Vegemite Croissant

5 05 2009

Hi all. Bruce and I are Australians who have settled in the South of France. We’ve started this blog as a place to share our discoveries and frustrations about the whole process, with the hope that it might be useful (or at least amusing) to other people doing similar things. We’re going to try to keep our personal lives out of it (since there is already a blog for family and friends at alcorn.id.au). Basically, we’ll be noting things that are different, unexpected, tricky to understand or just plain interesting.

We’re a bit late to start writing this, since we’ve already been in France a while. But, we figure we’ll still have plenty to write about in the future.

Also, we’re already stretched over several blogs, so posts will be a little infrequent, but they’re guaranteed to be on topic. So, if that’s what you’re after then subscribe away (rss feed is here) and take things as they come. Enjoy!

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : general, website

Is France behind when it comes to the internet?

4 08 2010

Here’s a question posed by a French-English newspaper on Twitter. I saw it and instantly felt obliged to rant a little. I love France, but I do sometimes wish there was a little more internet usage around here.

> Is France behind when it comes to the internet? Do you find it frustrating trying to find information online?

Hell yes!

Take for instance my local public library. A thorough look at the Mairie website and tourism website will tell you where the library is and the opening times. In fact, the Mairie has several different pages with slightly different information about the library. None of these pages mention that the library has a website. In fact, when I signed up at the library they didn’t tell me there was a website either.

But there is one. A quick search of Google tells me that the library has a blog! It’s outdated and discusses recent renovations. From there I find the actual library website. There’s no URL, it’s just an IP address. The library website is actually fairly useful – I can search the database and reserve books with it. I don’t know if these reservations worked or not, since there was never any email or SMS sent to me to say that the books were ready for me, though. In fact, given that the staff didn’t tell me there was a website I’m starting to wonder if they know it’s there. *sigh*

And yes, generally French businesses and clubs have awful websites, no SEO, very little information and generally point you back to a phone number you need to call before you can get more information. And since the websites are all out of date, you can bet that phone number is entirely useless (plus, phone numbers are evil nightmares to people new to the language).

My husband wanted to start a tech support wiki to help his customers and colleagues to sort out problems with equipment, but he couldn’t even convince the other staff members to warm to the idea.

Oh, and don’t get me started on Tourism Offices creating Facebook profiles in order to get with the times. You’re not a person – Make a page or a group!

On the flip side, there are a couple of websites doing really well. LeMouv, for instance has radio streaming, a Facebook page, podcasts and all sorts. Larger businesses often have decent websites and there are a few great government websites. But, the good websites are far from the norm – there could easily be plenty more and no-one would complain.

I’ve had the France-and-the-internet chat with a few people now. Here’s some thoughts I’ve heard:

According to a French kid, there’s too much English on the internet – she wants more French. This could be the main reason younger French people aren’t very interested in the internet. She’s all excited when she gets online, then she finds out most things she wants to do are all in English. And since she doesn’t know how to use a computer very well, it all gets too hard. TV is easier because it’s all verbal and there’s an army of translators ensuring she can hear it in a language she understands.
One Aussie guy I spoke to says he thinks the schools should be teaching computer literacy from an early age. Apparently, assignments are still expected to be handwritten, so the kids don’t get practise using a computer even for assignments. I feel sure that this probably isn’t the case in all schools – surely some have moved to computers now?
Most French people I know use the internet at work and will stay half an hour late in order to send personal email (from their work email account, because they don’t have a personal one). It seems that in France, internet access just isn’t something most people feel they need at home.
Geeks, young people, English-speakers, expats, freelancers, small business owners and people who work from home all seem to have internet access and use it regularly.
Plenty of French people over 40 don’t have internet access at all and just don’t want it.
Most English people I know in France have broadband and couldn’t possibly live without it.
Most ISPs in France find the bureaucracy is just too damn difficult to give you internet access.

Personally, I think most kids have taught themselves pretty quickly, because there’s definitely plenty of French under-30s on Facebook. Generally, to me, internet usage in France feels like it did in Australia in the late 90s. Some people understand the internet and are using it in the best way they know how. Others just haven’t caught on. There are black holes of information. The problem though is that those that do understand the internet in France are now 20 years ahead of the rest. It’s time to get the others to catch up!

