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12 ENTREPRENEUR ADVENTURES - THE STORY OF GIFT GIVING RETOLD
Alicia HaqueAllison WileyBaz MorningstarCathy TaylorCharlotte Robe-Hughes Dawn Z BournandEmma RobiacFrank La PiraKerry GiroudKeyvan Golestaneh M.A., L.Ac.Natalya McWilliamsRazwana WahidRebecca AlexanderSasha RomarySusan SalzbrennerWendy Smith
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE
8 MEET PAULETTE “CONCIERGE PARISIENNE”
Test your knowldge answers
11 DEAR SANTA, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS...
15 INFOSYS CELEBRATES DIWALI
EXPATRIATES IN PARIS EXPATRIATESMAG
4
Living in sin’ has become the social norm, and with studies showing that cohabiting before
marriage can result in a longer, happier relationship, it’s no wonder we’re pop-ping the ‘moving in’ question before any-thing else. With the New Year approach-ing, moving in with your partner may be high on the 2015 agenda. However, getting a place together is always a huge step, so with this in mind it’s a good idea to put your emotions to one side, clear your vision and check out how compat-ible you really are. It’s tempting to rush into moving in together particularly if living arrangements change, but put your objective hat on for just a few moments and consider your situation before you sign any rental agreements and compro-mise on wardrobe space!
Teamwork: Working as a team is imper-ative in any relationship, so when you’ve got a roof over your head, a bed to share and bills to pay, you must be able to make decisions together. If you struggle to compromise and agree on where to eat or what to watch on television, you must consider how things will pan out when it comes to making those big, important, joint decisions.
Be yourself: It’s easy to put on pretence especially if you only have to do it for a few hours a day. However, when there’s going to be no escape from your partner, it’s important that you can be yourself in their presence and feel comfortable in doing so. If you realise you’re not being your true self, you may want to consider the reasons why and address these before you move any further….
Balance: You need to ask yourself if you’ll be happy with the shift in work/life/friends balance that will come with moving in. If you’re living with friends at the moment, you’ll have to make more time to see them and resist the temptation of hibernating with your partner during the cold winter months. Make sure you still set time aside for you too, as we all need ‘me’ time once in a while.
Faults: They say that love is blind, and when it comes to quirks, habits and per-
sonalities, romance can sometimes cloud your judgment. Everyone has their odd-ities and their own way of doing things, but be careful that the obstinacy you once found admirable may make compromise impossible, and the ‘floordrobe’ you once found quirky may soon drive you up the wall. It’s important to set some parame-ters before you move in to ensure those bad habits don’t turn into deal-breakers in the long run.
Trust and Values: This is an enormous part of a relationship, but trust becomes even more important when you move in together. From trusting each other with your credit cards to trusting your part-ner to buy the right baguette, you have to trust each other’s decisions and ensure that they’re in it as much as you are.
Enjoyment: Ultimately, you have to be sure that you and your partner will enjoy your life living together! And if you have no doubt about that, get signing those contracts, picking out new furniture, and appreciating how amazing it will be to share a happy home! EM
he InterNations Expat Insider sur-vey reveals why France is great for expat families. InterNations, the
world’s largest expat network, has con-ducted the Expat Insider Survey 2014 – completed by close to 14,000 expatriates. It aims to provide a comprehensive picture of life abroad: Focusing on the general quality of life, it identifies the most popular expat destinations. Topics covered include work, family, relationships and romance, leisure, and personal finances.
As an essential part of the survey, re-spondents rated their satisfaction with various aspects of expat life. This served as the basis for an overall ranking of 61 countries, as well as five topical indices. The survey report also features detailed country profiles for 20 destinations and 15 in-depth nationality profiles. An “ex-pat typology”, according to reasons for relocating, rounds out the report.
Family life in France ranks 3rd out of 34 countries, according to the survey results. Expats living in France are particularly satisfied with the quality of their chil-dren’s education, and around two-thirds (67%) agree that education is easy to af-
ford, as opposed to only 29% of expats worldwide. Expats in France feel confi-dent about the health and safety of their kids with only 1% responding that they were in any way concerned in this re-gard. Medical care is also something that expats in France are unconcerned about, with four out of five participants agreeing that the medical care in France is good or even excellent. Not everything, however, is easy: Expats in France find settling in somewhat difficult, and just under two-thirds (64%) be-lieve it’s difficult to live in France without speaking the language. De-spite this, France ranks 9th out of 61 countries for over-all quality of life.
The results of the InterNations Ex-pat Insider survey show that France is a great place for expats, but French expats also make up one of the larg-
est expat nationality groups surveyed. If France is so great, why are French expats choosing to leave? The survey results found that finding a job abroad is the pri-mary reason French expats move away.
For more information about the study and a comprehensive results report, pleasesee: http://www.internations.org/ex-pat-insider/2014.
Your Country Through Expat Eyes
www.internations.org/expat-insider/2014
France
Sweden
Germany
United Kingdom
Greece
HungaryItalySpain
PolandRussia
Romania
Ukraine
Finland
Norway
Portugal
SerbiaIreland
Austria
Czech Republic
Slovakia
DenmarkNetherlands
Switzerland
Belgium
Cyprus
Luxembourg
Malta
Turkey
DYNAMIC
RATION
AL
TRADITIONAL
EMO
TIO
NAL
EUROPEThe lower left, indicative of friendliness and conservatism, is occupied by the Mediterranean south. The opposite corner – dynamic, but distant – belongs to Scandinavia and the Netherlands.
Lifelong learning.WICE is an anglophone association providing a range of cultural, educational, and social activities to the international community in Paris.
Sacré bleu!” That’s perhaps the tackiest thing you can say to a native Parisian. The worst thing they can ask you, though, is to explain what the word ‘tacky’ actually
means... Without consulting a dictionary.
Whether you romantically view Paris as the city of love, or despair at the sight of the rotating light on the Eiffel Tower (tacky), we all have an opinion on Paris, and as expats, our opinion is likely to change the longer we live here.
So take a look at the things in Paris that are seen as tacky, but at the same time can be seen as cool.
What’s your verdict?
TACKY : Any bridge with padlocks clipped onto it. Or smitten tourists asking you to take their picture. And then another four snaps for good measure since they’re questioning whether your photography skills are up to it. COOL : Furious mocking of said tourists.
TACKY : Scenes of haggard office workers hurrying home with a baguette stuffed in their bag. COOL : The baguettes! The croissants! The multiple pâtisseries! Yum!
TACKY : A bar choc full (of tourists) on a Friday night, probably in Bastille. COOL : An intimate bar, which seats a maximum of 12. On stools. With mood lighting. Where the bartender greets you like family, everyone knows each other, and the prices are reasonable (please send addresses to me).
TACKY : Picnics along the Seine. How many images of that have we seen on literally every blog about Paris? COOL : Picnics along the Seine with no one else in sight. Refer to the point above about cool bars – locals don’t like having of others around them for company (only selected friends).
TACKY : Smoking. COOL : Smoking (why do Parisians look so cool slowly killing themselves through nicotine tar alone?).
TACKY : Stepping into dog poo as you walk to the métro. Scrap that. It isn’t tacky – it’s infuriating. COOL : When you see a big, aggressive-looking man with a dog on a lead, that’s 5% his size. Doesn’t that always put a smile on your face (even if you are mocking him)?
TACKY : Rude waiters. Yes, the stereotype is true, but enough already, ok? COOL : The fact that you take it in your stride, and the unsuspecting tourists allow their experience with said waiters to ruin their day.
(MIS)ADVENTUREBy Rebecca Alexander, PhD Research Scholar, CEA, Saclay
Antony station, change here for Orly Airport”. Time is a tricky pa-rameter: it flies when in the com-
pany of a good book but drags when I sit idle, races when I’m running late but stubbornly stands still when I’m waiting.
