Six-month lessons of living in Lyon

As July ends, it’s time to reflect on the biggest things I have learnt in my first six months living in France. In the best listicle practice, I’ll aim for 10.

French language: More often than not you don’t pronounce the last consonant of most words. Blanc, étang, pont etc.

French language: The pronunciation of the city of Reims. I mean, wow.

Life in France: Café gourmand – always a good idea.

French language: Également – a very useful reply to bonne journée, bon weekend etc

French language: Bonjour – ça marche toute la journée.

Les oiseaux: Les herons garde boeuf ne se trouvent pas toujours près des vaches. A Lyon ils se trouvent dans les arbres au Parc de la Tete d’Or.

Les oiseaux: Le coq gaulois is one of the symbols of France. But for me it should be la buse – because they are everywhere.

French language: And what is this? Le croûton or le quignon?

Life in France: Lyon is a very beautiful city. From the old town to Place Bellecour to the banks of the Rhône to Fourviere it really is a très belle ville.

Life in France: whether you voted leave or remain, Brexit makes moving to and living in France far more difficult than it used to be. From lung x-rays to four days of formation civique training, it ain’t as straightforward as it once was.

Les lacs de La Dombes

As Cath is back in England I took the opportunity to go birdwatching in the Dombes – an area just north of Lyon where there are a thousand lakes.

I saw my old friend the purple heron – two in fact – as well as loads of egrets, gulls and black-winged stilts.

I also saw un castor – a beaver – at least I’m pretty sure that’s what this fella was – with big yellow teeth.

I went to one lake where night herons had been spotted. But there was a problem.

I guess it is a result of the severe drought in Europe.

Un chien sur la Saône- views from my office

Qu’est-ce que c’est ça? Un chien sur un canoe?

L’état des lieux*

Look where I am again.

Back at 47 Cours Franklin Rooosevelt pour faire l’état des lieux*.

I met the landlord and together we looked around and made a note of any faults.

The white goods/les blancs arrive next Wednesday. Until then the kitchen looks like this:

La deuxieme chambre – les rideaux sont toujours la

The landlord was very welcoming and said he was really pleased we were moving in.

He explained how everything worked and said if I ever had a delivery, the boulanger on the ground floor would be happy to look after it for me. I explained to him that she already had!

* Merci prof

Formation civique – jour deux

Alors, on y va encore une fois. C’est parti. Formation Civique jour deux.

My second day of Formation Civique was quite similar to the first. We learnt some numbers that we might need to memorise if we ever want to apply for French citizenship.

How big is France? 672m square kilometres How big is the population of France? 67m

How many Regions are there? 18.

How many Departments? 101.

How many Communes? 35,000

We continued to learn about health, employment, accommodation and parenting.

And as ever I learnt some new words:

Laicité – securalism (one of the four values of France)

We had to pick our atelier for the fourth day. Workshop. I chose socio-culturelle.

Depistage – to detect; la soigner– treatment.

Only two days of training left – and next week’s one is in person.

Meanwhile, with the help of Evelina, Euronews’ visa expert, we have applied again for the passeport talent visa which was rejected tout de suite by the embassy in London. This time we are applying to the prefecture in Lyon. It will be too late to avoid two more days of formation civique but it should make staying in France a bit easier for me and Cath.

Un hamac au bord du Rhône

This will soon be us

We saw this delivery van doing its thing near our new house. This is what we have to look forward to – the ladder-cum-lift that takes all your worldly possessions up five flights and in through the window. Exciting!

Then it was off to Darty to buy five kitchen appliances which will be delivered and fitted on 3 August.

And then buying a bed and mattress from IKEA to be delivered on the same day.

So 3 August will be a BIG DAY* We also sorted out gas and electricity and the internet so we are good to go.

I also learnt a new word – fliquer. Apparently you don’t submit meter readings in France but a surveillance van drives past your house and collects all the readings over wifi. Incroyable!

*I’m happy to live blog it if there is enough demand.