What we need to do (this probably isn’t just for French people, but for all non-English speakers):

Get more French people to create stuff online.
Try to convince more people to add translations (or at least translator buttons) to their sites.
Teach more non-English speakers generally about Google Translate, so they can use the English pages they find.
Teach SEO skills to more non-English speakers so that things can be found!
Make websites more intuitive and less dependent on text found in pictures (which don’t get translated).
Ensure kids get computer training, either at school, in clubs or at home.

So people, are we up for helping non-English speakers get the most out of the internet? It needs to be done!

Comments : 5 Comments »
Tags: france internet, france internet access, internet in france
Categories : France, annoyances, communications, daily life, differences, education, internet, issues, kids, website

Facebook Fan Page and @OzCroissant Twitter

31 07 2010

I just thought I should let you all know that I’ve made a Facebook Fan Page to collect all my best professional writing, including my work at MakeUseOf, NetSavoir, writings at Vegemite Croissant and more. Please feel free to “like” the Facebook Fan Page in order to keep updated.

If Twitter is more your thing, I have a few different accounts you might like to follow:
@Ozcroissant – This tells followers when there’s new posts from the Vegemite Croissant blog, plus the occasional related link that readers of this blog might be interested in.
@AngelaAlcorn – This updates followers with links to all my professional writing.
@Smange – This is where I actually Tweet. This covers a lot of different interests and activities, but is generally interesting.
@Thornae – This is Bruce’s Twitter. In theory he writes this blog too. :P

Hope there’s something useful for you in that bundle of information and that you can now easily keep track of my posts whichever way suits you best.

Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : France, communications, general, website

On Learning French

5 07 2010

We’re still plugging away at learning French ourselves, but we’ve hit upon some very good websites and ideas in our efforts to learn.

So, I thought I’d share some resources I’ve put together about learning French:

Twitter French Teachers List – This list of Twitter users is hand-picked to ensure almost every tweet in the list is teaching you French. Most of the accounts listed are dedicated to teaching French with every tweet. The only account which isn’t entirely dedicated to teaching you French is @lkl, but since she’s the about.com French teacher, she’s pretty valuable to the list when she does tweet about French (and the rest of the time she’s usually talking about French food or culture, so it’s all good).
@FrenchMot – This is my own dedicated Twitter account for teaching/learning French. Obviously, I’m a learner and I might get things wrong, but I try to keep it simple and I check things pretty thoroughly before I post. If you’re interested, I have also written a guide on how to maintain a dedicated educational Twitter account (and why).
Spreadsheet of @FrenchMot words – Just in case you want to use the @FrenchMot words to create a set of Flashcards, I also add the words to this spreadsheet.
French Learning Links – Every time I find a useful website about learning French, I save it in Delicious and tag it appropriately. All my favourite French learning links are in this list, which will continue to grow. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed of my favourite French learning links if you like. The RSS feed can be very useful to add to your Netvibes or iGoogle page for learning French.
Books on learning French – I compulsively note down any good French textbooks I hear about in Goodreads. This list has all of those, plus a few good books on the process of learning French. It’s best to view the list in “Covers” view.
Free eBooks on learning French – This is a subset of the previous list, showing just the books available as free eBooks. Some are Creative Commons works, while others are now in the public domain.
French novels as free eBooks – Learn French by reading some of the best novels written in French! These are mainly books that are old enough to now be in public domain. Some of them are only available with an English translation, but many of them have the French version online too.
Listen to French novels as audiobooks – Some of the aforementioned French novels in the public domain have been recorded as free audiobooks by the LibriVox project. If you can listen to the French audiobook while reading the text of the French novel, it can really help to improve your French.

I highly recommend these great free ideas for learning French, from the obvious to the unexpected:

using buddy-finding websites to find a language exchange partner
checking your DVDs to see if you can watch the movie/TV series in French
listening to French radio stations online
reading blogs that will teach you French
reading and listening to public domain novels written in French
free PDF ebooks of French textbooks
practise pronunciation by reading French news aloud
playing a French mudd
change the language settings of your games to French
use French chat rooms and IRC channels
watch French lessons or random French stuff on Dailymotion (lots of French users here) or YouTube
use online flashcard services to increase your vocabulary
listening to French lessons via free podcasts.

