The Amazing Race. . . or something

I feel France enjoys making life into a game. Not a fun game, like Candyland or Sorry. I would have to say it is a very difficult game- much harder than the game "LIFE." Which I must add- I miss the cereal LIFE. ^^ You must follow all the rules. Sometimes it can feel as though you are playing with a child who decides to add random rules in favor of himself. I get so frustrated here. . . every time!

This morning, I found this amazingly perfect apartment. The price, location, size were all perfect. I called the lady first thing to see if we could view the apartment, but no one answered. I left an awkward message with my best broken French I could use. I sat at McDonald's stalking apartment websites in hopes that something new would appear if I pressed the "refresh" button. I waited for someone to return my call. Of course, no one called back. I called Laura (a friend who is also looking for housing with me) and she met me at McDo for some coffee. I hate to admit this, but McDo has some pretty tasty coffee. ^^ Anywho, so she arrived with her friend, Pascal. This was great, because he was able to translate. We retried the number and finally it started to ring! *excited* He informed the proprietor of the interest in the apartment. Then she wanted to know incomes, job situations, blood types, duration of stay in France, life stories, etc (so maybe not that detailed, but it was a lot of information that she wanted). At this point, it wasn't a question of looking at the apartment- it was "take the apartment before the others!" Who knows if it even has a bathroom. I'm pretty sure it was unfurnished. That's ok, I think furniture is over-rated, anyways. Going for the new zen minimalist look. I am envisioning "Art gallery chic." So while Pascal got a lecture from the proprietor about what she requires, I was imagining this place as my own. It's lovely stained glass window blocks along the door, the red wall, all of its beauty would soon be. . .
Unfortunately, she said in order to look at the apartment, she needs income to be 3 times the amount of the monthly rent. haha... Yes! This is easy! NOT! While I have tons of benefits working for France, this also means I work less, which means I don't make much money. This isn't really a job, its more of an internship. So, even if Laura was in on this, our combined incomes didn't work. Since this was a problem for us, she also requested that we get a garantie. This normally can be done from parents back at home. Laura called her mother but she was away from the house and wasn't able to fax the required information asap. Next option- get another assistant in on this. This situation just gets more and more desperate. So this two bedroom apartment was now going to hold three of us.