EP 73: Rebecca and Aimee BOTH see doctors in a foreign country - Big Milestone! - Bonjhola

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Welcome to Bon Jola, a podcast about two women, Amy
and Rebecca, who each move fromthe United States to Europe to
become expats.
Amy to Spain and Rebecca toFrance.
We're here to share the highs,the lows, and the logistics of
this adventure.
Encourage you to follow yourown, move abroad dreams, and
remind you that you're not alonewhen the going gets tough.
Enjoy.

Bonjhola Rebecca audioAime (00:24):
Ola, Rebecca.

Bonjhola Aimee audioRebe (00:26):
banjo, Amy.

Bonjhola Rebecca audioAimee (00:27):
You are chomping at the bit to share
some exciting medical news?
Yeah.

Bonjhola Aimee audioRebeccaWe (00:32):
I am, I am not so much medical
news, but in our last episode,you and I made a commitment to
each other

Bonjhola Rebecca audioAimee3 (00:40):
Oh my dear.
That's right.

Bonjhola Aimee audioRebecca (00:41):
fry and make doctor's appointments
and we both did it and I'm soproud of us and that's what I'm
excited to talk about.

I had Shane come with me to make
the appointment because I wasjust like, I just can't.
So I was like, will, you comewith me.

That's legit.
Damien and I have done that somany times.
All right.
Well, um, let's start with you.
Okay.
So you said, Shane, let's go tothe doctor together, or how did
it, how did you begin?

I was on my way like pretty much
immediately after we recordedlast time.
I, Got ready and I was like, doit now while you have the
momentum.
And Shane came home for lunch,like, right, right as I was
getting ready and he was like,will you come with me?

(01:33):
It just really helped to havethe emotional support to make
the appointment.
So, we went down to the clinicand I was able to successfully
communicate the situation.
It was basically like, oh, wedon't have, you know, we don't
have appointments for, you know,several weeks and, and then when

(01:56):
I was like, well, if I pay cash,she's like, oh, I can get you in
at four 30 today.
I

Bonjhola Aimee audioRebec (02:03):
What.

I know that is so shady.
So I was like, okay, I'll paycash then if I can get in to see
the doctor today.
That would be great.

Bonjhola Aimee audioRebeccaW (02:14):
Do you know if it changed the price
or anything?

Bonjhola Rebecca audioAim (02:17):
Well, if I used my insurance, it would
be free.
It'd be nothing.

Oh, but we don't know if that would
be the same money that theywould get, but this is
obviously, or I guess it's notobvious, but it feels like it's
off the books money.

It totally does.
And not only that, not onlythat, but she was like, we don't
accept cards, so it's old cash.
Bring cash.
And I was like, whoa.

Bonjhola Aimee audioReb (02:41):
Protect the somewhat by not mentioning
the.

For sure, for sure.
I mean, it's a well-establishedclinic, so I don't know.
I don't know.
Um, so we set the appointmentfor four 30.
No, it was six 30.
That's right.
It was 6:30 PM and, I, you know,went and got cash, came home for
a bit, and then it was time togo back.
I came in and, it was a, like a45 minute wait.

(03:09):
You know, it felt super urgentcare and the waiting room, there
was no water, there were nomagazines.
There was a tv, but it onlyshowed advertisements for
different, you know, modalitieswithin the clinic.
And, you just basically got aspring or anything that you
might want to wait, which ofcourse I didn't know.

(03:31):
And so I just sat

had wifi?

I don't know if they had wifi, but
my, yeah, my cell service wasn'tworking very well in the
building, so that's why.
Still for a time, which isalways good.
You know, I always remind myselfthese moments are rare.
Appreciate it and be present andthere's no need to be on your
phone all the time anyway.
So I just kind of looked aroundand looked at the different

(03:56):
people that were there andobsessively checked the monitor
to see when my number would becalled.
So it's like part DMV and part.
Urgent care.
'cause you go in, you get a slipwith, with a number on it, and
you sit down and you know, theyhave the list of numbers on
this, on one of the TV screenssaying you know, who's in what
order.

