Do you live in France?

[ggglimpopo]

Where do you live?
Why did you choose that region?
Why did you come here in the first place?
Do you work?
Do you regret it/love it?

Tell us all!

I live in Bordeaux.

I initially chose Montpellier and had everything (sort of!) set up there, but found it too hectic - and my original holiday accomodation was vile - so came to Bordeaux on holiday and stayed.

I came here post divorce!

I have had an epic time here - a very very rough ride, but life events rather than simply french ones, and am here to stay.

I love the region and will stay put in the south west. I would LOVE a house by the sea - dream on!

I don't regret it and have married a Frenchman to prove the point.....

Et vous?

Walkthedinosaurs, DCs are also in Gde Section and Petite Section. Seems to vary from school to school because where we are inn GS, they don't get anything for bad behaviour but for good behaviour they get a 'bon point'.

Walkthedinosaur - "Grande Section" is actually a cycle with CP - the teaching of reading and writing is prepared (increasingly thoroughly) in Grande Section so that most children should be able to read by Christmas of CP.

All a bit confusing, I know.

teafortwo - I would be very interested to hear what he thought about the move from Monaco to Brittany, how easy/hard the adaptation was for him, and what he would recommend. If you would please write them at some point. Thank you!

So, so, so... CoteDAzure... They drove to Brittany and because it was done in a bit of a hurry they had to stay in a hotel. This was a bit grotty!!! Then they found a nice house for their family (Mum, two teenagers, a big dog and Granny) with a garden which was really idyllic. Dp was settled very quickly but his sister was a bit slower to settle. This is very funny because she still lives in Brittany now and is completely in love with the place - it really is where her heart is!!!

When dp and his Mum talk about Monaco it is v funny. She talks about it quite negatively while he describes it as a paradise - children's eyes are very rose-tinted! Hope this is interesting for you and bfn!

I live in the Lot. My DH bought the ruin of a house about 10 years ago and we are still renovating. We have 2.5 DC, third due end of October. We love the region, it is wild and rugged, very quiet and mostly rural but I do miss the sea (I am an Aussie).

DD1 goes to the local maternelle and loves it although, she has recently had a supply teacher (a male) take over her class and she doesn't like him. School year finishes soon and I hope her new class next year will be a better fit.

DH works from home - the internet being a wonderful thing but it can all get a bit hectic when deadlines have to be met! I hope to take up some part-time work when the DC are old enough.

Language an issue but I am taking lessons and am improving. Does anyone else find that there is an expectation from other English speakers of friendship or socialisation just because you have the same nationality? I do find it a bit annoying as they are not always people we would be friends with in England. That sounds really snobby but it isn't meant that way. Besides we want to integrate as we prefer not to be separate within our small community. So no regrets!

Hello Mitigger
No expectations on friendship from other English speakers because we have the same mother tongue.
This may be because there aren't that many English speakers where I am compared to certain areas. I was here for a few years without meeting another English mother tongue person, apart from a wife of one of DH's colleague's when we first arrived and there was a work social event. See as DH and this colleague didn't start socialising outside of work, I didn't see her again.
I actually started seeking out other parents who are bringing up their children bilingually so that DCs will continue to play regularly in English. Fortunately, the handful of people I have met this way are all lovely and I would definitely be friends with them if we had had children in the UK and I was looking for other parents to socialise with.

Hi Mitigger

Where we live in Brittany there are lots of retired English folk who do all cling together because of a shared mother tongue, they are very, very cliquey and it's not my scene at all. I generally just say a quick hello and am on my way. My Maire told me there were 42 English homes in our commune and I think I only know two of them and that's because they're my neighbours! I don't think there are many Brits here with children the same age as mine. That said, I have made a couple of very good friends here who are English but I know I would have been friends with them in the UK and I've also made a couple of French friends but that's more difficult with the language difficulties, they're very patient with me as I stagger through my sentences in French.

By the way Mitigger, I know what you mean and it doesn't sound snobby to me. Just because you have the same nationality or mother tongue as someone doesn't mean you have the same interests or values or sense of humour.

42 homes Walkthedinosaur! That's huge. How many homes are there in total in your village?

I live in a little hamlet with about a dozen houses, we live here full time as do two other retired couples and then there are another two houses which are owned by Brits but are holiday homes. I presume the rest of the 40 odd are scattered in the main village and other hamlets, but like I say they're all retired and don't work, or the houses are holiday houses as we are on the Nantes Brest canal so it's very pretty. I work full time, am renovating a house and have to look after a 5 and 3 year old, so no time for bitching sessions coffee mornings with the other Brits. Saying that though, my two boys are the only English children in their school and it's quite a large school in the nearest town. My friend who lives in the next commune and has two children in a local village school, and with her two children and two children from another English family they make a quarter of the whole maternelle. I think in that situation it becomes difficult for a non English speaking teacher to have a 1/4 of the class speaking a different language between themselves, also the children appear to have been slower to pick up French because obviously they have stuck with the children who speak the same language.

42 homes does sound huge but I think compared to other areas of Brittany it's not that bad, the commune does cover quite a large rural area so they're not all in one place.

Divide and conquer

teafortwo - I sense a story behind that sudden move from Monaco to Brittany

I wonder why your mother in law hated Monaco. I loved it when single, and I love it now, married & with DD. Before it was all about the 'apero's after work in the week and parties every weekend. Now I am with DD on the beach (even in winter, which is very mild here) or in playgrounds. Meeting up with other mums & kids is very easy because everything is so close.

The only problem is that (1) kids here have too much, and (2) they get into the high life too soon.

When DD is old enough to realize her classmates have diamond watches, I'd rather be living somewhere else. And I would hate her to notice the pretty young topless girls in their little dresses in older men's Ferraris and think that is normal.

Because we live in an urban area I have never come across another 100% British family, at least not locally.

But there are loads of Franco-British couples with children. There's one in the next street in fact, with children similar ages to mine which is fab. The kids all speak to each other in French though, of course!

I live in Paris and love it! I'm also a MN virgin - this is my first post - so hello everyone! I've only been here 8 months so the love affair is still relatively young but it has been the best move for me and my husband. Even though we've left behind close family, great friends and better jobs - I can honestly say, we've never been happier. We did have some trials and tribulations when we first settled in, but we quickly learnt you get no sympathy or empathy from friends and family back home. To prove the point, I met a girl living here who was robbed, lost her appartment and was in a car accident, and her friends and family's response was 'but you're in Paris!'...

Welcome to MN, doozie. And to France.

Hello Doozie
Are you a mum or a mum to be?

My DH and me and our 3 DCs moved to Burgundy 4 years ago and we LOVE it. We've done a fair bit of renting before deciding on where to buy, and we live quite near Beaune.

We were Secondary school teachers in the UK (me Drama and DH MFL), and now we have our own business, working with French estate agents selling properties to UK clients. Life's VERY hard at the moment as the market has crashed, so we're looking to do other things on the side in order to stay here...

At the moment that means me doing supply teaching in the UK, and from my recent experiences over the last 2 months, for all the failings of the French system, I feel my kids (now 9, 7 and 5) are getting a more rigorous education in France - with the advantage that they're also bi-lingual.

We don't have many English friends at all, as Burgundy isn't that well known yet, but I, too, don't want to socialise with English people I wouldn't like inthe UK, just because we're "all expats together".

I also like that we can stand outside the expectations of the French social norms because we're English. I don't mind if we're seen as slightly mad or odd (because DH is looking after the kids while I'm back in the UK, for example), because we don't have to conform - the French just think "Oh well, they're English", and it's quite liberating.

Thanks for starting this thread, GGG. It's nice to have a group of our own. Let's keep it going.

Hello Doozie - Nice to meet you. What is your story? Are you a Mum? Mum to be? Which arrondissement are you in? How did you end up there? I live quite close to La Defense so I am not far from you!

trulymadlydeeply - I find it really liberating living in France too. If you do something different from the norm in your home country you are quirky (polite descrition) or strange (impolite description) if you do it in another country people find so much of what you do a bit weird anyway they don't notice!!!!

CoteDAzur - it is a simple story. Being a Mum MIL was very sensitive to all the negative sides of Monaco you have mentioned. She is a very practical, lets get on with it, woman. She decided it was time to move on so did it quickly to fit into the start of the school year and still lives in Brittany today. She adores the realness and earthiness of Brittany but I am sure she would never have swapped her glitzy youth messing around on boats, sipping champagne and partying for England for anything!

One day we are going to take a holiday to Monaco so dp can show me his old stomping ground!!! I can't wait!

Thanks for the conversation on friendships and shared mother-tongue. Very interesting! Friendship is about more than a language or culture. In my group of Mummy friends there is one lady who speaks very good English as a second language but we don't chat much. There is another Maman who speaks a little English and I speak a little French and actually, somehow, with lots of nodding, smiling, pointing, acting out and good nature on her part especially (she could be chatting to any other friend in French) we have managed to become good friends!!! Funny hey?

TMD I lived in Burgundy for a year. It is beautiful.
I'd be interested in hearing more of your views on the education system. My knowledge of the UK state system dates back to my personal experience and I am sure things have changed since the 70s!

