I've finally decided to start my own blog. This in large part is due to all those expats living in France whose blogs I've been reading for some time now. They've been a source of inspiration to me as I continue to find my way here after seven years of living in France. It's an amazing network/community of sorts to which I hope to add some new experiences/insights. It's also a great way for my family and friends to keep up to date on our daily lives. And finally it just seems like fun!
The title of my blog pretty much sums up my adventure. I was born and raised in Chicago. I met my husband through a mutual friend and the rest as they say is history. One year later we were married, and I moved to a small town in north eastern France. Big change to say the least. Our son was born less than a year after our wedding followed by twin girls two years after our son. (If you're keeping track, by our 3rd wedding anniversary we had 3 children!) Yes I'm proud to say I've contributed to France's new found status as the most fertile country in Europe passing Ireland this year with an average of 2 children per woman.
Now as my children are a little older (6 1/2 and 4 1/2 yrs old) I find I've got a little (just a little) time on my hands and blogs, specifically expat blogs, quickly caught my attention as I surfed the net.
Currently the big event here is winter vacation which will begin after school lets out on Friday Feb. 9Th. Many people I know will be taking trips to go skiing, but as we plan to take a trip back to Chicago this summer (after almost two years since our last visit) we'll be staying put and trying to keep the kids occupied. Not the easiest thing to do when it's cold and rainy nearly every day here.
When I'm not busy with the kids I'm working part-time teaching English. What else for an English speaking expat in France? Actually this is not too much of a stretch for me since my career in Chicago was in education, specifically teaching french! So I've just flip flopped but it's got a lot of challenges even if it is my native language. I've been a language assistant once, when my son was a baby, took time off when the girls were born and just this past fall started teaching English in the grade schools in my area. Definitely been an interesting experience. But I've always liked a challenge. One thing that's great is in general the kids do want to learn the language. I'm sure I'll be posting about that more as time goes on.
I'd love to get others input about their own experiences teaching English in France since it is such a common path for the expat living here.
About Me
- Margie
- Born and raised in Chicago where I met my French husband in 1998, I live in a small town near Metz,France with my husband and our three children.
3 comments:
Great blog so far! Thanks for stopping by mine. I'll figure out my future soon enough I guess, haha. Maybe starting a family really is the way to go right now!
So you used to teach French? Well, I imagine your French would put mine to shame! :) Do you find that because of your level of French, you've settled in easier?
Hi Jennifer,
Thanks for the compliment on my blog. Definitely taking baby steps setting it up but it's fun putting it together and getting to "meet" fellow bloggers!
Knowing French when I came here certainly was an advantage, but I was still lost in a lot of ways. It's a huge adjustment as you know.
That's something I meant to mention: How important it is to learn the language. I know easier said than done sometimes but it makes a huge difference in starting to feel "at home" when we're able to get through the day and have a small conversation with the cashier or baker or whatever. You feel apart of the community. My biggest hurdle was learning stick shift which you mentioned as well! That I did while pregnant and it was not fun but I persisted and now I'm comfortable with it. (Still miss an automatic car though!)One more necessity so I could get around and not feel so helpless unable to drive. Luckily my husband works in town here and so was able to run errands easily enough. Big help when the babies were born. There are a lot of websites for learning french as you certainly know, just to get down the grammar, conversation is all around you. It's hard though to get up the nerve to talk, that was my problem, lack of confidence, knew what I wanted to say but didn't want to screw it up.
The french seem to like American accents though which is a plus! I've gotten many compliments on my "American" accent and how charming it is. Tant mieux as they say....
As you said, you'll figure it out, definitely takes time, try not to worry, it'll come.
Hi and welcome to our unofficial expat-women-living-in-France community! I see you have found my blog and thanks for the link. I'll add yours. I'm sure you'll find blogging a great experience. It's led me to places I'd never imagined, but to know about that, you'll just have to read my THREE blogs...
I teach English too, and I was a former French teacher, so we have a lot in common. I also have two kids with two years between them, but they are now 13 and 15. It sounds like you are where I was at about 8 or 9 years ago.
Bye for now -- Betty
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