Calling France...

[flyingcloud]

I just wanted to wave to all the other MNers who live in France, we seem to have been fairly quiet recently.

I hope you are all well. Anyone who feels like checking in and introducing themselves here can.

I am flyingcloud, married to a Frenchman, living here since April 2009. 1 DD and another DC on the way, living north of Paris.

I still can't get to grips with the bureaucracy and paperwork that comes with living here, but I do love the frequency with which people drink champagne (or cremant).

Hi flyingcloud!

I'm still here, on maternity leave with DD, who's 15 weeks, and not looking forward to going back to work in April!

I'm in the east of France, on the German border. Have been in France for 15 years (shock!!) Also have a DS who's 2.

I leave all the bureaucracy to DH, who's French. He doesn't seem bothered by it at all, rather enjoys it, in fact!

Hope your pregnancy is going well.

Hi
I'm in the Somme, just moved here after 10 years in the very north
(flyingcloud, you knew me under another name when I PMed you about DH's job opportunity)
DCs are 8 and 7. We are now in DHs home town, both GPs still alive, plenty of his uni friends on the scene, so settling in has been quick.

I am in Paris, have been here for two years with my job, and will be here for another two (or thereabouts) before moving on again.

May I offer you all a ? (Not you, Flyingcloud, you'll have to have one of these .

I'm in Paris as well, have been here for 8 years and most probably will stay here for few more after which we might move to England.

DD just seven weeks ago got a place in creche and I'm trying to motivate myself to start looking for a job in earnest.

French bureaucracy is a work of art . At least good wine is cheap

I'm in Paris, been here since July after a stint in Brussels. Two DSs - almost 4 and 5.5 years old. Love it here, but missing friends!

I'm just outside Toulouse, I've been here about 10 years and my DH is British too so we both struggle with the bureaucracy! Although as we both work for a multinational company there's always someone French at work to help out!

We've got 1 DS who's 2 and with a fantastic nounou, and DC2 on the way.

I'm outre-mer (Réunion) with a French DH and 7mo DS. We're moving in July, I want to go back to Paris (left in 09) but more likely to end up somewhere less glam, although apparently there's a posting to Martinique going begging

Hello everyone,

Bunny how did you manage to get so long off work!? Am very jealous. Congratulations on the birth of DD, hope it is all going well and you are surviving. I am ridiculously excited about having another baby (remind me that I said that when I am about to go back to work and still not getting a full night's sleep).

somme I take it the job didn't work out then, but sounds like a good thing from where you are?

MrsS Thank you for the kind offer of a cup of tea (said through gritted teeth)

winnybella good luck with the job hunting - did you struggle to get DD into a creche in Paris?

jubble hello jubble - are you a namechanger or have we met before (apologies if we have).

fraktious hope you and your DS are getting on well, Martinique sounds like it would be heaven. Does your DH have any say in his postings? Good luck with it all.

Anyway, good to know you are all still alive and well. Hope you manage to survive the festivities.

Oh superspud I missed you out (brain is turning to mush with every week of pregnancy that goes by). I miss my friends too, even after being here for nearly three years.

I'm in the SE, been here for 6yrs, before that we lived where frak is for 10yrs.

DH is French, but not from this part. We have 2 DSs, 6.5 and 2.5.

I left the UK right after graduating and apart from a year's sabbatical there when I began my doctorate, I've been in France ever since.

frak, I am kind of curious as to why you fancy Martinique, since I've had the impression you've not enjoyed your time in Réunion. I've always been told by people who've lived both places that Martinique has no advantages compared to Réunion, but does have much less varied scenery and really bad racial and social tensions. Feel free to ignore nosy question, though!

Auld it's grown on me in a funny sort of way, plus apparently the beaches are better there and on paper the DOM-TOM uplift is not insignificant. Finally DS is not yet of age where schooling is a consideration and all my newborn stuff is tropic specific I've got over the worst of being outre-mer now and am generally a lot more accepting and patient of how long it can take to get things sorted. DH is debating whether to mention it on his list of choices or not.

We're highly unlikely to get it - I'm sure there will be tears (and not of joy) from me if we are sent there! .

Interesting.

Uplift is a canny term for it! We certainly felt the pinch when we moved back to la métropole, especially as DH stopped working to study. Our income fell by about 75% but our living costs rose.

Do they have lots of pirates on the Seine, then? ;)

And shouldn't you be in bed?

Hi there flyingcloud (and everyone else)! Congrats on baby number 2!

I'm in Normandy and have lived here for (gulp) about 14 years now.

Have 2 DS (7 & 4.5).

Interesting about La Réunion - we have 2 lots of friends who have moved there, they love it, but DH and I don't fancy it in the slightest - it's just so far from anywhere at all!

Hi everyone, I've been living in France for about 20 years - 17 years in Brittany. My dh is french and we have 2 DC aged 14 and 16.
I really miss England especially as the years pass I can seeing it becoming more and more unlikely that we will ever return.
We are going over for Christmas and I'm counting the days

Hi everyone

We are in the Vendée. We've been here since 2003. Neither of us are French, though all 3 girls (12, 10 and 5) consider themselves to be. We are self employed, so have had to get on top of all the bureaucracy ourselves. I am treasurer of our local school as well, so I have to deal with all their paperwork as well.