(04:18):
So when I was finally called in,I sat in and spoke with the
doctor and was able to, I think,able to effectively communicate
what I needed.
I brought the medication that Ihad from the states and she told
me that neither of them are inSpain.
One she could find a substitutefor and the other I would not be
able to get.

Okay, wait, clarification question.
So that means the wholeappointment was in fact in
Spanish?

Yes.

Bonjhola Aimee audioRebecc (04:44):
Yes.
Wow.
Okay.
And you wanted to find out ifSpain carries two drugs and she
said one, no.
One.
You could sub.

Yes, exactly, and, and so it was
totally worth the 80 euro, whichhonestly, I feel super expensive
for Spain to pay 80 euro to seea doctor.
I didn't expect it to be thatmuch, but totally worth

It wasn't just to see a doctor.
It was to see a doctor the sameday.
Who knows if that's afluctuating price point.

true, true.
Who knows?
Um.
So I was able to get theinformation that I needed
because, you know, I was leavingfor the states in a few days and
wanted to be able to refill mymeds here, you know, at US
prices, if they were completelyunavailable in Spain.
And she did, you know, she,because I've been untreated for

(05:34):
so long, she did an exam, anddid really one of the most
thorough exams that I've had.
As a patient, and then orderedlike an f ton of labs for me,
the cool thing was that, so thisis for a thyroid condition.
The cool thing is that shedidn't just do what we do in the

(05:56):
states, which is check thyroidlevels.
She ordered tests for vitaminand mineral status because there
are like zinc and seleniumimpact how your.
Thyroid functions.
So she, she ordered those, shedid what looks to be the
equivalent of, you know, A CBCand a CMP.
So my cholesterol, my bloodsugar, all that stuff.

(06:18):
And, loads of, loads of labs tobe done.
And she's, she's also testing mefor celiac disease, which.
You know, some people havesuggested that, that's a
possibility for me, but I'mlike, ah, you know, all it means
is to avoid wheat.
And I do that anyway.
But she, she's like, okay, I'mgonna test you for celiac
disease.

(06:38):
You need to eat wheat for a weekand then come in and take your
labs.
Oh,

gonna be a fun week.

Um, it had me super nervous
actually.
'cause it's because of whathappened, you know, when I was
eating wheat in Europe when wefirst arrived.
So, so yeah, my flight would'vebeen more than a week out
because I had just enough timeto do that, that test.
So, I ate the wheat.

(07:07):
We went out, I ate wheat.
I was looking for wheat.
I bought a loaf of bread.
And, uh, it was a little nervewracking, um, because I didn't
want to travel feeling likeutter shit

Of course.

and in pain.
And fortunately it wasn't.
It was really probably the lastday that I started to feel like
the symptoms coming on.
The ones that bother me the mostanyway.
Some of them are prettyimmediate.
so the morning that I was goingto do the labs was the day
before I left, and, uh, becauseshe's doing blood sugar, I went

(07:45):
first thing in the morning, so Iwould be fasted and I go into
the clinic, that has like,because it has a lab attached to
it.
And gave her the slip that thedoctor had given me.
And she said, do you haveinsurance?
Or she said, no, this doctordoes not accept your insurance.
Um, your insurance doesn't.
Yeah, your, or rather, yourinsurance does not accept this

(08:08):
doctor.
She's not on the insurance plan.
These labs are going to cost you330 euro.
And I was like, holy smoke.
So look, it's flashbacks tobeing in the US right.
And.
And then the, the administratorbehind the behind the desk said,

(08:28):
if you can't afford to pay, youcan take this slip down down the
street to where there is whereyour insurance office is and
talk to them about it and see ifthey'll make an exception.
Sometimes they do, sometimesthey don't.
But you can go and ask if youwant and if they accept it.

(08:50):
In true Spanish style, they'llstamp it.

