Are you pistonné?

Argh....It's been rough going today. Yesterday was the BF's birthday so we went out and celebrated the big 3-0. It involved a lot of champagne. At least I am lucky enough that I can sort of take the day off (read: not do a single thing) but the poor BF has to work all day....

I would like to say thanks to all of you who have read my blog and given me lots of encouragement! I can feel the confidence slowly growing....maybe one day I shall make this a public blog and then EVERYONE can read it! (But, honestly, probably not).

Anyway, I have decided that I shall try to slowly but surely explain all aspects of my "glamourous" life in France. I shall attempt to show you that life is not all rosy here in Paris...I insist that you all suffer with me, too!

(I should point out that I do not want to offend anyone but this is all from the point of view of an American who has had a lot of experience being in France and who has lived here for awhile now. It's not really criticizing per se, but more of a comparison between the two countries. So it's not necessary to freak out and say that I am French-bashing, because that is not my intent.)

The first and foremost thing that is very important to understand is the French concept of "piston". It means that nepotism is alive and well! You're not going anywhere, bub, unless you've got yourself a contact somewhere, in the form of your piston, who is going to help you. You MUST know someone if you want to survive. I suppose in some areas, like law or banking, it is a lot easier, and there are a lot more job opportunities, but if you've decided to pursue a career in an artistic field, it is a lot harder. Think you might like to be an actor? Good luck even getting yourself an agent if Mom's a schoolteacher and Dad's a policeman. As a (French) friend of the BF's explained to me once, "If your parents already work in the industry you want to go into, then you've got a right to be there. But if your parents work in an industry that has nothing to do with what you want to do in life, it's nearly impossible to break in."

You know how sometimes in books that involve people immigrating to America back in the day, there's always that character who says "Ah, America is the promised land. Here, everything is possible. This was not so in the Old World. A man could never rise above his father's position." It's still kind of true over here. It's a real shock to a lot of Americans (me included) just because in the U.S. everything is possible - you can be from the ghetto and with hard work, you too can be successful and wealthy and all that stuff. But in my experience, when I tell some French people that this can happen in the U.S. they look at me like I'm crazy. They're all, "yeah, okay, right, like that could really ever happen!"

Admittedly, this has been the hardest concept for me to understand. I think it comes from being American, having grown up being more open to things, though a lot of comes from the influences of the people in my life back home, all of whom are worldly and intelligent and very open and tolerant. To me, it is very restraining and old-fashioned. I see and hear a lot of stories of Americans or other anglophones who come to France looking for the good life, and it almost seems as if they are just so naïve. The biggest shock for a lot of people coming here, is that they think it will be so easy to get a job, just because English is their native language and people tend to reason that it is such a big plus, and surely a skill that is in high demand. When you're from a country that has jobs-a-plenty, it's very hard to understand that this is not the case elsewhere. The harsh reality is that if you don't speak French, you're not going to get a job. You're not even going to get a work permit. I know that in the U.S. there are a massive number of foreigners who come to work, and have secured a sponsorship for a work permit and everything, but it's so much harder here in the E.U. to get that permit. This is a country that's got complicated labor laws in addition to all this old-school thinking, plus an unbelievably high unemployment rate (I think it's somewhere around 9 - 10%) so the truth of the matter is that there are very few jobs even for French people, so why on earth would they want to bring in Americans?

Anyway, the frightening thing for me is that since my residence permit is up for renewal, this means that I have been the holder of a work permit for almost a year now. And I still haven't found a job; instead I have been forced to bounce from one internship to another, with no prospects of getting hired. (More about internships another time). There are so few positions open in any fashion house here - maybe a maximum of 2 asst designer positions? So, even though I've got my pistons and my contacts and everything, it doesn't mean that I'm going to get a job anytime soon, since I've got to wait in line just like all the other people who are pistonné, and let me tell you, there are people with way more powerful contacts than me. I guess part of why I haven't really been looking these days is that I know how hard it is and I sort of feel like I've been defeated before I've even begun. Not to worry, though, I know it takes patience and perseverance, and I will surely bounce back soon, but for the time being, I'm still sort of wallowing in this weird state of passiveness and I'm sort of stuck between the whole "I feel hopeless; I don't care about anything anymore" and "I am going to make it work, and I will do whatever it takes, and eventually everyone will realize just how awesome I am!"

So for the time being I've settled into a state of mind somewhere between the two - I spend a few hours a day sketching, reworking my portfolio, knitting and/or sewing up a few samples, and then I spend the other part of the day playing around with this blog, or doing errands and other mundane tasks. I guess the biggest hurdle left to do is to write cover letters. You must all be thinking, "oh, but your French is so good, what is so hard about writing them?" Well, cover letters are a big deal in France. They are very flowery and long-winded, and people use lots of big, fancy words I don't know to say stuff like "I am looking for a job", and "Sincerely, (your name)" I suppose an English equivalent of a French cover letter would be something along the lines of:

"I would so appreciate a wonderful opportunity such as this to integrate myself as part of the spectacular team, as I am so filled with awe for the greatness that is Your Company and because of my previous experiences in this industry I am surely the most qualified since I have learned to respect the marketing and the symbol of elegance, femininity and timelessness that your historical fashion house represents for millions of women around the world who surely agree with me. In addition, you will find that I am surely the best candidate who has applied to work with the greatness that is your fashion house, as I am capable of very hard tasks such as meeting deadlines and sending e-mails and I would be so honored to be a part of your fashion house because I, like the adjectives synonymous with your fashion house, am also an elegant and timeless being and I am also filled with the all-knowing truth about the meaning of life, thus, I really believe that I would fit in so well with your fashion house, because I AM all that and so much more....".

So you see, no, I am not capable of writing a cover letter in French, but the BF, being part of that oh-so-exclusive club of French people, is, and as he has pointed out many times, letter writing is an art form and not one to be taken lightly.

Anyway, we shall see what happens.....more next time!

P.S.: I finally figured out how to do the italics and bold and all that, plus how to link and post pictures (in case you couldn't tell). I just have to use Mozilla Firefox as my browser instead of Safari because apparently Safari doesn't support that many features. Damn you, Safari, for not having all the necessary features of blogger.com! And damn you, blogger.com, for not making all features available on Safari! And while I'm at it, damn the Apple people for turning me into a Mac addict since I was a child, and for coming out with new operating systems every other week! And damn that Mac OS conspiracy -- if you haven't bought the lastest OS for $6,000 you're screwed! People around the world pay like, $10 million for their Macs and they're all outdated a week later! Argh!