08.10.31: DELF B2, de plus: scariness in the modern world

So, anyway, I succeeded in passing the DELF B2 back in July. They notified me of my great success at the end of August. Seemed perfectly normal. They also told me that I would receive a fancy nice diploma from the French Ministry of Education and Other Important Things.

It's the end of October. It's Halloween, in fact, and I have not heard a word from them. So, I called l'Alliance Française to ask them if they had forgotten about me or lost my mailing address.

I said: Hey, I passed the DELF back in July and have not yet received my diploma.
She said: Normal. Tout à fait normal.

This is a phrase I hear often enough to explain situations that I still don't find at all normal.

She then went on to explain the tortuous path that this diploma must travel before it ends up in my mailbox, probably five months after the exam. This little piece of paper will criss-cross France and visit several important gouvernemental offices through bureaus of only the most qualified diploma signers in France. And then, and only then, will then send it to me. I find that a little scary in this 21st century.

That is how I know this little diploma is very, very special.

Happy Halloween.