No, I'm not missing...

...just lazy.

But things have been happening!

• I got my French work permit. Hoorah! It took a long time between agreeing to work for the MBA Center and finally reaching an agreement with my actual employer, a 'portage' company which acts as an intermediary between me and the MBA Center to satisfy the requirements of my visa (namely that I can't work as an independent and must be employed by someone). The upside is that everything is legal and the owner of the portage company is lovely; The downside is that 50% of my pay packet is taken away. Sob. Still, at least I'm now able to work legally and can finally get paid for the work I've already done (which is significant). Oddly enough, the hours-of-waiting-in-line-only-to-be-turned-away-due-to-insufficient-documentation that I was expecting (y'know, the stereotypical French Bureacracy) never eventuated. Yet again I met with someone lovely who was patient with my lack of language skill and who, in the end, didn't need half of what I'd prepared. What I have now is a simple sheet of paper that was almost painless to acquire. Phew!

• I've booked my flight back to Sydney for my birthday and Christmas. I've also booked another return flight from Sydney to Paris, assuming that I'll need to apply for another visa if I want to return (which, at this stage, I do). I'll be staying in Oz until the 9th of January - come say hi!

• B and I have also been talking about what's going to happen when my visa runs out and, as the previous bullet-point suggests, I'm almost decided that I'll be coming back to Paris for a while. Things with B are going well, and while I miss Australia and still have every intention of returning at least semi-permanently, I don't mind this town and am happy to see life play out here a while longer. Of course, that could all change tomorrow but this is the status quo.

Aside from all that, life is kicking along its merry way. We're visiting Italy the weekend after next for four days. We're flying into Pisa and pottering around Tuscany (y'know, as you do. Ahem), hopefully visiting some great vineyards and seeing some of the things my dad saw and loved when he was in Italy all those years ago. 1997, was it, dad? Wow, that's dating... Rest assured, my Flickr account will be significantly heftier on our return. Speaking of which, the latest photos of the zoo at the Jardin des Plantes are up here!