International Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
We are moving to France (part 2!)
Outside Paris, taking 2 children. Any tips/advice?!? thanks!
(Sorry- many of you mentioned this is my second post like this!!! I toooootally spaced the first one after a night out with the girls! )
Re: We are moving to France (part 2!)
Hello again. You asked this before and never came back to the post... If you give a little more specifics the ladies here can better advise you. Hope you'll stick around!
Wear sunscreen.
Eat plenty of leafy green vegetables.
Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.
What's your timeline? I don't know if you're the same person I responded to last week, but I'll repeat- look into schools asap. Public school registration requires getting your ducks in a row in terms of having the necessary paperwork (proof of address, vaccination records, etc.) and if you're considering private schools, then you obviously need to set up appointments for whenever you plan to go househunting and all that jazz. The whole school thing was way more consuming for us than searching for an apartment.
But, in general, I have found Paris to be more child-friendly than where we came from (New York City).
Feel free to post more specific questions.
Yes I did post last week, I totally spaced it though!!! So sorry!
Anna thanks for the tips about schools- my 9 year old is a weak student and I'm hesitant to put her in public schools so I've already emailed a few places . We are moving in August, but we are currently expats living in the Middle East so we know a bit about the stresses of moving abroad. The school thing was by far our biggest headache here as well so I am keen to get it settled asap.
It sounds like we need to have an address before we can register for school so I will get on that. How important are vax records? My 4 year old has some delayed vaxes...
What do you do for health insurance?
Thanks for your responses, again sorry I spaced last week- I think I posted right before a Girls' Night Out and ... it escaped my brain!
We set up several appointments for private schools and those generally understood that we didn't have an address yet or even a specific neighborhood, although some schools were more interested in knowing what kind of a commute DD would have as a long commute can be stressful for a small child. Obviously, they didn't want to offer a spot to a family they didn't think would end up taking it, KWIM?
We ended up going the private school route mainly because there was more flexibility on a lot of fronts- hours, registration schedule, etc. We also had some delayed vax and the school was fine with our doing the catch-up vaccines in the period between meeting with them and actually moving to France (it was a 3-month period). There are also some shots that are required for school in the US, but not in France, like chickenpox, so if that's one of the ones you've delayed, you probably don't need to worry about it.
We still have insurance, technically, through DH's US-based employer, but to be honest, I'm not sure how they will handle our expenses in France. I currently have receipts totalling about 400 Euros from when DH had pneumonia and DD had a UTI in the last 2 months and our insurance hasn't responded yet on how the reimbursement for those will work. I don't know if they'll count them against our yearly deductible or just reimburse us directly, but I hope to find out soon one way or another.
I haven't found out how French insurance works, but I *think* we have a right to regular French insurance now that we have our residency established. Figuring this out is on my long to-do list.
I am no help on moving to France, but I'm curious to know where you live in the Middle East. :-)
Dave & Jennifer 10.18.08
My Doha Adventures