Take a chance and do something different (Amazing Annecy - Part Two)

In Amazing Annecy - Part One, we met Fiona and her family. Originally from Melbourne, Fiona took us through their pre-departure preparation (including their choice of visa) and their arrival in Annecy. It had been a long-held dream to move country and experience life differently but their journey was not to be all French fun and laughter. Today you will read, despite major setbacks, of Fiona's bubbly personality and strong optimism, which serve to emphasise the 'doing' - now, not later.

Can you share with us a couple of the most memorable/funny experiences that you have had living in France? 

We arrived in Annecy during the French summer, thinking we would have a couple of months to settle in before school started. However, while it did allow us to explore the region at a beautiful time of year, it was more difficult getting things organised with small kids in tow. For instance, we were trying to buy a car, but we kept turning up at the car yards around 11am, spending ½ hour looking around and waiting for someone to help us, and then, when they finally did, they’d say that it’s too close to lunch time to test drive a car now and to come back after 2pm! All normal here but quite frustrating at the time.

Our kids were not enthused about going to see yet another car yard either. On one particular occasion, Ben said he was tired and sat down on a mat inside the dealership building. We wandered outside to look at some more cars, but before we knew it, the shop had closed and locked its doors - with our son fast asleep inside! We knocked (banged) on the door and rang the phone number but it seemed as though no-one was there and Benjamin was fast asleep on the mat. Eventually, someone heard us, but instead of opening the door for us, they scooped Ben up and carried him to us!

Of course, we have also had many more memorable experiences while living over here. We love being in the Alps and enjoying the mountain sports (downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, cycling, hiking, staying in mountain refuges, rock climbing, etc), and also the lake and water sports when it’s warm (beach picnics, stand-up paddle boarding, wake surfing, rowing, etc). Just writing this it amazes me how much there is to do here - and still lots more we haven’t even tried yet. 

We’ve also had some great side trips to other areas that are so hard to travel to from Australia. Some of our favourites have included Italy (Venice, Cinque Terre, Pisa, an opera in Verona, etc), Jordan (dead sea, Petra, deserts), Greece, Morocco (camels, desert camping, Souk markets), Netherlands, Croatia, Portugal, Sardinia, Germany, London, and Cambridge.

What have been the most difficult aspects?

By far the most difficult aspect was uncannily similar to your story. In fact, I was gobsmacked when I read your book, first realising how close you were living to us, and then when I learned you’d discovered you had breast cancer while here, I couldn’t believe it. After we’d been living here for about a year, I found a lump in my breast which didn’t seem right. I went to the doctor thinking it would end up being nothing, but after a series of tests, it was confirmed to be breast cancer. After more tests, I also discovered I had thyroid cancer.

As you can imagine, this was a huge shock to me - I was healthy and at 41, I considered myself to be too young for any of this. I was also unsure of what to do - should we abort this French experience and head back to Australia for treatment? Or maybe just go back to Australia short term and then return? Fortunately, some Australian doctor friends of ours had just finished a 6-month sabbatical in Lyon so we sought their advice on the relative comparisons between the two medical systems. We had a discussion over FaceTime with them and came to realise that the two systems are equally good, and also that the treatments were likely to be long. We decided to stay in France.

Navigating the French medical system was challenging at times, but all of the medical staff were extremely helpful and prepared to take the extra time to ensure we properly understood everything. Paul attended all the early appointments with me so that we had two brains to decipher the French. (We now know a lot of French medical terminology I never expected to learn!) I ended up having two surgeries, chemotherapy, and two types of radiation - all of which took about 9 months from the diagnosis.

I was lucky that I handled the treatments quite well without the side-effects being too severe, and we were so lucky to be surrounded by lots of good friends that rallied around. Our families from Australia also helped a lot with my parents coming to spend Christmas with us (our plans to travel to Australia that year had to be cancelled), and Paul’s parents taking our kids on a trip through the UK for their school holidays. Some of my friends also booked trips over to spend time together and cheer me up. It was a hard time but there were lots of silver linings!

 I know that you and your husband have continued to work in France. Can you give us a snapshot of a typical day for the family? 

Paul and I both work from home on different technology businesses. We are lucky that we can do this work remotely which has enabled us to continue living here. Paul mainly works on Powerdiary.com- a practice management system for health professionals, and I’ve started a new business - Actioned.com- a productivity tool for individuals and teams. I also do some coaching for small businesses.

