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Showing posts from September, 2009

Back to school and related pains.....

3 weeks in and we're over the hump! I never recall feeling total anguish and terror over going back to school....I certainly don't recall my parents feeling this either ...more like sighs of joy all round. My mother's only source of stress, if one can call it that, was coordinating her bridge passion with becoming a full time taxi driver running me from school to orchestra to tennis, to band to ballet to cello to flute to sailing to choir and back to school again!! I'm afraid that public transport in the antipodes was a mere shadow of the brilliant transport system here. ....Oh god, here I go, can't resist getting side tracked.."3 Cheers for Alain Juppé and the wonderful wonderful tramway in Bordeaux!!!!!!" More about this another day.... Today I want to talk about going back to school and mothers..... The first day my son entered the Maternal ( Kindergarden!) he came home armed with at least 20 papers for me to fill out, sign and duly return, ofte

Ultimate mistakes and cultural mishaps

How many of you started out just like myself..... I considered myself totally culturally perfect, a culturally sensitive beast poised to integrate smoothly into my new chosen country, that of my husband ( at that time, I might add!!!). I would surround myself in things french. I would NEVER become a blind and exclusive"ex pat", would NEVER hang out with anglophones. I was in for the total emmersion package. I would surround myself with witty french girlfriends with whom I would go shopping, lunching, wine-ing and coffee-ing....yes we would all hang out together speaking fab french, sharing the trials of our young childrens' lives, swap recipes, bitch eternally about our husbands,exchange professional tips, go on family holidays....wrong WRONG WRONG! I had totally set myself up for major misunderstanding and mishap!! I have to clarify that I DO have french friends and they are just wonderful ( of course they are...I CHOSE THEM!!) but I had made the ultimate mistake

My Love of All Things French : INTRO

I love France I love all things French......but will I ever BE French?? I have started this blog for several reasons : To create a network and support for other desperate anglo/american wives, partners, women and mothers living, but not necessarily always loving, in France. To "de-drammatise" ( franglais!) our lives, to turn tears and frustration into laughter and joy. To provide useful home info IN ENGLISH to share with you my joy of cooking and french culture in general.