And again.
Okay, so we're talking about inperson.
You're like in your town ofGerona, you're walking to your
insurance place, you're talkingto humans with pieces of paper
and old school stamps.

A hundred percent Yes.

Wow.

like the clin, the, the insurance
company opens in 10 minutes.
And I was like, and at first Iwas gonna be like, no, just
forget it.
I wanna get these labs done.
I'm fasted.
I don't wanna be starving.
And then I was like, no, no,wait.
Let's give it a shot.
Let's see what happens.
And.
You'll have more informationjust about the system if you do

(09:35):
this.
So I was like, okay, let me goand try, because I was worried I
was gonna come back.
It was gonna be like 8 30, 9o'clock and there would be scads
of people waiting to get labsdone and you know, I'd be there
till 10, you know, a typicalkind of us experience, right?
So I walk over to the insurancecompany and wait for them to

(09:57):
open and they let me in rightaway.
The lady looks at, looks at thelabs and she's like, oh yeah,
your, your doctor.
Your, you paid cash for thisappointment.
And I was like, yes.
And she's like, well, once youpay cash, then you pay cash.
You don't, like, you have to usethe insurance card to establish

(10:19):
care with the doctor and thenthe labs would be covered under
insurance.
But your doctor is not part ofour, not under our, you know,
insurance.
So she's like, listen, I'm goingto make an exception just this
once.
Here is a booklet with all ofour physicians and all of our
providers in Gerona.

(10:40):
Take this with you, but I, wecan't do this again.
And I was like, thank you,because.
In what planet does that happen?
Evidently, in Europe.
Evidently in Europe whereinsurance companies are not like
sharks looking to make youhomeless, uh, they will make an

(11:01):
exception every now and then.
So I got the, uh, coveted stampon my paperwork and then walked
back the three minutes to thelabs and sat down.
Was able to get in and get mylabs drawn within like five
minutes.
So the whole process fromwalking into the lab, the first
time to leaving, having my labscompleted, authorized, et

(11:25):
cetera, took less than an hour.

Are you kidding me?

No.
Isn't that crazy?

Yeah.
And, and then, and then it costyou nothing.

Bonjhola Rebecca audio (11:35):
Nothing.
Nothing.
Insurance is gonna cover it.
She probably like, she took mycard, she looked me up in the
system and was probably like,you've been here two years and
you guys have paid two years ofinsurance and hardly ever used
it, so, okay.
Would be my guess, you know?
'cause we've paid far more intothe system than we have used.
Um, and they're not likepathological.

honey.

Bonjhola Rebecca audioAi (12:02):
insert money.
Yeah.
Insert whatever, negativedescription you would want to
use for an insurance company.
Um, so I was really verypleased, very pleased with all
of that.
And then, you know, when Ifinished the labs.
They said, you know, the resultswill be available in a week.

(12:23):
And then they gave me a piece ofpaper with a website that I
could look, look for the labresults and then, you know, make
an appointment with my doctorfor follow up, but, which I
completely forgot to do.
Uh, so I'll do that when I getback.
And since she's not in theinsurance system, we'll have to
pay cash anyway.
So I imagine it won't matter inthe 10 days that I'm in Europe

(12:45):
before we travel again, I can.
You know, just pay cash in underthe table and get in
immediately.

So, so going forward, would you have
to choose a new doctor or arethe labs separate from the
doctor?
Like

So the labs aren't separate for the
doctor.
Right?
So moving forward, any labs thatshe would order, I would need to
pay in cash.
If I continued to see her, Iwould need to pay in cash or I
could transfer my care tosomeone under the ESUs Insurance
system.
Um.
I like this lady.
You know, my first impressionwas she's super competent.

(13:23):
She's thorough.
I don't know if that's juststandard of care in Spain to be
super competent and thorough,but I was, I was impressed.
Now, I will say also that withregards to my medical treatment,
I've never actually seen anendocrinologist in the us.
Because I could get everythingthat I needed with regards to my

(13:49):
thyroid care from a naturopathin the state that I lived in.
So I didn't see any need to, youknow, wait months, pay extra for
what I anticipated to be lessquality care from an
endocrinologist, um, which is,you know, a judgment on my part.
But.

