Naturalization: First Interview at the Prefecture

Patience is a virtue. If you want to be French, then be patient.

For the record, 14 months had passed between the moment I applied for naturalization and the moment I was interviewed at the Prefecture. I'm not surprised tho. I was told that they're already submerged of 10 months equivalent of files to process when I submitted my documents. Good thing, I wasn't in a hurry.

When I received the appointment at home, I asked my Filipino friends living in France for some typical questions asked during this much-awaited interview. I prefer attacking a battle armed! Each of them of course had their own experiences so here's mine:

I had my appointment at 11am but that didn't mean I was received at exactly that time. There were 2 girls before me so I waited like around 30 long minutes before the interview.

When my turn came, I was asked first for some additional papers:

- Kyla's proof of French nationality

- Louna's proof of scolarity

- my pay slip for the last 3 months

- my pay slip for December 2008

- latest CAF certificate

- tax revenue declaration for 2007 and 2008

- frenchguy's pay slip for the last 3 months

And then the questions. I was practically asked the same questions already asked on the documents I furnished. Like when did I arrive? When did I start working? etc. Other questions were: What language is used at home? Am I part of any association? Do I frequent French communities or rather foreign communities? Why do I want to be French? Why didn't I apply earlier? etc.

The questionning part was rather cool and stress-free. But the announced waiting time wasn't cool at all. Apparently, the police department will do their investigation thing, then after their official report, my file will be forwarded to the Ministère des Affaires Etrangères before the countdown begins. Count 15 months, I was told.

Wow!

Valentine Date

I’m not the romantic type. Take it or leave it. So when Frenchguy gave me the reservation card on one of the most reputed restaurant in Dijon, I started complaining... till he said it’s for me and my mom.

Oh (pause). That made me stop complaining… till I realized it’s still Valentine’s Day and it’s still baduy! The complains continued till I finally found a parking space and parked my car - probably a hundred meter from the restaurant! What an idea to go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day!

Well, okay. I’ll stop complaining..

The restaurant is set in a lovely décor situated in an old wine cellar at the basement. The ambiance required a certain level of standing, Burgundy snobbism at its best. I told my Mom, Let them do the job. Just go with the flow. An employee took off our coats and accompanied us to our table. She then pulled the chair back to help us sit comfortably. My Mom started to observe the place, overwhelmed by the thickness of walls surrounding us – not even a bomb could destroy them, me thinks.

Dinner was officially announced when the amuse bouche were served. I have this bad habit of counting the hours when I dine in fine restaurants like that (we dined for 3 hours, 6 servings). I also checked the list of wines which almost made me choke. But anyway, I couldn’t take a bottle, I’m driving palusot pa!. Each meal were finely prepared, beautifully decorated and well presented. I told my Mom to just smile and say merci pour each explanation of our meal. She then asked me if we could take a picture. I said yes if she wouldn’t mind being looked at - it’s like announcing that we don’t belong there. It’s not a restaurant where common tourist go only those who want to taste Bourgogne gastronomy at its finest. With that, she suddenly changed her mind.

The conversation was the highlight of the night – it was Valentine-inspired, what else. You wouldn’t believe it but we talked about our ex-es, our crushes, those who courted us, about my Dad and about my Frenchguy. We were like young girls talking about our respective prince charming. My Mom’s 65 year old and so what? Lol.

What about you? Anything special on Valentine’s Day?

Yaya

When Louna’s former nanny announced that she’s pregnant, we felt real happiness for her for around a second. The seconds which followed were realizations of a long process of nanny hiring à la française.

A lot of questions were asked on what solution we would take? Will we hire an assistante maternelle (a chid-care provider who could guard 3 kids in her place) like what we did for Louna? That would mean that Louna should eat at the canteen everyday and stay at the nursery after school because that nanny would only take care of Kyla and not Louna. What if we’re both on travel and couldn’t fetch her from school before 6pm (nursery closes at 6pm)? Will we hire another person, a périscolaire to fetch her from school? Another concern is that Louna should stay from 8:30am to 5:30-6pm everyday at school. That’s pretty much for a 3 year old!

Though that solution is financially more interesting, the time constraints and the lack of flexibility are frightening us. We progressively looked at another option.

Garde d’enfants à domicile. Yaya almost-pinoy-style (not the stay-in type). Somebody who would take care of the kids in our place. In addition to being a nanny, she would take care of the different household chores like cleaning, ironing and even cooking. Another advantage is that, she could fetch Louna from school at noon and have her lunch at home. Kyla could stay in bed and won’t wake up early in the morning to go to her nanny’s place. We won’t need to hire a cleaning lady.

We long hesitated to succumb in this solution because of the economic aspect but after an analysis, the little amount of euro we would add for this option would mean comfort for the whole family.

We had been actively pursuing this solution since two weeks now. We posted an announcement at the ANPE (employment agency) which transmitted a good number of CVs and letters of motivation to us. Frenchguy and I started to study the CVs and eliminated those which didn’t reply to our criteria. With that, we were able to cut down the number of candidates to 8. A series of phone interviews followed and 4 of the candidates caught our interest. We will meet them this Thursday and Friday for a face-to-face interview (yes, we will even take a leave for that! – but hey, one of these person would probably take care of my kids.)

While studying the CVs, I had this uncomfortable feeling of responsibility knowing that the future of those candidates depended on my decision – especially in this hard moment of economic chaos. There was this African applicant who seemed to be motivated and hardworking but lacked a driver’s license. There was this woman, a former office secretary. She’s almost perfect but I don’t need a secretary! There were women who live far from Dijon but were willing to drive more than 30km to bag the job. There were those young ladies, too young to have job experiences and old enough to have kids of their own.