Traveling can be difficult when you’re staying in the suburbs and yes, we were in zone 5 (30 minutes from an RER station). We were going to CDG airport to board a flight to Prague, eager to execute all the planning that had consumed a good amount of time over the last month (not to mention the time we had spent daydream-ing). I looked up to see a lady struggling with her suitcase. She managed to get in just in time and “whoop” the doors shut as if obeying the loud siren’s stern com-mand to do so. Phew! The look of relief on her face was affirmed by many around her. Meanwhile, backpackers were hurry-ing towards the exit, excited about their journey, to see all those places that look unbelievably beautiful on Google imag-es and to discover the unknown.....We were excited too. We were ‘à l’heure’ so far. We discussed places to visit in order of priority and so on. Our train came to a halt at the Gare du Nord and we heard there would be a delay due to an incident. Our expressions changed from super ex-cited to grief-stricken within seconds. The trains were back on track after about 45 minutes. Given the unfortunate delay, we knew we would have a race against time. As our train approached CDG, we knew that our flight would be taking off in 5 minutes. We hoped against hope for some kind of delay. Optimistically, we hopped off the RER B at CDG and ran to-wards the boarding gate but alas it had al-
ready closed! We knew it was our mistake for not leaving a larger time-margin to al-low for unforeseen delays. Unable to look at our luggage, we tried to think of what to do. If only we didn’t stay so far out in the suburbs. If only we had known about the problem in the RER...IF ONLY! Our excitement drowned in a pool of ‘if onlys’ and left us in complete silence.
Finally, I broke the silence by saying, “So what if we can’t go to Prague? Let’s go to Vienna and then take a bus to Prague!” A crazy idea. Plan B. My friend looked at me as if I was crazy, but within sec-onds, she started working out the feasi-bility! Having researched a lot, we knew about the bus service between Vienna and Prague. Asking about for prices, we found that the Paris-Vienna flight was earlier and somewhat cheaper than Par-is-Prague. Thus, we set out on a real ad-venture, taking the flight to Vienna that was just boarding. Once there, we roamed about the city at night...The tram (as seen in ‘Before Sun-rise’), the ca-thedral, the gi-ant wheel...It all looked beauti-ful and majestic at night. We felt happy about our spur of the moment deci-sion. We stayed awake all night, taking in the essence of the city that was
our Plan B. We caught the bus at dawn and were on our way back to the original track. Woohoo! The rest of the trip went as planned. We had already had our part of the adventure and running about.
Now, when I look back on this I feel as happy and excited as I felt then. It was the most adventurous and memorable trip ever. I think it is the little inconveniences of our daily life that add up to something, someday!
As GK Chesterton rightly put it, “An ad-venture is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered”.
As the Christmas season approaches, I hope you have a great time holidaying with your loved ones and maybe get to enjoy some adventure along the way!EM
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Rooms from 1 to 5 people, tota l ly renovated, breakfas t inc luded, f ree serv ices
(washer & dryer, use of k i tchen, Wi-Fi…)
Low season pr ices November to Februaryexcept Chris tmas & New Year
I n t h e h e a r t o f t h e L a t i n Q u a r t e r13, rue du Sommerard - 75005 Par i s
xpatriates Magazine met former concierge Paulette to find out more about her profession and
life in a cosmopolitan Parisian build-ing.
Paulette, 83, is now retired, but for over 27 years she worked as a concierge in an apartment building in central Paris. This little-known profession is now becoming a thing of the past with the arrival of dig-ital door codes and video cameras, but at one time it was an integral part of life in Paris.
Paulette’s parents were concierges, and although she initially trained as a seam-stress, working in one of the many textile workshops in the Sentier area of Paris, when her father died she took over his role in a Parisian apartment building.
A typical working day started very ear-ly for me, around 6 o’clock. You have to be available to the tenants whenever they need you. It’s a job where people trust you with important things for them – signing for their recorded deliveries, keeping their keys, relaying messages… I knew they needed me. Throughout the day I would distribute the post, take and deliver messages for people, clean and maintain the communal parts of the building – staircases, courtyard, entrance hall etc. open the doors to the electrical, gas, and pest control companies, change light bulbs, and generally run errands for people in the building when they needed me. I would put the bins out (5 big heavy bins) at 6pm and bring them in again at about 7pm. After that I could say that my working day was mainly finished, but throughout the evening and even some-times the night, the tenants could knock at my door if they needed something.
I lived in a “loge” in the entrance hall. The loge was 22m2. I had my bed, a table, a wardrobe, and a small kitchen area. I used the kitchen sink for washing. It was an old building and there were
“toilettes turques” in the courtyard, but when I got older the owners installed in-door facilities for me. The building had an inner courtyard which I loved, where I kept my plants, and where I used to sit in the summer.
There were 14 apartments in the build-ing and whilst there were more French people than foreigners, the non-French tenants were as much a part of the spirit of the building as the French
Oh we always managed to understand each other whatever the language, by hand signs and saying things over and over again. Foreigners always make themselves understood you know, and they smile a lot.
Well there was quite a mix of different ages and nationalities that came and went over the years. I liked the Ameri-
cans. They were very demanding, but always very polite and kind and clean. The Yugoslavian tenants were also very welcoming and friendly as were the Pol-ish. The Germans were friendly, but they kept their distance. The English tenants I had were a bit eccentric, and the Italians could be difficult. Whatever you did for them they would always ask for more and they were often quite noisy.
I know the foreigners didn’t like the French very much, because the French are rude. It’s true, in Paris we are rude to people. I don’t know why. It’s just like that. I think the foreigners had a better time than the French though. They al-ways seemed to be doing something, going out, having visitors and always celebrating something!
The fact that I was always surrounded by other people. Over the years you come to feel as if you’re a part of their lives. You see families grow up. The tenants used to look in on me to make sure I was al-right. Sometimes they would give me lit-tle gifts. A Yugoslavian artist who lived in the building once painted a portrait of me. The tenants would send me post cards from their travels, and they gave lots of gifts for me and my pets.
Just before I retired I found the work harder. I couldn’t clean so much, and taking the bins out was difficult because sometimes they were very heavy. Also, people would come in at all hours of the night, turn on the lights in the entrance, and slam the doors. My “loge” was just in the entrance hall. It was difficult to get a full night’s sleep
Yes, but I miss Paris and being part of other people’s lives. You get to know all kinds of things about people in your building. I have lots of stories I could tell about my tenants – it’s normal, I’m a concierge after all!
GIVINGvery culture has its traditions, and in France, as in many
Western cultures, the end of the year is traditionally associated with giving; cer-tainly gifts for friends and family, but also tokens of ap-preciation to others outside that inner circle.
“Les étrennes” (the equiva-lent to the Christmas boxes, after which Boxing Day was originally named) have be-come an institution here and are an important moment for many of the lesser-paid work-ers. A typical example would be the “étrennes” that tenants give their “concierge” at this time of year (either at Christ-mas, or more often, for the New Year). These are a gift of money given in an enve-lope with a seasonal message to say thank you for ensuring the well-being of the inhabit-ants in a building. This may not seem much to those who are giving, but many “gardi-ens” and “concierges” rely on these tax-free contributions to help them through the festive season. These contributions replace what for other pro-fessions are considered the “treizième mois de salaire” - the thirteenth month’s salary – traditionally used to pay the income tax.Other professionals who come knocking at the door at this time of year are post-men, firemen and bin men. As it is illegal for these pro-fessions to ask for a tip they come selling their traditional calendars. These often sport
images of fluffy animals or chocolate-box landscapes, de-signed to be as inoffensive as possible, but totally lacking in taste and originality! You can give as much or as little as you want, but here the amount should be noted and a receipt given in exchange (even if you don’t take the calendar!)
This is also the time of year when many large companies in France organize an “Arbre de Noël” which employees are invited to attend with their children. This is a moment for the company to give back something to their employees in the form of gifts for their children and often a convivial “goûter”, sometimes with en-tertainment, for all the family. The “Arbre de Noël” is gener-ally organized by the “Comité d’Entreprise” and contributes to a company’s image vis à vis its employees. Smaller organ-izations may organize office lunches, parties or apéritifs.
December is the month of the traditional French “Téléthon”, a 30-hour television marathon to collect funds for various charities. Many towns, schools and other organizations across the country support the “tele-thon” by organizing sponsored events. This year’s “téléthon” will take place on the 5th and 6th December – why not get involved? Remember “We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give”!
here is something magical about the holiday season in Paris and there isn’t a better way to bring out the Christmas spirit than to head to one of the city’s
“Marchés de Noël”, or Christmas markets.
