I learned from a few neighbors she spoke to) and Gertrude’s death threats for nearly twenty years now, managing to stay calm and never giving up, nor giving in to Gertrude’s violent tirades. I’m confident she’ll present her case well, and am happy to know that psychiatric treatment for Gertrude will be stressed.

For Christmas I gave myself a new bedroom! What it looked like three months ago, when I got my bed, and here it was just three weeks ago after putting up the drape. Today I finished removing the rest of the parquet and emptied the bedroom so I could thoroughly clean the tomettes. I used savon noir à l’huile de lin — savon noir with linseed oil. It worked wonderfully, even removing paint from the tiles.

As you can see, having a dark floor makes a huge difference in the room’s look. The drape already looks much better; I imagine painting the walls a medium grey will improve things even more, once I have the chance to actually paint. I’m in love with these tomettes and couldn’t be happier with how my bedroom is coming along. I also started removing tile in the living room, where there are tomettes too. It will be a while before that’s finished though — it took an hour just to remove one and a half tiles, and there are about 200 in all! (I’m being extremely careful not to damage the tomettes beneath. With any luck the rest will go more quickly?!)

Sunday cuteness: Yesterday I made some gluten-free spaghetti, and left the strainer in the sink to dry. When I returned to the kitchen, this is what I found. (I had the hardest time not laughing at the beginning; it took immense willpower to stop for the video.)

I had no idea until today, but 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy.