from our own correspondent

[teafortwo]

Old thread...
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2423/576865?ts=1222265998268&msgid=12499051

New thread...

to be created below!

Enjoy!

FOOC Langley, BC, Canada
Weather continuing to be PISSY... 7 degrees, rain and it's dark as a cow's insides because we just switched our clocks over this wekeend. I am NOT adjusted to the time yet... DS started squirming at 6:30 am, which felt like 5:30 am even though in reality it was 7:30 am... have I confused anyone besides myself yet?
Oh, I am loving all these stories! I'm so glad I asked!!
Okay, I will FINALLY fill you all in on me - this random stranger who happened upon mumsnet looking for input on surgery "down there" (which is scheduled for Feb 9 next year unless I get in on a cancellation... and if anyone wants to know what that's all about, pop over to the birth trauma thread to hear me cursing out my midwife and OB... I think I vented enough bitterness there, no need to drag it over here, LOL.
So here goes:
I now live in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. Langley is about 45 minutes (or two hours, depending on traffic on Hwy 1) east of Vancouver. I have been a bit of a rolling stone in my life, but am now happily living here gathering lots of lovely moss. I was born in Germany, where we lived until I was 12. (Family German back to the 1800's when we originally came from Belgium. There is also a Spanish woman somewhere in our ancestry. She was called "L'Espagnolle" (sp??) and according to my now-deceased grandfather (with whom I did NOT get on) I rather resemble her. Can't help but think there's an insult hidden in there somewhere, knowing g-pa, but I always thought it was rather exotic. I don't look remotely Spanish (see pics in profile) so perhaps he was more off his rocker than even we thought??... But I digress...
We emigrated to Canada when I was 12, specifically, Toronto, where I lived until I went to university, 275 km east of Toronto. After that, I did te back-packing around Europe thing for the better part of a year, then came back to Toronto for another year, and then moved to Texas for 6 years. (This was for more schooling.) Came back to Toronto for two years in 2001 (after Sept 11, 2001, pretty much all foreign visas were automatically denied and I only had a study visa), and then heard the call of the mountains (and didn't like Toronto anymore). I still don't know where I got the courage to do this, but I packed up my entire life and moved to the Vancouver area. Leaving my family was the second-hardest thing I've ever done. (Being so far away from my mum now that I have Jack is the hardest.) I found a job in my field, and that's where Imet my husband. We were one of those annoying couples who met, were both unavailable at the time but became friends, a year later were both available, started dating and were engaged five months later. . We got married two and a half years ago and had Jack in Feb of this year.
It's so lovely to hear everyone's stories, sorry to make you wait for mine after asking, but Jack is a little needy right now (growth spurt perhaps) and hasn't been happy with mummy's attention on anything but him.

Jacksmama
Where abouts in Germany did you live as a child? Do you still speak German?

I went to Germany as an aupair 16 years ago and met my DH on the first day.

Actually, that is not the whole story. The story actually began a couple of months earlier when a group of Germans came to my parents hometown from the twin city. At this point in my life, I was back living at home after splitting up with my bf and looking for a job as an aupair.

We met up with the German group through my parents' church and spent some time with them. One of them mentioned that her son was looking for an aupair and another said that her son was still single and I should come to Germany and marry him. What a laugh we had. Little did I know that I had just met my future MIL

DH likes to say that he sent his Mum to Scotland to buy him a wife.

We met the first day as his parents picked me up from the train station and took me to the house where I would be working as an aupair. DH used to phone and ask me out and it took me a while to realise that he really wanted to see me and was not just keeping his Mum happy.

We have been together since and got married in 1997. We moved around Germany for a few years, following his job before we were asked if we would come to Geneva to the office here.

We jumped at the chance and moved here just 5 weeks ago.

At present I am enamoured of the school system, DD just had her first French lesson. 4 x a week for 3 hours, 8 kids in the class and 2 teachers . This is not normal school, it is to get her speaking French as soon as possible then she will be able to follow her normal lessons.

MmeLindt, I grew up in Darmstadt, maybe 40 km away from Frankfurt. And I do still speak German pretty well, but of course get rusty when I don't speak it for a while. My father and half-sis came to visit us in July this year, and another German friend was staying at my mum's when I was there in Sept, so I'm actually doing pretty well right now. I also keep in touch with my oldest friend - we've known each other since third grade!! And she still lives near Darmstadt.
Just put DS in the snuggle box (a sort of low play pen with a down blanket in it for comfort) and hoping he will nap for a while so I can catch up on a few threads!

Cali
Have you seen these. You could have done with one of these last week

fooc Auckland

Weather - yesterday 21, beautiful hot sunshine perfect for a swim in the pool

Cies I have tears in my eyes at your post. London is my home town and being biased of course there really is nowhere like it; walking along the Embankment, St Pauls, Houses of Parliament etc illuminated against the skyline. Beautiful sunny days (I know few and far between Hyde Park, Green Park, riverboats, Kew, RIchmond......sighs......London

Eidsvold Melbourne cup day is huge here too. I'm off to Ellerslie race course with dh on a corporate freebie. Event runs from 11 to 7. Champagne lunch at midday, afternoon tea at 3, Melbourne cup televised at 5 our time, more drinking then home. I am driving (sneeky suspicion wives only get asked to be chauffeurs!) and will miss the big race as have to get back to pick up the ds's and ferry them to touch rugby. I'm managing the team and missed last weeks game due to another function so cannot miss this weeks. Anyway will report from the event later.

We are also on the run up to election here in NZ, Polling day Saturday. Not the world wide interest or coverage as the US elections and tbh has even been overshadowed here by the 2 being at the same time (ish). Political analyst on last nights election announced that the polls will probably remain unchanged as the nation gets sidetracked by both the Melboune cup and the US elections. So much so canvasing has virtually stopped . ANyway Labour under the leadership of Helen Clark is runing for a 4th term. Terms here span 3 years. She's been Prime Minister for the duration. She is either loved or hated such is her policy, leadership and personality. Major opposition National (conservative equivalent) under John Key. Business background, self made mega millionaire will donate his PM salary to worthy causes. Again people either love him or think he's incipid. At the moment the Nats are polling about 50% and Labour about 30%. IMO very little to do with policy more the nation feeling the need for change. We also have the usual mishmash of minor parties - Maori, NZ first, ACT, the Greens right down to the BIll and Ben party (to think these people get govt subsidies to run their parties!!!). ANyway, the minors are not to be ignored here as they have a very confusing system called MMP. The idea is proportional representation, so that the minor parties and their supporters can have a say not restricting the ruling party to one of two each time. So in addition to voting for the party you want to run the country (for most people Labour or Nats as major parties) you can also party vote for anybody. Parties form coalitions and rule collectively. In theory great. In reality bloody confusing and useless IMO. Nats are at the moment siding with ACT. Labour, the Greens, everybody else with the Maori party (most likely to side with Labour) undecided til after the election when they spend 2 weeks holding Hui's (meetings) with their voters then will state who they will support and work with. THen........collectively the coalitions get into power and run the country. So in this instance Nats may win the vast majority of votes win most seats individually in parliament but Labour manages to cobble together enough small parties with seats to side with them and they win the election again!!! Confused - try voting and don't even get me started on tactical voting!!!!!!!!!

I love the Obama Lanterns. Everyone is on edge here today awaiting the Big Day tomorrow.

Sorry I should have elaborated the system is useless IMO as management by committee to hard. Policy rarely gets made, change rarely happens as it's hard to get a group of similar thinking individuals in the same party to vote in unison, let alone a mishmash of different parties with different agendas.