Christmas markets throughout France originate from the Eastern region of Alsace that has historical roots being trad-ed between France and Germany. The most famous (and largest) Christmas market in France is in Strasbourg, the capital of the region.
Here in Paris, Christmas markets tend to pop up throughout the city from mid-November through the holiday season. Below are some of our favorite markets for shopping and sampling spiced “vin chaud” to warm you up!
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Avenue des Champs-ElyséesThis is the largest market within the city limits and stretches from the métro Champs Elysées-Clémenceau down to Concorde. Open from November 14th 2014 - January 4th 2015
La DéfenseFor those of you looking to get into the spirit of Christmas during your office lunch break, this huge market spread across the Parvis de la Défense sells everything from decorative objects and toys to hand-crafted and regional culinary products.Open from November 20th - De-cember 28th 2014
Saint-SulpiceNot only will you find one of the most charming Christmas markets in Paris with the backdrop of the Saint-Sulpice church, but the kids will love to visit Santa Claus in Santa’s Village.Open from December 1st - Decem-ber 24th 2014
TrocaderoThere will be 100 stands of gifts and goodies at Place de la Trocade-ro this year and the kids will love the ice rink and exploring the snow villages.Open from December 13th 2014 - January 7th 2015
VersaillesIf you are up for a day trip, escape Paris to Versailles on the RER C and explore the charming Christmas market in the town center.Open from December 5th - December 26th 2014
ProvinsTake a regional train from Gare de l’Est to this adorable medieval vil-lage equipped with fortified towers and moats just outside of Paris. This Christmas market is only open for the weekend so plan wisely!Open from December 13th - December 14th 2014
MontmartreSet above Paris on the Parvis de la Basilique du Sacré-Coeur this quaint market also boasts a Santa’s Village and some of the best views of Paris.Open from December 5th 2014 - January 4th 2015
“The magazines are here Mummy they’re here!” screamed Lauren (tadpole number 3) in her squeakiest high-pitched head-ache inducing tone.
“The big fat guy has sent his magazines for us to choose our presents” chimes in Lucy (tadpole 2).
“Who cares?” muttered Eliot (tadpole number 1)
And so commenced the annual circling of every toy available in the magazines that the supermarkets and toy stores have sent out, tadpoles 2 and 3 arguing over who can have which Barbie because they can’t possibly have the same one and who gets the latest Monster High doll and who can have make up and who can’t poke me in the eyes now.
You know as soon as the bickering has stopped that the tadpoles lists are complete and the furious letter writing has begun.
Only this year something I would never have thought happened, my oldest daugh-ter took all of 2 minutes to write her letter. She placed it on the chimney and began to help her little sister to write hers. This left me completely baffled because tadpole 2’s list is always massive. Hummmm…Darn it! I would have to wait ‘til bedtime before I could get my hands on her letter.
Every year, tadpole number 1 likes to go through the girls list’s and calculate how much it would cost if we bought everything the girls have asked Santa for. Last year tadpole number 2’s list hit just under 1000 eu-ros and tadpole num-ber 3, bless her, heart came in at a whopping 1645 euros .
A few years ago we sat the kids down and told them that Santa has a budget for each child he has to deliver gifts to on Christmas eve and that if children were too greedy poor
Rudolph and his furry four-legged friends would never get the sleigh off the ground would mean no gifts at all “unless San-ta goes on a diet and stops eating all the cookies left out for him” pipes up tadpole 1.
So we get to bedtime and everyone checks their private letters to the jolly big man are placed on the chimney ready to be col-lected by one of the elves. Once the kids are tucked up in bed and have been there about an hour mummy elf comes along and opens each letter.
Tadpole 1 and tadpole 3’s letters are pretty standard with things they would like and plenty of pleases and thank you’s.
Then came tadpole number 2’s letter which blew me away....
“Dear Santa,
For Christmas I would like you to bring a Doc Mc stuffing’s doll for Lauren, Sky landers trap force for Eliott and lots and lots and lots of chocolate for mum and dad because a happy family is the best present ever !
Love from Lucy”EM
DEARSANTA
All I want for Christmas
is...By Kerry Giroud
Tadpole number 2’s letter to santa
From left to right : Tadpole 1(Eliot), Tadpole 3 (Lauren), Tadpole 2 (Lucy)
ISSUE 51212
nce upon a time gift giving was more of a headache than a pleasure. Finding just the right
object to convey your thoughts and feel-ings was a treasure hunt that often ended with a gift card for the FNAC or your lo-cal cinema. This story has a happy end-ing though because along came Histoire de Cadeau and gift giving will never be the same again.
Histoire de Cadeau is the realization of a dream held by founder Didem Michenet. An avid traveler with a talent for finding niche and local products, Didem wanted to bring together her passion and genius in an e-boutique where people could of-fer original items as gifts for their loved ones and once again return to the true value and emotion of gift giving.
Born and raised in Turkey Didem pur-sued a master’s degree in Computer Sci-ence and Engineering at Virginia Tech in the United States. She gained her busi-ness skills from a number of years in the IT corporate world working in the U.S. and then France. At the start of 2014 she began her own company, The Startup Atelier, helping technological startups demystify customer development and build healthy businesses. At the same time a new business idea was germinat-ing, but Didem knew she needed a busi-ness partner to bring her concept to life.
Didem wanted to create an internet des-tination where people could find unique, culturally rich, artistically designed, and thoughtfully selected gifts. Through her travels around the world, Didem had come to be known by friends and fam-ily as the expert gift giver herself. She explains, “Gift giving has been part of my daily life because I have friends all over the world. Throughout my trav-els, I have always enjoyed finding local goods: A French “marinière” for my friend’s baby, a handmade wooden box from India for my brother and so on. Year after year, when it comes to find-ing the perfect gift, you run out of ideas and there is hardly time to search with the typical daily rush and crazy work schedules. Shops can be tiring and the options are endless, it is the same on the internet: information overload. Where do you start unless you know exactly what you want?” Didem decided to use her gift finding talents to create a place where giving is a pleasure once again.
Thus, Histoire de Cadeau (Gift Story) came to life. Didem and Celine set out to offer niche objects, products and ser-vices for meaningful and personal gift
ENTREPRENEUR ADVENTURES THE STORY OF GIFT GIVING RETOLDBy Dawn Z Bournand
A business is born
Using your natural gifts
The entrepreneurial bug bites
O
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giving. Didem explains, “My first client survey got a very positive response, which encouraged me to go further. I then inter-viewed people and talked about it every chance I got. I often saw a pleasant eye-brow raise”.
As any entrepreneur will tell you, there is a lot of hard work behind getting a busi-ness up and running and an online busi-ness is no exception. Didem and Celine knew they had a winning idea so it was now down to making the idea a real busi-ness.
“We first, wanted to set out our vision for the business”, says Didem. “We then de-fined our positioning and sought to under-stand the competition. Following this, we established contacts with our clients and our suppliers. This helped shape the over-all structure and business process. Then many things happened on multiple fronts and in parallel, such as choosing a techno-logical platform, sorting out payment and shipping details, carrying out administra-tive processes, and of course our market-ing strategy. Quite crazy, and exhausting but also a very exciting and creative pe-riod.”
Did not being a French native make jump-ing into the entrepreneurial waters in France more difficult? “There is always the cultural integration aspect. Fortunately though, I had spent several years working in France before I started my entrepre-neurial journey so I knew a thing or two about business in France and understand-ing country specific bureaucracy. Above all, having a network is the biggest differ-entiator in my opinion. Working your net-work is very important for entrepreneur-ship; and as an expat even more so.”
“There is a freedom both I and Céline ap-preciate very much. Freedom to choose your own strategy, freedom to build a business you are proud of, freedom to de-cide where and when to work: priceless really … Yet, this all comes with challeng-es. We often wear too many hats and we get involved with many details from legal points to technical tricks. Non-stop budget and resource prioritization and optimiza-tion. It is similar to a computer process that is always running in the background even if we are on vacation or on week-ends, it is difficult to disconnect”.
