Can we make our own 'from our own correspondent'

[teafortwo]

I love love love this radio show...

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/default.stm

Can we please please please have a thread that has a vibe a bit like this?

We can have a bunch of parents who live all over the World in all kinds of countries (including Blighty), with all kinds of neighbours and themselves living in all kinds of situations (rural, city, suburbs and anything inbetween) explaining what is happening where they live. Day to day things (what is on sale at your local market, what you ate for lunch), portraits of figures in your community (e.g a lovely old village character), big news stories (e.g student riots), little news stories (a much loved dog has died that used to wander around the town centre), arguements in the cafe (sport, politics, religion), music and dance (e.g I notice all Parisian teenagers like to do this weird wiggling dance and they even have lessons for how to do it on national telly), observations on things that are different from where you come from (I don't know...e.g a New Yorker's take on living in the Lake District), interesting discussions on languages spoken... etc etc... I think it could be fun!!!

So tell me...

Am I making sense?

and..

What do you think? Shall we give it a go?

Eidsvold
I am just getting over the shock that when you do an online survey and have to put your age in, that I am now in the 35 - 40 range. Sometimes they do 30 - 35 which makes me feel a whole decade younger

Cali
That is surprising about the schools

Eidsvold - we share a birthday!

My parents are visiting on Friday so I am going to hang out until then for, hopefully, a nice restaurant in Paris and a shopping trip to purchase some seriously yummymummy boots to keep my feet chic until Springtime!!!

Aaaaarrrr - Birthdays all over the World!!!!

australia

oh teafortwo - cool

It is interesting - I know our school has a fence but we are on a very major road - used by quarry trucks - imagine double trailered trucks ( lorries) barrelling down. It took years of protest to get a crossing put in from the main area of the school to cross the road to where the bus stop is and some parents wait.

Thankfully next year we will walk for about 5 minutes from door to classroom door for dd1 so that will be cool. I can't wait to ditch the car. However as the prep building is just that bit further - she really struggles with it sometimes and with a buggy and dd2 - it can be a long walk home.

I find that very strange califrau. I know daycare centres here need an access code to enter. Kindergartens usually have large fences - privacy fences around the playground area and the entry doors are locked once everyone has arrived in the day.

mandm suedonim is the original!!

Califrau - I took some students on a cultural exchange to the USA - we spent 10 days being billeted with families in Spokane WA. SPokane was gorgeous as was Couer d'Alene. BUT my students were gobsmacked to see lots of gun free zone stickers everywhere and patrolling security guards at a high school!!

Marks And Spencers Overseas Delivery Petition

teafortwo are your parents bringing you a care package from home?

We are having a Nachbarschafts Party this evening. This is a yearly occurance, we empty our double garage (we are the only ones with a double garage for some reason) and put up some benches, everyone brings a salat or a dessert and we fire up the BBQ.

Due to our impending move I have not made my trifle, which I am kind of regretting now. I am bringing bruschetta.

Also due to our impending move, we are providing the remains of our bar and wine cellar as we are not allowed to import alcohol to Switzerland.

Happy Birthday tfor2 and eidsvold (well for next week anyway). I am at the idea of the open schools. My DD would be out the door and wandering off down the street! (just wouldn't occur to her to stay in the classroom!)
Eidsvold, we moved a few months ago and now have walk to school instead of car to school and it's LOVELY. 70% of the pupils at the school live in the same residence and all the kids go to the playpark together. Obviously, with DD's SN, it's a bit difficult for her to join in but she still gets the chance to see the kids from her class, even if she's not quite ready to go up and play with them yet
I was going to write all about the Journees du Patrimoine her in France this weekend, but DD is calling me so will have to come back later to post about mad brass bands and pony rides!

Chicago (but location is totally irrelevant today)

Happy Birthday everybody

My mum is coming out in a few weeks and then my sister is coming at the end of December. I have to make lists of what they must bring

So far:

Marmite
Hair Stuff
Angel Delight
Marigold Bouillon
Marzipan (for xmas baking)
Dried Fruit (ditto)
Earl Grey
Baked Beans, perhaps
Ribena
Hula Hoops

What else?

My Mum is kindly bringing over some Next clothes for DD as I can never find clothes that are as well designed for real children, durable AND cheap as Next in Paris... and.... urrrmmm... that is it!!!

When my dd was little I used to get my Mum to bring over sudacream and real nappy liners... but we are in the process of toilet training now so there is less to bring this time!

Funny - the things that we like to keep hold of from home, hey?

So, all foocs - What do you really miss/stock up on???

FOOC Galicia, Spain

Ohh, I´ve just asked for a parcel of Marmite and Branston Pickle to be sent over. I usually manage to bring it over myself on one of my trips to UK, but this summer I came back overland through France and didn´t really want to carry any extra kilos.