If you don’t mind spending a little money, there are also plenty of good books, audio lessons and online French lessons you can also use to learn French. I’d also suggest reading French graphic novels, bilingual books and French movies with subtitles on.

I hope these resources and ideas can help you in your efforts to learn French – Good luck!

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: french courses, learn french at home, learn french courses, learning french
Categories : French, fun, language

French Handwriting

3 07 2010

So, French handwriting is gorgeous. No, really. Everyone here has beautiful handwriting. Look:

I was doing a little reading up on this and it turns out that the French have dedicated handwriting lessons throughout primary school. Plus, art lessons tend to focus a lot on calligraphy. It’s a big deal.

It’s such a big deal that apparently some high school teachers won’t mark work that is handed in with poor handwriting. I guess it’s a good lesson in presentation.

I found this video on how the French teach handwriting. It’s pretty interesting. It explains how they use dance to teach young kids the large flowing movements they will need to know when they write (and all sorts of other interesting things).

Apparently the font they learn is called “La Ronde”, but I can’t find mention of that anywhere but that video. Basically, the handwriting style looks like this. The single letters shown don’t really show you how it looks when put to good use, but it will give you an idea of the font.

For those of you wanting to read a little more, I also found this article comparing French and English handwriting and how that relates to other areas of study.

I’m certainly finding this all rather interesting and certainly a positive shift in beliefs from my own Aussie schooling.
Image Credit: SophieG

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: french preschool, french primary schools
Categories : French, art, communications, culture, differences, education, kids, schools

Pizza Vending Machine

20 05 2010

Our town just got what I believe to be its first pizza vending machine. I’ve never seen one of these before and I’m kind of excited.

Firstly, it’s one of the better pizza bars that’s in charge of the machine. This is a good thing. Cheap pizza varies pretty wildly in France. I have high hopes for this vending machine.

Secondly, these pizza vending machines seem to have been tested elsewhere and have been found to be a success. Which means it’s not likely to close down in a hurry.

Thirdly, this means that finally we can get takeaway on Sundays and public holidays. Gold! It sometimes drives me crazy when you want a night off cooking and unfortunately so does every single person in the town who could potentially sell you cooked food.

Along with the DVD vending machines (which I haven’t yet written about – sorry), this could prove to be an excellent Sunday night treat. Here’s a photo of a DVD vending machine next to a Pizza vending machine.

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: pizza restaurants, takeaway pizza
Categories : France, benefits, cooking, differences, food, fun, movies, shopping

Buying a car in France

11 05 2010

Buying a car in France seems to involve a lot of unexpected steps, so I thought I’d share what we’ve learned about it.

Step 1: Car must be checked by garage
The people selling the car need to take it to a garage and get it checked over sometime in the 6 months prior to the sale. No-one seems to check this on any of the forms, but it’s known to be required.

Step 2: Get insurance cover before you buy the car
Get hold of a copy of the seller’s Carte Gris so you can quote the license plate number, car number and other details. Get your insurance sorted before you drive the car. The insurer should then give you a month to get your new Carte Gris information to them.

Step 3: Fill out prefecture forms when sale is made
Don’t expect the person selling you the car to know this step – I think it’s one of the changes to the Carte Gris system in the last few years.

Before the sale, go to the prefecture and get two forms:

“Declaration de cession d’un véhicle”
Application for “Certificat d’immatriculation” (Carte Gris)

The first form needs to be filled out by both parties and the other just by the buyer, but both parties will need information from the old Carte Gris. So, it’s better to fill them out together while all the information is in front of you.

Note: There’s usually a counter in the Prefecture where you can get the forms without waiting.

Step 4: Take forms to Prefecture
The buyer has one month to ensure these forms are taken to the Prefecture. Any later and they’ll be fined for driving the car. Technically, I think the seller is responsible for the first form. However, the prefecture had no problems with the buyer bringing in both forms. Also bring ID, proof of address and some money for payment for the transfer (in May 2010 the fee was 94 €).