Histoire de Cadeau is opening its virtual doors as holiday season 2014 begins. Ex-cellent timing for shoppers who want to avoid crowded shopping centers, same old gifts and unoriginal options. Didem stresses, “We did not limit our categories, we want to be where there is creativity, in-
novation, quality, authenticity: dec-oration, art, fash-ion, accessories, high tech, unusual experiences, beau-ty and gastronom-ical tastes. Our platform hosts many local prod-ucts including a large selection of “Made in France”, ecological goods, recycling or upcy-cling, innovative products, exclu-sive series, excep-tional experienc-es…. All with the objective of sup-porting small de-signers, produc-ers, boutiques and service providers.
“Expats who want to go off the beat-en track will find a rich and fun universe with His-toire de Cadeau, which is reserved most of the time to local circles. As a longtime expat, I appreciate more than anything finding local tastes and I think that I am not alone… More-over, we are lucky to work with other expat designers who will present their de-signs and services in our platform. The Expat community will get a chance to get to know their compatriot design-ers and service pro-viders.”
The long term goal for Histoire de Cadeau is to go international but at a pace that allows high quality and a superb custom-er experience to remain at the forefront. “We have our sights set on international expansion but are putting the priority on bringing a high quality, luxury experience to our clients in France first. Our goal is to take this step by step, first extending our supplier network and then client net-work for international development. Also, Céline and I are both very sensitive to giv-ing back to those who are less fortunate.
We have started our research in order to create campaigns to donate a portion of each purchase with partnered associa-tions.”
To learn more about Histoire de Cadeau, simply head over to the brand new site at: www.histoiredecadeau.com you can also get ongoing updates at their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/histoiredec-adeauInterviewed by Dawn Z Bournand, Busi-ness and Life Coach. She is founder of Fabulously Successful and The Paris Women of Success.
The expat experience
And the happily ever after...
EM
Your Business / YourLife / Your Purpose
www.fabulouslysuccessful.comReaders, receive 25% off your first
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The HdC Difference
ISSUE 51414
ires from removed light fittings dangle. Cracked stucco walls moulder. The remains of the
carpet underlay snake the stone floor and a sign that says ‘Please take a ticket’ points its arrow at nothing. But one mustn’t lin-ger. Phase three of the dance, in which there are two sub-movements, has begun. The security staff’s favourites, or princi-pal players have been granted positions ahead of you and you must choose which one of the fluctuating queues to join. You take your pick and you stick to it. It is un-
clear which window intends to deal with visa requests and which passports or doc-ument legalisation etc. but this doesn’t matter. You must be in a queue. It is im-perative for the consistency of phase three of the dance.
The squelching dies down a little. The disdain is now being vocalised and ris-es to a grand crescendo. The brave souls manning the uncategorised windows be-gin glancing scornfully at the queues. Suddenly they shake their heads at the
petitioners. The worst has happened. Some of the danc-ers are in the wrong queue. A novice er-ror this! They can’t have understood the duality of phase three! Fools! They will simply be told to go to the back. Women throw their arms in the air. They scuff their feet like recalcitrant children ruining their pristine Nike Air Jordans on the detritus below. Men in shiny suits laugh at them and shake their heads. They put their hands to their mouths and grin as their oversized imitation Rolexes slide down their infant-like wrists.
Then HE arrives. The Lead Dancer. The best-dressed man you have ever seen appears gleam-ing like a new car.
His hat sits atop his head like he first wore it as he danced from his mother’s womb. His three-piece suit is cut for him like skin. His cravat and cravat pin punc-tuate the splendour of a shirt so colourful you would disappear if you even thought about wearing it. His elegant footwear is so flawlessly buffed, it is as though you were granted a glimpse of the infinite. He is magnificent and his Nureyev-like anachronousness to the concrete, the club-footedness, the gracelessness and decrepitude is only magnified by our des-perate, cloying mediocrity.
Silence. Not even a squelch.
It is HE who decides which queue is for which purpose. HE and HE alone has this duty and HE performs it like a God. The climax of the dance has been announced and you slide, slip, run, hop and shim-my your way to your place on the stage around your cross-trafficking fellow danc-ers, finally securing your spot where you will be seen to (but by no means guaran-teed a visa).
Diaries of an international organisation
A DANCE IN THREE
MOVEMENTS (PART II)
By ‘The Informant”
W
EM
New in Paris?Join the InterNations Paris Young Professionals group and meet other like-minded expats.
Find out more at www.internations.org/paris-expats
hen Expatriates Magazine re-ceived an invitation to attend the Diwali festivities with Infosys
there was great excitement for several reasons: Firstly, Infosys is home to two regular Expatriates Magazine contrib-utors. Secondly, it was one of the first corporations to begin distributing the publication back in 2013. Thirdly, we had never attended a Diwali celebration, and finally, if anyone could show us how to celebrate it had to be one of India’s largest service providers!
With Infosys transferring up to 250 expa-triates from India to France at any time, their works council has great resources for putting an event together. Leading the event organization were Sanjog Jolly (Senior Sales Manager, originally from Goa) and Sumit Roy (Technical Consult-ant originally from Kolkata), in the build-up to the event, Roy enthusiastically told us “This is going to be a great event; you must see how we celebrate Diwali. We will eat, drink, be entertained and dance”.
Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is India’s most important holiday and is celebrated by all of its religious and ethnic communi-ties during the latter part of October. The festival, which lasts five days, symbolizes the victory of righteousness and the tri-umph of spirituality over the powers of darkness. This involves the illumination of homes with electric lights and candles, new outfits and the sounds of laughter, music and firecrackers which reverberate
throughout this joyous holiday.
The celebration was held in the cafeteria of the Paris office in “Tour Opus”, at “La Défense”. Invitations had been sent out companywide and employees and friends came from all over the country.
As it was a mid-week celebration, the organisers may have been worried that
the festivities wouldn’t live up to ex-pectations, after all, a hard working day preceded for most, but spirits were high and undeterred! Like many of the guests, Subarna Ganguly (Senior Hr Associate) came straight from work that evening, though no one would have known. She looked ravishing in her outfit which she described as “make-shift”.
Infosys staff put aside their daytime roles
to enjoy the occasion together. As we approached the bar to enjoy a glass of champagne, Programme Delivery Man-ager, Gerald Ashokan was joking “All the champagne must go tonight!”
The evening began with the symbolic lighting of a candle in a clay pot; followed by a traditional concert conducted by an Indian duo performing fusion music on a Sitar and a percussion instrument known as a Tabla. A fabulous buffet of Indian delicacies including kebabs and samosas accompanied with chatnies was served along with Gajar Halwa (sweet carrot cake) for dessert and a glass of mango lassi. The evening concluded with a laser light show during which revelers, many in traditional saris, danced the night away, including Pankaj Singh and his wife (USA), who attracted a lot of attention with their creative and inspiring dance moves.
Throughout the evening, everyone en-joyed introducing us to the true meaning of Diwali and sharing their stories with us. Veerajith Mahabalappa, Senior Asso-ciate, wearing a traditional dhoti and kur-ta, told us how he had recently returned from his wedding in Bangalore, a 7-day celebration attended by 1000 guests! “It’s quite normal for weddings to be big in In-dia.” he assured us.
Having enjoyed a wonderful evening, the guests departed wishing each other “Hap-py Diwali”, which translates to wishes for health, happiness and prosperity. As this evening so aptly demonstrated; Paris, the City of Lights, was a very fitting location for this Festival of Lights.
From left to right : Khushboo Uchat, Veerajith Mahaballapa, Pallavi Shah, Kartik Shah
Subarna Ganguly
From left to right : Sumit Roy, Julie De-Franceschi, Sanjog Jolly
ive years ago I arrived in France to take up a faculty position in a “Grande Ecole”. I had an expecta-
tion that the education system in France would be as good as the education system I left in the USA and Australia. Here I pro-vide parents of students who are about to enter university advice that is not readily available about the French “Grande Ecole” system.