I forgot, to say FOOC in Chicago

I am embarrassed to say that I had no idea there were elections going on in other countries News here is very local with the odd bit of national news. Anything that happens elsewhere seems to be not worthy of reporting on. Other than occasional mentions of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Jacksmama, thanks so much for provoking everyone into telling their story! Particularly enjoyed Tfor2 with her unexpected DD and MmeLindt's story about meeting her future MIL.
I haven't posted all week because it's the school hols here so that means not much free time. I wanted to post about the FIAC www.fiac.com/, the modern art exhibition which we went to last week. DH happened to mention that he could get free VIP passes as his company was sponsoring the event, so we took the kids. I always find modern art is pretty accessible for small kids - the 8 foot tall orange rabbit they were all allowed to climb on, the elephant sculpture made out of carpets and a vacuum cleaner nozzle, the flashing sculpture "Bon nuit les petits" (Good Night Children) which held them both mesmerised. It was also great fun because it was an excuse to drive into Paris. People think I'm mad but I love driving in Paris on the weekend. During the week it gets a bit busy (but nothing like London) but on the weekend it's just fun because you get to navigate using your favourite landmarks. Drive along the A13 until you see the Eiffel Tower, drive along the right bank past the Trocadero and Concorde, then turn north to the Louvre. Where we lived before we used to come into Etoile / Arc de Triomphe, and that used to be a bit hairy until I learnt just to cling onto the tail lights of a taxi to get me across. When it was just me and DD I used to take the train more but I find that coping with baby, buggy and small child on the metro is quite a pain, especially as DD doesn't handle stairs too well and I often end up trying to carry DS in the buggy while still helping DD walk down...
This weekend DH wasn't working on Saturday (first time in about a month) so we rewarded DD for good behaviour by taking her to the Sealife Centre. DS was pointing at the fish saying "Fish! Fish!" (new word - he's only 15 mos) and DD loved it because going to see the fish is one of her biggest treats. Then, lunch at a Japanese restaurant (more fish!) and a walk round in the persistent drizzle.
As for my story, not much to tell. Met DH on a German course when I was 17, then met up again and started dating when at university, both studying French and German. Third year he spent in France, I went off to Germany. Moved to London together, both working for German companies. He was transferred to Edinburgh and I followed, and shortly afterwards DD was born. When DD was about a year old he was getting bored in his job and spotted a possible transfer to Paris. I wasn't using my languages at that point and wasn't happy in my job either, so we decided to go for it. Three years later we love it here, we have DS as well and we've decided to stay so we've bought our own appartment. Took me about 18 months of living here before I could speak French without first trying to speak German, but I think that's fairly normal. Sometimes would like to go back to work but it's complicated because of DD's SN and generally find I'm too busy to be bored anyway!

I love all these stories of how everyone came to be where they are.

Mine is thus: I studied French and Spanish at university in England, and spent 9 months in Valencia on my year abroad. I loved the life, the people, the place, so on graduation decided to do a TEFL qualification that would let me work in Spain straight away.

I met DH while I and my family were on holiday! His father had organised a sailing rally that we went along to, and it was lust / love at first sight. We had a long distance relationship for a year, me in Cordoba (southern Spain) and him in Ferrol (northwestern Spain) finishing his degree. Then, I moved up to Vigo, and we got married two years later. Currently we are ttc our first child.

FOOC _ Brisbane

oh Jack's mama - that reminded me - when dh and I got married we flew out to Australia to get married at my aunt's property - wonderful view of the mountains and bush - but I digress. As this was our second for both and wanting it low key - my uncle just took dh out for drinks the night before the wedding. They met up with some of my uncle's mates. One of them laughed when dh said he was here to get married and then - in all seriousness - asked dh if I was a mail order bride cheeky beggar.

I also forgot to add that we now live about 20 minutes drive from where I grew up.

oops - that should have been to MmeLindt and anyone else.

Just bobbing in to say hi to everyone. I haven't been MNing as had ds2 staying with us until last night and I was too busy with RL! I suspect normal service will be resumed soon on my part.

FOOC Sydney and Southern Highlands

I know you have plenty of Sydney correspondents, but figured one more wouldn't hurt. Sydney is a little bit like London in that rather than being one city, it's a collection of areas all of which are very different to each other.