Hi everyone, have only just caught up with this thread - behind the times as usaul! It's a great idea & there are some really interesting stories, look forward to finding out more about you all (waves madly to walkthedinosaur & looks sheepish for not being in touch - still having fun with MIL & SDS!) Anyway, briefly, this is me ;

Live about 10 mins from Vannes in South Brittany.

Searched for ages for the right area, but Vannes ticked all our boxes as OH is quite "boaty" (if he had the time!) we both like the sea generally, it's UK accessible (OH has 2 DC's there from 1st marriage)
also, I'm not keen on being too isolated - much as I like the idea of a "cath kidston-ey" type rural dream, I know I would go a bit weird - I need people, and shops and "things" nearby!

We originally had the idea that we would spend 6 months here & 6 months in the UK, keep my restaurant & sandwich bar & have the staff running them (yeah right!) but then, DS1 arrived, we got burgled twice in as many weeks, OH got made redundant & it all seemed to add up to us moving here permanantly. Also, living in the centre of Nottingham, I got fed up of avoiding the puddle of sick & the used syringes every time I left the house with the pram (I know the whole of the UK is not like that!)

I have a gite (year 2) & despite warnings of market saturation with holiday lets I had 26 weeks booked last year & about the same this. Which is a bit worrying as I have DS2 due at the end of August & bookings til October so far (hopefully he'll arrive on a Sunday & I'll be ready for the following Saturdays' changeover!) I teach English voluntarily at DS's school & OH works remotely with UK clients...

No regrets. There are things I miss (as I'm sure we all do) but the biggest thing for me is this idle "chatter!" - saying whats in your head without having to think about it first (can see walkthedinosaur nodding sagely recalling marathon chats!) But overall I feel I've got the best of both worlds - we visit the UK maybe every 4 months or so, & much as I enjoy it & load up with Waitrose shopping, I can't wait to get home, which I think sums it up really....

Looking forward to finding out more about you all, will post a bit more about thoughts on education etc when I get a few minutes...

I'm a mum to be, all going well our bub is due in November. We moved to Paris with my husband?s work. I?m not working ? doctor?s orders. Took me a nanosecond to adjust to my new life of leisure! It took a little longer to get over the guilt (why?) and feeling like a social pariah when I told people I'd just met I wasn't working. I?m enjoying it while I can, beats waiting for retirement! I'm in the 9th, so La Defense is not far at all.

Doozie - don't be guilty!!!!

I found in my first month of living in France just day to day living in a city I didn't know very well, trying to speak a language I didn't know at all and being pregnant, I was working harder than when I was getting paid to work!!!

This is your time - enjoy it!!!! Soon there is going to be a new little lovely so you have lots to feel happy about!

Urrrmmm... tell me... have you been a bit surprised by the French medical system??? I was to begin with bacause they kept asking me to get naked waist down. "Urmmm don't you know I'm British???" was my embarrassed answer. Oooooh and then they kept giving me blood tests with syringes I had only seen on carry on films!!!!! But really, believe me it is so so good here! I was at hopital Foch and it seems very old fashioned and stiff in comparison to the cool midwives back in ol' Blighty who used to come and see me in my home and chit chat over tea and biccies... but on the day... I really found it to be absolutely brilliant here and I was glad to be in France for the birth - it all felt so simple and normal. No scare story - just zen and cool. V French!

When in Bub due??? He he he - It is sweet you call him/her Bub - we used to call my dd Golem on account of her appearance first scan!!!

because - why did I put an a - I am typo queen!!!

and in instead of is???? AAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWw - bed time I think!!!!

Just have to join in again after having skimmed the thread. DD1 is in CE1 in french system and although very different and stricter than UK system I can see how it works and it get results. DD2 starts in September (DD3 in 2010) and it will be interesting to see how she fares compared to DD1.
I personally think the discipline/strict rules is a good thing. The children know where they stand and what is expected of them. Sometimes during CP ( a tough year) I felt the teacher was working on fear techniques but DD1 was so anxious to please she came up with the goods so to speak. She is always the youngest in the class too. After speaking with the teacher I could see her how her methods worked although very unlike the British system of over enthusiam.

A note on bilingual schools. DD1 has been externe in the Lycee international at St Germain for three years and it is a very very good school. I think number three in all french schools but it is a lot of work for the kids as well as the parents and you have to be prepared to put in the hours too. We are, after much soul searching, taking DD1 out and are moving out to a village and have enrolled DD1 in a bilingual school unlike the Lycee of two curriculms. I feel we will all have more of a 'life' rather than a 'school life' with this decision.