(14:09):
Based on what I hear fromothers, it, it tracks.
but I was, yeah, I was pleasedwith the care and you know, I'll
definitely go back to her forthe follow-up and then decide
whether I wanna continue on withher or not.

Of course.
Purpose of all of this was thatboth of us were getting in our
own way, just not wanting tomake the appointments in the
first place.
And I am so proud of you forwalking to the insurance agent
because that's exactly the kindof thing that we're reticent to
do because we're like, oh, I'd

like, you want me to have an insurance
conversation in Spanish?
Now what?
And

and all of those conversations were
in Spanish.

All, it was all in Spanish.
There was no, no English.
I didn't even try to speakEnglish.
Um, and, and the, uh, at theinsurance company, they had the
plastic, the thick plasticdivider from the COVID times in
front of her desk, which makesit so much harder.
I swear, I feel so bad foranybody who was language

(15:07):
learning or hard of hearing.
During the pandemic becausethose plastic sheets make it
impossible to understand whatthey're saying and a mask.

the mask just obliterates your
ability to,

I rely so much on lip reading when
I am trying to understand whatpeople are saying.
I am always looking at theirmouths.
It is The difference that itmakes, which is also why I never
answer my phone if it's aSpanish phone number.
I never check my voicemail.

(15:41):
I never make phone calls.
I will walk wherever I need toin town, or take a bus or take a
cab to do it in person ratherthan deal with a bloody phone
call because it's justgobbledygook in my ears.

At this point I will take a phone
call, but I won't make a phonecall.
And like, so yesterday I had togo downstairs, uh, to pick up a
food order and the system callsus, it's the Uber Eats system,
and it was a hot mess, you know?
'cause there's just like, firstthere's a lag and then he's
like, I'm like, Bonjour.

(16:16):
And he is like bon.
And we're over top of eachother.
And then he tries to saysomething, and I know what he is
trying to say, but I can'treally understand him.
So then I was just like, um,obvious what I just said there.
Uh, and he is like, okay.

(16:36):
And that's, that was up, but.

what's toot?
Sweet.

Right away.

Ah, okay.

I'll, I'm gonna arrive right away with
how that came out.

Ah.

Yeah.
I'm impressed that you were ableto conduct those conversations
in Spanish because I don't thinkI could do an insurance
conversation at this point.

It was really, I don't know what I
said or how I got that.
Message delivered.
I don't remember that now.
I blocked it from my memory and,uh, yeah, yeah, it was, it was a
very good experience.
Overall though, I'm quitepleased.
And so effectively then what Idid is I came home, emailed my

(17:22):
naturopath in Seattle and waslike, Hey, here's the deal.
Can I get meds?
'cause I'm going back to thestates.
She put in an order, which Ihave to have transferred from
Seattle to Alaska and then pickit up in Alaska.
And, I am basically going totake my, take the medication

(17:42):
that I'm accustomed to takingthat I know works for me.
See what the endocrinologist inSpain has for me and maybe, you
know, try the swap that I canget in Spain.
And see how that works for me,but stay on what I cannot get
from Spain because that madesuch a big difference when I

(18:04):
started taking it.
I'm not gonna give it up.

I'm finding the same process in in
kind of all my personal caretoo.
As you run outta one product,you're like, okay, I will change
just my sunscreen and see if Ican figure that out.
And then I will run out of thenext thing.
And it's nice because it allowsyou to isolate.
You know, side effects frommedication or skin, feeling

(18:30):
weird or breaking out orsomething from a new product you
can do just one at a time.
Um, and also just not have theemotional trauma of having to
figure out every new foreignthing all at the same time.