The French tertiary sector consists of a two-tier system; the government funded universities which teach almost everything and the “Grande Ecole” system that is mostly focused on engineering and busi-ness. In this article I focus on the business schools.
Firstly, the positive aspects of the French “Grande Ecole” system:
The “Grande Ecoles” are highly regarded in France and are considered elite tertiary in-stitutions where most of the larger French corporations find their future managers. The cost of attending a “Grande Ecole”
is significantly cheaper than attending a well-regarded school in the USA or the UK. Another positive aspect is that stu-dents are required to spend 3-12 months in a foreign school, anywhere in the world. Spending time living and learning in a for-eign environment is an invaluable experi-ence for most students, and from a teach-er’s perspective I’ve seen kids really mature in the time they’ve spent overseas. Most “Grande Ecoles” expect their students to be fluent in English and French, and to have lived overseas. So expat students are highly regarded.
On the negative side, students in the “Grande Ecoles” spend on average 25-30 hours in the classroom with little time for revision and assignments. In American and English universities it’s about an 18 hour average. It is not unusual for students to be subjected to a 3 hour lecture, and no tutorial. Most good schools in the UK and Northern Europe require teachers to have a teaching qualification, not in France. In the rest of the world tertiary education has shifted to a learner-centred approach.
France is still teaching-orientated. The use of iPads and other technology is becoming prevalent in education but not so in the “Grande Ecoles”.In terms of world rankings, the “Grande Ecoles” perform very poorly. In the 2014 Times Higher Education Rankings there are no “Grande Ecoles” in the top 100 universities in the world. England, by con-trast, has 11 schools ranked in the top 100.
Despite this, competition for places in the “Grande Ecoles” is intense, with fewer than 10% of applicants obtaining a place. This is because the schools are quite small com-pared to American and English schools, with fewer than 5000 students per school.
However, it is important to know that this does not reflect in small class sizes.
Essentially if you or your child has not had a good experience in the French education system I would suggest that you will not be happy with your child’s experience in the “Grande Ecole” system.
F
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HOw TO OrDEr AT THE CAFé• un petit noir: an expresso • un café noisette: an expresso with a dash of milk
• un crème: a slightly frothy white coffee • un déca: a decaf • un café allongé: a weak coffee • un café serré: a very strong expresso italian style
• diabolo: lemonade with either mint cordial (diabolo-menthe) or pomegranate cordial (diabolo- grenadine) • monaco: beer mixed with lemonade and pomegranate cordial
• perroquet (parrot): aniseed and mint cordial
• kir: white wine and blackcurrant cordial • cardinal: red wine and blackcurrant cordial
You can find it at the Real Mc coY
194, Rue de GRenelle 75007 tel: 01 45 56 98 82
49, avenue Bosquet 75007 tel: 01 45 56 00 00the Real taste of aMeRica
BReakfast, BRunch, lunch and dinneR cooked to oRdeR
HOw TO OrDEr AT THE CAFé• un petit noir: an expresso • un café noisette: an expresso with a dash of milk
• un crème: a slightly frothy white coffee • un déca: a decaf • un café allongé: a weak coffee • un café serré: a very strong expresso italian style
• diabolo: lemonade with either mint cordial (diabolo-menthe) or pomegranate cordial (diabolo- grenadine) • monaco: beer mixed with lemonade and pomegranate cordial
• perroquet (parrot): aniseed and mint cordial
• kir: white wine and blackcurrant cordial • cardinal: red wine and blackcurrant cordial
You can find it at the Real Mc coY
194, Rue de GRenelle 75007 tel: 01 45 56 98 82
49, avenue Bosquet 75007 tel: 01 45 56 00 00the Real taste of aMeRica
BReakfast, BRunch, lunch and dinneR cooked to oRdeR
HOw TO OrDEr AT THE CAFé• un petit noir: an expresso • un café noisette: an expresso with a dash of milk
• un crème: a slightly frothy white coffee • un déca: a decaf • un café allongé: a weak coffee • un café serré: a very strong expresso italian style
• diabolo: lemonade with either mint cordial (diabolo-menthe) or pomegranate cordial (diabolo- grenadine) • monaco: beer mixed with lemonade and pomegranate cordial
• perroquet (parrot): aniseed and mint cordial
• kir: white wine and blackcurrant cordial • cardinal: red wine and blackcurrant cordial
You can find it at the Real Mc coY
194, Rue de GRenelle 75007 tel: 01 45 56 98 82
49, avenue Bosquet 75007 tel: 01 45 56 00 00the Real taste of aMeRica
BReakfast, BRunch, lunch and dinneR cooked to oRdeR
HOw TO OrDEr AT THE CAFé• un petit noir: an expresso • un café noisette: an expresso with a dash of milk
• un crème: a slightly frothy white coffee • un déca: a decaf • un café allongé: a weak coffee • un café serré: a very strong expresso italian style
• diabolo: lemonade with either mint cordial (diabolo-menthe) or pomegranate cordial (diabolo- grenadine) • monaco: beer mixed with lemonade and pomegranate cordial
• perroquet (parrot): aniseed and mint cordial
• kir: white wine and blackcurrant cordial • cardinal: red wine and blackcurrant cordial
You can find it at the Real Mc coY
194, Rue de GRenelle 75007 tel: 01 45 56 98 82
49, avenue Bosquet 75007 tel: 01 45 56 00 00the Real taste of aMeRica
BReakfast, BRunch, lunch and dinneR cooked to oRdeR
HOw TO OrDEr AT THE CAFé• un petit noir: an expresso • un café noisette: an expresso with a dash of milk
• un crème: a slightly frothy white coffee • un déca: a decaf • un café allongé: a weak coffee • un café serré: a very strong expresso italian style
• diabolo: lemonade with either mint cordial (diabolo-menthe) or pomegranate cordial (diabolo- grenadine) • monaco: beer mixed with lemonade and pomegranate cordial
• perroquet (parrot): aniseed and mint cordial
• kir: white wine and blackcurrant cordial • cardinal: red wine and blackcurrant cordial
You can find it at the Real Mc coY
194, Rue de GRenelle 75007 tel: 01 45 56 98 82
49, avenue Bosquet 75007 tel: 01 45 56 00 00the Real taste of aMeRica
BReakfast, BRunch, lunch and dinneR cooked to oRdeR
HOw TO OrDEr AT THE CAFé• un petit noir: an expresso • un café noisette: an expresso with a dash of milk
• un crème: a slightly frothy white coffee • un déca: a decaf • un café allongé: a weak coffee • un café serré: a very strong expresso italian style
• diabolo: lemonade with either mint cordial (diabolo-menthe) or pomegranate cordial (diabolo- grenadine) • monaco: beer mixed with lemonade and pomegranate cordial
• perroquet (parrot): aniseed and mint cordial
• kir: white wine and blackcurrant cordial • cardinal: red wine and blackcurrant cordial
You can find it at the Real Mc coY
194, Rue de GRenelle 75007 tel: 01 45 56 98 82
49, avenue Bosquet 75007 tel: 01 45 56 00 00the Real taste of aMeRica
BReakfast, BRunch, lunch and dinneR cooked to oRdeR
HOw TO OrDEr AT THE CAFé• un petit noir: an expresso • un café noisette: an expresso with a dash of milk
• un crème: a slightly frothy white coffee • un déca: a decaf • un café allongé: a weak coffee • un café serré: a very strong expresso italian style
• diabolo: lemonade with either mint cordial (diabolo-menthe) or pomegranate cordial (diabolo- grenadine) • monaco: beer mixed with lemonade and pomegranate cordial
• perroquet (parrot): aniseed and mint cordial
• kir: white wine and blackcurrant cordial • cardinal: red wine and blackcurrant cordial
You can find it at the Real Mc coY
194, Rue de GRenelle 75007 tel: 01 45 56 98 82
49, avenue Bosquet 75007 tel: 01 45 56 00 00the Real taste of aMeRica
BReakfast, BRunch, lunch and dinneR cooked to oRdeR
LE PETIT COURS INTERNATIONAL PRIVATE ENGLISH BILINGUAL
SCHOOL ESTABLISHED IN 1887
« It’s fun learning » at The Little School House !