The Carte Gris system has changed in recent years, so the Prefecture helpfully supplied me with a step-by-step guide for what happens next. Basically, it involves waiting patiently and not bothering them unless two weeks goes by without your Carte Gris arriving in the mail. Strangely though, in an entire A4 sheet of helpful information, it didn’t bother to mention the next step because it’s so obvious to French people.

Step 5: Get new number plates
When cars are sold in France, the registration number/number plates need to be changed. The new number is printed on the Certificat d’immatriculation. So, with the provisional Certificat d’immatriculation, you can get new number plates made for the car by going to any garage/mechanic (in May 2010 it cost me 23 €).

This last bit really surprised me. I knew that the plates would be changed, but I thought there would be some sort of centralised process for it, eg. the plates being sent to me. If mechanics in Australia started printing their own number plates they’d get investigated by the police. So, I never expected that the next step would involve casually strolling into a garage with a photocopy and getting new number plates made for the car. I still wouldn’t know if I hadn’t happened to have spoken to someone who knows I don’t know the process here.

On that note, I also noticed that you need to apply for an updated Carte Gris if you ever move house. Wouldn’t have expected that either. Hope it doesn’t cost as much as when you transfer in to your name!

Image Credit: Karol Siedlaczek

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: car france, car in france
Categories : bureaucracy, daily life, differences, difficulties, legal, transport

Jour des crêpes: Chandeleur

2 02 2010

: Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday we had an unexpected plate of crêpes at choir. The French people there said they always do crêpes on 2nd February and thought that it was funny that we couldn’t quite explain when the Australian pancake day (Shrove Tuesday) was, since it moves around each year and neither of us had any idea when it was this year (Day before Lent, which starts 40 days before Easter. Apparently in 2010 Shrove Tuesday is on the 16th Feb).

Anyway, the pancake days aren’t quite the same. Same result, but different reasons (oh, and crêpes are better). The French celebration is from the Catholic Chandeleur in France. There’s a little speculation as to whether it’s also related to a pagan festival. There’s also lots of superstition involved. It’s an interesting celebration, for sure.

What’s also interesting is that Shrove Tuesday is an entirely separate event, held not long after Chandeleur and celebrated in much the same way in other parts of the world. My browsing on the subject of Chandeleur led me to find out a few other nifty, unexpected things about Shrove Tuesday.

The whole point of Shrove Tuesday is to stuff yourself full of rich foods before Lent. So people had/have huge parties, festivals to celebrate and fill everyone up to excess before the 40 days of behaving. This is supposedly the reason for words like ‘Carnival/Carnaval/Carnevale‘ (reasons given if you follow the link) and Mardi Gras, which literally means “Greasy Tuesday” and is commonly translated as “Fat Tuesday”.

: Image via Wikipedia

It seems that the English, using the name “Shrove Tuesday” are the only people not naming the day along the lines of “Stuff yourselves silly and say goodbye to meat”. As for the name “Mardi Gras”, I can’t believe how many times I’ve seen those words and never translated the French. I also never once connected the carnivals and mardi gras festivals and thought that they had anything to do with religion. Go figure. :D

Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: crepe pan, crepe pans, crepes pancakes
Categories : France, cooking, culture, differences, events, food, history, oddities

The French Paradox

13 01 2010

I have put a little thought into the French Paradox since arriving in France. Michael Pollin’s book In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto has prompted me to articulate a little of what I’ve learned (but don’t always practise). Theories why the French, while living on rich foods, lots of oils, meats and wine, manage to stay healthy are varied and numerous. My own theory has perhaps been solidified by this book’s musings on omega-3s and leafy vegetables.
Michael Pollin - In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto (Book Cover)
Personally, I like my veggies, dairy, pasta and rice. I like a bit of meat and fruit too. I’m not big on breads or desserts. I like wine and beer. I like to cook things myself and do so almost all the time. The French way of eating isn’t too far removed from my habitual one, but just enough so that I noticed a few things.