In this selection process, I probably practiced racism and discrimination in one sole objective – that is, to find the best nanny who would take good care of my girls. And that’s one tough job!

My Mom is quite overwhelmed of this whole process. Overwhelmed by the fact that we will pay social charges for the nanny, that the candidates are mostly diploma holders specialized in child care, that interviews are even fixed, that even a retired teacher and a secretary applied for the job.

Aba e, sa probinsya namin, wala daw lahat nyan no.

Almost Widow

Frenchguy almost fainted last week while playing squash. His left arm felt numb, he had difficulty aiming the ball, he lost equilibrium then thought his toungue was bloated (he had difficulty talking). Somebody applied first aid on him and when he thought he was okay, he then threw up everything he had for lunch.

He had doppler examination the next day which showed that his left vertebral vein was clogged. He had anti-coagulants from then on. His head was scanned two days ago which showed that everything was normal. Everybody's relieved with the results, and him, he's again thinking of pursuing sports.

Everybody at work knew about the news. No wonder, he played with a colleague. Here's some sympathizing conversations with them:

Colleague 1: So, the poison's starting to take effect?

Colleague 2: I heard that you're almost a widow. Too sad. Try again next time.

Colleague 3: Did he already sign the heritage certificate?

Colleague 4: Whoa! You'll be single again!

After the brain scan:

Colleague 5: At least now, he has an evidence that he's got a brain.

That's French humour! I reply them with the same humour, of course, and now they describe me as a young happy widow.

But kidding aside, that incident made me realize all the more that I'm a foreigner in this country. I don't even know my rights in full detail. And how would I proceed if something bad happens? Will I stay in the same house? How will I take care of the garden? I don't even know how to start the lawn mower! How will I do with the kids without any family around? What if I need to travel because of work? And would I be able to keep my job inspite of the economic crisis? What if? Will I stay in France?

Nah! Too much questions unanswered. I told Frenchguy that he's still not allowed to go but should sign the heritage blahblahs, lol.

PS: Frenchguy's doing great and says HI.

First Day at Work

Yes. I'm again on work mode. Since Monday. And already busy.

I spent almost my whole day in our conference room on my first day. 9:30am to 1:30pm talking about strategies on how to decrease production cost. 2:30pm to 5:00pm talking about a new project I'll be working on. My wonderful bosses filled up time slots in my outlook calendar even before I arrived. The big boss was even reminding me that he needed to talk to me on another subject but that could still wait till next week. What a day! I missed the traditionnal morning and afternoon café where almost everybody gather in a small room sipping their hot coffee or tea talking about all kinds of nonsense except work.

The next day, Tuesday, my supposed-to-be meeting at 10:00am was luckily cancelled and moved to Thursday. I had time deleting and reading unimportant messages. Important messages were kept aside thinking I'll have time today at home to read some messages (I won't work every Wednesdays to take care of my kids). But nah, I have too much stuffs to do at home too. It's now 4:00pm here and I haven't opened my work laptop yet. I'll try later when the kids are in bed (they're now taking a nap), I need to prepare my meeting tomorrow.

Going back on my first day, it's funny how my colleagues greeted me. After the usual beso beso followed by classic new year greetings like bonne année, bonne santé and meilleur voeux, almost all of them striked a quick glance on my tummy and said nothing. Mga usi, lol.

PS: Picture on the left is the only picture of me last Christmas. I'm always behind the cam. Don't be fooled tho. Remember a lot of years ago when Baguio was hit by an earthquake? Where roads and buildings were heavily cracked and damaged? Let's say it was intensity 7.6 on the Richter scale. My abdomen looks like it was hit by an intensity 8. Heavily cracked and damaged.

End of Maternity Leave

Time flies! Not only is Kyla growing, work is also waiting. Would you believe it, I'm supposed to get back to work next Monday, December 22! That's exactly Kyla's 3rd month and the official re-start of my career life. Darn!

But nah! I won't start work before Christmas. Ayoko nga. I'll take some paid leave. I sent an email to my boss yesterday to officially inform him and at the same time ask him to sign a leave form for me. Formality side, I need to sign that form for insurance purposes. And since I opened my work email account through web access, I continued browsing through the pages to keep up with what's happening at work well,to be honest, I've been opening my account from time to time. To sum up, my project didn't progress as I hoped it to be and my calendar started to fill up. I know that I need to meet up with a Thai colleague on January 12, a meeting on this and that date and so on. I then continued deleting a love email from our system administrator informing me that my inbox reached its maximum limit. Nonsense. I again continued browsing, opening only those unimportant messages like my boss buying me a backpack for my laptop. That's cool.

An email about winners and awards was also there but I ignored. Our department is organizing a yearly contest on practices and projects which yield great benefits for the company. It's on a global level so it's a good way to know what our Asian and American colleagues do while we drink our coffee here in France, lol. Frenchguy called me up last night to congratulate me he's again on work travel. he found the best method to get away with dirty diapers and nursing kyla at night. Apparently, I won one of the awards. It's a project I did in collaboration with my favorite Thai colleague.

My reaction? Darn! I hate it. I don't work to get awards. I just do what I need to do. Period. Now, I need to go to Paris dressed up I-don't-know-how to dine in a private museum or I-don't-know-where with the big bosses and deliver a speech on how we got such great results. All that to get an award! The problem is, I'm not used wearing formal dresses I love my shirts and jeans! and I hate speeches. And if it's delivered in French, my, get ready with my terrible accent. I have stage fright!

Hayy, ang laki ng problema ko no?

