Clubs Associations of Expat Paris

Paris Clubs Associations of Expats Joining the social fabric in your new home is part of settling in. Of course you want to integrate into France and meet French people, but it is always pleasant, and some would say important, to join fellow expats or folks from your own country to pursue your favorite activities as well. Just like sometimes you need comfort food you also need comfort time in your own language, activities and customs. Churches and synagogues in Paris are great resources providing community, study and discussions, lunches, youth groups, fairs, choirs and volunteer opportunities just like at home. Many schools and universities have alumni clubs in Paris. Here below is a non-exhaustive list of clubs associations of all types in the expat community in the Paris area. Index :  British Scottish Welsh Norwegian Finnish Swedish Polish Danish German Irish Canadian Australian American Worship in your own language  Paris Churches Other ideas and act…
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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 15 avril 2018
  • 0

A tongue-in-cheek look at the French Education System

If you have children in France, there’s a good chance that you might possess at least the stirrings of the beginnings of a stab at understanding it. Then again, you might not. If you don’t have children in France, there’s a mega-chance that your quest for grasping it will prove even more futile than your search for a short line at La Poste. No, we refer not to The Meaning of Life. We refer to…..the French education-system. So, here is a very incomplete (in the interest of space), extremely simplified (in the battle against cerebral overload) exploration of pedagogy as known and--sometimes not--loved in France and beyond. Which brings us to our first point: the “beyond” part. The French system of elementary, middle and high schools not only graces Gallic soil but also extends throughout the world in what is recognized as a unique offering that accommodates the needs of French expats and follows the same curricula, administers the same tests and delivers the same degrees as …
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  • 17 septembre 2017
  • 1

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…
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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 19 juillet 2016
  • 0

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…
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  • 7 avril 2016
  • 0

Smoke detector countdown

  We have had a smoke detector in our suburban Paris home for many years – it seems “normal” to me, but I realized how unusual its actually was when my housekeeper reported a mouse sound coming from the landing one day while we were on a trip. Thinking that we probably didn't have mice, but not wanting this sound to go without investigation I asked a neighbor to stop by. They couldn't figure it out. The next week my housekeeper saw nothing new and yet heard the peep again. I was quite perplexed, but since there were no other signs I did not pursue the matter. Upon arriving at home and going upstairs I immediately heard the beep of the the smoke detector reminding us to change an expiring battery. A few mintues later I burst out laughing as I realized that the smoke detector was the mouse. The incident made me realize that smoke detectors were not very common. In fact, in France only two percent of homes are fitted with detectors as opposed to 97 percent in Norway and…
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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 6 avril 2015
  • 0

French letter writing logistics

In high school French class you learned how to conjugate the obscure pluperfect-subjunctive. In college you memorized the name of every Gallic king going back to Charles the Bald. Your graduate courses included reading La Chanson de Roland and La Quête du Graal in their original Medieval idiom. BUT NO ONE TAUGHT YOU THE LOGISTICS OF WRITING A SIMPLE FRENCH LETTER-and are you going to be surprised at what you missed! Here-to save you from the wrath of civil servants, rejection by potential employers and, especially, ridicule by your mother-in-law-are the basics of French letter writing: Placement (1)  This is done the opposite of the Anglo-Saxon way: Your name, professional title and address go on the top left of the page (or in a centered frame at the top of the page)...and ...the recipient’s info goes on the right, slightly lower than yours. (Note that words like rue, avenue, boulevard, place, allée, etc. are not capitalized, although the name of the rue, avenue, e…
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  • 21 juin 2013
  • 1

French money: New Euro banknotes

French money: New 5 Euro notes 5 Euro notes have always been floppy and very worn, rather like dishrags. They are rather scarce too. Maybe that will all change with the introduction of a redsigned bill. This month the new € 5, the first of the new "Europa" series, was simultaneously released in all the countries that use the Euro. Have you seen it yet? It took us 3 weeks before we saw the first crisp new bill. Why make a new bill? To keep ahead of conterfeiters! The Euro notes are some of the most secure bills around, but after 10 years of circulation it was time for an update. Here's what's new. Security features have been improved and make notes more safe. The security features built into all new notes are easy to check with the method of "touch, look, tilt". Look for the new watermark and hologram showing a portrait of Europa, the character from Greek mythology who gave her name to the new series of banknotes. Tilt to see the large new number 5 change color from e…
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  • Avatar of Lisa
  • 26 mai 2013
  • 2

Honest Advice about Moving to France

I don't want to be the one to crush people's dreams. Really, I don't. But when I get emails from people asking, "Do I really need a visa to stay in France? Why can't I just buy a one way plane ticket and move there?" or "I don't speak a word of French, how hard will it be for me to find a job?", I just have to say...really? In this day and age, I have a hard time believing that people can still be that naive about Moving to France. And in order to answer those kinds of questions, I choose to be brutally honest. Which often doesn't go down very well. Of course it's my own fault. I'm the one who asked the should you move to France question, and I wrote the Moving to France Tutorial and shared my trials and tribulations of attaining French citizenship. So I'm the one who opened the door. Also, I love helping people who have done their homework. Moving to a foreign country takes a lot of courage, but it also takes a lot of research, and unless you hire someone t…
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  • 11 novembre 2012
  • 7