Where are you originally from?

I’m a Kiwi. A New Zealander from Auckland. I was fortunate enough to travel, live and study abroad growing up – Fiji, Cook Islands, USA, Switzerland, Sweden. Have spent the last 20 odd years in the Bordeaux region propping up the wine economy by drinking my way through the vintages.

Where are you living at the moment?

I live in the Chartrons in Bordeaux, a stone’s throw from Jardin Public…was lucky enough to buy here when it was pretty cheap. Don’t judge me please – I don’t drive a shiny black SUV. My bike has rust.

How long have you lived in the region?

I’ve lived in the region for over 20 years.

Why did you move to France and why did you choose Bordeaux?

Love! I came to the region for love. I fell in love with a foie gras farmer and left my life in corporate law to join him. Despite major efforts our marriage sadly fell apart and I moved into Bordeaux with the kids in 2001. A time of great sadness and growth.

It was great to get back into the city…I remember lying in bed my first night here, the buses rolling past my open window, the sound of people yelling in the street, the smell of baking bread wafting up form the baker’s night shift…was like paradise. I fell in love again, this time with Bordeaux.

What do you wish you knew before moving here?

That love doesn’t always cross borders!

That my professional background would not be taken as valid – seriously that was hell. I had to learn humility pretty quickly and find an alternative profession to survive.

That somebody who speaks your language is not necessarily going to be your friend –  Kiwi naivity.

That tequila does not mix well with red wine!

That being a vegetarian equated with starving or not being invited out to dinner parties!! This has changed since..sort of.

My most embarrassing moments

Lost in translation – it’s always sexual innuendo!
I once went to Galleries Lafayettes and asked for “une paire de saloppes (sluts!) pour mon fils” missed the “ettes” on sallopettes…and asked for a pair instead of just one. I have asked for tomato sauce “ sans preservatifs” not to mention if nems/spring rolls can be heated “ a poil” (in the nude!) instead of  “a la poelle.”

I was also that girl who raced around the room getting everyone a drink before everyone arrived to a party (not my own!) not understanding why we had to wait until all the guests arrived… French etiquette!

I also tried to swallow suppositories, full of the flu at dinner a party, and nearly choked to death. We don’t pop medication up our bottoms in NZ!

Swearing like a trooper in English on MasterChef, national tv… my kids loved it. I died of embarrassment.

Did you find it easy finding accommodation when you first moved here?

We moved into my ex husband’s crumbling 13th century farmhouse in the country – no sewerage, no heating, no city water, rats and mice running up and down the walls and hiding in the oven and jumping out at me upon opening it… « Challenge » is the word.

When I moved to Bordeaux as a solo mum it was pretty heated. I found as a foreign mother alone back then I was looked at sideways -had to keep my sense of humour on board 24/24.

I finally bought a house 2006 just before the prices went mental. Wasn’t easy. Feel very blessed.

What do you do for a living?/ Was it easy finding work?

In NZ I was a corporate lawyer specialised in resource management/environmental law, international relations and human rights – I worked primarily for petrochemical companies (the “dark side”!!), local government and was very fortunate to have worked on several significant Waitangi Tribunal claims, something that I was very proud of. At the same time I sung professionally in NZ National Opera chorus – that kept me sane.

I will be honest, finding work in Bordeaux was tough. The legal profession here was completely closed and my experience and qualifications were of little validity. I think this is the same challenge in any country for foreigners  – Bordeaux is no different to any other city. All about perseverance and a slice of feminine courage.

I started to work as a legal English teacher. I ended up head hunted by a business school where I am Dean of Business English programmes and also lecture geopolitics and international relations, negotiation, law and finance related subjects, and wine (could finally put all those wine tasting certificates into value).

I adore working with students who teach me as much or even more than I teach them. I wake up every day and basically run into work excited about every new day – sounds like a con but honestly my daily joy in being with my students is beyond words. Yes,there are tough, very tough, students but they usually end up being my most promising students. Ask questions, challenge me – love it! I am lucky enough to be able to choose my teaching staff and my teachers are gems.

I also work for the law bar in Bordeaux examining the “new barristers to be” in English comparative law. Can’t comment too much on this as it’s a very quiet world and one which I respect enormously.
I still miss working in the law and litigation in particular but my teaching and lecturing is such an amazing opportunity. I have learnt patience, empathy and a whole lot of love. I have an amazing director but I still don’t feel like I have the respect professionally that I had in NZ. I earn about half of what I earned 20 years ago in NZ but I can survive on that here.

Has it been easy meeting people?