Exactly.
Yeah.
It is.
It is an arduous process though,

It is it.

and we don't realize how many, how
many things we just take forgranted are there.
And expect them to be there.
And then you get dropped into aforeign country, and all of
those, all, you know, yourfavorite shampoo, your perfume,
your, you know, the, thespaghetti sauce that your kid

(19:08):
can't live without, right?
And it's all like, poof, gone.
And you have to figure it allout over again.

And it's the micro decisions, like I
remember standing in front ofthe aisles of detergents and
household cleansers going, Idon't know any of you, you know,
d uh, drain, dec, cloggers.
We've had to buy all of thesethings, but I don't know any
brands.
I will say, I did find Mr.
Your prop, which is Mr.
Clean, and I was like, hello,you.

(19:34):
You're coming home with me.

Oh my God, that's hilarious.

logos work.

Logos work.
So true.

I love that there's something that
we have in common with ourstories in that the system
worked very hard for me too.
I also had people in my journey.

tell me.
Tell me.

So the first thing I did was,
because I knew I was just aboutto take a surprise trip to the
United States, I said, I amgoing to try again to have my
naturopathic doctor send myprescription to a place where I
can pick it up.
'cause I tried to do that beforemoving and there was a snafu and
I just said, I'll defer this.
And so I did that and she didsend the prescription to a

(20:19):
Walmart in Rhode Island.
So I said, okay, at least I knowthat I can get my prescription.
I don't know what it'll cost,but that's waiting for me.
That, of course, lit the extrafire under me for our commitment
'cause I wanted to know what itwould cost and be like here in
France before I left.

Yeah.

So I had one week to figure it out.
F So from the French side, firstof all could not be easier.
So I've been told for a longtime about this website.
It's dr lieb.com or FR orsomething, and it's literally
just a directory.
You type in what kind of.
Care person you're looking forand it gives you a list.

(20:59):
And the only thing that I wasn'tsure about was that there were
several different sectors, likesector one, two, and three
doctors.
I was like, I have no idea whatthat means.
So I went to our friend Chad,GPT, and I said, what does this
mean?

That was my first thought.
It was.
Did you ask chat?
GPT?

I sure did.
So here's what it said.
How did she, oh, first of all, Iwanted to make sure it was a
teleconsult.

Mm.

so it was saying how I did that.
And So you're looking for, or Iwanted a video consultation and
that's called ateleconsultation.
You can ask for it to speakEnglish, parlay, and then you
can sort, or you can choose bysector.
So Sector one is governmentregulated pricing.

(21:46):
A basic consult costs 25 euros.
There's no surprise fees.
Sector two, the doctors can settheir own fees, but usually with
a reasonable markup, you oftenpay 30 to 70 euros.
Um, and then sector three areprivate doctors.
They are not regulated by theFrench social security system.
Prices are often quote, muchhigher, 80 euros and up, and

(22:10):
it's not common forTeleconsults.
and you should avoid, they said,Chad, GPT, said you should avoid
this unless you have privateinsurance.
So that was new information.
So I looked at that and I went,well, this is a pretty easy ask.
I don't see why I would need topay up.
So I chose.
Sector one doctor who spokeEnglish offered Teleconsults and
was a female, was the otherthing I wanted.

Yeah.

So I set it up for the next night.
It was a, it was like a 9:00 PMappointment, so that was also
really interesting that it wastotally outta normal hours.
I got onto Zoom at my appointedtime.
She shows up.
Maybe from her home.
It was a generic looking roombehind her super casual, like,

(22:55):
like a personal trainer comingoff the floor and being like,
okay, what do you need?
And I am pretty sure she startedout like by the, the consult
going something like deis, whichis the most casual way you could
say, tell me

Yeah.

yes.

Dme.
Yeah.

And and then she was like.
I was a little flustered, so I'msure some English came out and
she's like, do you wanna do thisin English or French?
And I said, please, English.
And she had good English, brokenEnglish, but very
comprehensible.
I told her what I needed.
She said, why do you, you know,need it?