Home Alone II

Frenchguy left again this morning. He will be in the US until Tuesday next week. That would mean I need to move double time again. But the thoughtful Frenchguy made sure that I have food to heat in the oven and I have fruits and yoghurts in the fridge at least until Friday. That would already save me a hell lot of time from preparing food.

This morning, I woke up earlier than usual to prepare Louna for school. School starts at 8:45am but Kyla's still sleeping by that time. I hesitated a bit but finally decided to leave Kyla alone at home while I brought Louna to school My! I wish my Mom is already here. That was to prevent disturbing her sleeping pattern and exposing her to the cold winter temperature. 15 minutes later, I was already back at home but Kyla was still sleeping. The little girl changed her behaviour from a fussy Kyla last week to a sleeping beauty this week. In fact, she's still sleeping until now that's why I could blog.

Well, going back to Frenchguy, he'll be spending one whole weekend in the US. That would mean SHOPPING! I made a list for the kids but nothing for me. No idea, as usual. Would you be kind enough to throw some gift ideas ;). If you were me, what would you like for Christmas?

Home Alone with the 2 Girls

Frenchguy left for Ireland today and will be back Friday night. My much awaited break after office hour, when Frenchguy's home will be suspended till this weekend. The 2 girls will surely know how to overload my schedule. To start, I have to wake up earlier to bring Louna to school. The cold weather will surely not play to our advantage. Then in the afternoon, I need to stretch my patience so I could attend to their exigences. Wish me energy, patience and enough sleep.

Would You Let Your Baby Cry?

Parenting style had always been a hot topic between Frenchguy and I. Too hot that we often raise voices each time we talk about it. The biggest culprit are none other than the differences in culture and education we received as individuals. Co-sleeping for example, though tolerated at home is not practiced in Frenchguy's family. And since they just can't just shrug their shoulders to such kind of idea, they would talk about the dangers of co-sleeping and how a child could develop a certain degree of dependence to their parents. Why the heck are they so afraid to be too close to their kids? When discussions are focused on such topic, I have this feeling that I need to defend my culture and tradition to the same people who already heard what I needed to say 3 years ago, when Louna was born.

Breastfeeding was half-heartedly accepted this time. No comments from MIL who had a word warning from Frenchguy during Louna's time. But in one of Kyla's fussy nights (pre-osteopath time), Frenchguy asked me if I was sure my breastfeeding was effective. That's a comment too much to an already worried and tired mom. He had his dose of my motherhood-induced katarayan in no time.

Since they know that I would accept but a little compromise in terms of motherhood, they would often accept shut their mouth and let me react according to what I feel and think is right. I'm the mother after all.

But crying is another problem. Frenchguy would often suggest to let Kyla cry. He's afraid I'm spoiling my daughter. But leaving a baby cry should depend on the moment. I wouldn't leave her cry when all she claims is to rock her to sleep, right? And I'm just doing the same as I did for Louna. And honestly, Louna was and is never a cry baby. She's even surprised to see kids cry or throw tantrums in malls or playgrounds. What I'm afraid in allowing babies cry too long is that they get used to it and use it to get what they want.

Hayy. It's during these moments when I want to send Frenchguy back to his mom. Buti na lang, my mom will be here end of December and will stay for 3 months. May kakampi na ako.

A Mom to a Pre-Schooler

Today is Louna's first day at the pre-school. The night before, we were able to let her pronounce her teacher's name which is Barbara. The next day, everybody was up quite early, too excited maybe to prepare ourselves for the first day. Even Frenchguy took his morning off to experience this special milestone with Louna.

Arriving there, some kids already started crying while Louna stared at them, holding our hands, quite teary-eyed herself. She was probably thinking if crying was SOP. Does she have to cry too? Then she started to try the new toys around, then moved from one table to another. She was even able to talk to another girl and asked her if she could take the toy camera. Then she started taking pictures till it was time for us to leave.

Teacher B took her hand trying to assure her that everything will be alright. She cried silently when we left. But like a spy, we peeked on the window before we left. There, she was already mingling with other kids. She in fact stopped crying in no time.

She was already smiling when we went back to fetch her. First day was a promise of a fruitful school year. Parents had worried faces when they brought their kids to school. But all those worried faces were replaced by happy faces, excited to know how their kids fared. My, still can't believe I'm one of those parents.

Private vs Public School

We've chosen to enroll her at a private school. So ok, alright. I have been constantly complaining of the amount we're paying for our taxes and how few of those euros we put in the government's pocket we get in return. And now that we get the chance to profit of those contributions by enrolling Louna at a public school, we've deliberately chosen to register her at a private school. Why?

- because with this strike-infested country, we're afraid we find ourselves hostage of this national malady. With the kind of work schedule we have, we can't afford to be absent because the teacher is on strike.
- because the principal at the public school didn't give us a good impression whilst the principal at the private school showed motivation and dynamism - a certain level of competitiveness which was a deciding factor for us.
- because we registered Louna on both schools and whilst we had all the information from the private school, we don't even know if Louna is indeed enrolled at the public school. We had no news.
- because smile is somewhat easier to give in that private school than in the public school (at least that's what I observed).

School Fees

I have written an entry on how school fees (and the cost of living in general) in the Philippines are extremely unproportional to the minimum wage of the Filipinos, wherein I got varied comments ranging from ok lang to grabe, sobra nga. I even expressed my sentiments on how we make education inaccessible to most of the Filipinos, and that alone is a start of discrimination.

This raging sentiment is fired up by the fact that if I were an engineer in the Philippines gaining an average salary as practiced today, most probably, I won't be able to send my kids to Mapua, my alma mater. Depressing, right?