Depends on what your goal is. If you want to submerge yourself in all English speakers, forget it as a way of integration. My friends are such a mix of French and Anglophones. Open your head up to anybody, don’t judge and you will always make friends. There have been hiccups along the way, but that’s just life. Kiwi attitude?

What keeps me grounded?

My kids, my York Harry, my amazing Irish partner, my students, music, my piano, my books, the All Blacks, my girlfriends (they know who they are), Capucin markets for real food, cooking, my walking shoes, waves, National Geographic, Le Courrier International, The Shorter Oxford dictionary, Mollat bookshop, Utopia cinema, Sisters café in the Chartrons, my network of wonderful supportive friends who put up with my often tyrannic behaviour and opinions, the odd “emergency cigarette”.

Did you already know French?

Yes, I lived in Switzerland and had good French in school in NZ. The banks in France had some challenges when I first arrived with cheques written in Swiss numbers… nonante trois…. same spice, different dishes???

How do you find the cost of living/lifestyle in Bordeaux?

Was great 20 years ago but I do find life more expensive now, won’t pretend otherwise. Bordeaux is now expensive on a Bordeaux salary. We need to bring up the salaries here –  a necessity to keep up with the hikes in living costs.

What’s the best thing to do in Bordeaux on a summer’s day?

The wine (again!), a walk and oysters at the beach, the markets bursting with incredible produce, the hills above the rive droite… the sky and the old old trees. I especially love the magnolia trees in Jardin Public –  I talk to them on a daily basis.

I have a small courtyard garden – I love to entertain my friends in my garden on summer nights with a plancha of beautiful market fodder.

What’s the best thing to do in Bordeaux on a rainy day?

That’s easy –  Utopia Cinema, the best films ever, the best coffee, a sense of peace. Also I love the classical concerts on the first Sunday of the month Opera de Bordeaux followed by wine tastings.

What are the positives of living here?

I love that I can be in Spain in less than 2 hours, tapas in San Sebastien, another culture at my doorstep.

I feel safe in Bordeaux, its size does not overwhelm me.

The sea, although not close enough for a kiwi, is there and as a body surfer I can fall into the ocean for hours and be at one with the waves.

What are the negatives of living here?

The French administration. The opposite of French food –  bitter and twisted with ambiguities!

Odd ideas about breastfeeding –  I was called “ primitive!”

Not being treated as a professional equal.

What keeps you going?

My kids, Louis and Colombe. They are courageous and open to all life has to offer. Bringing them up alone has been quite a challenge, a beautiful challenge. I am ever proud of them both and amazed by their capacities to adapt and explore life. I thank them both for making me whole.

I love that Bordeaux has become more international and more tolerant of foreigners… may this continue.

Are you involved with any groups / associations / teams, etc?

Not right now. But would like to be. Any suggestions?
I am not a club person, too shy, but appreciate that many people find solace in the ex pat clubs.

Do you have a business / website / blog?

desperateanglohousewivesfr.blogspot.fr –  I hide behind my blog started years ago. A place I go to try and resolve my love/hate relationship with France. There have been tons of trying times and this is the place where I vent and share. Join me there.

Any closing comments?

I LOVE BORDEAUX, but let’s keep this city simple.
I adore meeting people so contact me (sbridger@hotmail.com)

The post Bordeaux Expat Interview – Susie Bridger appeared first on Bordeaux Expats.

Where are you originally from? 

Where are you living at the moment? 

How long have you lived in the region? 

Why did you move to France and why did you choose Bordeaux? 

What do you do for a living? Was it easy finding work? 

What is the best thing about being a professional blogger? 

What is the hardest thing about being a professional blogger? 

Do you have a business/website/ blog? 

Here are some of the Bordeaux topics I’ve covered!

The post Jennifer Dombrowski – Bordeaux-based international travel blogger appeared first on Bordeaux Expats.

He has worked in both production and post-production, as well as collaborations on different art related events.

Originally from Dublin, Derek has been based in Bordeaux the past four years with his wife and daughter. They originally planned for a one year trip but decided to stay when they fell in love with the city.

Having had the opportunity to work in post production in other European cities for a number of years, the chance of implanting his skills in Bordeaux has been a great opportunity and real learning curve. Being a Micro Entrepreneur for the past two years, this has seen him work on corporate and community based projects.

I can imagine I’m not the first person to find themselves in this situation having moved to such a beautiful city and to become self employed. With so much happening, family events, open air concerts in every park – the list goes on. It’s really difficult to dislike the place. For me personally, everything it seems is just so much more interesting to film – the warm weather helps of course.