(23:32):
What have you, how have you usedthis in the past?
I told her, I mean, we'retalking, this is like three
minutes maybe.
She goes, okay, I'll send you aprescription.
And then she's about to hang upand I'm like, um, I dunno what
happens next.
And so she pauses and she goes,okay, well the prescription is
in the system.

(23:53):
Um, you can send it to whateverpharmacy you want and go pick it
up, in the Doctor Lib system.
And, um, because I don't haveinsurance.
She said that she'll charge me,but it, that was a
miscommunication.
I had already put my credit cardinformation in when I set the
appointment, and so itautomatically charged.

(24:14):
I didn't actually have to doanything else.
There was no invoicing oranything,

Eight.

and then, and then she hung up.
I mean, it was so, matter offact, oh, oh no.
I almost forgot to tell you thebest part.
At some point being myself, Isaid I was, I'm so nervous, I've
never seen a French doctorbefore.
And she goes, oh, you should.
We're very funny.

(24:40):
And I'm like, not

me guess.
That was the funniest thing shesaid in the entire visit.

a hundred percent.
It was so out of the blue, itwas the.
The one thing I probably wouldnever have expected her to say
that.
It made it hilarious.
And then I'm like, so it's true,but I still, I still have my
doubts.

Yeah.
Yeah.
That's kind of like a Germansaying, oh, we're actually quite
witty.

Yeah, right.
Was it sarcasm?
I'll never know, but it was.
So easy.
It was over.
And then I literally went intothe system, clicked two buttons,
had it sent to the pharmacy nextto my house.
The next day I walked in, Isaid, I think you have a
prescription.
They said, yes.
Um, they asked about insurance.
I said, I'm paying out ofpocket.

(25:27):
And for 30 pills, it was 23euros, and for the appointment
it was 25 euros.
So I was determined once we gotto the US to compare, pricing.
And then I had the most amazingexperience.
So we go to the Walmart in RhodeIsland and I walk up to the desk

(25:48):
and I say, I would like to pickup this prescription, but I need
to know what it costs.
And she said, it's$444 for ayear.
And I'm like a.

Oh, but you only got 30 days for

Yeah, so I had to do some math and
I'll tell you the math in a sec.
So I was like, okay, that's,that's reasonable for a year's
worth of prescription.
I'm like, okay, but, but she'slike, but let me see what I can
do.
'cause she knew I was paying outof pocket.

Yeah.

So for anybody listening, who is in
America, if you don't know aboutthis'cause I did not, there is a
website called goodrx.com.

yep.
GoodRx is awesome.

She got the bill down from$444 to
160.

Whoa.

Yeah, so I ended up, if, if I'm doing
apples to apples, if I paid forthe same number of pills in
France, it would've been theequivalent of$320.
should have been$444, but shegot it down to$160.
So I guess the US scores a pointon this one.

(27:00):
I had incredible customerservice, which of course was
coming from a lady who was, I'msure terribly underpaid.
So my heart was hurting thewhole time'cause she was working
so hard for me

Bonjhola Rebecca audioA (27:13):
there's a huge.

that much money.

And there's a huge shortage of
pharmacists right now as well.
I mean, like everywhere else inthe healthcare industry, they've
just kind of fled, especially inthe larger cities because of
reasons.

All the reasons.
Well, she, and I don't rememberher name.
I wish I could shout her outand, and I said to her, I am so
grateful for what you're doingfor me.
And she just shrugged it off.
She just took it as this is myjob and.
It was remarkable.
So that's my story.
I had an incredible goodexperience with figuring out how

(27:50):
to make a French doctor'sappointment.
Won't be scared of it next time.
And there are some actualappointments that I need to
make, so that's good.
But decided to fill the wholeprescription in the US'cause you
can't beat that deal.

Indeed, indeed.
And now you have 13 months ofmedication.
S

And it's actually not something I
have to take daily, even thoughthat's what the script is for.
So this could easily last me acouple of years.
That's awesome.
Um, did make a mistake of notbringing back some more liquid
NyQuil and DayQuil did bring acold back, so we're super
annoyed about that.

