Live in France? Join us for a gentil thread

[TheAccidentalExhibitionist]

So how about a lovely supportive, information sharing thread for us mumsnetters living in France?
I've been here for two years, this is my second time living here so 4 years in total.
I have my moans about France, the paperwork, the driving but other than that I love it

Many thanks! Disney may be a bit too far away but the garddens/zoos suggested sound brilliant, thank you!

Might be a bit chilly in January though...

Yes I see your point! We are meeting up with DM (who lives in another country) and is very keen on the trip so hopefully she will do a lot of babysitting! DD is a coffee culture toddler so again I have high hopes that we'll be able to sit in the warm and enjoy ourselves in coffee shops all day long!

You could take them to Angelina's on rue de rivoli for hot chocolate and cakes :)

Yum yum!

I've never been in Angelina's; the queues have always been insane. Is there a time of day when it's quieter?

It was la semaine du goût here. The menus went mer-montagne-Provence-Antilles-Mexique. I didn't know Leerdammer was Mexican. Live and learn...

Hello everyone,

We're looking to move to Montpellier for a few months in the winter--is there anyone here from that area? I don't want to let an apartment until I know where the kids might go to school, but would love hear from someone who'd tried (or known someone who tried) the schools first? We were specifically looking at the Montessori school, La Maison Des Enfants, but there are three other bilingual private schools, too.

I realize it's a long shot! Thanks for any help or advice!

Hi CatChick

I don't know if I can help much with schools but I did live in Montpellier for several years (left 4 years ago when DS1 was 6, but he went to the local Catholic school). I did know people who used one of the bilingual schools - can't think of the name but will try to remember it, maybe if you tell me the names you are looking at that will help. I think they found it was very expensive and not that great for the English, it was something like alternate days in each language - but that might be fine for just a few months.

What age are your children? and what part of Montpellier are you interested in living in?

CatChick - it all comes back to me now. The Montessori school you mentioned is relatively new but I've met the guy in charge and remember when he was setting it up. It sounded like it would be really good and I remember thinking it was the kind of place I might have been interested in sending my son, or at least for their Wednesday workshops. It's not the school that my other friends were not so keen on.

CatChick I just remembered something else - the guy who runs that school gave a term of singing classes at a parent-child group I used to go to and he was brilliant. Really gentle and encouraging with the children (but not lacking in firmness if needed), and the content was great too.

Was just wondering if any of you have had difficulty finding a job in France?

I've had 3 rejections this week - without an interview, and feel like banging my head against a wall.

Maybe I should lower my sights, and try apple picking

What jobs are you going for tb? I usually manage to find English teaching work which isn't necessarily great but is a foot in the door. I think less specific jobs are much harder to come by. And it's not just you - I have French friends who are struggling to find decent jobs.

Tb - I have been trying to find a job in France related to the field I worked in in the UK (university administration and management) for ages with not so much as an interview. I think it must either be that I'm over-experienced, or that I don't have a masters or that they just don't want a non-French person. Or that they see my most recent expwrience is English teaching and immediately write me off. Not sure which.

Luckily I have a good, secure English teaching job already. I hadn't envisaged doing it forever but I am reconciling myself to the fact I may end up doing so. The French job market is so different to the British one, everything is expected to be so linear and they expect such different things from CVs. The idea of transferrable skills doesn't seem to mean much here.

Riverboat - I don't think you can get that kind of job in France without taking the civil service exams (concours) can you?

To TB, I applied for things like a bilingual secretary (I have secretarial experience and am properly bilingual, compared to most French people anyway) and was told that I would not be interviewed because I didn't have the relevant BTS (diploma)...

I did a lot of EFL work in companies for a few years, and then gave up the fight and took the exams to become a fully certified teacher within the system and now teach at university level which is great.

I've spent 20+ years in either IT or finance, and have professional quals in both, but, unfortunately, I'm absolutely hopeless at essay-writing.

Reports, yes, I don't find them too hard, it's the sort of 'paragraphe argumenté' type stuff that leaves me clueless. Other than that, I might have had a go at doing the concours for the impots.

I've also been told by two different inspectors there that

1. You have to be a French national to work for them and
2. You don't have to be a French national.

I don't want to be FD of Peugot-Citroen, just a nice job with numbers and debits and credits would be nice.

Not to mention building up a minimum retirement allocation would be nice, too. Wouldn't even mind paying tax our income isn't high enough to do so at the moment.

Jamais - not in the public unis, no, but you don't need to have civil servant status for all the private grandes ecoles.

The BTS thing seems so ridiculous! It's such a low level qualification and I just don't understand how they can be so attached to such pieces of paper when people have all the relevant work experience and skills that show they are above and beyond that. But it seems to be the case..

Late joiner here! I have been living in the Var (83) for 8 years now. 2 DCs aged 2 and 5. I work in a collège as a 'pionne' at the moment...I agree that the French job market, particularly outside the big cities is very difficult. I is so frustrating...round here most jobs are seasonal, and offer little security.

Being a pionne has its upsides though-all school holidays paid, working with mostly lovely teens (in my case).

Does anyone have any experience of doing the CAPES to become an English teacher? I am in two minds about even trying, despite having supplemented my income by teaching English for the last 7 years!

River that's what the letter I got this morning said - the minimum that they required was a BTS in compta, so that was obviously why I was rejected.

Must let the icaew know that their quals are rated below that

tb - this might be a silly suggestion and you might have tried it anyway, but can you not put "équivalent BTS compta" in brackets next to your UK qualification on your CV? Then they've got the words staring at them and it might jolt someone into action... I don't know, just a thought!

Yes, I have whether to describe it as 'membre d'ordre experts comptables britannique', or Bac+7 compta.

Not sure if would make any difference, though.

Have just had a msg from pole emploi telling me I can send my cv for a job at intermarché. So, have altered my cv to have bac+6 in compta. It's really bac+7, but didn't want to go ott

Hi - can I join? In 31 - for 8 years now. Self-employed and mum to a two-year old dd.

I haven't done the capes myself but I've been teaching capes students for years. If you do it you need to be prepared to be posted more or less anywhere in the country, and generally to the less desirable bits.

I prepared the CAPES for last session but then got pregnant and couldn't face the looooong exams. Worth doing I think, but I'm protected from being sent nasty places by DH's job to a certain extent. Gets us lots of points!