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

Booboostoo Whereabouts in France are you. If you are SW way; I mentioned Sterling shopping up thread.

They deliver Crown paint themselves and you can also order from Wickes, Homebase and Screwfix.

We too have the ubiquitous pile of sand and parpaing outside our house whilst we continue with our renovations!

Just discovered this thread I am in Morbihan (56) single mum with two DC, in CP and CE1. I work full time and people keep thinking I'm Polish for some reason! Have been here 7 years . Lifer I think, or at least until the DC are grown up. I went back to the UK this summer for the first time in many years and was shocked at how it doesn't feel like home anymore.

I only read the first couple of pages, off to read the rest of the thread.

That is brilliant to hear, castles!

Ooh this is such a nice thread! I feel better for knowing that there are other people who feel that they have a UK personality and a French one, and that you can order from Asda (mince pies and Battenburg this Christmas yay!) And there's even someone else in the same département

Thanks alliciaflorrick will look into that.

SquidgyMummy thank you I had missed that post earlier on. We're near Toulouse, will look for a Sterling shop.

V interested in this thread, we are in London but DH is French and we have a flat in Paris. DS is 10 months old and we try to go to Paris regularly and hope/plan to spend longer periods there in the future. I always feel a bit isolated though as DH's family is a bit complicated and overwhelming and I don't know anyone of "my own" if you know what I mean. I've been trying to make some professional connections of my own there (I'm an academic) but its a bit of a slow process. My French is OK.

Just an update on DS who is working as a English language assistant in the wilds of the Pyrenees Atlantique region.

Things seem to be looking up - he stayed on the coast at the weekend with some of the other ELAs he met on his induction day so he wasn't stuck completely alone in the school for the whole weekend again. He has been out for drinks with several of the teachers and thinks he has sorted a bike to borrow. His other suitcases arrived on Monday so he now has more entertainment and most importantly, the teaching sounds like it's going really well. Certainly I feel a lot happier than I did this time last week. He just takes it all in his stride!

Great thread

fussychica, if he's got contact details of other ELAs he'll be fine. Pyrenees Atlantique coast is fab. Does he surf?

Herisson,
Don't know if they won or lost! They play loads of short matches in an afternoon and run the legs off themselves (he's 9 now). Your DD would be going into CE2 probably. Great age to make friends and learn the language. I've worked in primary schools and have seen plenty of kids (incl English kids) arrive one morning and by first break they're running around as if they've always been there.

Agree about the 2 personalities/2 voices. Hate that most people here only see me as quiet and reserved, but, with my own friends I can be rowdy!

Blimey, lots of academics on here!

Not sure it's a French thing - there always seem to be a lot of academics on mumsnet in general.

Totally agree about the difference personality in a different language thing. Even though my French is OK, and even quite good once I've had time to warm up, I do find it difficult being less sharp/eloquent/precise/funny than I am in English, and especially as my DH has quite a dominant speaking style - I can easily interject/assert myself in English but sometimes feel a bit talked over in French. On the other hand, when I had really bad PND it was actually quite nice to operate in French for a few days, gave me a bit of a break from myself I think!

How is everyone finding the bilingual thing with their children?

My DDs are 6 and 7 and just starting to show an interest in learning English. Before that they would get all stroppy if I tried speaking English to them! I speak French to them and their dad speaks a third language, which they can understand but not really speak very well. I'm hoping it's not too late for the English.

That is also great to hear, pillowcase. This is all very helpful. Thanks so much to everyone who has reassured me about some of my main fears!

I find I'm a lot softer and less assertive in French; somehow it is very hard to speak French in my normal English forthright way. The wordiness can somehow take some important element away from things that in English would sound pretty blunt. Also, the fact that the pitch of my voice changes (higher in French) makes me feel a lot less forceful. I have quite a deep voice in English but somehow go really high-pitched in French. I can't stop myself - I've tried, it just happens!

"How is everyone finding the bilingual thing with their children?"

Fine, but it took a lot of investment (work and euros) in the early years to lay the foundations correctly. She has two mother-tongues, which was my goal.

I don't have children yet, but the 'bilingual thing' is something I am thinking about a lot. It's a bit worrying because of my DSS (8), who is with us about 3 out of every 5 weekends and is 100% French! I've only ever used French with him, never English. So even if DP (French) and I did OPOL with a future child, I can't see how I could sustain only speaking in English at home, unless I completely sacrificed my communications with DSS in the process. Maybe I'm overthinking, but I do worry about ending up with a 100% French child that won't be able to speak with his British family...

kalidisa - I completely identify with all you said about being les sharp/witty in French. It does make me feel like a different person at times, I am a very different character at a French dinner party than an English one...though I suppose it is getting better all the time. I spent the first year fighting back tears at various social events because I was so frustrated with hardly being able to follow the conversation let alone participate. Second year I think I climbed a pretty steep learning curve and suddenly found myself able to understand and participate soooo much better than before. The last couple of years I think I've continued to get better, but haven't had that same huge burst of progress I had in the second year. Ah well, hopefully slow and steady will win the race!

I found that once Sky was readily available in France the English was no problem. Mine are probably better at English than French.

My DD is only 2.4yo so not quite relevant yet, but we are aspiring to trilingual! Hopefully we won't mess her up too much, but obviously she will speak French, we really want her to learn English as a child because this is what both DP and I did and it's very useful, and she has to speak some Greek as both our (extended) families are in Greece.

hattymattie how do you get Sky in France?!!!!!!! How did I miss that one? I am desperate for Sky! I gave French TV a go, honestly I did, but I just can't do it. Currently I rely on the computer to catch up on the odd programme but it's not easy (our broadband sucks because we live in the middle of nowhere).

riverboat - I have two French DSSs, who are 9 and 7 years older than DD and to whom I speak French (as I do to DP). I have always spoken English to DD and it is not a problem - on the contrary, the boys learned a lot of English listening to me speak to DD and DP's English has improved too.

What are the problems that people have with bilingual children? Husband and I are English, mostly, but I am trilingual and grew up that way, and I don't remember it being a problem. I'm hoping ours will grow up the same way.

We have a Sky box and a dish (I understand you say it's for your second home when you buy in the UK) - we don't pay for Sky though but have free of charge BBC1, ITV, Channel 4 plus Ceebies etc which does us perfectly well. I think we receive the equivalent of Freeview.

I've had no problems with my bilingual children from a language perspective - from a bi-cultural perspective I think they are neither entirely British or French and I've heard many find out they are more French than they actually thought they were when they go to study abroad.

Just wondering if you guys would be interested in a (private) MN French expat FB group? The Belgian lot have one and it looks quite useful as a place to pass on useful addresses that you may not want to put on here? Just a suggestion, what do you think?

DD1 understands English but answers in French except for names of animals. As she is likely to be educated in France I would like that to be her MT but obviously want her fluent in English. Ideal would be both languages as native but I don't have the resources or time to make that happen right now.

Petitraleuse - I'll join

Ok I'll set one up in the next few days :)

Please include me in...