Have you met Tibo? :)

Introduce yourselves...
1

Good day to all of you,

I'm really glad to join the Network!

Actually, I was starting to feel lonely! I'm french, hope there's nothing bad about this, I'm studying by myself at home, I intended to pass the CAPES in June 2013 but I missed the first step by 3pts...

Well, I tried again, two weeks ago, and I'm now waiting for teh results...


Let me introduce myself, and try to catch some of your attention! ![:)](upload://9jH7nyJYCnSAmuyv1sFD8VQerdL.gif)

I'm 31, married and father of a blond haired little boy, he is 26 months old (and doesn't sleep a lot yet).

I've been working in a bank, and in the insurance business, and in lots of other positions linked with business, but I wasn't good enough I suppose, and never settled down in a firm for more than a year... Anyway I was fed up with this system, therefore, when my son is born, I decided to change something in my life, and here I am, ... still trying!

My wife and I have spent a year in Australia, we've been working during 9 months and then travelled from Perth to Sydney. We followed the west coast up to Darwin and drove down on the other side, it was gorgeous, we can't wait to get back over there...



I also sailed with kids in south west Ireland during 6 months as an instructor, and I worked a little in London as well, in the wine and spirits business... yummy! :)

The fact is, as I'm back in france since 2009, I did not practise any oral skills for 5 years an I'd like to change this... I want to meet people to help me improve my accent and learn some new things! :)


I'm thinbking about a trip to the UK but have no money at the moment so... I keep on thiking and some people might be able to help me! :)

Have a nice week guys.

I look forward to talk to you!

Please, feel free to tell me when my English isn't good, that's why I'm here!

2

HI Tibo,

Welcome to SFN.

That's a big wishlist for the population of potential French expats you have there :-)

I can, however, confirm that a lot of students in the Business Management Schools and Grandes Ecoles I teach / have taught in, are dying to leave their Gallic homeland and follow their dreams to creativity, entrepreneurialship and potential wealth. Whether or not they'll fulfil that dream is another matter, but at least they perceive that adventurous spirit to be easier to bring into concrete existence than here in France.

I am only just discovering my own Scottish heritage after 40-odd years of knowing virtually nothing about that side of my family - it is weird to grow up in England as a child and not have that part of your culture, but that was how things were I guess, in my family, at the time. At present, I feel I'm still trying to catch up with the past, but it is an interesting journey nonetheless, and hopefully something I can transmit to my own children (to the extent that they show any interest). However, I have yet to convince them of the benefits of eating porridge, with or without milk and/or salt, and frankly, from my own experience of my Glaswegian gran's salty, water-based porridge, I don't blame them !

Good luck on here - it is an interesting place, and I've only been on here a week !

3

Good Day Doreen!

Don't worry about criticism of the french life style... I'm probably the first to do so, even if I love it ...

well most of the time, al least! :)

As I know really few English people who are currently living in France, I won't be too bad with you guys, I've met lots of Canadians at one point, thanks to my father, and I still love the way they drink wine in Pints! :)

I've met a few Australian tourists, it was great to have a chat with them, (I'm living 5km away from Chambord, it's a great place to make contacts), I'm one of thoses chatty nosy french, who always try to talk to people when they're in vacation... :) apart from the large leather hat and the most terrible accent I know (quoi que...) I've always really enjoyed Ozis.

Talking about accents, I'd rather say that If any scots were here, I'd love to try to learn their ways! :) ( I'm currently sipping on a whisky, I had no more coffe, it's a good start to speak and sound like a scott, no?)

I'm a big fan of their spirits (in both meanings), their beautifull country and ... I'd like to know what they think about independance fro scottand! for example!

Whoat could I say, I'm sure you already know the stereotypes that french people are looking for when they met english people, they might ride a bike when it's not in spare pieces in the garage, If so, It should be a Norton, they always have the nicest gardents of the village, and everybody is trying to discover their secrets to grow so many lovely flowers, even if it's raining all the time (but they say you're used to this kind of weather!) well ... stuff like that is pretty common, am I right? :)

One anoying thing, most of the time you seem to know more about french history than we do, and I don't know why, well, i've never been very good at school, but I'm not the only one impressed... we are too lazy here! :)

I think most of us are pretty surprised to see people settling in our countryside, cause more and more french people are dreaming about leaving the country... find a place with fewer taxes, a better health care system, less strikes, ... and where the sun would shine a bit more and the president wouldn't be such a fool... (the list is endless!)

I think that this (you dreaming about french life style) should help us to feel more confident about the future and it show us the beautifull side of our lives... but french people are grumpy... that's the main thing! :)

talk to you soon guys! :)

tibo

4

I went to Sydney to visit my brother!

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Hi Vic! :)

If you want an advise on supermarkets, I'd just say one should always look at the price tags and check the receipt... If the price shown on the shelf is different, you ought to ask for a refund of the difference, they must give the money back to you, I'm always queing twice when I go shopping... it take ages but I can't stand being robbed... and I like being a pain in the neck with those nasty little crooks... they already make a lot of money on their suppliers, not need to talk about fruits and veggies growers... AND, not to mention imported product neither...

thanks for you welcome wishes Vic, and thank you Cath for your help.

By the way, where in Australia have you been?

6

Hi again ( work got cancelled today so I have been around quite a lot for once)

I'm sure there are loads of people who will be happy to help you with your English / come up with some solutions for a cheap trip to the UK. Volunteers please?!

I've just come back from Australia and loved it. I am thinking of emigrating and starting Survive Australia.....

7

So what do you think about the service in French supermarkets Tibor? NO! don't answer that. It's bad English humour;-) Welcome to the mad house. It will be good to get a Frenchman's take on how to survive here.

By the way, your English beats the hell out of my French! It's very good!