Here in France, Frenchies complain about their prevailing system which for me remains reasonable. Well, they complain all the time, anyway. Let me illustrate:

For a private pre-school here in Dijon, we will pay 414€ (P28,040 at 1€ = P67.73) for a year fee distributed as follows:

Yearly Tuition Fee : 282€
Sport Activities : 58.5€
Inscription Fee : 47€
Catechism Contribution : 26.5€

Now, stop converting to Peso. Be factual. Minimum daily wage in France amounts to 60.79€ (1321.02€/month) for a 35h/week legal duration. A yearly fee at a private pre-school would represent less than 7 days of work.

Minimum daily wage in the Philippines amounts to P345 - P382 (~P10,000/month). Did I hear P100,000 yearly fee at a private pre-school still considered cheap in the Philippines? Well, at that rate, a yearly fee at a private school would represent 10 months of work in the Philippines.

Logical? Think again.

The Long Road to Being French

Quite a lot of people around me ask why I don't request for the French nationality yet to which I reply I dont feel the need to be French.. yet. At work, I could go to most of the destinations without a visa. Or if needed, visas are easier to obtain from here anyway. I already used my 10-year US tourist visa to go to work without any problem.

But vacations start to be restraint because of my green passport. I need to prepare everything in advance (in destinations where I need a visa) whilst I could play my luck with last minute reservations which are cheaper most of the time.

So I fixed my objective. I need to file my application for naturalization during my maternity leave. And so I went yesterday. With me is a 1-cm-thick file comprising:

- Cerfa n°12753*01 : Request for Acquisition of French Nationality by Naturalization / Reintegration in 2 copies
- Photocopy of valid Resident Card
- NBI clearance : legalized and translated by the Philippine Embassy in Paris at 20€/page
- 2 ID pictures 35x40 mm with name and date of birth written at the back
- Birth Certificate (moi + my parents) : Original + photocopy, legalized and translated by the Philippine Embassy in Paris at 20€/page
- Photocopy of my passport + all pages with stamp
- PACS certificate : latest from Tribunal des Grandes Instances de Paris
- Birth Certificate of Louna
- Photocopy of Passport: Louna and Frenchguy
- Health record of Louna (vaccination)
- Certificate of Ownership (Acte de propriéte) + EDF/GDF bills
- Academic Certificate - Louna
- Job certificate
- Job contract
- Payslip for the last 3 months + payslip for the month of December for the last 3 years
- Diploma which I obtained here in France
- CAF certificate : any monthly financial aide obtained from government organizations
- Certificate of Tax on Revenu for the last 3 years
- Fiscal Situation Statement (revenu, propriétary and resident taxes) for the last 3 years obtained from trésor Public

But married individuals have other requirements to file. Please check out this site if you're interested.

As for my application, I was told that my file won't be opened in a few months. No surprises. My colleague has just obtained her French nationality after 2 years. She was interviewed prior to the obtention of her papers but apparently, the questions were the same as what I had during the obtention of my 10-year resident card which I wrote here. And future applicants, don't worry, you won't sing La Marseillaise.

PS: Ma Crèche Privée has just been updated - 8th Month Visit.

Finally, I'm on Maternity Leave

It was my last day yesterday. Though my colleagues couldn't believe their eyes, seeing me near my playstation (the machine which I designed, the reason why I was always in Milan last year and early this year) up to the last day, I was still 100% on work mode yesterday. Frenchguy told me that in the history of the company, I was probably the only one who worked up to a month before D Day. Most future moms take their leave 8 weeks before D Day.

But that machine is my baby too. I defined it. The processes which would be installed in it are the processes which I master like no other in our department. No wonder, the management trusted the project to me.

But well, there's more to life than work. I'll be taking care of my kids. I'll be a SAHM, finally, at least for 4 months. Louna will be starting pre-school on Thursday. I had checked some activities for her since there'll be no school every Wednesday. I'll be enrolling her to Music and English for kids. I'm getting excited to see her mingle with other kids. She's been doing baby gym last school year but it was the nanny who's accompanying her. Now, it will be me. Her mom!

The second baby could pop anytime now. I'm preparing all necessary stuffs for the D Day. From maternity bag to baby announcement card.

My maternity leave has just started but my calendar already started to fill up. I need to see my OB Gyne for my monthly check-up then my midwife for my birthing classes. I need to go to the laboratory for a blood analysis. I need to enroll Louna to different activities at the center. I need to file my application for naturalization at the prefecture. I need to go to the pharmacy. I want to have a massage at the newly-opened massage center. I need to plan a visit for my Mexican friend who will be coming over for a week vacation with us. I need to change the design of the baby announcement card because pregnant women change their decisions every second (And hey, haven't you noticed? I changed this blog's layout and Louna's blog's layout too! Call that a milestone because I'm a techno-bobo! And please tell me, the new layout rocks!)

Who says I'm on vacation?

Fidelity Cards Make Me Travel for FREE

I have always been a fan of fidelity cards and I love the advantages. I have 3 active cards:

1. Lufthansa Miles and More where I'm a Frequent Traveller (silver member). Since Lufthansa is a member of Star Alliance group, I could earn miles even if I always travel with Thai Airways. My cumulated miles could get me 3 round-trip tickets to the Philippines. But well, I still need to wait before I could use them.

2. KLM Air France Flying Blue where I'm an Ivory member (Skyteam member). Since I seldom travel to our US sites, I hardly cumulate points. But Frenchguy's raking quite a lot because of his frequent stops in the US. We already travelled to the US for free. We even offered a vacation to La Reunion (French Department) to my SIL, for 4 person! Not bad, right?