Being a native English speaker, how has been the transition to working in France?

Well it’s not been easy, and that’s mainly because of the language barrier of course. Most of the projects I have worked on are french English speaking clients. But slowly I have managed to turn it around, but really still need to work on the french. That’s why I am back attending French lessons for a few hours a week.

What services do you offer?

I offer a range of services but lately I have been focusing on corporate and wedding projects. This usually involves covering the event and capturing all video and audio. I then edit the complete project to the specifications of the client and provide the master files directly.

I also cater for documentary films, web commercials, presentations, live events and video editing services.

Describe your video creating process from beginning to end.

I work best in a team for production, but I enjoy the freedom of editing a layout alone before showing it to the customer. From that point it’s easy to move forward together once you have a base to start with.

What is your favourite project that you’ve worked on in Bordeaux?

I have loved them all. From scripted shoots to live events, they are all exciting.

What has been your most difficult project that you’ve worked on in Bordeaux?

Well to be honest, it’s every time I sign a contract with a new customer. You simply want to produce the best intended result that the customer requires. Of course planning and trying to understand the customers needs is so important. Thankfully, over the years I have gained enough experience to cover most options. On another subject, weddings are by far one of the strangest events to film. I simply love them because i am given so much freedom. I don’t shoot them, I document the actions around me and this I think adds to a really relaxing atmosphere for everyone.

We understand that you’re a bit of a sci-fi fan and actually wrote a novel. Tell us about it.

That’s correct, I authored a novel called “The Creatures on the Bathroom Ceiling” available from Bradley’s Bookshop and Amazon.
The story goes, girl meets boy, girl likes boy, girl and boy make out, girl dumps boy – Boy goes insane.

I can imagine many people will relate to those few words above, and the crazy emotional roller-coaster that follows.

On the eve of his eighteenth birthday Francis Williams’ sister, Alex, gifts him a mysterious and bewitching stone. This sets in motion a series of events which introduce them to a secret world where they happen upon extraordinary creatures that have the strangest of stories to tell. Francis finds love with the most unusual entity imaginable and experiences a coming of age while dealing with loss, along with an ultimate confrontation with a form of evil hell-bent on retrieving the love of its life.

Do you have a business / website / blog?

www.derekrosevideographer.com
www.instagram.com/derekrosevideographer
www.facebook.com/DerekRoseVideographer

Any closing comments?

It’s never over, it just starts again.

The post Derek Rose – Independent Videographer in Bordeaux appeared first on Bordeaux Expats.

ONLYLESS is the brain child of Aurélie who developed the idea over 5 years while she managing a company that had a chemistry laboratory at their fingertips. She became aware of modern cosmetics compositions and the long list of chemical based ingredients that were invading the family bathroom.

During this time, she felt a need to return to basics. However, she wasn’t able to find the simple and effective solutions that she was looking for in any supermarket or local shop…

Motivated by this need, she started studying what the skin needs for “skinfood”. She then met a series of local family run farms that enabled her to launched herself into the creation of our her own additive free products.

“As a longtime consumer of local and fresh food, I really appreciate the quality of products and I do recognise quality work on family exploitations and local farms.”

ONLYESS produce alternative skin products that are free from petrochemicals and locally produced.

Organic cosmetic oils, floral waters, bees wax and vegetable butters… their skincare products come direct from local small French farms and productions. Every plant or flower is treated in a manner that is thoughtful to the environment via mechanical treatment, with human intervention only.

Products range from daily non-greasy oil for face or body, to floral water to treat combined oily or irritated skin.

ONLYESS concept and values are :

• Simple and effective : less ingredients, quality artisans and producers are carefully selected

• Direct from the producer : locally grown plants, fruits and flowers

• Gentle with respect for all skins : free from essential oils, preservatives or E vitamine, always less than 7 ingredients in the formulas

Every single product has been through a certification process (ECOCERT Greenlife) and has the COSMOS ORGANIC or COSMOS NATURAL label, as well as PETA Cruelty-free & Vegan

Where to find them?

• www.onlyess.fr – www.facebook.com/onlyess – www.instagram.com/onlyess_cosmetiques
• Local creators shop Specimen – 11 rue du Mirail in Bordeaux (France)
• Contact person : Aurélie (from Monday to Friday / 9 am to 6 pm)
• Contact mail : contact@onlyess.fr

Don’t hesitate to contact the shop ‘SPECIMEN’, to know when Aurélie will next be in store (4 times a month).

** All their labels are in French + English

BUY LOCAL – SUPPORT INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES

The post Organic Skincare Products Made in Bordeaux appeared first on Bordeaux Expats.

