Lisa

Bring France Home

Now here's a great idea! A shop dedicated to products MADE IN FRANCE, that are easy to take home - where ever home may be. There's more than food, you'll find jewelry, decorative items, kid's stuff, clothes and it is all packable in a suitcase or shipable. Very easy. Authentic too! Who had this great idea? Bring France Home was created in 2017 by two good friends, Mathilde & Nathalie, who use to work together in a place that made external hard drives. Mathilde did innovation and marketing (ah ha!) and Nathalie did human resources (oh ho!). Together they had an entrepreneurial idea (cocorico!). Despite working on boring hard disks, Mathilde is a born entrepreneur. She founded UGAL to accompany small companies in numeric communication and is now using her own ideas. She loves to travel and meet new people, is a great cook and makes especially good jams which we hope to find soon in her shop. She also has a handsome cat named Jean-Luc who is learning English from the nei…

An elegant souvenir from the Paris Mint

An elegant souvenir of Paris from the Paris Mint

The Paris Mint has souvenirs made in France of precious metals. What a more elegant souvenir of Paris or France than a pendant or a coin to keep forever. Expanding the Treasures of Paris series and following on the heals of coins bearing the Palais Garnier and Institut de France in 2016, la Monnaie de Paris, as it is called in French, is adding two new coins to the Treasures of Paris series in 2017. This series is distinctive in the use of gold and silver together on the coins – a bit like a 2€ coin, but even prettier. What's more is the first new design for 2017 celebrates, once again, Franco-American friendship which is particularly appropriate for this year as we commemorate the beginning of the participation of American soldiers in France in WWI. The nearly pure silver coin shows the replica of Statue of Liberty which is in Paris at Grenelle. The statue was a gift from French expatriates in the United States …

Paris novels: « Je T’Aime, Maybe » by April Lily Heise. Interview and extract

April Lily Heise is a Paris-based Canadian writer of Paris novels and romance expert. When she is not getting into romantic mischief, she writes on Paris, dating, culture and travel. Her writing has been featured in The Huffington Post, CondéNastTraveler.com, Business Insider, Frommer’s, City Secrets, DK Eyewitness, among others. She is the author of two novelized memories on her romantic misadventures in Paris Je T'Aime, Me Neither and its sequel, Je T’Aime… Maybe? She also shares original things to do in Paris, dating tips and travel features on her blog www.jetaimemeneither.com. FUSAC asked her where she got her inspiration for her Paris novels. Are the novels based on your personal experience? I like to call my books novelized memoirs, the stories are all based on reality but are told in a lively storybook fashion, like modern-day fairy tales. Though like modern love... there are often complications and the road can be rocky towards a happy or not so happy ending. …

FUSAC in the press – By Inspirelle

FUSAC Packs 28 Years of Paris Know How into Books for Expats For years, newcomers to Paris have known that the acronym FUSAC is one of the first words to learn when adapting to their new environment. Transferring to Paris? Seek out FUSAC’s ads for apartment rentals or find great used furniture sales. Leaving? Sell off your household goods quickly by posting an ad. Job searches, advice, it’s all been there for the past 28 years. And, what’s so incredibly impressive about FUSAC is that it is founded and entirely run by a devoted couple, Lisa and John Vanden Bos, with their assistant Caroline. Many of us at INSPIRELLE can remember picking up our free copy of the FUSAC magazine at one of the English-speaking bookstores or shops in Paris. Today, FUSAC is available exclusively online, and its owners have packed all their knowledge and experience with expats into three books: 90+ Ways You Know You’re Becoming French, Speak Easy Puzzles (volume 3) and, most recently, the FUSAC Free G…

How to get to the Paris airports?

How to get to the Paris airports? Going away is always fun ! However, going to the Paris airports can be a lot less fun … It’s always difficult to choose how to get there since there are so many options : bus, metro/RER, taxi…Here are all your best options so that you can easily choose according to your budget, how much time you have, etc. There are 2 main Paris airports – Orly and CDG (Charles De Gaulle) / Roissy so first make sure you know which one you’re going to ! Be careful if you ask someone for directions to get to Charles De Gaulle as you'll have to be a bit more specific... indeed if you ask for Charles de Gaulle some people may send you to Les Champs Elysées thinking you want to go "Charles de Gaulle Etoile metro station" which is on line 1 / RER C by the Arc de Triomphe!! Most Parisians refer to the Paris airport as "Roissy" which is the name of the town is in, so ask them how to get to "Roissy Charles de Gaulle". Confusing! For general Paris airports informa…