A typical day usually sees us waking around 7am (or earlier if we have a lot of work on). Paul generally gets straight to work in order to overlap with Australian business hours. I’ll usually get the kids ready for the day, do a few chores, then drive them to school. A couple of times a week I go straight to a boot camp class where I get some exercise and mix with others in the neighbourhood. Then I’ll go home and work for the rest of the day until the kids get home. For me, that involves managing my developers (I currently work with two who are both located in Ukraine - so only one-hour time difference), refining the app design, writing content, preparing marketing messages, etc. I’ll also have a few video calls throughout the day. Paul works closely with his team of developers for most of the day and will sometimes go out for a ride with friends in the afternoon, or in winter, go cross-country skiing. 

The afternoons see us picking up the kids and sometimes shuttling them to their various activities (at the moment, that’s piano, gymnastics, trampolining, and art classes). We eat dinner together and then Paul and I generally get back to our computers and work - usually until midnight or later (but I’m trying to change that!). We’re lucky to enjoy our work and usually, it doesn’t actually feel like work!

Wednesdays, there’s no school, but the kids have some activities, and often playdates with friends from school. In winter we try to ski most Wednesday afternoons (it’s only 30 minutes away so really easy to do).

On Friday nights, Paul helps a group of teenagers learn about technology and software, while the kids and I watch a movie at home. For the rest of the weekend, we’re often busy with friends - picnics, bbqs, dinners, or doing activities like boating together, skiing, or hiking - there rarely seems to be a quiet moment!!

Do you have any words of advice for other families who are dreaming of their own French adventure?

The way I look at it, you can either live your life with more of the same, and when you look back it will be hard to distinguish one year from the next. Or, you can take a chance and do something different. Even if it doesn’t work out, chances are it will be memorable! (And chances are it willwork out anyway!)

Moving to France has been one of the best things we’ve done - both individually and as a family. It’s made the bonds between us closer, opened us up to new cultures and ways of thinking, and given us all a much greater appreciation for the world around us. It’s hard to explain many of the cultural differences that we’ve come to appreciate, but we even have a better understanding of Australian culture. It’s hard to see the water you’re swimming in, but being away has given us fresh eyes.

Learning a new language has been challenging for Paul and me, but also something that feels like it must be good for us! Our children are now completely fluent in French, and although they don’t yet realise what an amazing gift this is, I’m sure they will one day!

If you’ve got any inkling to have an experience living in France or somewhere else, I’d strongly encourage you to find a way to make it happen.

Thank-you Fiona for taking the time to answer my questions... and now a personal post-script.

Although we have only connected a few times, Fiona has always tried to reach out and help push me onwards from my cancer, which I have found very hard to do. Although I am sharing her French story here as part of my 'Australians in France' series, there is definitely a secondary theme: that of support, friendship and understanding when life throws you a curve ball. There is no doubt in my mind that she is a very special person.

For our French story - Kindle or print - click here But you are in France, Madame 

Missed opportunity

Closed due to a lack of water

It has been a hard year in Australia for farmers, and western Queensland has been particularly touched. To me, a city girl, one rainfall this year, and that back in March, seems bewildering, yet this was the reality for some. Water restrictions in past years have reduced the length of my showers and elongated our evening routine as my husband and I set about transferring our children's bathwater, one bucket at a time, onto our garden. In those years, the lawn and the car both got browner and talk turned to re-designing gardens with drought-resistant plants. These inconveniences are almost embarrassing to divulge when compared to the struggle of trying to keep stock alive and crops growing without water.

It seems, though, that as well as a good bit of luck, the thing that gets most farmers through these difficult times is a positive attitude and a knowledge that, even separated by hundreds of kilometres as they often are, they are part of a strong community.

I was delighted, therefore, to learn of a project that recounted- no- more than that, celebrated the lives of some of these farmers. And, I was even more delighted to learn that the book, as that was what the project became, highlighted the strength, determination and courage of women farmers.

