CityVox is your friend in France to find where to get out about town
Here’s a great site, available in 260 cities in France, when you’re looking for a great place to go eat, see a play, hear music, for you and your children. It’s called CityVox and their headquarters are in Marseille, believe it or not! They’re also present in 300 other cities throughout Europe.
It’s a smart blend of Web 1.0 and 2.0 approaches. It provides a list of all restaurants, hotels, theatres, clubs and other venues in your town, with useful information on the style and the location. There’s a special Children section with shows and some activities. It also allows members to post comments on all events and restaurants, so you get that web 2.0 flavour that makes it that much more useful.
It’s also available in other languages, although with quite erratic ‘localizations’, ie, be prepared for a steady mix of English and French in the English version. Also, since there are few comments in other languages, the site first pulls up those venues with comments in the language you’re surfing in but then shows comments in French.
So surfing in French is the way to get the best access to user insight because it pulls up first the venues with the most positive comments in French, therefore drawing from the largest sample, but then again, contributing to the other language sites will only make them more useful… Tough choice for the international parent in you!
– > Cityvox in English
–> Cityvox en Espanol
–> CityVox en Italiano
– > Cityvox en Deutsch
Europipole: an incredible international school south of Aix in Cabriès
Finding a good school for your children while moving about worldwide is not easy. Often, as an international parent, you’re looking for a school that’s open to other languages and cultures in its curriculum. You often think of looking for an ‘international’ or bilingual school.
The Aix region is blessed with a few of these schools at the Pre-K, and Primary levels. There’s a ’supply’ issue only at the secondary level (the ‘ collège’ level in French), when the children are 12 to 14 year , where there are two options:
- the private international school IBS, in Luynes, just south of Aix. Tuition there is above 10 000 euros a year.
- The Collège Mignet in Aix, a public school, has a small (30 student big) international section. Tuition is nearly free.
I discovered a great pre-K and Primary school with a German/ French and an English/French track: Europipole. The school calls itself a ‘ bilingual ‘ school as opposed to an international one because it stresses it seeks to give children perfect language litteracy in the two languages chosen. Unlike many international schools which welcomes all sorts of language speakers, with English being the true common language of instruction.
The school is run by a passionate couple who both teach as well as run the school. The school is their second one in the region, after IRIS, a German-French pre-K center in Aix launched in 2000. IRIS is becoming a bilingual English-French pre-K center in september 2008 due to strong demand for this language as opposed to German.
There is a real family atmosphere at Europipole thanks to the couple’s passion for bilinguilism and thanks to the small size of the school. In 2008, it has a little under 100 children, with classes being very small - a maximum of 15 students. They use the facilities of a ‘ centre de loisirs ‘ a sort of municipal holiday and after school facility, with a beautiful natural courtyard surrounded by a beautiful forest and sports facilities including tennis courts. The children have access to these facilities during their sports activities.
The choice to use a municipal facility makes tuition at the school much more reasonable than what is usually expected of private ‘international’ schools. In fact tuition is about 3 000 euros a year. The school has the lunch box system.
English and German are taught by level (from beginner to proficient) by native speaking certified teachers.
- The preK levels have two full days in English or German, depending on their chosen track, and the other two days in French.
- The primary level kids have 1,5 hour in English or German and the remainder in French to follow the French curriculum.
The other pre-K and primary school in the area is CIPEC, also in Luynes, just south of Aix.
Here’s a quick listing of schools with an international curriculum:
-> IRIS: English-French Pre-K in Aix en Provence. Same site as for Europipole.
-> Europipole: Centre de Loisirs Municipal Parc Club de l’arbois 13480 CABRIES . About 30 km south of Aix, 15 km north of Marseille. PreK and Primary. Tél. / Fax : 04 42 315 315.
-> CIPEC: Luynes, 10 km south of Aix.pre-K and primary.
Domaine de Fontvieille - Luynes 13080 AIX EN PROVENCE - FRANCE Tél: +33 (0)4 42 60 84 25 - Fax: + 33 (0)4 42 60 84 26 Email: info @ c-i-p-e-c.com
-> IBS, International Bilingual School of Provence: Domaine des Pins- 500 Petite Route de Bouc-Bel-Air, Luynes. 10km south of Aix. Secondary level. Tél : (33)(0)4 42 24 03 40 Fax : (33)(0)4 42 24 09 81
Filed under Education and Child Development, Moving to France | Comments (6)Finding Quality Child Care in the US: an adventure
If you are coming with children to the US or if you’re thinking about having a child while you’re in this country, you may want to read this - first!
First of all, this introduction is misleading. I don’t mean it’s an adventure to give birth or even to raise a child, (although it is also).
I mean, it’s an adventure to have kids if you intend to continue working, going out, or buying those things you appreciate in the US! That’s because adequate, affordable childcare and schooling are not a given here.
As one coming from another culture, having a child was a no-brainer.
Hell, where I’m from, women take 2 to 4 months maternity leaves from work, employers are severely monitored to prevent laying off expectant women or new mothers, and quality child care centers and nannies are available- if not plentiful. Not so here. The situation may be particularly severe in California and the Bay area, where the economy was very strong and salaries skyrocketed, however, I have heard similar stories from residents of Washington, DC and New York.
What to know about child care in the US
- Let’s be frank: finding adequate, affordable childcare is a problem.
