Lori

Alcazar - what a thought.  People must sit around thinking of all our nasty little phobias for ways to make us even more neurotic (urban myths). Really, I don't understand how such a small thing can make such big damage to the skin.  I read that the males have the most vicious bites.  My husband never gets them - why am I so lucky?????

Alece - what's the gadget called?  Can I buy it here in France? Condorman - lovely reading as I sit here recovering from a terrible bite more than a week ago that is a huge crusty scab now !!  Yuck, they just seem to seek me out.

Val 2 - thats good news.  I hope the girl can be happier there (family too).

Why do you have to buy 6 bottles??  Here, (dept. Vaucluse 84), you can taste and buy nothing - no embarrassement - or buy only one bottle.  There are no requirements on buying - or not.  Have visited other departments too and have never seen a requirement.  Is this somehting posted on the door upon entry? Just curious.

Our local LeClerc (Carpentras) and Auchan (Le Pontet) carry Oatmeal.  They carry the American brand and a European brand.  They also carry the Farine d' Avoine.  So do our several BIO stores in Carpentras.  They also have Mollasses (someone else was asking about that somewhere on here).  Don't know why the other  regions wouldn't carry it.  Its been around here ever since I have.....

For some reason, your post was deleted and I had no way to reply to your Private Message. We are not in dept. 61, so I cannot answer your question about schools in that area.  Perhaps someone else can.... Good luck, Lori

Piecy:  We moved to France when our daughter was 7.  Like you, we were quite concerned about the education issue.  Our situation is somewhat odd in that we had lived in so many different countries during our daughter's very young years (she was born in Athens, Greece), we knew, at some point, we would have to settle in one place to allow her a "normal" life.  My husband still works outside of France, but we chose to settle in France (we are American) for many different reasons.  We knew we were going to do this when our daughter was 2 years old, but we didn't actually make the move until she was 7.  We had the benefit of placing her in a private French International school for the two years prior to her arrival in France.  This makes her a little different from an arriving child who has had no exposure to the French system.  So, for this reason, you may not find our experience relative to your own.  Just thought I would add it in as another person's perspective. First, I have to say that the French International school she attended for the two years prior to her arrival in France was HORRIBLE (it does happen) !!!!!  We were petrified that we would find the same situation IN France.  We did not.  Our daughter was able to enroll in her normal class level (no holding her back a grade year or more).  This was a huge benefit to her.  We had rented a home for one year so that she could attend the same school for the entire grade year - and we could search for a home to buy.  I had made a trip to France to find that rental home and I checked out the primary school while I was on that fact finding trip.  The school looked so good and the Director was fantastic.  My first impressions turned out to be genuine.  Our daughter attended her first school year there and brought home very good grades.  After that year, we moved to a village not too far away - where we found our home.  The Primary school in this village (where we now live) was extremely different.  It isn't bad, but it isn't the same.  Our daughter finished her primary school years in this school.  The second year she was there, the Directress retired and a new Director was hired (from within the school).  I have had little personal contact with him, but he seems nice enough - always there if you need him. Our daughter enjoyed going to primary school and never had any problems.  That is not to say that it was always easy.  She was one of very few foreign students in the school and the only American.  She did speak French, so that did help.  My French was pathetic upon arrival here, but has since improved to good communication.  Talking with the teachers, in the beginning, was quite hard for me.  I am fortunate in that our daughter was proficient enough in school that I didn't have too many occasions to need to talk.  Now, I wouldn't hesitate if there was an issue to discuss. Nina (our daughter) has now begun her first year of College.  Wow !  What a change.  The school has 780 students and, so far, we are dealing with it all pretty well.  As you well know, every child is different.  I can understand your 11 year old being worried.  I'm not sure I would bring an eleven year old to a foreign speaking school situation, but that is me and all families have different reasons for doing what they do.  We are in the SE of France (Provence).  If we were closer to you, I would suggest your child meet up with mine as they are the same age.   I'm sure Nina could answer some of those "kid" questions.  She still can if you PM us.  She can tell you child what SHE experienced in her own words.  I'm sure she might have a different viewpoint than I do (the Mom).  If your child is interested in talking with her via email, please do not hesitate to PM us.  Nina loves conversing via email - whether your child is male or female. We too considered living in an area of France that had an Int'l school.  We visited all of the ones in the Nice area.  In the end, we had had such a bad experience with the original French International school, and Nice was just SO expensive, we decided to try the "normal" system and we have not been let down. If I can help in any way, do let me know. Best of luck to you all, Lori

As RayB said, we have had no trouble finding any medication we used in the U.S.   They are cheaper here too !!  Often they are called something different as they are produced by European drug makers, but if you have the U.S. drug or the chemical make-up, any pharmacy can help you. They should bring all their prescription data with them as it helps the pharmacy here.  Really, there should be no trouble.  Put their minds at ease.

In this dept. (Vaucluse) and I believe all depts. you do need a permit to construct a pool house (of any kind).  You will need to provide exact drawings and size of what you intent to build.  It can be submitted with the pool permit request or separately.  Also, you may find that there is a size limit depending upon the size of your property and the size of whatever buildings / house etc. are already on the property. Just ask at your local Mairie.