I´ve got DH addicted to cheese and pickle sandwiches. But, alas, he cannot be persuaded that Marmite is not the food of the devil.

Apart from that, I manage quite well on what I can get from various supermarkets around the city (see my earlier post about supermarket pick and mix).

Another thing that I stock up on when I go back to the UK is books. I go on a mad shopping spree in all the charity shops in Plymouth (my parents´nearest city) and East Sheen (where I normally stay with best friend the night before a flight back). But again, this summer it was not possible, so I´ve just spent the grand total of 42 euros for 14 books. It doesn´t sound bad, but when you think that the books only cost 57p each, and the rest was postage, you can only wince. But I drive DH round the bend get bored if I have nothing to read, so needs must.

FOOC AUckland NZ
I am at turning 40 - been there, done that and got the t-shirt . In commiseration (?sp) of the next rapidly approaching birthday we are off to Fiji on 4th October - yeh hey - soon I will be reporting from Fiji - Bula.

brisbane

Sibble - I in no way feel 40 (50 perhaps but not forty) My trip to Canberra for the weekend by myself was part of the birthday present. Dh has reminded me he will be the big 5-0 in 2012 and that a trip to London for the olympics would be a good idea. I told him he better get saving then 5 for London olympics is a big deal!

I got my mum to send over huge jars of vegemite - I agree with your dh Cies - marmite is indeed the work of the devil. A bit of trivia - vegemite was first called parwill - you know marmite - but parwill. I used to always take samples when I went to the US to visit - hilarious to watch people spread it very thickly on the toast and then gag as they try to eat it.

more on vegemite

Okay - when I lived in the UK my wish list was:

Cherry ripes - scrummy
tim tams - pengiuns just will not do - thankfully tescos in their infinite wisdom started stocking these and vegemite
salty crackers
proper napisan

all sorts of sweets

Thank god for the aussie shop in convent garden which would deliver!!

From UK to Aus

jaffa cakes
salad cream

( can now get both here)

m and s soft oat rolls - can get great bread here but those little soft oval shaped rolls were fab

oh - dh bemoans the lack of M and S onion bahjis.

Chicago

@ Fiji

I miss books too. American ones feel funny. And smell different. And, obviously, are written in American English which irritates me beyond belief especially when reading something British. I have to import cook books because cooking with cups confuses me.

I just sat for ages trying to work out the 'marmite' and 'parwill' thing. I just got it [dim]

lol at superbunny.

Either I am particularly dim or as a non-marmite-eater incredibly ignorant, I dont get the marmite parwill thing eihter

please excuse any spelling mistakes, i am a bit inebriated. we had a lovely neighbours party, lots of wine was consumed, the odd Killepitch nad some prosecco. My friedns gave me a book of photos fo our children, playing together over the last few years. I was very touched, and am sad to leave here.

Ma might, Pa will

Am glad I am not the only dim one.

for you MmeLindt

oh MmeLindt! How touching!

Thanks Superbunny, that would have bugged me all night

FOOC in Shanghai

Well, there's only one thing in our care package coming with my brother when he visits in a month: baby formula.

The contamination scandal has spread. It's not just formula but other dairy products as well. I ate Mengniu yoghurt every day while I was pregnant and BFing, and I had started weaning DD on Yili and Shanghai Bright yoghurt pots and baby rice made with Mengniu milk.

Starbucks are only serving black tea and coffee and soy drinks. There are big holes in the shelves of all the supermarkets where the affected products have been yanked.

We knew there would be panicked people switching from the local el cheapo formula brands to Wyeth and Abbott, so first thing yesterday morning DH went to the expat supermarket and bought enough SMA Gold to last us until my brother arrives. The expat supermarket sells things like Marmite and blue cheese and is in the basement of an expensive department store, so most locals don't know it's there. Once they realise, it'll sell out of Western brands instantly. I feel terrible hording such an essential product, but I don't think we have a choice.

I am furious with Fonterra. Nevermind Nestle, I think Fonterra should be boycotted worldwide. They bought a 43% stake in a shitty Chinese dairy company and thought hooray, we're into this market of 1.3b people, we'll sit back and watch the money roll in. They obviously thought it was enough to have three seats on the board of Sanlu, but if they'd done the most cursory investigation of how things work in China, they should have realised that they needed their own staff conducting unannounced spot checks at every single stage of production.

I hope New Zealand has corporate manslaughter laws, and I hope those fuckers end up in jail.