No intention of returning to the UK so a change of nationality is on the cards.

Hi again flying

My official maternity leave is over, but I'm taking unpaid leave until April.

I found everything goes by so quickly with the second - pregnancy, the baby stage...I find myself clinging on to every moment as I know it'll be the last time I have a three-month old, etc etc (sob!)

Everything is going well with two, it's not as hard as I thought it would be, logistically and physically. I find the hardest thing is not having any family nearby, no support. We never, ever, get a break, no nights off, it's so full-on. But I'm really enjoying having two.

jamais that is true. If the Paris thoughts don't work we may end up near you.

french does it make you sad at all that your DDs consider themselves French? Although I suppose if you plan to take French nationality then maybe it's less of an issue. I swither between it being a good idea and being defensively British.

Auld teeth. Grumpy boy! Bad bad timing because it was the foire aux copies today and I needed all my wits about me.

Hello ladies, may I sign in? Have been living in Nantes since May, DH (French) and I moved here from London with DS (19 months). Most of DH's family lives here so it's been great, and Nantes is a lovely city, so we've been quite happy.

Have spent a bit of time in Brittany and the Vendee as well -- lovely!

I'm not sure if we'll go back to London. I miss our friends and there's more work for me there, but we are really enjoying the quality of life here -- we've always been quite skint but it feels less painful here than in London. But realistically the only jobs for me in France would be in Paris.

My only complaint is the waiting times to get a nursery space! We're only wanting 2-3 days a week but still have just been told we can't get anything in the January window, try again for May. I'm trying to finish a degree and it's really difficult.

On the plus side -- gorgeous Loire Valley wines for 3 euro a bottle, yummmm

Thanks for starting the thread flying! I'm tempted to offer you anyway, everybody knows French women still drink like lushes when pregnant

Hi again flying

No I'm not a name changer, I'm more of a lurker than a poster that's all!

Bunny I know what you mean about no family near by, my DH and I only get evenings out when we're visiting family in the UK!

DS1 states loudly that he is not French because he was born in Réunion and is half-Scottish. It's just a way of being a bit different from others at school, but also of winding up his dad - and as far as the latter goes, it really, really works! He even supported NZ in the rugby finals, thereby winning a ride on the carousel as he bet his dad that France would lose.

Re bureaucracy, I am in the process of setting up as an auto-entrepreneur, as a wee sideline to boost my pathetic public sector pay. Have asked my "supérieur hiérarchique" for permission, as obliged. In truly French style, he illegally scribbled on the form that I can do so but he's limited me to 6000euros/yr. In equally true French style, everyone I have asked has advised me to ignore it as he is hardly going to demand my bank statements in a year's time...

I agree that one of the hardest things is not having back-up close by. But then again many of my French friends and neighbours around here are in the same boat, with parents hundreds of km away...

Hello flying - I'm in western paris suburbs - with french dh and 3 half french dc's in the french school system. I've been here 17 years. I don't know how far away from Paris you are but there is an english speaking mother and child support group called MESSAGE.

Things I miss from the UK - mainly good customer service and lack of bureaucracy - although things have improved here. Nice teachers (primary fine - lycee seem to recruit psychopaths! ). A good old shop - although greatly consoled by the return of M&S. And of course my family and friends.

Hi everyone. I have been here since 1997 - find that hard to believe.

I had a classic French bureaucracy incident the other day when trying to renew DD2's passport. Went to the mairie with all the various papers and stamps required, only to be turned away because they wouldn't accept a bill from our insurance company for our house insurance, as proof of address (this is to renew a five year old's passport). I had taken the morning off work for the appointment and was furious when they insisted that a water, phone or electricity bill only would be accepted. Aaaahhhhh.

I stomped out muttering about how in the UK you only need the passport form and the old passport to renew a passport. You don't need birth certificates and stamps and bills (stuff that you already provided to get the original passport). And you don't have to actually take the morning off work and actually go, you can do it by post!!

Sometimes these things don't bother me, but sometimes, when I am missing the UK, they seem to make my blood boil!

hatty is M&S coming back to France??

They used to have one here in Nantes but it closed a few years ago

Am also ranting on a regular basis about the ridiculously old fashioned school curriculum my poor 8 year old DD1 is being put through.

They are tested and marked out of twenty on everything. And is is all so dry and boring and tedious. The tests are too hard for the age group, with vague questions that they will only accept very specific answers to. The answers must parrot the exact vocabulary used in the lesson. No initiative, originality or individuality will be accepted. (Answers that are correct in content but do not use the 'correct' wording are marked wrong).

We are lucky in that DD doesn't struggle with all this rigidity (so far). However the number of children doing 'soutien' or going to 'l'orthophoniste' is ridiculous. Don't the teachers see that the system must be at fault if so many children need extra help to struggle through with it?

M&S is back on the champs elysees, another one opening autumn 2012 at new shopping centre So Ouest.... Haven't actually managed to go inside as I haven't had a spare 1-1.5 hours to queue outside but apparently food hall very disappointing! (100m2 not much apart from sandwiches, lunch etc).. the other stores will be bigger and better! Hurrah!