Hints and Hindsights: Us vs Them French Anglo cultural differences

Hints for Newcomers – Hindsights for Old-Timers French Anglo cultural differences Us vs Them

by Shari Leslie Segall

You’ve heard of speed-dating. You’ve heard of speed-networking. Welcome to speed-cultural differences! Although many of these French Anglo cultural differences are being obliterated at breakneck speed by globalization (see our earlier post of Hints-Hindsights), and many didn’t exist in the first place (yes, the French really are friendly at heart), below is an extremely incomplete quick-and-dirty list of the at times inaccurate, at times truer-than-true judgments that are at times fiercely hurled, at times gently tossed at each other by Anglos and Francos. EMOTIONS/ATTITUDE – the negative Them: Anglos-especially Americans-are big babies. Even grown women jump up and down and screech and hug when they run into each other on the street. Anglos thank you a million times for the slightest thing. How can ever…

Water in Paris – part 8: Paris flood 2016

"Current" Events: Paris flood 2016 Current events never was a more appropriate term. Here are a few photos from past years juxatposed with photos from the last few days of the Paris flood 2016. We watched daily as the water crept up on the Zouave, the quais, the Pont Mirabeau. The water was very brown, as one French lady said "marronnâtre" and that seemed to sum up the Paris flood 2016. Feel free to send us your own photos, expecially if you have some from outside Paris. submissions@fusac.org Pont Mirabeau's statues that represent navigation on the river are really navigating it right now. Read more about the bridge here. Or maybe just trying to climb to safety. Does anyone know what the pompiers were up to here on Friday afternoon? We couldn't figure it out. How can a piece of a bridge look so big one day and so small the next? The photos give perspective. Read more about what a Zouave is and why this particular statue is famous in Paris …

Interview with Nancy Ing Duclos from Inspirelle

Interview with the founder of Inspirelle : Nancy Ing Duclos first came to France in 1988 to learn French in the hopes of obtaining a foreign post for her budding TV news career. When fate intervened, she quickly dropped out of her immersion classes to learn French the best way—from her new Parisian boyfriend. She then stunned her Canadian family in Toronto by quitting her job as a reporter/producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to move to Paris. Today, Nancy lives in the French capital with her dashing photographer husband and son, and works actively as a freelance news producer for major television networks. She continues to be fascinated by French attitudes and lifestyle, and never to turn down a new challenge, is learning new skills in the digital world with the creation of www.INSPIRELLE.com, an online lifestyle magazine for women living in and traveling to France. When, where and how did you find your first FUSAC? Who hasn’t heard of FUSAC? I…

Water in Paris Part 7: Speak Easy

Water in Paris Part 7: Speak Easy Concluding our series of articles on water in Paris here is a Speak Easy of idiomatic expressions using water. Match the English word or expression with the French. Did you know that there are three volumes of Speak Easy Puzzles in books? They are available for purchase at Bill & Rosa's Book Room or via email: BRBookRoom@gmail.com and costs just 9€ each or all 3 for 25€. Great for learning idiomatic expressions in French and English. "La Seine a de la chance Elle n'a pas de souci Elle se la coule douce Le jour comme la nuit." "Chanson de la Seine", Poème de Jacques Prévert 1951 (Se la couler douce = to chill, la dolce vita, to have no worries) This article is the last in a seven part series on Water in Paris. Part 1: La Seine Part 2: Drinking water Part 3: Non-Drinking water Part 4: Crossing the Seine Part 5: Paris Canals Part 6: Tidbits Part 7 : Speak Easy, idomatic expressions using water …

Useful telephone numbers

Useful telephone numbers for France: English speaking, emergency and helpful services. Vocal Spam: Had enough? Make a complaint. Have you ever received an SMS from someone you don't know who invites you to call them back urgently at a number that is costly to call (it might start with 08 or it might be a 4 digit number) or to click a link or respond by SMS to a 5 digit number? You might be alerted that you have a package or that you won something, etc. It is likely to be spam and expensive if you respond. UNlike the spam on your email you can actually report a spam sms. First transfer the message to 33700, they will respond and ask you to then sms the phone number that sent you the sms. Voilà, easy as that to report and if there are enough complaint they spammers will have their phone number cut off! CPAM / Assurance Malade, or “Ameli” which is the French administrative body that manages healthcare has English-speaking service numbers: 36 46 or 08.11.36.3…