FOOC Japan (tis sakurarose39 - I namechanged...)
We are having our own food scandal at the moment - foreign rice (mainly from China) which was designated as "tainted" (mouldy or high in pesticide residues) and destined for non-edible use (to make glue etc.) was diverted by a company called Misaka into the food chain. They have been making rice crackers, frozen food etc. with contaminated rice, and the Ministry of Agriculture didn't kick up much of a fuss until the press got hold of the story. The Ministry kept saying that the pesticide levels etc. were not high enough to cause damage to humans, but still, mouldy rice is not something that you should be giving to kindergarten kids and hospital patients (some of the places that the tainted products ended up)
ninedragons, we have also been affected by the milk scandal, as some of the milk has been used in sweets and cakes here....

Other news from Japan - there was an earthquake this morning at about 7 a.m. in the Tokyo area. Not a very big one - it woke me up and everything rattled around in the cupboards for about a minute or so, but no damage. Japan has about 400 earthquakes every day - but you can't feel most of them. I am worried because we haven't had a major earthquake for ages now, which means the pressure underground is building up....the Great Kanto Earthquake, which destroyed 50% of Tokyo and surrounding areas was in 1923, and quakes of that magnitude usually occur every 70 or so years, so we are waaayyy overdue

So lots of happy news from Japan!!

and its pouring with rain today...remnants of a big typhoon that swept over the country yesterday.

At least we have a national holiday next week on Tuesday to mark the autumn equinox. Hopefully it will be sunny so I can do a more cheerful report next time.

Take care all

at Parwill, it took me a good think to work it out.

Being a good ol colonial outpost, we can get most stuff here, baked beans, branston pickle, marmite (definitely work of the devil) and Superbunny, even Angel Delight! Let me know if I can send you some

We have friends visiting in a couple of weeks and on their list is:

Olay moisturiser
suncream
Anyway up cups
bibs

I am obvisouly very hard done to.

at the idea of Fiji Sibble, but a free trip in November to Zanzibar for a few days may perk me up.

MmeL, how is the hangover? It is always sad to leave a place but think what fun you will have in your new home.

The whole milk contamination business is just shocking. Is SMA terribly expensive ninedragons? What options do those ff have apart from the contaminated milk? What milk are you using now?

FOOC Aukland, NZ

Obviously baby milk scandal headline news here not least for the time lag in board members and the dept of trade knowing and reporting it to the government for the public to be alerted . There are reports in the press today that it was known as long ago as March, reported on the internet and cryptically on a tv documentary. It's almost implausable that a concern as big as Fonterra would not be business-like enough to research/know the business practices of China. Then opens the on-going debate (on the run up to our election) as to whether we should have signed a free-trade agreement with China and the fact that Fonterra and it's exports is a major part of the NZ economy. It's just all too sad.

Ninedragons I don't blame you at all, I would be hoarding as much as I could too.

Hangover is fine, but I could not sleep again last night. That makes two nights in a row that I have got up at 5am to do some packing.

The baby milk scandal is horrible, we have had a lot in the press here too. It is terrible when a company's profits are valued more than human life. I do hope that they find the people responsible and punish them, they should make them drink the products themselves.

Ninedragons
I don't blame you, I would do the same. Is there some kind of emergency supplies for the general public?

Ninedragons, I hope you can find enough untainted milk to feed yourself and little ones. Horrible. Have seen pictures of all the panicking parents at the hospitals. Makes you shudder to think of it.

On another note, I always bring back marmite (of course - DH thinks it's the food of the devil and is very upset that both of the kids like it), crunchy peanut butter, shreddies, various spices - e.g. kalonji, cardamom - that I can only get in France by going to the Indian grocers in middle of Paris, sudacrem and lemsip. (You can get cold remedies in France, of course, but none that make a nice hot drink, and DH has mild allergies and lemsip seems to be the best for clearing his head!)

Tfor2 did you know that there is now a European next directory site - www.nextdirectory.eu - and you can choose your country (they certainly do France, Germany and Spain). Haven't tried it yet myself, but it looks good.

I am shuddering at the babymilk stories. It is a nightmare. Surely there must be means to get babymilk over asap? Do you know of any plans Ninedragons?

OH BRIOCHEDOREE- You have changed my life!!!! It is daft that in the capital of fashion I hold Next so dear to my heart - but I find in comparison clothes here are dear for what you get. Esp. for children!

Now Briochedoree... do you know of a boy or a girl prefably with a comical and unrulely dog who can deliver my actual Sunday paper (not the international one I pick up on a Monday) on Sunday mornings? If you do I will never go back to England - ha ha ha!!!!

We love doing the Indian shops in Paris. There is also a pretty good spice shop in Puteaux! Although it doesn't do the Indian mixes you can buy the ingredients and have to make them up yourself.

Briochedoree - sudacrem - ha ha ha - me too -how do the French live without it???

So... let me please say again... thinking of you lots ninedragons. Hold in there! Believe me mothers have been hoarding for their children for as long as there have been mothers. Don't feel bad. Lets hope the crisis doesn't last for too long. That is all.