Being in France for two weeks

Time has come to have 2 weeks easter holidays in France !

Save the date : Marseille, Bordeaux, St Palais-sur-Mer and Paris !

By plane, train, taxi or buses , subway and feet 😮

Before leaving your host country for Holidays :

Holidays for expatriates are planned and checked by the company of your husband or boyfriend quite a long time before.

And it does not look like resting days !!

J -20

Making everything ready to take off the D day.

Now that you have your plane ticket and you have chosen where to land, you have to organise the meetings for the two parents family and friends.
I started with my boyfriend family in Marseille, then my family and friends near Bordeaux and at last but not least all my friends in Paris.
For my friends, I used Facebook by posting the dates of the week I ll be in Paris to organise each several days with them ( lunch, shopping session, diner..) and manage to see everybody.

J – 10

Now that you have you schedule complete, you want to bring small presents from Ghana to family and best friends and also for birthday or 2 new baby birth.
I decided to go to the Art Market ” in Accra to find some little products in wood of roses ( small animals like elephants 😉

I have also been to Marina Mall, for cosmetic made in Ghana with shea butter cream or essential oil or tea tree :

I bought some soaps and shea butter from the “all for nature ” shops

And the best presents I think are made by my friend Lova in Accra who buy her fabric in Ghana and then can sew by hand all what you want : I ordered her some typical things for birthday : pillow, bags, etc… She sells all products on a little market website : crea by lova

J -5

Check all that you are missing in your host country which does not exist or is too expensive:
Part of the list : chocolate, french mustard, cheese, your favorite wine…

J -2

You pack everything (quite nothing except presents since you still have clothes for winter/summer at home) and take two suitcases to come back with products.

D DAY at last!!

I m ready to jump into the first plane for 6 hours flight to Amsterdam and the second plane to Marseille and few days after ……

And after a while… I finally arrived HOME ! !

My parents house near Royan, in St Palais sur Mer!!
I had not seen them for 4 months.

The day after my arrival to my parents place ……..

WHAT do you think I did ?!?!??

I have been on early morning to a supermarket !! Yes what you have just read is true : Super Market !!
I wanted to buy the products I do not eat in Accra because there are not or they are too expensive: such as chocolate, cheese, french bread, good wines, yogourt, mustard, ice cream , oisters….

At the payment desk, no plastic bag is given : now you need to have your own bag for food.
It is so good not to see all plastics on the ground everywhere you go… in Ghana, people do not care about it because I think that they are not aware of pollution and what is dangerous for the planet.

Then I could enjoy time here with friends and family :

A little of Ghana in Vaux sur Mer/ St Palais sur Mer :

What a surprise I had while going to “la maison blanche” , a wonderful and beautiful place (to eat and drink and even dance at night ) in front of the beach of Nauzan and the sea :the Ghanaian flag red/yellow and green alnd instead the black stars there was the logo of the ” white house” .

I thought i was not seeing well but yes when I ask the waiter it is was effectively the director who love ghana and Bob Marley as well.

What is hiding behind an “expat woman”…

When you decide to follow your husband or boyfriend for expatriation, you know your life is going to be radically different and you will be called an “expat woman”.

I prefer saying ” women follow men” because it is primiraly the case for 90% according to a survey.

What about working abroad although you are in Africa?

First of all : working abroad will teach you to become adaptable and creative!

If you want to be more “creative”, work on the other side of the world :

I really think that discovering another way to work – with so many differences such as language, culture, time notions, space notions, way of thinking, understanding and realising staff/things – is the best way to adapt yourself, developping an open minded and high capacity of understanding other people.

No matter the nationalities and the countries, you will always have to adapt to them by understanding their cultural background and being creative to make business or anything else together. And you will start from the beggining when you will change from world’s region : Asia, America, Europe and Africa have all different ways to behave in business job.

“Cultures come with new norms and values and ways of looking at things, immersing yourself in a culture gives you proxies for biculturalism. Juxtaposing these two different worldviews lets you come up with new possibilities.” Adam Grant

Do women really need to work here?