Written by Melissa Rindell

“A friend of the owner wanted to retire and was looking for someone to take over her association, teaching children English,” Elisabeth says.

For the Liddiards it was perfect. Simon is English and Elisabeth, a native of the Bordeaux area, was looking to return to the workforce after taking time off to bring up her children. They agreed immediately and have been involved with The New School Association ever since, Simon, as President, and Elisabeth, as a teacher.

The Liddiards met in England through an ERASMUS program at the University of Humberside. After graduation, they spent six years living in London, where they started their careers. Elisabeth worked in marketing for fashion sportswear companies and Simon in advertising. A job opportunity for Simon brought them to Paris in 2000.

“I loved living in England,” Elisabeth says, “It was easy to find a job, make money, find a place to live. And I liked the work culture. It was more relaxed, more genuine, more straight to the point. But I was really happy to come back to France. I always thought I would start my career in England and return to France for family and I really enjoyed coming back to the French way of living, the quality of products, especially food-wise. People are still cooking here. They’re still buying fresh products. In England, everything is pre-packed.”

After 14 years in Paris, Simon started contemplating changing professions.

“It was a fun, creative environment but hard work with long hours, and very stressful, ” Simon says of his time in the advertising industry, “And after 20 years, you’re not going to do a great deal that’s new. I kept hearing stories about people who had changed occupations and were enjoying new experiences and we were at a window of opportunity with the age of our children that we could move geographically without changing their education.”

Simon’s interest in wine tourism and the proximity of Elisabeth’s friends and family made Bordeaux a natural choice. Simon took a year of sabbatical and got his Masters degree in tourism and hotel management. He went on to work with the Bordeaux Tourist Office to create a jogging route and Urban Wine Trail. Inspired by a tasting room in Santa Barbara, the Urban Wine Trail allows people to experience the wines of Bordeaux without ever leaving the city, through an organised wine-bar crawl.

Passionate about real estate, the Liddiards also started investing in Bordeaux properties. One of the properties they invested in is a building on rue St. James, which they co-own with friends from business school. Un Chateau en Ville is housed in the commercial space. Un Chateau en Ville features all the wines of Chateau Lestrille and is a boutique, tasting room, and restaurant. Today, Simon works at the vineyard in Saint-Germain-du-Puch, where he oversees the boutique, tour program and event space.

Like many ex-pats, Simon has his fingers in a lot of pies and his love for real estate, lead to a position as an estate agent for Leggett Immobilier. Leggett is a British real estate company founded in the Dordogne 20 years ago, who initially specialised in clarifying the muddy water of French real estate for foreign buyers.

“Leggett is a family run business that advises clients on property rather than straight selling. I liked their approach as well as the strong focus on teamwork amongst the 500+ agents in France. The Bordeaux area is extremely interesting to work because it is not homogeneous, making it appealing to a number of different types of buyer. It also helps that it is dynamic and a real melting pot of French people from different regions as well as a high number of expats and foreigners,” Simon says.

Elisabeth’s efforts are more focused. She works full-time at The New School, which offers English classes for children 3-17, in Le Bouscat.

“It’s a great pleasure to wake up every morning and look forward to going to work. I love working with children and really feel I’ve found my true vocation. Feeding young ones and teenagers with English is very satisfying!” Elisabeth says.

In addition to classes during the school year, The New School offers educational holidays in North Devon, through a partnership with Country Cousins.

“Parents kept asking me for recommendations on exchange programs, so I started doing some research,” Elisabeth says. “Country Cousins is family-run and has a history of over 65 years, so I sent Simon to check it out.”

Simon has fond memories of a language exchange he did in La Rochelle when he was 14 and 15 and was eager to make that experience available to the next generation.

“I talked to a lot of French parents who had negative experiences with UK exchanges, so it was important to us to find one that had the quality we were looking for. Country Cousins is akin to what I experienced when I was young. It’s well organised and the activities range from surfing to theatre to sports. At that age, it’s important to make it enjoyable, because that makes kids want to go back and then it becomes their choice to learn.”

Country Cousins offers immersion programs ranging from 1-3 weeks for children as young as 8, during Spring and Summer vacation and a June program for “élèves de 2nde.” The New School is also offering an Acting in English Intensive from June 17 to July 5 in Le Bouscat for élèves de 2nde.

“It’s funny but if we hadn’t bought our house we might have a very different story to tell,” Simon says, “Elisabeth thinks she would still have ended up teaching English and I would still have envisaged real estate at some point, with or without wine! Life is sometimes helped along by chance encounters, the key thing is to embrace them.”