Yeah.

But other than that, life's peachy.

Awesome.

So what are we afraid of next?
What should we commit to thenext thing?

Gosh, I've tackled the dentist.
I've tackled basic, well, I'vetackled the most impressing
healthcare issue for me,depending on who you listen to.
I could be scheduled for acolonoscopy.

Oh.

But I'm not too eager to jump into
that because some countriesstill say you can wait till 50
and, uh, there's no, you know,family history of anything that
warrants concern there.
Um, think of taxes.

Taxes,

Yep.

um, I mean, I haven't exactly
renewed my visa.
I guess I should touch on thatfor a second.

that's probably a good idea.
What is the visa status?
Oh, first off, when, when didyour visa expire?

So my visa started in February, end
of February of 2024, so it ofcourse expired February of 2025.
We are speaking right now inalmost July of 2025.

And so you've been in this no
Woman's Land of ambiguity foralmost five months.

Yes, but not anxiety producing
ambiguity until about 10 daysago.
Because the way it works is yousubmit your paperwork, they
approve it, or they reject it.
If they reject it, they give youan attestation that says you're
in the system, you're good tostay till a certain date.
Well, the last piece of paper Ihad, let me stay till like the.

(30:11):
10th of June or something.
I don't remember what the exactdate was, but it was not late
enough for me to get home frommy recent surprise trip to the
United States.

Right.
Did your husband think aboutthis before he booked those
tickets?

no, because he's already got his
approval.
It's not even on a radar.
And I'm trying to like, youknow, embrace ambiguity and let
go of control.
So I'm like, it'll be fine.
But I tell you what, it, it wasnot fine.
I was so cranky leading up tothis trip.
I didn't wanna go.

(30:44):
I mean, especially witheverything happening in the
world right now, and I'm just, Idon't wanna put myself in a
situation where I can't get backto France.

Yeah.

And I am there on the second day and
I'm crying, and I'm like, whatif I can't get back into France?
And he's like, would you justwrite the lawyer and ask?
And so I did.
And I said, I'm, I'm, I, I, Iliterally wrote, I fear I've
made a grave error.
I went all on it

I didn't know there was such a
flare for the dramatic in you,Rebecca,

a hundred percent.
I am a musical theater soul onthe inside, and it's just
waiting to get let out.
Um, lawyer gets right back to meto calm me down, um, and
prepares a little travel packagefor me.
He said it should be fine, andhe says he'll write to the
prefecture and so he does.
So, and by the way, a human cando all of this on their own.

(31:39):
I have chosen to pay forassistance.
I wanna clarify that.
You don't have to have a lawyerdo all this for you, but it's
nice.

Well now let us know what is a pre
fixture.

Oh, prefecture.
Uh, what does that mean?
Like the city?
I have to go to the city to geta permit.
You have to go to the prefectureto, uh, in this case find out
your visa status

Got it.

each, um, it's not the neighborhoods
of Paris.
Paris itself is a prefecture.

Okay.

inside the ring of Paris, I have a
certain department.
If I live outside the ring in adifferent.
Area of France or in a suburb, Iwould have a different
prefecture.

So it's almost like a municipality.

Yeah, yeah.
That sounds right.
Mm-hmm.
So they wrote back with a,basically a forum email that
said, uh, you know, leave usalone.
You're in the system.
When things change, we will letyou know.
But it was nice

That's the French humor coming out.

right.
And so I'm like, okay, at leastI know that I haven't been lost.
I haven't been forgotten about.
I haven't been rejected.
But the very next day I gotanother email with a new
attestation.
So I don't know if that'scoincidence or if we nudged the
system, but now, and before Ileft the United States, I

(33:02):
already had this attestationthat says I'm allowed to stay
until September sometime.
So that's where I'm at.
I have no reason to assume thatI won't get approved, that this
is just par for the course.
Um, but it is very calming tohave that piece of paper.

Now, when you were crossing back
into, when you were in customs,getting back into France, did
they ask to see that?
Did you just offer itimmediately?
How did that process go?