You will have the first chance (at last !!) in your life to stop working ! Or even at least for a while until………… So if you choose to take advantage of the life without working you can feel like being in holidays, being finally able to see your children, taking time to cook more for your family, and above all looking after yourself for the first time since ages 😉

You have followed your husband because he is supposed to have a better job (I’m only talking about €, £, ¥, $ !!!) , and your apartment and car will also be paid by the company…..

Moreover, if you finally find a local work paid in GHC be aware that it would be useless for getting more money. At the same time, if the reason why you want to work is to have an activity, just do it !

But afterall you will have to find some activities (or at least one) to have something to do in order to avoid loneliness & a boring life !

However, according to my experience here (but I’m speaking personally), to stop working -because you are abroad- can be also very difficult to survive after a while. You will no more get up every morning thinking how to dress and make up to meet your collegues at 8 o clock and have a working purpose and activities everyday…

Is it difficult to get a job in Ghana ?

West African countries like Ghana and Senegal are said to be welcoming….. but…………

The problem is that you should have already moved there to have a chance to get a job. Employers receive so many false assurances from expats pledging to be on the next flight out that preference is usually given to people they meet in person.

Another drawback is that some West African nations may have quotas for issuing work visas to foreigners, with some smaller companies only being allowed one at a time.

On the other hand, reports suggest that anyone with technical skills such as engineering can expect the bureaucratic mist to miraculously lift : the oil and gas sector offers rick pickings, particularly in established countries such as Nigeria and Algeria…

But isn’t it mainly job for men ?!?!?!

==> Consequently, you can now understand that for women, it is not easy to find a work in Africa, except if you work for the embassy (few offers), school (be a teacher) or if you are for your account (psychologist, physiotherapist…) and that you want to open your cabinet/ office here. That is possible.

And above all, you have to check if you are allowed or not to work in the hosting country. It is stuck in your Visa passeport Permit.

My Personnal experience in Ghana…

A SINGLE QUESTION :

“Who was I before being an expat woman …? ”

Well, FIRST OF ALL I used to be INDEPENDENT !!!!

I was working in Paris, France for a famous natural cosmetic brand called L’Occitane en Provence in the center of this beautiful city which I love so much…

I had responsabilities being a District Manager in the city center of Paris : I was “the boss” of more than 15 salespersons and 3 shops managers.

So when I choose to quit my job, I was on the one hand happy to be free for the first time of my life and on the other hand I was scared that I miss my work, colleagues, and stop being proud of myself.

“Will it be worth it …or not…? ”

Nobody could answer that question at that time…

MAY 2014… my arrival in Accra

BUT WHAT CAN I DO HERE NOW ?????

At my arrival in Accra, I started quicky to be ALONE in my “lovely” house, knowing noone, being LOST in the crowded and noisy capital of Ghana, Accra.

My boyfriend was working from 7 am to 7 pm so I had yo find out what to make with my two hands and head!

First, I really had difficulties to adapt: I MISSED France, family, friends, colleagues, Paris, my appartment, my dance lessons, my “own” bars of preference , restaurants, Zara and FNAC shops, theatres, Opera Garnier, cinemas and all what Paris could offer… EVERYTHING in fact! And what about here??? Well………. φ φ φ φ φ…….

HOW could I make to go out of this mess ?

==> I HAD to find a WORK and other daily ACTIVITIES to integrate and spend time.

July… hummm… no french expat is here … no activities neither … OK, it is summer holidays… well… one solution… (you are following me?!?!!!) BECAUSE I do not want to commit suicide alone here.

So I “cried” to my boyfriend :

-“please, my lover, I am sorry but I beg you, can I go back to France for the summer and I will come back in September ? ……”

…….

“one angel is very very slowly passing” we would say in french which means “There is a hushed silence “

-OK then… you are sure? You don’t want to stay with me?

-Well………

September 2014, 3 months later…

3 months after my arrival, (yes, you know now that all expat women are going back for the whole summer holidays to their country, but I understand why now…). and with good new motivation and a parachute this time , I landed in Accra happy to find my boyfrien again .

I first tried to help in organizing “Accra Accueil” activities and visits with the french association. I met french expat girls and start to discover with them the city, the culture and typical things of Ghana.

So yet, it was a good beggining afterall… but after 6 months…. the same questions… were coming back to my mind….

I was missing something only given by work : the Pride to be active and independent.

Tag: expat

2 weeks holidays in France