Price sounds very reasonable to me.  Sleeps 10 and has all ensuite bedrooms - plus electricity and linens included.  As long as it is clean, it sounds like a pretty good price.  However, if I read correctly that they will be renting for 7 weeks, I would think a slight discount could be offered (that is a long time).  Having said that, the owners really must fix the dishwasher.  I suspected that since it wasn't fixed, there was something more than just a simple machine repair.  If it involves deeper plumbing problems, that may be harder to get repaired - more expensive, etc.  As for a TV, it is true, most rentals have TV's.  If there is no aerial and no satellite, then there is no point borrowing or renting one unless you want simply to watch DVD's each evening.  We paid 100 euros for the dish and installation.  This would have to be arranged by the owner and would certainly aid in future bookings, but every owner is different. Price sounds pretty good to me.  

Try your nearest BIO store.  There are several in Carpentras and they all carry Huile de Lin.  If they don't have it on the shelf, ask them if they can order it for you.

I just received and installed a C-Box for faster ADSL connection with Cegetel.  Does anyone else out there have one?  It seems to work a little bit differently than the old 1/2 meg USB connection.  I now don't see the little Computer screen down at the bottom right of my screen when I am online.  I see a computer icon with a green check through it, which I guess means I am connected (since I am).  Also, when speaking to the Cegetel service folks, they told me that I would have to deactivate my Norton Firewall as the C-Box has a firewall built into it and the Norton one would stop me accessing Explorer correctly.  I had to call the Service People for help when I was connecting the C-Box and then having trouble getting Explorer to work - hence the firewall issue. If anyone else out there has this service, can you tell me if that sounds right to you?  I get really nervous when I deactivate my Norton Firewall.  Also, I forgot to ask the service folks how I can verify the C-Box firewall is operating.  Anybody know the answer to that??  Is it simply that if the box is working and I am connected, I am protected??? Sorry to sound like to dufus, but when the name fits...

All the shopping centers here have the Xmas lights up and the Xmas decor out.  All those tempting chocolate boxes on display.  So far have not seen the Santa's and Reindeer on roofs, but its early yet...  I have to admit, after doing some Xmas shopping at Auchan (HATE to shop in Dec.), with all the Xmas music and Xmas shopping, I came home and unpacked the interior Xmas decor.  House looks quite festive now, but no, we don't have the roof top "stuff."  Here, it would surely blow to kingdome come (no pun intended).  

Well in the five years I have lived here, this is early.  Only did we see snow in DECEMBER the first year I came here.  Every year after that, snow fell after December.  Last year, there was no snow.  Terribly dry winter. This morning is the first morning in many that I have not gotten up to see thick frost.  Good thing as I have errands to run.

Well, I posted the first frost.  Now, we have had our first snowfall.  Granted it didn't snow that much, but the Mt. Ventoux is beautiful with a dusting of snow on it.  We are in Bedoin at the foot of the Ventoux (Dept. 84) and there is still some snow on the ground.  Is raining now, so I am guessing that it will melt during the day.  I wonder if this means we will have a snowy winter?

Not sure if your problem is the same as ours was, but .... When we bought our house (in Spring), we didn't turn on our heating system until winter arrived.  We had the very same problem - get cutting off and we would have to rearm it.  Finally found someone who could work on it in this area and they came out.  The previous owner (who only owned the house for 18 months) had installed the central fuel system, but apparently, had never had it cleaned.  We were into the system's 3rd winter when we turned it on.  When the repair men opened it up, it was filthy.  A good comprehensive check-up and cleaning did the trick.  I now have it checked every other winter from the same service. The cleaning and full system check-up cost us 267 euros. You might have the same problem??  However, it could be so many things.  Luckily for us, the previous owner had left us the paperwork on the system, so we could read the troubleshooting section. Good luck to you.  

Yes it was a La Pavoni machine that hubby fished out the bucks for a few years ago and is still quite happy with...  Had forgotten the name until I read David's post (quite informative).

You're right Saligobay - depends upon the day.  On Thursday, she has four classes - certain days certain classes run 2 hours each.. who knows why.  

Good heavens, I guess that puts the kabosh on bringing the cassoulet over. Guess step son will have to learn to make it himself. 

Mistral - I thought that might be the case.  I guess we should all count our lucky blessings.  It is too bad the teachers do not feel volunteer parents could help.  I know I would volunteer if someone would have me.  As you say, these kids have so many problems dumped on them.  If even a small part of the burden could be lifted a little, it might go a long way to improve their lives.    

Thanks Mistral - I know about what you said.  The last time they went on strike, only one of her four teachers was there, so she stayed home.  We will see who plans to work on Thursday and compare it to her schedule. It is a bit frustrating when they can't tell you until the last minute who will be working. 

This sounds like a terrible situation for all involved.  I thank the stars above that when our daughter arrived here (at age 7), she had already attended a private French school (albeit a horrible one) in California for two years and spoke pretty good French.  Was able to go directly into her proper grade level.  Had this not been the case I don't believe we would have moved here.  Now, she is in sixieme and doing quite well. I feel SO bad for those that arrive with no language skills.  How does it happen?  Are these children brought here with their parents by choice?  I know many UK families bring their children over to live and work hard to help them pick up the language, but what about the other children?  Under what circumstances are they brought here?  Mistral, perhaps you could say.  I would imagine that if the schools sent out notices to the parents, many parents would volunteer to help these kids.  ?   

That's what I thought Peter.  That is why I think I will drive down and have a look see.  

We haven't taken it back in the last few months, but have never had a problem before.  Step son adores the stuff, so we are always bringing it back in our checked bag.  We have never declared it as I didn't think you had to.  Don't know if anything has changed.

I would add that the helpline with Cegetel is less than "helpful" too.  Their supposed online service is even worse an actual joke !  I found the answer to our problem online by searching the problem.  Amazing...  after getting 3 ridiculous and insulting emails back from my online request to Cegetel I found the answer myself.