Unfortunately, this was short-lived when I saw the title of the publication. Cattlemen, it could be argued, refers to both women and men, like actor covers actors and actresses of yore. But, 'Cattlemen in Pearls' - that, to me is just wrong. It reduces, again, the exploits of women to something superficial. I am an admirer of Australia's former Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Julie Bishop. In a recent speech, she said what this title makes me feel "if you're trying to be a man, it's a waste of a woman". The book, a brilliant opportunity to inspire and educate, leads off, instead, by representing competent Australian women as dressed-up men.

Low levels in the Annecy Lake

The Annecy Lake suffered in the very hot last summer and is at its lowest level for 70 years. The edge of the lake near Annecy looks like a sandy beach, with boats and pedalos for hire lying on their sides, families strolling in spots where normally they would be swimming and a drop in the water level of between 60 and 70 cm in places.

How to remain optimistic when things don't seem to be normal is a challenge. Sometimes, I agree, getting dressed up and going out is a good antidote to worrying. But, I can assure you, if I owned any, that it would not be by donning my pearls that I would be expressing my womanhood.

In good times at the Annecy Lake

Our French story, "But you are in France, Madame' available here

Amazing Annecy - Part One

What is it about France that attracts? Why do so many Australians feel such a connection to France, and why do so many push convention aside for a chance to experience first-hand what French living is all about?

In my occasional series on Australians in France, we have already met Jodie, Tahnee and Meredith, all with very different, but cherished, French stories. They go some way to answering these questions.

Today, I'd like you to meet Fiona and her family in the first slice of a two-part interview.

Fiona, thanks so much for agreeing to this interview. You are originally from Melbourne but have been living for several years now in Annecy in the French Alps. Can you tell us a bit about your family and what it was that prompted you all to head to France?  

For us, moving to France is a good example of what can happen when you set an intention to do something. My husband, Paul, and I got together when we were quite young and after our university years, a lot of our friends went to live in London or took off on a year backpacking around Europe. By then, we were already immersed in building a business and couldn’t possibly leave for more than a few weeks. But at that time, before we were married or had children, we decided that when we had children of primary school age, we would go and live in either France or Italy for a year.

Having planted that seed of an idea, we kept it in mind and with our youngest child about to start school, we did a 2-week recce trip to Annecy and fell in love with the place. Paul was running a business with his brother but was primarily working online with a team of developers from around the globe, so he knew his work would be portable. On the other hand, I was running a different business (WordOfMouth.com.au) and, along with my co-founder, we were managing an office full of people. At that stage, my partner and I had been working on the business for 9 years and after some deep thinking and conversations, we decided to sell. A few months later, the business was acquired, and we started putting the wheels in motion to move to the other side of the globe.

To undertake a trip such as yours there must have been a fair amount of preparation? What were some of the things on your pre-departure to-do list and do you have any hints for families who might be thinking of doing the same thing?

There was a lot of preparation in terms of packing up our house, putting our affairs in order, selling our cars and various other things, and getting our house ready to rent, but for us, the hardest part was getting our visas. Neither of us had European nationality and while we knew we could easily get a one-year visa, we wanted the option to stay for longer. Eventually, after reading through all the options, we decided to apply for the “Competences et Talents” visa, a 3-year, renewable visa. We were unsure as the lawyers we were talking with strongly advised against this, saying that they’d never seen this type approved. But we seemed to tick the criteria, so we decided to apply ourselves. We were very nervous about whether this would be successful so put a lot of effort into our application. Then, Paul had to fly to Sydney to present our case - but fortunately, it worked, and we were granted the visa. It shows that the professional advice you receive is not always to be relied on!

How did you end up choosing Annecy and how long did you set off for?

Our very initial thought was to spend one year in France, but as we realised the logistics of packing everything up, we questioned why we should restrict ourselves to just one year. So we left with the intention of spending “a few years” in France. (It’s now been 3 and we’re still loving it here!)

Similarly, we initially thought to find a really small town in rural France. But then, we were driving through a very rural area of Victoria on the way back from a camping trip and we realised that we’d never live in such a tiny town in Australia, so why should we do that in France?

We still didn’t know where to live though so we started asking our friends for advice. We had a few criteria we were hoping to meet… somewhere near ski fields, near a large airport and a town that was not too big, and not too small. We have a lot of friends that are keen cyclists and several of those suggested Annecy. This area meets all those criteria and more! In fact, one of my favourite things is living on the lake.