3. SNCF Grand Voyageur where I have the très grand voyageur status. It's a fidelity card offered by the fast train network here in France (and some parts of Europe). And just like the previous fidelity cards, this one is also a member of a big group, my favorite supermarket included. So I cumulate all the s'miles (that's how they call their point system) in one card and enjoy the advantages at an accelerated pace.

I just ordered 2 round-trip train tickets for my coming vacation this Saturday and had them the next day at my mailbox. Efficient! Free! And mind you, I just saved 180€ in just one click.

In fact, my OB Gyne discouraged me to take the car for a 6-hour drive so we decided that Frenchguy and Louna take the car (since we have quite a lot of stuffs to bring) and I take the fast train. At least I could change position, walk from time to time, and travel time would be much lesser. That's cool.

That is to say, I'll be on vacation starting this Saturday. For two weeks. So this not-active blog will be much less active in the coming weeks. Ciao!

PS: Check out my 7th Month Update at Ma Crèche Privée.

Régime de Solidarité

Like most, if not all of the EU countries, France takes social solidarity at heart. And the Frenchies would go on strike on all the streets of France metropolitan to keep all their social benefits intact. But France is spending more than it earns. A social reform is more than necessary but the Frenchies just won't let go.

Left-wing parties and supporters would criticize today's government as pro-rich because they reformed taxes so as these chosen fews wouldn't give 50% of their income to the government. Considering that revenu taxes comprise 20% of the total revenu, they need to smoothly lighten the burden to keep the remaining chosen fews in France. It's not uncommon to hear that a certain rich kid had transferred its fiscal address to Switzerland or Monaco because of fiscality reasons. Because aside from tax revenus, these rich kids are also liable for solidarity tax on wealth (assets amounting to 760,000€ on January 1, 2007). So why stay in France and pay a lot of taxes when they could go elsewhere and keep their moolahs?

So it's a fact. These rich kids are financing the majority of revenu taxes. They fund monthly allowances for kids, daycares, retirements, etc. They're cash cows. We need to keep them. Underpriviledged populations should slow down a bit on their whining and think a bit. The real victim of this social government are the middle class - like me.

So ok, I'll rant. Our household income falls on that painful 30% bracket and we get almost no financial assistance from the government. Not even the 800€ government gift for each birth. When we searched for a daycare, we learned that it will be more expensive for us to leave Louna there rather than hire a nanny (who takes care of 2 other kids). And that's because of our salary bracket.

So whatever we get from the government: monthly nanny allowance and free medications (vaccins for Louna, all pregnancy expenses, etc), we deserve every single euro of it. We pay 30%!

FYI. I normally laugh at them when I hear them complain. Spoiled brats. I always compare their social advantages to what we don't have in the Philippines. But the heck. They pay and they just want more from their money (though most of those who really complain are those who don't contribute). But I'm open to compromises. I know that we're on deficit so an intelligent reform is more than necessary. And I said intelligent reform!

Family on the Limelight

Talks are on going on the reform of family allowances. The government proposes a one-time increase of allowances for teenagers starting at age 14 (+60€) as opposed to the old version wherein, a first increase is given at age 11 (+50€) then at age 16 (+60€). The savings which will be gathered from this reform would be used to increase the number of daycare centers and to increase government assistance on nanny pays.

I was starting to get excited on the news when I heard that it will again be indexed on the household income. Darn!

Confort de Vie

Having a second child had been a hot topic at home. Frenchguy had been wanting another one since Louna blew her first candle. I was on the other hand taken into a whirlwind of work and was enjoying it. I was given more responsibilities, given a challenging project.. and I'm the kind who respect engagement at work.

Close family and friends started to ask for a little brother or a little sister when Louna blew the second candle. I always answered with a shy smile, justifying my indifference with reasons like : Louna's still too young or life in France is difficult. Frenchguy thought I wasn't interested. Then the topic died a natural death. Frenchguy not daring to ask avoiding disppointment, afraid of my negative answer.

Then my project had taken a lot of delay. And Louna's now approaching her 3rd birthday. I thought, there's more to life than burning my ass off at work...

Frenchguy was teary-eyed upon learning about the good news. It came as a surprise. Finally, he talked about his sentiments about my reactions when we talk about having a second child. He thought I would never be ready.

Announcing my pregnancy at work was another exercise - I hate to leave my job half-done - but it's time to set priorities. My boss wished me a healthy baby boy with a little survey on the side - What if it's a girl?

The question caught me unprepared. What if it's a girl? Without too much reflection, I told him that we only plan for two kids. Then adding that Life in France is difficult.

The last sentence surprised him. How on earth could life in France be more difficult if the only reference I have is life in the Philippines? He removed his glasses and looked at me inquisitively.

So I explained.

In the Philippines, it's just normal to have stay-in all-around maids and yayas even in lower middle class families. Families are always around to give us a hand especially in taking care of our kids. School buses are available to take our kids to school.

In France, it's another kind of lifestyle, thus another type of comfort. Both engineers in a multinational company, a leader in its domain at that, we cannot really claim that we receive a miserable salary. But all we could pay is a househelp who works 3 hours a week, cleaning and ironing included, and a nanny who takes care of 2 other kids aside from Louna, 8:15am - 5:45pm Monday to Friday.