The French adore dessert. Dessert is a highly anticipated and somewhat revered part of most dinners. The desserts aren’t always sickly sweet – mostly they’re carb-heavy and slightly sweetened. I think the anticipation of dessert is what stops French people from over-eating throughout the meal. I mean, you don’t want to eat too much of the main course only to find you can’t fit in any dessert (as I do). It’s not only rude to the chef, but you’re missing out on something fabulous. There’s also cheese and more bread at the end of a meal. So, a French diner will happily graze on the meal with the full knowledge that dessert, cheese and more bread will fill any ‘gaps’ and ensure they’re not left hungry. Often when if comes to dessert you can only fit in a tiny bit anyway, but I think knowing it will be eaten changes the mentality of the diner for the rest of the meal.

French meals (both lunch and dinner) will start with an entrée of either salad or soup served with bread. Practically speaking, this gives you something to eat while the main course finishes cooking (salads are quick and soup can be re-heated). Nutritionally, both are vegetable and/or leafy-green heavy (in restaurants, you often get a little cheese, terrine or seafood in an entree too) and are often laden with oils or salt, so your body gets food it desperately needs (leafy greens and other veggies) before other things. The oils and salt help to tell your body that it’s eating and no longer hungry any more. Often I feel full after an entrée – this is the point. Your body has been tricked into eating all the most healthy stuff “just while you wait”. Depending on how many young kids are at the table, the main course can cook for quite a while longer while you eat the entrée. When you finally eat it, your stomach is settled. You’re no longer ravenous and you’ve gained some important nutrients. When a modest portion of main course arrives (usually meat-heavy with some veg – very rarely pasta or rice), you are left wondering if you can eat it all, rather than thinking it’s not enough. And then there’s still dessert.

Oh, and one only drinks wine with a meal. When the meal is done, French people don’t tend to sit around drinking wine into the night (as Australians do).

So, in summary, my personal mantra for which parts of the French diet are most beneficial to health:

- Always eat a large plant-based entrée (every meal) with enough flavour to stop yourself feeling ravenous.
- Only drink wine while eating the meal.
- Always plan a dessert just so that you know it’s there (even if it’s just yoghurt).

This post is an excerpt of my full review of Michael Pollin’s In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto on Goodreads (a social network for book reviews). If you’re interested in the book, see my full review here.

Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: french diet, french women dont get fat
Categories : France, benefits, books, buying stuff, cooking, culture, daily life, differences, food, health, markets, wine

Sign up with France Telecom or there will be huge delays

5 11 2009

We’ve come to learn a very important lesson about phone and internet in France – France Telecom have the monopoly on phone lines and if you have the audacity to sign up with one of their competitors, FT will ensure delays. The only way to guarantee swift connection is to sign up with FT themselves.

We didn’t realise this when we signed up for our phone/internet with Free. I’m writing this post in order to help anyone who might be searching for advice in the future. But, keep in mind that I’m angry and jaded. So, don’t just take my word for it – follow the links and hear the stories of others (it seems you can’t win no matter what you do). Oh, and also keep in mind that if you choose to sign up with France Telecom initially and then change to a competitor that you will pay FT for the privilege. Thus, giving the reason for this fiasco even more money.

Most of the phone cable in France is owned by France Telecom. There are some areas where the cable is owned by Orange, but the distinction isn’t really necessary since Orange is just France Telecom wearing a different hat. This means that France Telecom are almost completely in charge of one of France’s essential communications services. Most phone connections needs to go through France Telecom at some point in the paperwork. Paper correspondence is notoriously slow in France, which means FT are very powerful when it comes to causing delays.

It seems that if the tiniest thing is wrong with a connection application from a competitor, FT will be “unable” to connect the line, thus requiring paperwork to be sent back and forth again (slowly), plus the obligatory wait for a technician to be available to connect the service. It could be that France Telecom deliberately does this in order to create delays for their competitors. There’s a bit of a war going on between France Telecom and Free, plus France Telecom are often anti-competitive.