About the author: 
Melissa Rindell moved to Bordeaux from New York, where she worked as an actor, playwright and director. Before that she was a sports journalist for the Associated Press and did public relations for the Sydney Blues of the Australian Baseball League, Boston Red Sox, United States Olympic Committee and International Management Group. Melissa has been living in Bordeaux since 2015.

The post LUCKY VENTURE – ELISABETH & SIMON LIDDIARD appeared first on Bordeaux Expats.

Bordeaux has been James’s home for the past 7 years, but his connection to region goes back much further. He was born, raised and studied in England, but spent every summer and school holidays in France as his father lived in the Médoc most of his life.  So, he’s been flying to and from Bordeaux since the days when British Airways only had 1 flight per week on a Saturday, compared to up to 15 per day from the UK in peak season now.

He says that he was lucky to grow up exposed to both cultures, and try to take the best of both worlds.

“I understand ‘la belle vie’ and don’t just love but respect food, merci La France. But you can’t shake off the politeness, efficiency and GSOH that comes from being a Brit”.

After working for a couple of years in France before, and during uni, straight out of an International Business degree James headed back in 2012 to start his “career” and to avoid a soulless graduate scheme in some satellite town of London.

Getting into teaching…

Like many other fresh Expats, he started in Bordeaux with the English teaching gig: working freelance for agencies, being expected to work like an employee without the perks.

“I thought I was balling to begin with: “Ohhhh €15-20 per hour, that’s much more than minimum wage !!! Get in!” I would convince myself: not factoring in travel time, lesson planning, no holiday pay and extremely limited social security”.

The precarity and pittance soon pushed him to up his game. He managed to sneak a foot in the door of a business school and has since developed his activity to lecturing in 4 different schools with over 450 students per year.

These days it’s less and less English teaching, with many classes of his classes focusing on Web Marketing, Digital Strategy and Change Management with regular but impromptu “lessons” on what perplexes many students here: respect, work-ethic and speaking because you have something to say, not because you have to say something.

“I genuinely do love teaching though and never expected to become a teacher. It allows you to meet people from all walks of life and to really understand how people live here in Bordeaux. When starting off working with “particuliers” I worked with ages ranging from 7 to 77!

Higher education works differently in France to the Anglo-saxon system however. In a nutshell, on the one hand you can go to public uni which is basically free but you may struggle to get a seat in the amphitheatre, your teacher will rarely know your name and you can expect months off at a time due to strikes. This might explain the 50% dropout rate after 1st year?

On the other hand, you’ve got private business schools where either you work on apprenticeship (“Alternance”) and your company pays for your studies (and gets you as cheap labour), or your rents stump up the hefty tuition fees without government loans etc like in the UK (there’s also the grand-ecole system but we’ll save that for another day…)”.

Nowadays, he only work with young “adults” between 18-25 in private business schools. The interactions are priceless and he can easily see how to manage/enjoy the more difficult egos.

“You’ve got the archetypal blasé bourgeois kid repeating his 2nd year for the third time, always late except for at the end of lesson when his coat is on and bag is packed with 10 minutes left. Just like the ones who drop Verlan and Arabic in convo saying “ouech” like their “frères” in the banlieue, but themselves have two good catholic first names, the first one is Jean, the second either Pierre, Paul, François or Baptiste. I’m guessing they don’t speak like that during Sunday lunch with the family at the weekend house in the Bassin however”.

But for every one of these clichés, he has come across even more top-notch hard-working and ambitious students, some of whom have become his close friends and really makes his job worthwhile.

From the classroom to the coast…

For all the peaks and troughs of the classroom, the teaching gig only represents 8 months of the year. Thanks to the ridiculously long summer holidays, from April to September you can find James up on the Médoc coast where for 3 years, he and his best mate from uni, have been running an active glamping holiday operator, “Sanctuary Surf”.

They’re located just next to Plage Le Pin Sec near Hourtin, a wild beach with only basic amenities meaning you avoid the hoards in Lacanau and the Bassin.

The concept is to offer the hotel experience under canvas, showcasing the best France has to offer in terms of food, drink (wine) & nature, whilst providing access to surfing on Europe’s longest beaches & standup paddle boarding on the country’s largest freshwater lake.

If good vibes, having fun in the sun, being outdoors and enjoying fine cuisine appeal. Escape the city for the weekend and join them out in their little corner of paradise.

The post FROM THE CLASSROOM TO THE COAST – JAMES MARTIN appeared first on Bordeaux Expats.