Unless you’ve signed up on the waiting list of the best centers in a given area the day after your child blessed the world, forget about getting into some preschools and day care centers.On the other hand, you may not even have wanted your child to attend them. As wonderful as they may be, they are extremely expensive ($800 to over $1000 a month for a 9 to 3 PM schedule, with a three-months summer break) and they require that parents give a large number of hours (20 to 25 hours per school year) to participate in the center’s activities. Should you not be able to participate, you will simply be billed a fee (between $10 and $20 per hour. Gives you a good feeling about the value of your time doesn’t it?) Should you also happen to be 5 minutes late when coming to pick up your little treasure, expect to pay! In the American childcare business, time definitely is money.
So you’re thinking: “Well, I’m not on these elite centers’ waiting lists, and I couldn’t afford them anyway. There must be alternatives”. Yes, there are.
- There are very limited state subsidized programs, for a lucky portion of those who are students at universities or who are living on welfare.
- For the others (ie, lower to middle-class, working parents) there is a myriad of alternatives, as is often the rule in this land of choice and freedom. They are very loosely regulated, unsubsidized, individually managed alternatives. You get the picture: the best rivals with, well – the not so great! (I think another paper is warranted on that very topic: the not so great centers.)
- So what do you do? Open the yellow pages to ‘Child care’ or ‘ pre-schools ‘ and go down the list, calling and visiting places? That’s the most painful and time-consuming approach, but one that newcomers often have to face. To be fair, there is a source of help: the NAEYC, a non-profit group that gives centers nationwide its discriminating seal of approval. But its limited resources do not permit it to visit and approve many centers.
- Then there’s the luck factor. Aside from the ‘elite centers’ and the centers you’d rather avoid, there are smaller, less formalized centers with dedicated staff and a love of their work. One can basically count on word-of-mouth or well-connected people to find them, but to ensure a spot for your little wonder, sign up ahead of time! One year to 6 months ahead is a suggested time frame.
So what if you move after turning in your $50 to $100 deposit for that perfect center of education for your loved one(s)? Tough luck, you’ll have to start over and lose that deposit.
I told you it was an adventure. I could write forever on this…
Moving hell in the South of France
They were envious, all of them. Whether Parisians or Californians, they said:
« Hey you’re pretty lucky to be moving to the south of France for work».
The Marseille- Aix en provence region to be exact. Yeah, I knew the area was sunny, gorgeous,
with tons of shops and cultural activities, I knew that. I also knew we were NOT
finding any homes to rent around Aix en provence in May or June, so I was not as excited about
the idea as I should have been…
We finally found a house to rent in the end, at the end of June. We were supposed to move
in in July- it was about time! Only thing is, the house was occupied until… September 3rd.
And holiday seasons ends in August, both for work and for school. Our children were going back
to school August 29 to be exact. After a few days, we were able to negociate an August 25 move
in date, but by that time, our movers had filled all their delivery slots and we could only get
our things delivered August 27th.:-/
On top of this, we were expected on the other side of France, about 7 to 8 hours away by car,
for a wedding in the family August 30 th! Yes! How convenient. So we barely had time to open up
some boxes before we hopped into the car for a day-long drive, slept, went to the wedding, slept,
and drove back the following mornig.
Finally, we could look forward to a weekend’s worth of unpacking, before school started and work
started again…And we unpacked, threw away yet more things, and put the remaining items away
ever so neatly.
Now, we didn’t have a phone line at that time. Did I mention the house is brand new? Although
this could sound as a positive point, here it translates into: it don’t work yet. No phone, no
TV antenna, unfinished cupboards, water mysteriously seeping through the floor in various rooms…
The phone story, still unraveling at the time of writing, could make a hilarious Charlie
Chaplin movie. Enter the phone company technician. Which, by the way, in socialism-ridden France,
is NOT an employee of France Telecom, the monopoly provider for land lines, but an outside
contractor. Well well. So much for state-sponsored entreprises with generous worker conditions.
Phone technician is a comical character- if you don’t have to depend on him. He never comes
at the time of the appointment, never appologizes, always complains about the way the wires
were laid, about the way his colleague works, and can’t refrain from SHOUTING in your home.
Poor guy, he was out of luck with us. After two unsuccessful tries at trying to locate where
to link the house to the phone network, and beaucoup de moaning and complaining, we find out
the needed elements had been buried in the ground and covered with grass… Believe it, it’s true.
So he comes back a third time, and there, succeeds in linking the house to the main network, but…
Alas, there is a problem on the other side now, with the main network. And so ten days after
having started to pay rent on a house in the middle of nowhere, we are still phoneless, with
limited hope of ever having access to such a modern luxury.
I’ll spare you the details on the green pool water we had to deal with the day of the signing,
the real estate agent who counts the number of lightbulbs in the house, should we steal them,
but cannot explain how anything in the house works, the 20 page move-in inventory (for an
unfurnished, four bedroom home)…I’ll also pass on the high tech dishwasher we mastered after
two days of head bashing and a call to the owners, who knew the ‘ trick’ to get it to finally
start, as well as having no washing machine for 7 days after the movers damaged it.
I will say the countryside is beautiful, the weather wonderful, and our neighbours very welcoming.
Let’s just say, moving in in Aix en Provence, and in the South of France in general, is
something which has to be earned.