With that, a load of houseworks still awaits us before and after work:

- Prepare breakfast / dinner.
- Clear the table (Even this tiny bit of housechore counts when you know Louna has to be at the nanny's place at 8:20am and on bed at 9:00pm. And yes, sometimes, it's left unclean in the morning.).
- Bring / fetch Louna at her nanny's place (Check the time. Avoid paying overtime.)
- Teach Louna ABCs and car colors while on the road. Time is gold.
- Bath time for Louna. Oh and yes, we still do baby massage till now. Tho it takes time, it sure gives us more bonding time.
- Prepare clothes for the next day (I loss a lot of time thinking about what clothes to wear in the morning so I prepare it the night before).
- Play/DVD time in between other housechores. Story time before going to bed.
- Breakfast / Dinner. Good thing Louna's independent in this aspect.
- Wash clothes if needed.
- Do some groceries once a week.
- Please don't ask about the bed. It's quite a mess.
- Add more minutes when I need to scrape off snow from the car in the morning.

All that are simple chores but certainly entails time. We normally arrive at home around 6:00 - 6:30pm so I need to shrink all those listed above up to 9:00pm.

A typical pinoy employee working in the Philippines would watch TV with his kids upon arriving at home (or other activities, of course) - oh well, that's what I would do. This typical pinoy employee working in France would prepare dinner and/or bath her daughter and dress her in pajama during that same time. (Imagine having two kids and a husband on work travel!)

No, I'm not complaining. Grrrr. Errr, am I not?

Life in a Suitcase

Long overdue. Started writing during my work travel in Milan last March 17-20 till today.

I’m pretty much appreciating this short work travel as I left cold and rainy Dijon to switch to 14°C sunny Milan. I was preparing my stuffs last Sunday night and I realized how packing my luggage became close to ordinary. That is to say, it only took me less than 10 minutes to stuff my bag with all the essentials that I need for a week.

What’s the secret of my *ehem* efficiency? Simple. I have my toilet set and phone charger permanently residing in my suitcase. Yes, I have 2 toothbrushes, 2 sets of shampoos, conditioners, creams and what-have-yous – one at home, another in my suitcase. So, in fact, I only pack clothes.

Travelling has been and will always be a part of my job (unless I change of course). Best bars and restaurants in town, mileage accounts, hotel tales, plane misadventures or even best bargains are regular topics in my entourage.

In my domain, dealing with men is nothing but ordinary. I was trained during my Mapua days where almost 90% of the student population ticked M on the gender case. I’m in my best form when I’m wearing jeans. I only wear high-heeled shoes on special occasions. I can handle very dirty jokes. I can drink beer and not visit the toilet every single minute.

This work travel in Milan is somewhat new to me – different from my normal travels where I go to our production plants and work with my co-employees. Here, I deal with suppliers who have their specific budget to please customers. I think I loved Milan because of that. I was able to eat in great restaurants and taste the best gelatos and espressos in town without swiping my American Express. Anyway, our travel officer won’t appreciate a bill of 90€/person for one meal.

Milan is the biggest industrial zone in Europe and apparently the biggest port in Italy. Funny when you know that the sea is still miles away. In fact, all fresh sea foods arrive first-hand in Milan. Once they’ve chosen what’s best, the rest would finally be delivered to the rest of Italy. Well, that’s what the Milanese claim, lol.

Most hotels in Milan (or probably the whole of Italy??) are coupled with motels. In the hotel where I stayed, a 4-hour stay in the motel costs 40€. Now I understand why I didn’t sleep well. I thought the couple next door were simply on honeymoon. Now I know, Italians are simply hot, lol.

Life on work travel is longer. Errr, I mean, I work longer hours. So I don’t really visit. It’s far from being a tourist. So don’t blame me if I visit but bars. But lately, I was just contenting myself with glasses of non-alcoholic beverages and a drop of red or white wine. Boring.

When I arrived back in my office the week after, I finally announced my pregnancy to my boss and my colleagues. My boss, after scratching his head and forcing himself to be happy for me, asked me his most delicate question of the day: Until when will you be able to travel?

Probably until my 5th - 6th months of pregnancy, depending on my condition.

That said (I was just being polite, lol), I think I'll arrange my suitcase at the most inaccessible part of my closet for the moment...

I opted for B&B

Julie’s comment on my recent post made me smile (tho I didn’t get what R and R is, lol).

Ana, this seems to be exciting. Ok ang problema mo, where you would spend your vacation. Well, you work hard and you definitely deserve R and R.

Indeed, I’ve got a good problem and I’m not complaining. I have been hiding behind my computer lately, discrete, invisible, no sign of life – no blogging nor bloghopping (sorry for that). I am in fact lurking around the net, reading travel forums and blogs, comparing hotels and prices and checking for great destinations.

Our May vacation has finally been defined. It will be a road trip around the Tuscany region up to Rome. Ok, I know, I have already been there but that was like 5 years ago and we’ve changed the Pope eversince. That’s a whole lot of difference, ain’t it? And we’re planning to do more than visiting big cities. We’re thinking of checking on cooking lessons Italian style, take a walk in small, typical villages, observe wine or olive oil making, stay in a farm..

If only I was rich and I could spend without thinking, I could have reserved whatever is there (or ask somebody to reserve for me) without looking at the € sign. But no, I don’t have that luxury.. and luckily, because I enjoy reading those comments, bargain with prices and plan the itinerary myself.

My objective is to finish all the reservations this week. I have booked for Florence and Rome – both in Bed and Breakfast (Chambre d’Hôtes in France). And I’m definitely booking B&B for our stay in the Tuscany region.

Why B&B? I don’t know. I’m probably and unconsciously fed up with hotels (reminds me of work!). Let me tell you why I love B&Bs.

- Welcome is personalized. You get to be greeted by the owner of the house like you’re a long lost friend.
- If you’ve chosen your B&B well enough, you could have yourself served with marmalades made of fresh fruits from the owner’s backyard. (well, this could not be the case in big cities like Rome and Florence but it will be another experience altogether).
- You could take your breakfast without meeting hundreds of faces without anybody greeting you good morning.
- Rooms are decorated with a touch of personalization and not for commercial purposes only.