No, ironically, getting back into
France.
Felt like just going on avacation to France.
There was, there were noquestions.
It was, they looked at mypassport, they looked at my
face, they stamped the passport.
I was through

They didn't even like see the visa
that was attached to thepassport.

Bonjhola Aimee audioReb (33:51):
Nothing at all.
The harder step was actuallyleaving the country, which is
part of why I was feeling allthe heart pounding.
So going wait.
I can't remember if it was onthe French side or the US side,
but whatever.
We are standing at the customagent.

(34:12):
Damien goes first and they askedhim quite a few questions
probably because he had actuallybeen here quite a while.
I don't know.
'cause he was first in line andhe was separate from me at the
window.
But I heard them asking himquestions.
I heard his, his answers oflike, oh yeah, I'm here.
Um, I'm a student.
What are you studying?
And they're very French duringthis part of the time, like

(34:33):
stern.
And then he says, oh, I'm herestudying cuisine.
And Patisserie.
And not only does his customsgal stop everything, light up
like a little firely and go, oh,really?
Agent next to her helping someother person going through
customs also goes, you are, theywere

Oh my God.

Bonjhola Aimee audio (34:56):
fangirling him.
I mean, the,

Oh my God.

love their food and they love their
chefs,

Oh my God.

so they stamp them and pass them
through.
And then I walk up to the ladyand I go.
I'm with him, he's my husband,and they go, really?
And I go, we Jay, which meansI'm very lucky.
And they go, we, and theystamped me, sent me through.
So, so I told him, I said, whenwe're going back to France, you

(35:24):
must go first.
And it didn't end up mattering,but that was our experience with
customs.

That is the most hilarious thing I
have heard in a long time.

So.

There is a, that's like a secret tip
for anybody wanting to getthrough customs.

Be a chef, be a French chef.

Yes.
Be a French chef if you'retrying to get into France.

Yeah, but I'm learning.
I think the thing I would liketo wrap up on is a note from the
Camino.
As we learned from the Camino,there was that saying that the
Camino provides.

Yeah.

When we were there and the weather
was that bubble of perfectionand neither of us got a blister
and it was just, I mean, utterperfection.
And I was like, you know what?
I was so worried about whichshoes to wear.
I was so worried about theweather.
I was so worried about thingsthat I could never control, all
of which went beautifully.
And then the same thing justhappened on this trip.

(36:25):
Not only all the medical stuffwe're talking about and customs,
but I was really nervous aboutthis trip being a very.
Um, extroverted, energetic,exhausting trip, and it turned
out for reasons that nobodyexpected to be the opposite of
that.
And I feel despite the cold Ibrought back recharged and

(36:46):
refreshed and restored.
So I'm hoping that thiscontinues the chapter of Rebecca
trusting that things will simplywork themselves out instead of
trying to control them so much.

Yeah.
Wonderful.

Any takeaways from you?

Yes, I will say that successfully
achieving a medical appointmentand a conversation with an
insurance agent feels betterthan any glass of wine.
It was.
I just felt, I felt soaccomplished.
I felt so good.
It was really, um, it was reallyfantastic and yeah, I'm super

(37:31):
happy about that.

I'm so proud of both of us!

Yay.
May balloons surround us incelebration

and bubbles of joy and

bubbles of joy.

Well, listeners, I hope that this
gives you some hope and someencouragement for whatever hard
things you may be tackling.
And of course, if you're afellow, know that you are not
alone in putting things off thatyou shouldn't be putting off.
We are right there with you.

Until next time, folks, as to Luego.

Speaker (38:03):
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Banla.
If you did, the best thing youcan do is share it with another
person, brave enough to moveabroad.
See you next time.

All Episodes

EP 73: Rebecca and Aimee BOTH see doctors in a foreign country - Big Milestone!

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

24/7 News: The Latest

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}EP 73: Rebecca and Aimee BOTH see doctors in a foreign country - Big Milestone!