We're in the Inner West, in an ex-working class, currently over-renovated suburb, that's one bridge from the city. Our street is a mix of weatherboards and tiny 'worker's cottages' and is one of the few streets that managed to escape the knock-down rebuild craze (probably because it's so hard to find). One of our favourite spots is Dawn Fraser Baths, an old, old harbour pool surrounded by wooden piers pic of Dawn Fraser baths

Our weekdays are spent here, but most weekends and all school holidays you'll find us on the IL's farm in the Southern Highlands. If there's a pocket of the UK that was somehow transported to Australia, it's the Southern Highlands. Our closest town, Sutton Forest, even has a shop called A Little Piece of Scotland. The owner organises the Australasian Young Piper competition each year and has dedicated her life to this shrine to all things Scottish tartan obsession. The local obsession with gardening, and the preferred varieties, would make most mnetters feel quite at home rolling lawns and blossoms ahoy.

IL's have 600 acres and run beef cattle, which makes it a real farm in an area where the most commonly sighted species is the retired hobby farmer. We even managed to blow up our car in the middle of the river earlier this month when heavy rains swamped us. Trudging up the hill at midnight after abandoning the car to it's fate was a true country experience, as was dragging it out with the tractor the next morning.

Current obsessions in Sydney are the Melbourne Cup, tomorrow's US election, interest rates and the bizarre weather. We're swinging from 38 degrees one day to 22 the next. Yesterday it managed to drop 10 degrees in an hour - we were in the pool at swimming lessons, and felt every degree.

FOOC Langley, BC, Canada
I have to say that Canadians are pretty on edge about tomorrow's election, too. Of course what happens to us depends a lot on what's happening in the U.S. I'm pretty apolitical, but I have to say that the Republican government of the last 8 years seems to have led only to war, war and more war. Of which I cannot approve. I have heard it said, however, that a Republican government is good for the Canadian economy... maybe so but it sure hasn't brought us any closer to world peace, has it? I wonder what will happen to Canadian troops overseas if, as I hope, Barack Obama is elected tomorrow. Our current prime minister, Stephen Harper, has his head so firmly up George Bush's butt that if one sneezes, we're not sure which one it was... horrible mental image, I know...
Anyway, that sums up my political contribution. I have to work tomorrow and just lately I have been refreshing my favourite mumsnet threads between patients but I think tomorrow, mumsnet may take a backseat to the election tallies! - but only for one day...
Thanks for all your stories, everyone, they're lovely to read!

OREGON

It is 9 and has been raining all day. I don't like temperatures in C instead of F. It makes it seem depressingly cold.

I've been reading with great interest all the threads about heating and what it takes for MN'ers to turn it on. It absolutely fascinates me how cold it is in the average house on many of those threads. So I tried not to turn the heat on, and failed miserably. I did keep it on a lower temperature than normal, and am sitting here in my heavy coat. I am embarrassed to report that I'm quite cranky about it. I sadly realized that I really am quite a wussy American.

It is probably a good thing for the kids that it isn't warm in here, as they both have fevers. DH is away, and I'm nervous, especially if DS has a febrile seizure again. So far he's had a pretty low temperature. He's also making breathing sounds that mean only one thing. Croup is coming. I thought it would be here earlier, but I gave him some turmeric in agave syrup, and his breathing was better most of the day. I'm not sure if it is a fluke, but I'll try it again tonight and see if that helps. I tried it myself, and I was taking in giant breaths, as it was amazing how open my airways felt, even though I'm not congested.

I did my job and voted last week. Thanks to the electoral college, my vote won't really count, anyway. Obama has Oregon pretty much in his pocket, so my vote for him won't matter much. I just wish I lived in a battleground state, where it would really count.

FOOC in Chicago

The heating in my apartment is controlled by the building - I can have the radiator on or off but have no control over the temperature. I have big old steam radiators which get incredibly hot but the heat from neighbouring apartments means I rarely need mine on. And even then, it os often 25 degrees +

All the buildings downtown have 'VOTE' written on them in lights. I'm feeling a bit jittery about tomorrow. As I got home this evening, at 9:30pm, I met a man who was rushing out on his bike. As he passed me, he said, "I'm going to get in line to vote" and pointed to his Obama hat. I can't believe people are going to queue all night to vote. But I am glad people feel so strongly about this.

