French salary and medical

I am beginning to understand that the wages and salaries here is really low and that is the norm. A schoolteacher's salary is only 1,800 euros nett a month and in a documentary I saw on TV recently, a fireman who has been working for the past 11 years is bringing home 1,700 euros a month. An architect we know is making 2,500 euros a month, but then she got her current job though connections, and therefore knows the President of the company well.
When we wanted to put Lucas in the creche and the director of the creche was advising us on the cost, her statement (not meant to be unkind) that we will only need to pay around 1 euro an hour, unless our household salary is above 4,500 euro which is extremely rare and so she doesn't think we fall into that category.

In Tarbes, its still relatively cheap to live comfortably especially when we are a one salary household. I wonder then how do the people live in Paris with such a measly amount of money? The teacher I mentioned above is based in Paris and was complaining that after she deducts all rent and expenses she is living on 20 euros a day and cannot afford to eat in the school canteen.
In Paris, rental will be a major expense, even for students. A one bedroom apartment (unfurnished) costs 550 euros and above. When Lucas goes to university, although the uni fees are minimal, we have to now start planning on his living expenses. If Lucas decides to go to INSEAD for instance, there goes our retirement fund as INSEAD charges a bomb for school fees as well (rumoured 40,000 euros a year). One is beginning to think that maybe private education is not too bad in Malaysia after all?

In France, most companies provide restaurant tickets for their employees as one of the benefits. Fred's company seems to be one of the few "kiam siap" companies who do not provide the tickets. Neither does his company pay for OT (i.e his boss seems to have the habit of calling a staff meeting during their 2 hour lunches and make them stay back after work hours for another hour to do some telemarketing). Fred's company also doesn't provide the complimentary insurance for him and his family. Complimentary insurance in France is important so that the insured will not need to "top up" on any medical/ optical/ optician charges. With this insurance, we do not pay anything at all. In France we are given social security and as soon as Lucas & I got into France Fred applied for us to get our Medical Card. With this card, we can walk into a doctor's office, show him the card and get consultation for free. Same goes with the pharmacies.

Talking about the doctor, in France, there are no nurses or receptionists at the doctor's office. Its all very civilised here, you walk into the waiting room, and are greeted by other patients waiting there with "bonjour", you sit and wait your turn. In the doctor's office, its all paperless except when he gives you your prescription to take to the pharmacies. The doctors here do not dispense any medication. Even for injections, you need to get a prescription, go to the pharmacy and then come back to the doctor for your injection.
I have since changed my doctor from the son to his father - the son doctor was nice enough but I feel more comfortable with his dad, even though the senior doctor doesn't speak english. This was since junior stabbed himself with my needle while administering the tetanus injection LOLs... and while he did promise that the injection wouldn't hurt at all, it didn't hurt while he was injecting me but I couldn't raise my arm for a week after. My second injection administered by senior didn't hurt and I was sore only a day.

I have obtained my "permis de conduire" and have started driving to Lucas' creche and to town. I am still unsure about which side of the road I am supposed to be sometimes and still unused to the priority given to the right and also the weird roundabouts. But I am getting there. Soon I will not need to wait for Fred to go shopping around town!

At the same time I have also received my "carte de sejour" which is my resident card. As my french is poor, they have only given me a 1 year visa. This card allows me to start work in France, which brings me back to the salary comparison above. Its confuses me as while I have registered with some headhunters, I have been receiving jobs with a minimum annual salary of 60,000 euros a year. So does that mean that the salary range is actually not as low? Or are the offers emailed to me a hoax? Anyway, I am unable to apply for now as I am not proficient in French, but would like to know what to expect for when I work so that I can dream of all the Max Mara clothes that I can buy when I start work....