The last few days have been a struggle for Dave and I. We were successful on our first full day in Strasbourg in opening up a bank account. We had been warned that this was no easy task in France if you did not have an address. However, the flip side of this was that we could not get an apartment, and thus a permanent address until we opened up a bank account! So at the bank we explained our situation - they first told us they could not help us until we had a permanent address....and then after a bit more explaining saying the school where Dave will attend had offerred to let us use their address until we found an apartment, the lady who was helping us looked into one of her folders and found a deal that the bank gives to ISU students. So we were able to open an account - which because of the deal will be free for the year - so free debits and cheque book, etc and we were also given 60 euros as a bonus for opening an account! This was a victory for Dave and I and we left the bank in high spirits!
The following days have proven to be more difficult. As many of you will know through Facebook, we have been struggling to find an apartment. At first the struggle was just getting in touch with anyone, either a private seller or an agency, as we only have a phone at our hotel to use. The phone in our room does not work so we have been using one in the lobby - however in this scenerio we can only make outward calls, not receive any or ask people to leave us a message or voicemail. We went to get cell phones one day but quickly found out that we need a permanent address first, makes sense, and they were not willing to use the school's address in the interim. Thankfully our hotel has free wireless (we cannot access it from our room on the 6th floor - but we can in the lobby) so we have been contacting people mostly through that medium and calling when we can.
Yesterday we were finally able to set up some appointments to see apartments - but what we learned was disheartening. We had been looking primarily at apartments available through agencies - which are like realtors for apartments in France. People usually rent through these agencies and they are the easiest way to find what is available. However, upon talking to staff at two different agencies we learned that the agency requires us to have a guarantor, or a co-signer, for any rental agreement. The co-signer needs to be a French citizen living in France with good economic standing, or our bank in France. We do not know anyone in France to start with, let alone anyone who would be willing to co-sign for us, so the only option that was left was our bank.
We went directly to our bank to talk to them about this situation, hoping that we would be able to wire enough money to our French account from our Canadian account so that they would be confident of our financial means and agree to be our guarantor. We had read in our preparation for the move that banks would be guarantors if you had a full year's rent in your account that they could freeze - and we were in a position to do that once we had wired more money from Canada. Unfortunately upon discussing this situation with our bank we were told that they would not agree to be guarantors under any circumstances, even if we had a full year's rent in our account.
Being very discouraged, we went directly to an apartment viewing we had booked the day before through an agency. We hoped that we could get around the guarantor rule by agreeing to pay the rent for the year up front. Again we were told this was not a possibility as it was illegal to ask for a full year's rent in advance in France and of course the agencies did not desire a legal issue on their hands. Of course Dave and I understand the reasons behind these policies and rules, however it puts us in a difficult situation.
Thankfully we are staying at a hotel that is not terribly expensive, but of course any hotel adds up quickly, and we have been able to extend our stay another week, so we do have somewhere to live while we sort through what to do and where to live. It is a strain on our finances, but it is shelter with a warm bed and a private bathroom and we are very thankful for that.
Coming into this year I knew God was going to stretch me and challenge me in new ways. I had travelled overseas before and lived in Europe for 7 months away from my family and friends. However, I had never come without being picked up by the airport and taken to my new home - this was the first time where I was in a situation where we were truly on our own in having to find a place to live and figure out the logistics of living in a foreign country. Dave's school has offered its students information, but that has been the extent of their involvment, again for understandable reasons as they are a university not a charity. So I knew finding an apartment was not going to be easy, however I did not expect to run into so many roadblocks. We had tried to arrange permanent accommodation prior to leaving Canada, but each attempt was unsuccessful. We had even asked other students who had secured a lease agreement for apartments with multiple bedrooms if they would be willing to rent one of the rooms to a married couple. Each attempt resulted in nothing as no one was willing to take our rental inquiries seriously from Canada and other students were unwilling to share a small European three bedroom apartment with a married couple. This was frustrating, however we decided those situations were not for the best for us, thus we would get our own 1 bedroom apartment once we arrived - it was all we could do at that point.
Now that we are here and finding things just as difficult it is extremely frustrating. However, in the midst of it, I have been so thankful for my husband and for God for upholding us in this situation.
Firstly, Dave can speak French! In Canada I had asked him to say something in French to me and he would shyly say something brief. On our first night in Strasbourg in the taxi he carried on a full 15 minute conversation with our driver! My mouth was literally hanging open - I had no idea exactly how well he understood and spoke French. Over the last few days he has saved us in so many situations by being able to speak the language. Now of course it has been difficult for him and he struggles through a lot of it, but people know what he is saying and he is able to engage with them! If he did not know the language I do not know what we would do.
I have also found the last few days so much easier because I have Dave here with me. He has truly been such a good husband to me in so many ways...and I feel so fortunate to have him as my partner in life. Although it has been difficult, we have each other. And there is nothing more important than that. I could have stayed home in Canada and not run into so many unknowns in my life right now, but I would not be with him and by his side is where I have chosen to be forever, and that is the best decision I have ever made. God is strengthening our marriage and teaching us to lean on one another - and while it is a hard lesson, it one that I do want to learn with Dave because I know our life together will be filled with difficulties and hard times. I do know that this is not the worst we will encounter together, by far, but we need to learn to face life together, in every situation.
And what can I say about my faith in all of this? This is a personal thing to share, but I need to get it down. My faith is being challenged and stretched as I knew it would be. And while it is hard for me to acknowledge it, I am thankful. There is so much in my character and in my faith that I find lacking, and I want God to shape me and mold me into a person of greater faith, deeper sympathy, and unwavering trust in Him. I know these things do not happen over night but are qualities that develop throughout life and are brought out through struggles. I do not want to go through anything in life that is difficult or painful or frustrating - but I would never change, my faith would never grow and my understanding of God would be even more shallow than it is right now. So in my personal context, where I know my life is blessed and I know I have it so good, I know I will go through things this year and beyond that will be hard and I am praying that God will mold me through it and strengthen my faith and prepare me for what is ahead.
Thank you to everyone who has written us to offer help or encourage us. It has meant a lot to Dave and I to have so many offers of help and so many kind and encouraging words. It makes us miss home all the more, but encourages us at the same time!
Love Heather
PS: Dave will be writing on this blog as well - the poor guy is sick right now though, so I left him napping upstairs in our room and thought I would give our "followers" an update!
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