Prices are comparable to hotels and sometimes, even more expensive. But you get first-class accommodation. I have tried a lot of B&Bs in France and all of them got my two thumbs up. I also tried B&Bs in England and in Wales (oh, they’re expensive!), but I tell you, for the same price, I would go to B&Bs rather than hotels without hesitation! Now, Italy, it’s your turn.

*There are some other types of accommodations which I find exciting but in the impossibility to do so. Couch surfing and home switching. They’re both internet-based and free. All you need to do is register in some available sites, create your profile and off you go.

Couch surfing is easy (mainly for students lol), you check for the city you plan to visit, surf for members with an available sofa (or even a little space on the floor!), and ask for permission. If it’s ok, then you visit the city without paying for accommodation. And if you’re lucky enough, you get a free tourist guide too.

Home switching is kinda different. The owners should be on vacation too while you invade their abode. I’ve heard that you could even borrow their cars! Cool, huh?

What about you? Are you ready for such kinds of travel accommodation adventures or are you the no-risk traditional traveller?

*Bed & breakfast is a term, originating in the UK, but now also used in North America, for a place that offers bed accommodation, and breakfast in return for payment, but usually does not offer other meals. Typically, especially in the UK, bed and breakfasts are private homes with only one or two bedrooms available for commercial use.

A boarding house is different from and has a longer history than a bed & breakfast. The boarding house was for longer term stays, bed and breakfast was for people travelling through the area on short stays.

Source: Wikipedia

The Art Of Vacationing

It was a lazy weekend. Though it was sunny the whole Saturday and Sunday, the below-freezing temperature outside was not inciting enough to prevent us from being couch potatoes. So couch potatoes, we were.

Another reason of not going out was that, I'm quite worried that Louna catch any sickness outside. I initially planned to go to Jura, the mountains, to catch a bit of snow. But we will be leaving for a week-long getaway to a country we've never been so I'm taking all necessary and not-so-necessary precautions. Maman's instinct maybe, but better be careful than sorry.

So the whole weekend was focused on preparing for our next vacations. And I'm not talking solely about our vacation this February, we also talked about the Labor Day weekend this coming May and our summer vacation.

Summer Vacation

I have received travel/vacation catalogs at home early this year and have already bookmarked some interesting offers for our summer vacation. Like the past two years, we will again book for a week stay in a Villages Vacances where meal is served from breakfast to dinner and a multitude of daily activities are organized by TOs (travel organizers). (We normally take 3 weeks - the other 2 weeks will be spent at the seaside with my inlaws).

I know, I know. You might think that we're lazy and we lack adventure and such vacations are reserved only to oldies. But I tell you, after a day of canyoning, kayaking or hiking, you would certainly wow the comfort. Pre-Louna time, we were the the kind who wouldn't even mind reserving a hotel:

- we once planted our tent somewhere in the middle of Corsica because it was already late and we haven't finished our hike yet. Unfortunately, we couldn't continue the hike because .. we forgot our flashlights. And yes, we've done this in almost all corners of France for divers and various reasons, lol.
- we slept in cheap motels on our way from Death Valley to San Francisco.
- We slept in tents at the Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon because we wanted to start a hike at the first hour of the morning.
- we stayed in a Youth Hostel in Barcelona (oh that was great! we felt young again!)

So you see, we've been to an enormous change already - we're responsible parents. Yey!

I'm eyeing on a Villages Vacances somewhere in The Alps where activities range from water sports to, well of course, mountain hiking. Facilities include sauna, hammam, heated pool for adults and kids... - a great reward after a day of physical activity. And since rates vary per month, I think I'll book for the month of June - Louna is not going to school yet anyway, so we have no constraint.

Labor Day Weekend (May 1)

I have invited my friend's sister to spend this weekend with us. After knowing how much moolah she spent for a one-day-one-night stay in Paris, I thought, I have to take charge of this little girl (Jean, wag mo ng pagalitan, babatukan ko na lang pag nagkita kami, lol). I willl have to show her how to get the most out of her hard-earned money. Why pay more when you could pay less, right? Right. Apir.

I have a problem though. I still don't have any destination in mind. Any proposal of an exotic destination within the Schengen states, do-able in a 4-day weekend?

Winter Vacation

The nanny asked for a one-week vacation this February. Her family will ski in The Alps. The first question we had in mind was What will we do with Louna? If you're a regular reader of this blog, you would know that the nearest family we have lives a long 6-hour drive from our place. But since we still have a lot of paid vacation to take this year, we thought, Why not take our vacation too? *ting! light bulb switched on*

Frenchguy: So were will we go?
Me: Hmmm, what about somewhere in the Schengen States?
Frenchguy: What about Egypt?
Me (after searching the net): I need a visa. But to get it, I need to go to Paris and release date is unfortunately, the next day. Don't you have any other destination in mind?
Frenchguy: I'll take my plane on Monday. Before heading to the airport, I could submit your visa application. What do you think?
Me: Great. I need to go to Paris on Tuesday. I could then take my passport back. That's good timing.

So there you go. Our vacation was planned and scheduled just like that. Without too much ado.

We're responsible parents, but not quite. After booking everything online, I started to read travel forums and it seems that visits start too early in the morning and this and that. I have a list of what to bring now: from mosquito repellent to drinking water. But if you have any tips on what to expect from a toddler on a river cruise and how to explain what a pharaon is, that would surely be appreciated.

Photo credit here.