Event ! : We celebrate this year the 127 years
of The School Le Petit Cours !
Global Perspective. Global Network.
Redefining Executive Education
Your future begins here.
www.ism.edu
Fully accredited degrees in international business management: MBA, IEMBA, DBA and PhD.
• Paris• New Delhi • New York• São Paulo• Shanghai• Online
Global Perspective. Global Network.
Redefining Executive Education
Your future begins here.
www.ism.edu
Fully accredited degrees in international business management: MBA, IEMBA, DBA and PhD.
• Paris• New Delhi • New York• São Paulo• Shanghai• Online
Global Perspective. Global Network.
Redefining Executive Education
Your future begins here.
www.ism.edu
Fully accredited degrees in international business management: MBA, IEMBA, DBA and PhD.
• Paris• New Delhi • New York• São Paulo• Shanghai• Online
Global Perspective. Global Network.
Redefining Executive Education
Your future begins here.
www.ism.edu
Fully accredited degrees in international business management: MBA, IEMBA, DBA and PhD.
• Paris• New Delhi • New York• São Paulo• Shanghai• Online
EXPATRIATES IN PARIS EXPATRIATESMAG
18
Paris Art & Wine Events annual mem-bership entitles you to a 10% discount on all art gallery wine tasting events; one free walking tour, discounts at a variety of shops, restaurants and service organizations and a monthly newsletter containing artist profiles, tips from guest sommeliers and simple recipes from not-ed chefs, art updates (emerging trends, discussions with gallery owners, note-worthy upcoming events) and a host of other topics of interest to art and wine lovers. For information on membership,
Although few have heard of it, and still fewer have every sampled it…Absinthe was once the toast of Paris. Credited with being both the inspiration and the ruin-ation of noted artists such as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Toulouse Lautrec, this once popular apéritif was banned in 1905 for its supposed hallucinogenic properties. Recently reformulated and reissued, ab-sinthe’s popularity is once again on the rise. Vert d’ Absinthe, at 11 rue d’Ormes-son, 75004 is the first and only shop ded-icated totally to absinthe. With over 30 varieties of the apéritif as well as all the necessary accessories to drink it in the tra-ditional manner, vintage posters, books and other similar items of interest, the shop offers a truly unique selection of gifts
(www.vertdabsinthe.com).
Wine Tasting and Art
Absinthe
EM
10%
DISCOUNT
FRENCH FRIED COMEDY NIGHT
By Natalya McWilliams
Comedians from left to right : Robert Hoehn, Alexander van Walsum, Luke Thompson, Phyllis Wang, Paul Taylor, Noman Honsni
ucked away in the 11th arrondisse-ment, a pebble’s throw from the Place de la République lies a hidden gem in
the Parisian English comedy scene. Founded in 2012 by Robert Hoehn, the French Fried Comedy Night takes place every Tuesday evening around 9pm at Le Paname Art Café (14 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 75011). The show is free with the purchase of a drink, so on arrival at Le Paname my friend and I headed over to the bar where they offer a list of wines for 5-8 Euros, a nice list of cocktails in the 10-12 euro range as well as a selection of non-alcoholic beverages. Af-ter serving our drinks, the bartender gave us tickets which granted access to the event room downstairs. This was a perfect time to mingle with the other audience members. We chatted briefly with some of the comedi-ans and regular attendees before the show. It was a great opportunity to get a feel for the audience and meet some fellow expatriates in Paris.
At 9:30pm, the energetic comedian Phyllis Wang, hailing from the USA, jumped up onto the stage, ready to get the show on the road and start warming up the crowd. As host of the French Fried Comedy Nights, she is in charge of organizing the comedi-ans as well as back room details. We hadn’t brought tissues which we could have used because we laughed so hard over the next hour. The audience was entertained by a fon-du pot of comedians, each one hailing from different parts of the globe including Luke Thompson with his advice against using BBC as an aide in learning English, Alexan-der Van Walsum and his hilarious lesson on
French expressions such as “faut pas pouss-er mémé dans les orties” and Paul Taylor’s recount of his first experience with la bise, as well as many others. Acts were limited 5 minutes and in that time they tried vigorous-ly to get the audience rolling with laughter. Most of the acts were successful, filling the room with giggles and a few snorts but a few jokes fell shy of hitting the mark. Perhaps it was because of a language barrier? There were few visiting comedians along with the normal troops which was a nice addition to the regular crew.
I advise to arrive around 9pm to ensure you have time to order a drink before the room downstairs opens up and the seats begin to fill. Make sure to bring your sense of humor and perhaps some tissues. The French Fried Comedy show is perfect for a weeknight outing after work, and if you’re still begging for more after the show, check out Robert Hoehn’s French Fried TV for some more hi-larious comedy.
French Fried comedy night takes place every Tuesday evening at Paname Art Cafe (14 rue de la Fontaine au Roi, 75011).
For those who would like a bit more variety but also value exclusivity, you won’t want to miss the Salon des Créateurs et des Ateliers d’Art at the Espace des Blancs Manteaux, 48 rue Vielle du Temple, 75004. This 3-day market, open from 3-7pm on December 5th and 10 am-
7pm on the 6th and 7th, is the only market to offer one-of-a-kind gift items from a juried group of artists and artisans including painters, sculptors, jewelers, wood carvers and other craftspeople from around
France.
n the minds of art lovers around the world Paris is intrinsically linked to art and artists. This is
largely because many famous artists have spent their formative years here and international artistic movements have germinated from their collaborations in Paris’ cafes. Home to over 50 museums and over 125 galleries, Paris continues to be a rite of passage for both well-known and new artistic talents. This autumn has been a particularly exciting and enrich-ing time for the Paris art scene. In addi-tion to a note-worthy array of exhibitions and showcases, there have recently been two long-awaited openings that have confirmed Paris as the world’s artistic and cultural hub.
After a renovation that took over 4 years and cost an estimated 43 million Euros, the Picasso Museum is once again open to the public and receiving rave reviews. This unique collection, the most ex-tensive in the world, includes many of his masterpieces from the Blue Period through to Cubism, with sketches, pho-tos, correspondence and other personal memorabilia as well as some paintings given to him by friends such as Matisse, Cézanne and Rousseau.
People are also flocking to the Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton designed by award-winning architect, Frank Gehry. The space boasts many galleries fea-turing different artists and installations as well as performance space. It offers an ongoing, varied schedule of activi-ties with something for everyone and is worth a visit just to look at the building, which is a work of art in itself.
If you would like to see more examples of this iconic architect, visit the Pompi-
dou Center, where there is a retrospective of Gehry’s designs including 67 mod-els and over 200 drawings. While at the Pompidou Center, you might also want to take a look at the Jeff Koons exhibition (No-vember 26-April 15, 2015) which showcases the works of this noted contemporary American artist.
The Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art con-cludes its 30th anniversary with a stunning series of exhibitions, installations and events…. not to be missed.
The Musée du Luxembourg is offering a rare glimpse into art dealer Paul Durand and his patronage of Im-pressionists, from October to February 8, 2015. This exhibition uses over 80 paintings by Degas, Mon-et, Renoir, Sisley and Pissarro to trace the rise of the Impressionist movement and the innovative art dealer who cham-pioned its artists and single-handedly brought them to prominence in the US and other markets.
For fashionistas, the Cognacq-Jay Mu-seum, renowned for its 18th century decorative arts, has teamed up with 21st century fashion designer, Christian Lac-roix, (November 19-April 19, 2015) for a unique perspective on textiles, using a series of contemporary installations which marry new techniques and ele-ments with the history and design of the
period. Then you might want to visit the Palais-Galliera Musée de la Mode de Paris for an exhibition of Countess Gref-fulhe’s wardrobe (November 30-January 31, 2015). The exhibit features 40 dress-es, accessories, photos and portraits of this style icon who was a muse of writer Marcel Proust, international beauty and avid art patron.
With various exhibits on the photograph-ic arts on display in museums and galler-ies all over Paris, you can see why Paris is considered to be the world’s artistic hub.
