Dear Readers - as la Petite Zelda sits in the other room, playing with her cards and listening happily to Alejandro and Creed talks to himself, playing by my side here in the salon, I am attempting to do battle with the French Fedex system.
People love Paris, as do I - you all know that I feel more comfortable here more than anywhere else in the world. (disclaimer: I love the coast of Maine, as well.) But so often, tourists come here, fall in Love with their idyllic week or two of vacation, cafés, strolls along the Seine - you get the idea. Only some of that romance and beauty has to do with real life here. I am lucky enough to speak French and I can only imagine what it would be like to live here and not speak this language, unless of course, one is independently wealthy or a student supported by Mom & Dad. The first, I will never be, the latter, I have done and then there were those difficult years of neither. I loved most of it. As I love our time here now. All of this is in response to dealing with the Fedex delivery that Evan sent last Wed from Austin. Zelda takes 2 anti-seizure meds per day and *knock wood*, she hasn't had a seizure since Christmas time. We administer the cocktail of meds morning and night and we always of the "magic bullet" (serious suppository of meds) standing by in case she goes into a seizure. Last week, looking ahead to the next few weeks, I asked Evan to refill the prescription and send it quickly - Fedex overnight - which he did last Wednesday.
Supposedly arriving chez Elsa & Laurent on Friday before noon, it never made it. Of course, we didn't find is out until after 18h when the Fedex office closes. The tracking showed 2 attempts made and I called to confirm that they had the correct "Code Porte" to enter the building. And I tried calling for 3 days, and I tried calling the US, and I tried tracking down the locked building in Aubervilliers where they were storing the package until it got back on the truck for redelivery.
To sum it up, we finally got the package on Tuesday - after Evan had already arrived. He could have carried it with him - but maybe it was a lesson learned. Or a few lessons learned:
1. Plan better for overseas trips when you need specific meds for kids.
2. Don't trust Fedex "priority" delivery.
3. The madder you get in France, the less people respond willingly. Just the opposite from our "I want to talk to a supervisor" intimidation tactics of the US.
4. Evan's handwritten "2" can be mistaken for a "Z" and the delivery man will not try any other alternative when attempting the "code porte."
5. There is an emergency Toxoplasmosis clinic every Monday in the 14eme arrondissement at 13h30 where Dr. Kieffer will see your children and in an emergency, issue meds. Merci, merci...
I know that I learned other stuff...oh, and when I decided to buy a "poulet roti" for dinner to take home the other night, it cost 12€ - ha! And you thought Whole Foods was expensive!
More later,
Bises,
Gail & co.