You have two children. How easily have they made the transition into French living? Can you tell us a bit about their experiences of school, making friends, adjusting to new routines, food etc? 

We were worried about how our children would go, but like most people seem to say, this turned out to be nothing to worry about at all. Our daughter, Bianca was 7 years old and our son, Benjamin was 5 (almost 6). We’d tried to expose them to a bit of French language, but it was very difficult to do this from Australia and they (understandably) were not particularly interested. 

After a few months of school here, they were speaking French comfortably. Even the transition period was not too bad - there were never any tears or protests about going to school as I’d expected. We did notice that they were extremely tired though and it was a good thing there was no school on Wednesdays as after two days, they needed some recovery time. 

As I recall, Benjamin had decided that he “wasn’t going to learn French” so after a month or so of school, I asked him how he was going with the French. He replied saying that he still wasn’t learning French, but it was ok because his teacher was now speaking a lot more English. This puzzled us for a moment, but then we realised that his teacher was definitely not speaking English, but he was understanding her speaking French - so in his mind it was English!!

Before leaving, we also wondered whether we would have any friends or whether we’d just have to get used to our own company all the time! However, as it turned out, there are a lot of expats living in this region and very quickly, we were surrounded by great groups of interesting people. Of course, our intention was also to mix with French people, and we’ve now got some great friends through the school, and also through the first Airbnb that we rented.

In Part Two, Fiona shares a personal story. A must-read for those of you who have been thinking, dreaming, talking about your next step.
Until then. Thank-you Fiona.

And, of course, another French story for you ...ours... 'But you are in France, Madame'. Here for your Kindle or as a print copy.

Loud and clear but not always obvious

"It is really well hidden."

(Quizzical smile)

"Our hide-and-seek puzzle for the next guests."

"Ah, got you." (Broad smile from hotel receptionist)

We were in Hobart for a business and (mostly) pleasure trip and had just checked in to our beautiful, barn-like art hotel with port views when I heard a gentle beeping. I tracked it down to somewhere near the safe in the cupboard next to the bar fridge... just before it stopped.

Later that evening - same, same - and then silence.

The next morning, at our third episode of short-lived but persistent beeping, I rang down to reception and a handyman came up to investigate. It was surmised that the safe's battery was going flat and was replaced expediently.

Thus it was that when the, by now familiar, sound started up again the second morning, I acted quickly. My husband was even quicker and with his never-go-anywhere-without-it headlamp in place scrutinised the interior of the safe. Nothing. Around the safe, under the safe, on top of the safe. Nothing. And still it beeped. Not one to give up, my husband lay on the floor, contorted himself into a skinny L-shape and peered into the small gap between the wall and the safe. Nothing...until...

"Bingo". (Delayed, but triumphant)

Any guesses as to what he found and where?

Perhaps it was a message. I feel like I am constantly looking for my next challenge/direction/focus. Is it already beeping at me loudly and clearly but I just can't see it for looking?

And, no, we didn't really leave the next guests a similar challenge - but we did think about it.

Hobart, by the way, is well worth a visit, as is Chez Moi French Style in Liverpool St, my newest stockist  of 'But you are in France, Madame'. Also available for your Kindle here

How did that happen!

Burgundian buddies

Last week, in a café alongside an ex-Prime Minister, I met Ali in Sydney. Some would say that was not a surprising feat, given that we currently have a rather large range of living Australian PMs to choose from. But, the main event for me was not a question of patriotism, more incredulity at the how and why that had brought Ali and I together. France, possibly?

Uh huh, but more specifically, the cover of my book.

You see, Ali, originally from the UK, now living in New Zealand, also owns a house in France...in Burgundy... in Noyers-sur-Serein... in the street... on my book's cover.

Somehow, this picture of her street came to her attention, and across time-zones and countries we connected, first by good old-fashioned social media and secondly, in person. I still can't quite believe that Ali's house is on my book.

A couple of day's ago, another beep (look left) brought to my attention an Instagram message. 'But you are in France, Madame' had done a fine job of saving someone from a Sunday washing day.

I ask myself frequently why these wonderful interactions keep on happening. I guess because people are basically good; happy to share the joys, dream the possibilities and champion the successes of others. Wow, that is worth highlighting and celebrating.

**For Kindle or print copies of our French story, 'But you are in France, Madame', click here ***