ART HIGHLIGHTSBy Allison Wiley,CMP, CEO, Paris Art & Wine Events
harles Baudelaire had a love/hate relationship with his mother. Si-mone De Beauvoir rejected her
mother’s overbearing Christianity, iden-tifying as an atheist from the age of 14 and Samuel Becket moved to Paris after he fell out with his mother. I’m calling this piece’s theme, “Thanks Mums!”.
Charles BaudelaireIt is virtually impossible to be a Fran-cophile without at least having heard of Baudelaire. My first exposure to this iconic figure was when Uncle Monty from the cult film Withnail and I talked about “butter dripping from crumpets” onto his books of poetry, but what do we know about him? He wrote Les Fleurs du Mal, his most famous book of poetry. What were his poems about though? We know they were romantic because Rim-baud and Verlaine and Proust and Bob Dylan said so. We know he used high language and debauched themes because he always has a glass in his hand and holds his audience captive when we im-agine the cliché of him, but did you know that if his mother and stepfather had had their way, he might have been a lawyer or a diplomat? Dare we imagine a world without Baudelaire the poet in it? Who would have “rejuvenated romanticism” (according to Gustave Flaubert)? To whom would we attribute the term‘mo-dernity’?
Who would have rendered the themes of sex and death and lesbianism sacred and profane love, metamorphosis, mel-ancholy, the corruption of the city, lost innocence, the oppressiveness of living, and wine topics for artistic consideration, let alone discovery? Who would have translated the works of Edgar Allen Poe into French? Who would have championed the art of Eugène Delacroix, whose museum is a Parisian must-see for the seasoned art lover, or the music of Richard Wagner? Baudelaire was a dandy for sure and had he not enjoyed the debauched pleasures of this wonderful existence of ours, he would never have been able to write his
invaluable poetry. Thus, by the arbiters of morality of his time he was excori-ated and his family limited his funding lest he drink and drug himself to death. This was, despite his detractors, a feat he eventually managed and as Richards Burton and Harris have nobly shown us, there is simply no better way to go.
Simone de BeauvoirSimone de Beauvoir led a storied life in which she met and influenced amazing people, so she wrote about her experienc-es and changed the world, more than once spearheading the feminist movement and obtaining abortion rights for women. Her affairs of the heart and body were often scandalous and much talked about, so she told her own story in her books. She talked about her intellectual friends as well as her male and female lovers, some of whom were shocked and sued her while others loved the spotlight such as her lifelong partner Jean-Paul Sartre be-side whom she is buried and with whom she shared a number of lovers. All this whilst remaining a leading light in the intellectual and philosophical movements of her time and a lifelong editor of books and the magazine Les Temps Modernes which she founded alongside Sartre. De Beauvoir also ar-dently eschewed traditional female roles, refusing to marry throughout her whole life. Her father is quoted as saying of her as a child that “she thinks like a man”. I like to think she thought only of herself as thinking, thus rejecting any notions of patriarchy. Feminism has been discussed a lot recently by eminent women, with legislation regarding the autonomy of the female body. Simone De Beauvoir was way ahead of her time in this regard.
Samuel BeckettI think it no coincidence his portrait pho-tographs so intensely depict the brooding genius, given that Samuel Beckett had his own personal photographer at one stage. From his craggy face to his soaring coiffure, his image is instantly recognisa-ble. His work though is renowned for its impenetrability. Waiting for Godot being his best-known and most successful play, he purposely wrote in French he said to avoid having a writing style. He is, none-theless, considered one of the last mod-ernists (thank you, Mr Baudelaire for the term) and a precursor of post-modernism. Sartre was an admirer and he and Simone De Beauvoir published one of his works in Les Temps Modernes. He played down his role in WWII as a member of the French Resistance calling it, “boy scout stuff” and yet was award-ed the Croix De Guerre and the Médaille
de la Résistance. Further testament to his ruggedness and love of understatement, not only did he drop the charges against a notorious pimp called ‘Prudent’ (I’m not making this up) after he stabbed him in the chest and nearly killed him, he went on to befriend Prudent having asked him his motive for the attack and having re-ceived the reply, “I don’t know, sir. I’m sorry”. How come Hemingway gets all the plaudits for literary tough guy?!
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ver the festive season you may want to surprise your loved ones with the pet they have always
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How to check if you are being scammed:
¼ Check the email & the email address: The old adage comes to mind, “if it sounds too good to be true, then it prob-ably is”. Scam emails are full of var-ious different fonts and spelling mis-takes. They copy real company logos and text, also scammers will always use a free email address, with the name of a real pet transport company, for exam-ple; [email protected]
¼ Check the phone number Scammers will not be where they state
they are. They may not give you their telephone number at first. If ever they do, always check the country code of the num-ber given. Note +237 is Cameroon, where unfortunately a lot of internet frauds take place. http://countrycode.org/
¼ Check the imageYou can receive pictures of the pet in question which will make your heart melt, especially if the scammers say that they can’t keep the pet anymore and you would be saving the pet by assuring the transport costs. In a pet scam the animal doesn’t ex-ist, the images are merely pictures taken from other legitimate websites. Google the breed of the pet and search the images to see if you can find the same image.
¼ Be aware of how you are asked to send paymentRefuse to send any money to your con-tact when it cannot be traced, ie. West-ern Union; Pay Cards, etc. Once payment has left, there is no way of
following it. Always ask for an invoice before any payment is made and make sure the invoice has the usual necessary information to be able to trace the com-pany, ie. Name, address, business registra-tion, detail of invoice and total amount.
¼ Check the companyOnce you have it, Google the pet ship-per’s name. You may come across a real pet shipping company, who you can ask to confirm that the email address you have or the emails you are receiving are from their company.
Overall be cautious online and always pre-fer to adopt a pet from your local pet res-cue shelter (www.spa.asso.fr); or buy from a reputable breeder.
BEWARE OF PET SCAMSBy Charlotte Robe-Hughes
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EXPATRIATES IN PARIS EXPATRIATESMAG
22
xpatriates Magazine: You’ve spoken a lot about the impor-tance of creating health and
about “lifestyle medicine” as a way of treating and preventing illness and oth-er health problems. Can you give us some suggestions on how to do that?
That is a broad question. I’d say the three most essential things are diet, stress re-duction, and emotional well-being.
To remain healthy and prevent diseases, proper diet and nutrition is the most im-portant factor to consider. We truly are what we eat. As a consequence, food is our best and safest medi-cine. The more we know about how food affects our unique body and how we feel, the more control we have over our life, health, and destiny. From both a professional and personal perspective, I cannot over-state this fact and its sin-gular importance. No other factor affects our health and mood as much as what we eat! That’s why being educated and proactive is so important. It’s a fact that most of the major health problems people have can be prevented or treated with the right diet. Given the opportunity, the body will heal itself, and appro-priate diet helps facilitate that process.
It’s good to know some basics about how the body works. It must have the right kind and quantity of macro- and micro-nutrients to sustain it. But just as impor-tant as what we take in is what happens to by-products of this process: what’s left over after digestion and metabolism. If the
body cannot absorb nutrients and process food properly, it will gradually weaken. If the excretory system does not eliminate adequately, toxicity will build up over time. Those toxins will spread throughout the body, compromising cell function and causing acidity.
Most disease develops because of the body’s inability to function properly. The body becomes overwhelmed and then starts to break down. This can be avoided by preventing toxic buildup and overstimulation of the nervous system.
Even genetic predispositions to particular diseases can be prevented through appro-priate diet. Diet also directly affects our emotional state and mental health, which in turn affects how well our immune sys-tem functions. The body and mind are intimately connected and part of a great feedback loop.
Stress is the sec-ond most impor-tant factor in our health. People underestimate its impact. Long-term stress is especially damaging to some organs. Stress is both mental and physical and can be both internally and externally gen-erated. In either case, the extent of stress’s impact
depends on how a person responds to it physically and emotionally. Sleep and re-lationships also play a big role. Lack of sleep can cause a lot of unnoticed stress; many people are sleep-deprived and don’t recognize that as the origin of their stress.