Big day today for all you US FOOC'ers!
Keeping fingers and toes crossed for you all (and my parents, for that matter who also live in US)

I just wanted to say that it is great that people are actually interested in voting in the US. There is so much apathy here in the UK about UK polaticians. Go Obama.

Welcome flummery - from a UK Fooc I love hearing from any Overseas mumsnetters, it is great education and also so interesting. I love my morning cuppa and the Fooc thread

FOOC - North Yorkshire

You can really tell that Guy Faulks is nearly up on us. When I was little you only had fireworks on the night and maybe over the weekend, but now it seams that there are so many every night on the lead up. Maybe it is just as I am a mum to two toddlers, that I hear them more . I am obviously old and a worry wart, as I have veto'd any form of sparkers as the DS's are too young (2 and 3) and also siad that DS1 can go with his daddy to the local council show tomorrow, but only if he is good, as it is on past his bedtime.

I wait with baited breath about the election results.

Thank you, TheMadHouse.

Now Guy Faulks night is something we all really miss! We took all three dcs to Primrose Hill just a week before we moved to Sydney. It was such an incredible sight, all those faces turned up the hill, and one of our last memories of London.

Well I can't believe I have missed these threads until now! Have DS off school and we were awake and up early as he was sniffling and snuffling and I spotted the thread and had a quick peek. I think that was about 2 hours ago!

So FOOC Budapest, Hungary!

I am orginally Irish but am married to an English accountant DH who likes to wander! We have lived in Bangkok - Thailand, HCMC - Vietnam, Sofia - Bulgaria and now here in Budapest. Moved here 4 years ago. I met DH in London. We have one DS who is 7.

Budapest is made up of Buda and Pest - Pest is the 'city' part and is the other side of the Danube river. We are in Obuda, which is the oldest part of Budapest and we are up in the hills. DS goes to a British International school here which is about 10 mins away by car. Would love to be able to walk it but the hills are a bit challenging!

Weather here at the moment is very autumnal. Real 'seasons of mists and mellow fruitfullness'! We have a 'mountain' that we can usually see quite close to our house but it was missing in action this morning! Seems to be back now.

Temp was up to 19.5 degrees yesterday afternoon though! And sunny. Downside of the warm temps though is that the first of the season's cold/flu bug is doing the rounds and DS has it. He is very sniffly and was complaining of sore ears and throat last night. So we are having a day at home.

Welcome Buda and Flummery.

Just had a look on CNN, and watched Obama voting. I don't have sat tv yet so can only see what is happening online.

Good luck, America!

Oh FOOCS in America, please update tonight so I have lovley reading material for my cup of tea in the morning.

I will make a special pot for one of my fortumn and Mason Royal tea (with leaves of course) and even have Muffins and Jam.

It is a real highlight for me.

We are going to my Brother and SIL club (Steel club - like a working mans social club) tomorrow evening, they are holding a childrens event. Fireworks, spooky fancy dress, apple bobbing and disco etc. The boys are so looking forward to it. I am driving, so no drinking for me, but DH will be on the guiness for the evening. SIl has done pumkins filled with jelly and sweets and loads of other fantastic stuff. DS1 is the same age as my neice and they will have the best night. It starts at 6.30 and runs till 8.30 so just right and it also saves us from the council display in the wind and rain.

Jacks Mama by story is so dull compared to the others. I grew up in a small seaside town in N Yorkshire, met DH at work and we married. I was working for a firm of consultants that had offices here and in Reading and they offered to relocated me nad we went. That was 14 years ago.

We relocated from Reading back to North Yorkshire when I was pregnant with DS2 and we are so lucky to have been able to come back to our familys. It is so enjoyable to see the DS' interact with their cousins. Also I wanted to be a SAHM and this enabled us to do so.