This is what happened to us (see my previous, more personal rant). Bruce chose to denote our house as “Unit x” instead of “Porte x” which FT has decided was the correct address. Nevermind that all our official paperwork says “Maison x” or “Villa x” (Bruce couldn’t find an option for either of those). Our application was thwarted by semantics. Even the France Telecom technician couldn’t convince them to just connect the line – He lives in the same group of houses and apparently had the same problem himself when he signed up with a competitor. FT even had the nerve to charge Free 55 € for this complete lack of service. We’ve been waiting 4.5 months for a phone line to be connected. Only then will we be able to get the broadband and TV service that we signed up for. At this rate our two-year contract will be up before the service begins.

To absolve FT of a little blame here, their competitors are also tediously slow with pushing the paperwork around, which doesn’t do the customers any good.

So, let’s see how difficult this line connecting really is. If we were to sign up with France Telecom directly they guarantee over the phone that they can connect us in 24 hours. This means they have technicians available and can quickly resolve any difficulties with the application paperwork. Amazing. Pity they can’t offer that to their competitors.

The only way the customer can be guaranteed some service is to sign up with the monopoly. Well done FT – You’ve proven yourself to truly be in charge. I honestly don’t know why the competitors bother.

Now, I have to say that Government decisions to privatise phone infrastructure are often made with a complete disregard for the state of communications in the future (hopefully other countries will learn from these mistakes). Most of these Governments also then allowed the new private giant to compete on a retail level while controlling the infrastructure. You fools! You have created a monopoly which will haunt you for years to come.

Australia has the exact same problem with Telstra as France does with France Telecom. It’s ridiculous. Telstra has had a little bit of an arse-kicking from Internode, being an ISP competitor with impeccable customer service and penchant for hassling the Government to monitor Telstra and prevent them engaging in anti-competitive behaviour. Free is France’s champion playing the same role as Internode, but they’re not all the way there yet.

This situation in France is widely accepted as “just the way it goes”. I’m willing to bet that over the next 10 years or so things will change. Why? Because all the millennials will finally flee the nest and try to set up their own houses. I can’t imagine these internet-hungry people resting quiet for 6 months while a monopoly deliberately delays the connection of their entire household communications and entertainment. No way! The only reason there’s not already riots about it is that most household owners in France are older and happy to keep their internet usage confined to the workplace.

So, France Telecom, watch out. The millennials are coming and they won’t stand for this.

Edit: We finally got internet at the start of December, just over five months after signing up. Five months!

If you’re reading this article, these links could also be useful to you (not mine, but compiled by me):

Comments : 3 Comments »
Tags: france telecom broadband, france telecom internet, france telecom service, services france telecom
Categories : annoyances, bureaucracy, communications, internet, moving tips, tech

Working out French Freelancer Taxes

17 06 2009

: Image by blmurch via Flickr

I’ve spent most of today trying to make sure I had my freelancing tax obligations under control. I think that with the French freelancer tax reform only occurring in 2008, people are only just getting around to publishing useful information on how it works.

I had already registered as an auto-entrepreneur earning less than 32000 €, URSSAF have my details, I have a SIRET No & SIREN No.

I also have a big pile of junk mail that I find difficult to sort from the important mail, but that’s another story.

I have a few nice brochures from URSSAF which seem to say that during the first year all freelancers pay the same amount, since it’s unlikely that you’ll guesstimate the wage correctly anyway. There looks to be payments due to three sources: URSSAF, RSI and CIPAV (the bodies that collect for retirement, health and taxes).

What I was worried about was that I haven’t received any letters saying “Pay this tax” or whatever. I haven’t heard a peep out of CIPAV – I only know their name from the brochure.

So, I was wondering: What normally happens here? Do I get billed? Do I have to chase people up? Can these payments be taken from my bank account?

None of my French friends have any idea, since they’ve never freelanced.

But, all this confusion was before I found this wonderfully useful post by “This French Life”.

It led me straight to an English PDF of the Auto-Entrepreneur System which explains heaps of stuff about freelancing in France and the Auto-Entrepreneur Website (L’Auto-Entrepreneur) where you declare earnings and pay tax as a freelancer in France (register by SIRET number).

It’s EXACTLY what I wanted to know. Thanks to Alison from PBBS Translations for providing the translation. I know I’ll make good use of it!