If stress can’t be avoided, people should find ways to effectively manage it. Sup-portive relationships are central to helping us handle stress. For those have difficulty handling life’s problems, some forms of psychotherapy can be very useful. Deep breathing, yoga, Tai Chi, and most forms
of physical exercise are useful activities for reducing and prevent-ing stress. Meditation and prayer have also proven very effective in reducing stress. Find what best fits your body and personality, and go with that. The important thing is to do it on a regular basis. I always recommend that people find time each day for deep re-laxation—it’s worth it! Just like eating and sleeping, relaxing and exercising should be part of your daily life.
Another important fac-tor in our health and happiness is meaning. People who feel pur-pose and meaning in their lives tend to live
healthier, more satisfying lives. Some people call this the “spiritual dimension” of life. The common denominator is that it connects people on an emotional level to something greater than their separate selves. The more isolated people feel, the more stress it puts on their immune system, emotional life, and motivation. Feeling part of something greater than ourselves is a great motivator. Meaning can penetrate every aspect of our life.
These are the key principles to a healthy life; if we take them into account in how we live, many of our problems can be re-paired or prevented.
Keyvan Golestaneh M.A., L.Ac. is a nat-ural and Chinese medical practitioner, herbalist, bodyworker, psychotherapist and writer with 30 years experience in Yoga, meditation and Qi Gong. He is the director of the Conscious Health Institute. www.LapisHolisticHealth.com & www.ConsciousHealthInstitute.org
E
EM
PREVENTINGILLNESS
ille, France: Over the course of a few sunny October days, the Catholic University of Lille
hosted the annual congress of SIETAR France. SIETAR stands for Society of Intercultural Education, Training and Research, and its purpose is to encour-age the development and application of knowledge, values and skills which ena-ble effective intercultural and intereth-nic relations.
Dr. Franck Scola presented his full day workshop on the “Need for Customized Medical Services for Professional Expa-triates and Accompanying Families”; a novel topic that receives limited attention from Global Mobility and HR profession-als. Dr. Scola is not only the doctor at an international school, but also a researcher (SIETAR, AIEP, Dauphine, Paris 13) as well as a certified intercultural mediator and trainer (health, corporate and aca-demic context). He argues that the mobil-ity of the modern-day workforce in terms of international relocation has not only an impact on the social and psychologi-cal state of the employee and family, but also affects them physically. The change of physical, cultural, linguistic and social environment and changed access to proper and adequate medical care has a demon-strated impact on life as a couple, as a pro-fessional and as a developing child. Since an expatriation is often considered a privi-lege, there is little known research into the vulnerable state of transition that a profes-sional and his family finds themselves in.
In order to not only acknowledge, but also appropriately and effectively respond to the specific needs and potential cultural differences in health care (e.g. patient to
caretaker relationship, different cultural interpretations of diseases, who and how to consult), medical staff, HR/Global Mo-bility professionals, and MNC* manage-ment must be further educated and coordi-nate their efforts. Providing a list of native language-speaking doctors is not a suffi-cient response to the physical and psycho-logical needs during an expatriation. The main challenges of effective medical care in cross-cultural situations besides the lin-guistic barrier are:
•Lack of knowledge about the medical system in the host country •Being sick whilst out of your comfort zone (non-objective determinants that influence a diagnosis are often under-mined)•Cultural differences of the patient and the medical staff (i.e. behaviors and descriptions of symptoms can be in-terpreted differently, different expecta-tions towards medical staff and health care facilities and services)•Risk of expatriate network taking on the role of a medical advisor (often not well-informed, biased evaluations of medical care in host country, word of mouth recommendations)
Dr. Scola’s goals are that all involved par-ties work together to create a system that buffers the potential risks of expatriation (physical, psychological and social risks). In order to do so, expatriation-specific measures for prevention, as well as an-ticipated access to adapted medical care should be put in place to ensure the health and safety of expatriated staff and their families with adequate medical support and proper understanding of their situa-tion.
COMPETENT AND ADEQUATE MEDICAL SUPPORT FOR EXPATRIATES NEEDED
By Susan Salzbrenner, Fit across Cultures
From left to right :George simons , Rita Booker-Solymosi, Franck Scola, Raphaël reiter, Niam Tixier, Patrick Schmidt, Marie-Therese Claes, Deborah Swallow, Marie-Therese Claes. Photograph : Salz-brenner
L
New research from the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology in Glasgow postulates there are 4 pri-mary emotional states: happiness, anger, sadness and fear from which more complex emotions are derived.
It is these four primary emotional states that envelope and motivate us or provide caution. Just as nutrition-ists recommend that a well-balanced diet in moderate quantities from all 5 primary food groups is essential to good physical health, so experience of the four primary emotional states, in moderation, is essential to psy-chological well-being. The emotion-al states of happiness, anger, sadness and fear are fundamentally a tool to help guide thought and behaviour and influence social connections. Below is a concise explanation of the functions of each emotion.
Fear: 'fight or flight' reaction. Fear warns you to be more cautious, to give more analysis to a situation be-fore acting.
Anger: to signal something needs your attention and to communicate your thoughts and feelings when required to rectify a problem either with yourself or others.
Sadness: lets you know you have lost something of value. It is the sig-nal that you need to take time to pro-cess your thoughts around the loss and not rush through life without due processing of loss.
Happiness: well, happiness is the feel-good emotion. The more hap-piness experienced, the greater the buffer against negative emotions oc-curring in unhealthy quantities.
It is clear happiness is something to strive for and there are many path-ways to happiness, yet don’t make happiness the goal, but rather the process to 'well-being', 'life satisfac-tion' and 'living the good life'.
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Festive special offers to readersAcross3. Which of Santa's reindeer shares its name with asmall solar system body (5)
4. Which 3 dimensional puzzle, sold by Ideal Toy Corp.,was the most popular Christmas gift in 1980? (6,4)
6. Who had a Christmas number one UK hit single with"Merry Xmas Everybody" in 1973? (5)
8. Which famous scientist born on Christmas day wasthe first scientist to be buried in Westminster Abbey inLondon? (3,5,6)
14. What is Scrooge's Christian name? (8)
15. Children receive presents from 'Befana' depicted asa witch on a broom stick, on 6th January in whichEuropean country? (5)
Down
1. Which socialist state officially ceased to exist on 25December in 1991? (4)
2. In the Christmas song Jingle Bells the horse was 'leanand....’. What'? (4)
3. In which German city would you find the Shrine of TheThree Kings? (7)
5. Who won a boxing match on Christmas Day 1950 witha technical knock out against Hans Stretz? (5,3,8)
7. What is the name given to Father Christmas inFrance? (4,4)
9. Which English author wrote the book ‘A ChristmasCarol’? (7,7)
10. Santa's nine reindeer share how many hooves? (6,3)
11. Which fictional land never has a Christmas but it'salways winter? (6)
12. What is the name of Kevin's older brother in the film‘Home Alone’? (4)
Untitled
Across3. Which of Santa's reindeer shares its name with a small solar system body (5)4. Which 3 dimensional puzzle, sold by Ideal Toy Corp., was the most popular Christmas gift in 1980? (6,4)6. Who had a Christmas number one UK hit single with "Merry Xmas Everybody" in 1973? (5)8. Which famous scientist born on Christmas day was the first scientist to be buried in Westminster Abbey in London? (3,5,6)14. What is Scrooge's Christian name? (8)15. Children receive presents from 'Befana' depicted as a witch on a broom stick, on 6th January in which European country? (5)
Down1. Which socialist state officially ceased to exist on 25 December in 1991? (4)2. In the Christmas song Jingle Bells the horse was ‘lean and....’. What’? (4)3. In which German city would you find the Shrine of The Three Kings? (7)5. Who won a boxing match on Christmas Day 1950 with a technical knock out against Hans Stretz? (5,3,8)7. What is the name given to Father Christmas in France? (4,4)9. Which English author wrote the book ‘A Christmas Carol’? (7,7)10. Santa’s nine reindeer share how many hooves? (6,3)11. Which fictional land never has a Christmas but it’s always winter? (6)12. What is the name of Kevin’s older brother in the film ‘Home Alone’? (4)13. In the Christmas song ‘Jingle Bells’, how many horses pulled the sleigh? (3)
Test your Christmas knowledge
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