Objective: Replace Car by 3Q 2008

Moolah management at home has always been a hot topic. Frenchguy is the kind who would look at his finances closely - I mean, looking at his bank account almost every night, afraid that Alibaba might discover his hidden euros. On the contrary, I hate talking about money matters to the point that I leave Frenchguy manage our finances.

Here's our trick. We have separate and common accounts at home. A certain portion of our salary would be transferred monthly to our common account - destined to pay mortgages, taxes, groceries, nanny and househelp salaries, vacation expenses - everything. Then another portion would be destined to buy company stock options - a good investment as long as the company is in good health. The graph shows the value of our stock options when I started to buy till today. Not a bad progression, right? That makes me virtually rich.

The remaining amount of our salary is considered as our pocket money. And mind you, my finance manager computed up to the last cents that I only have enough to pay the canteen and gas for my car. A bit exaggerated, okay. But reality is almost close to that, lol. So don't even try to borrow money from me. When I say I have no cash, I mean, no cash!

Frenchguy sent me a message this afternoon (he's in the US) saying: You have to start looking closer on your finances now if you want to change your car next year. Huwatt?!!?? Is that some kind of a joke or what? How in the world could I save for a car next year from the few euros left in my wallet every end of the month? And hello, haven't you seen oil prices? It's soaring high but my pocket money remained the same, blahblah here and blahblah there! And why should I pay it alone, aber? I swear, if I pay it with my own moolah, you will never touch it, except for car washing and changing tires. Mokong na 'to, hmp.

So after negociations and another negociation, we settled for a common accord that I contribute less in our account and buy less stock options. It's no way that we borrow money from the bank and pay interest for a product which depreciates its value the moment I turn the key. Anyway, it will be a small, not-so-expensive, most-probably-second-hand car* which I will use to go to work, do the groceries and shopping. No big deal.

P.S.: He still agrees to wash my car and change tires.

*Concessionnaire cars, mostly 3-6 months old, with very few km could be bought at a very interesting rate here in France. It's a widely responded market that, at a certain point, constructors started to offer a large discount for a purchase of a brand new car to compete with this market.

Graph from this site.

Bella Italia = Sad Louna

Tho travelling has became a part of our so-called normal life, it was still funny to prepare 3 luggages for 3 different destinations. One for Frenchguy who left last Tuesday for Mexico and the US, another one for me for my Milan trip, and the last one for Louna who stayed two nights at her Nanny's place.

Time management at home has somewhat became a national sport. We normally try to organize our travels so as not to disturb Louna from her regular routine - which means, when one travels, the other one should stay at home. But work engagements sometimes get in the way and we find ourselves driving 600 long kilometers so we could leave Louna at her grandparent's place - a vacation in disguise.

Since my trip to Milan this week just took me 2 nights out of Dijon, we decided to leave Louna at her Nanny's place instead of bringing her back at her grandparent's place. So Tuesday morning, with her luggage in tow, I explained to her that she would sleep at her Nanny's place and that I won't be fetching her up in the afternoon but two days later. The teary-eyed darling started to cling on my legs and when I looked at her, her facial expression just broke my heart (the same expression in the picture). The little boy sharing the same Nanny with her took her hand to bring her to the playroom. There, she broke out into tears. I said goodbye and took the car. I drove teary-eyed on my way to work.

Tho I know that she would cry for barely a minute, her message was clear and I know, we have to reconsider our organization as soon as we can.


The Journey to Milan

6 hours drive up to Milan, sandwiched between 3 unfatiguable men talking about their ski adventures with their kids and their business travel sagas from one country to another was already an adventure in itself. We didn't really find the drive too long. There were some pauses, unable to find a new topic for discussion, but we were 4 in the car, and a simple remark or question could trigger an hour garanteed discussion.

We took the Mont Blanc tunnel to cross the border and I had a little apprehension and a bit of curiosity to cross this tunnel because of the 1999 fire which killed 39 people. Imagine crossing an 11.6 km tunnel having that image in mind. The temperature inside the tunnel reached 1000°C, a real inferno. But security was well in place and toll-fee was discouraging enough that truck drivers must take another route to cross the French-Italien border (> 400€ for trucks).

We stayed in a 4* hotel at the suburbs of Milan and 15 minutes after our arrival, we were already savouring a glorious Italian beer at the bar. Who says I can't do bar-hopping with the oldies?

After a sumptous meal, we decided to head off directly to our respective beds because tomorrow is a promise of a long day.

We had the meeting the whole day and honestly, at exactly 6:30pm, I was glad to end the exhausting brainstorming we had with the supplier. A dose of aspirin was the only source of energy which kept me going.

Our contact person was kind enough to invite us to dinner at a cozy place in Milan that night. Oh, I love Italian cuisine! After bottles of wine, loads of antipasti, and a mouth-watering main meal, the supplier offered us a free tour of Milan by night.

We just loved that Italian hospitality that after saying our goodbyes, we bid each other See you in January.


Back to Dijon

Louna's stay with the Nanny was A-Ok as always. We had a phonecall from Frenchguy last night and he's finally heading to Mexico City (from our production site lost in the Mexican desert hehe) to meet MY friend. Inggit ako. He would spend the weekend with her before he leaves to the US on Monday. That friend was a classmate in my French classes way back year 2003 and despite the distance, we succeeded to kept our contact. They're surely having lots of fun while I write this post.. while I wait for Louna to finish her siesta.

Hope you're having a great weekend too.



Milan Pictures: 1. My colleagues appreciating the beauty of Milan Cathedral 2. Teatro alla Scala 3. Inside the Galeria Vittorio Emanuel II.