Any advice welcome on our move to Le Havre...

[Sandy79]

Hi,

my husband, 2 year old daughter and myself are in the process of re-locating ourselves from China to Le Havre.

I'm from England, and my husband is from Lyon, however, due to his company we are moving to Normandy.

I've never lived in France, in fact, I've never even been to Le Havre, so, apart from working on the language (which I have a basic level at best), I was wondering if anyone had any advice for our move?

Really hope people can shed some kind of light, as everyone we tell says, "ohh, Le Havre. never mind, at least the surroundings are nice"...

Any help on hospitals would also be a great help.

Thank you

Sandy

[Bevdeforges]

I don't know Le Havre, but it does have the reputation of a port town - fairly industrialized and all. Still, you don't have to live in the town itself - and you are really close to the UK, so chances are you'll be able to get UK radio and maybe even television with little or no difficulty.

Normandy itself is super (IMO). A bit windy and it can be cold in the winter, but beautiful, with a reasonable expat community and I've always found the locals to be very friendly. (More so than in Paris, for sure!)

What is it you want to know about hospitals? If your husband is working in France, your family is covered by the national health care system - which is excellent. Hospitals come in two flavors - public and private, though depending on your mutuelle (supplemental health insurance that usually comes with the job) it may not make much difference to you. It's not that unusual for folks to go into Paris for speciality treatment - and in some cases the national health will reimburse for your travel costs.
Cheers,
Bev

[Sandy79]

Hi Bev,

Thank you for getting back to me.

Regarding hospitals, we are planning a second child this year, and fingers crossed, I will be needing an ob/gyn when we arrive in July. We currently live in city 1.5 hours south of Shanghai, so traveling to see the doctor is a normal task for us, but when we move I would ideally like a hospital that's in Le Havre itself and speaks English.

Great news about radio/tv...I never even thought about them, so that's cool.

We're going to Le Havre in a few weeks time for Easter, so I suppose my anxiety will reduce when I see the place for myself (or possible increase...hahahaha).

Thanks again for the information.

Sandy

[Bevdeforges]

Oh, having a baby is the quintessential expat experience in France! Many Americans who are in France for a couple of years go this route, as usually the wife becomes a trailing spouse - and frankly having a baby in France is supposed to be the ultimate way to go. They really do take great care of mothers-to-be.

If I'm not mistaken, I think your choice of obstetrician will determine the hospital or clinic where you'll have the baby. (Don't have kids myself.) You want to sign on early with an OB once you find you're pregnant because the national health really insists on top notch prenatal care - sonograms and periodic check-ups and the whole bit.

As far as the hospital staff speaking English, I wouldn't hold my breath. In Paris, you have the American Hospital and the British Hospital - where everyone speaks English. But outside Paris you're going to find that most hospital staff will admit to having studied English at some point, but they all claim to have forgotten it completely. The problem is actually that they studied it, but in France they don't really learn to speak the language, and so most are "too embarrassed" to try. (Amazing how insistent these same people are that you MUST practice your basic French... )

Do check into the AVF group in Le Havre avflehavre - Le Havre - AVF - and there are other groups in other towns in Normandy. Their mission is to welcome newcomers to the area - and I see the Le Havre group has an English speaking hostess.
Cheers,
Bev

[framboiseboo]

Hi Sandy,

I'm English. I lived in Le Havre for 4 years and loved it. Where do I start....!!

Le Havre was bombed to bits by the Brits (to kill the germans) and was rebuilt very quickly, so most French people think it's quite ugly and communist looking. The main architect is famous and there are guided tours for people interested in arcitecture. It's a small town so easish to get around on foot if you live in centre-ville. There's a pebbly beach and in summer there are restaurants put up along the beach, and wooden beach huts, the plus is that it's not a touristy town. I used to enjoy finishing work and wandering down to the beach cafés to have a pina colada whilst I read a book and watched the waves. The sea is great, it's a major shipping route so it's always full of cargo ships, oil tankers and tiny sailing boats.

There are cute touristy towns a drive a way, good for days out or weekends away: Etretat, Honfleur, Deauville, Trouville, Caen (shopping), Rouen, St Malo.

In summer the atmosphere is relaxed. My colleagues used to go for a swim in the sea at lunch time, the dress sense is relaxed (I'm comparing with the Paris region where I now live, I much prefer Le Havre).

On sundays there isn't much to do. Everything is closed. At lunchtime (varies between 12 and 14h or 12.30 and 15h) the shops close too unless you go to the Reny Coty tiny shopping mall. The locals put on their best clothes and stroll to and back along the prom where the restaurants are in summer.

Furniture stores are limited too and expensive. There's no Ikea or it could be cheaper to ship over furniture from the UK. You have Fly (the french version of ikea) and Conforama and But (cheap furniture shops, ok for basics) and a pine shop in the town centre.

It's hard to make French friends in France. The Parisiens say it's very hard to make friends in Normany because if you ask someone for a coffee etc they wonder what they would need to offer you as a service in return. My colleagues were nice but it took about 4 years for them to invite me for tea outside of work and even then, the younger girls (I was 32 and single when I arrived) were all married with babies. The French keep within their own families and so there wasn't any girls nights. If you can find the odd expat (very rare) you'll be ok, plus if your husband is French it may help. My first friends in France were Tunisians and a French-Algerian.

There is a hospital in the town centre and my Tunsian friend's cousin was a gyno there, must ask if he still is. There are babies and kids all over France so you'll be fine.

My description may sound quite negative but despite being all alone, making 2 friends outside of work, and sundays being boring, my husband and I would love to return to Le Havre to live - a flat/house on the seafront of course. We return at least once a year to my favourite haunts, some of my fave shops and restos are there too. I love the sky which changes so rapidly when you live by the sea but also the little fishing port and there are lots of small manmade lakeswith locs which the school kids learn to canoe on etc.

The train to Paris is only 2 hours so you can easily visit the city. They used to have an airport but it doesn't serve many destinations, if any, I think it's mainly small planes.

There are areas not to go and not to live and your husband will explain why you should hide your car away on new years eve. Also, there were floods once when I was out of town so buy/rent somewhere in accordance.

They have invested (still are) in the dock area which was ropey but now there's cafés and flats popping up - my husband predicted this a few years back but damn we didn't invest!

Not sure what else, but let me know if I can help in any way!!! I speak french if you need me to make any enquiries for you about anything.

All the best,

Sarah
xxx

Originally Posted by Sandy79

Hi,

my husband, 2 year old daughter and myself are in the process of re-locating ourselves from China to Le Havre.

I'm from England, and my husband is from Lyon, however, due to his company we are moving to Normandy.

I've never lived in France, in fact, I've never even been to Le Havre, so, apart from working on the language (which I have a basic level at best), I was wondering if anyone had any advice for our move?

Really hope people can shed some kind of light, as everyone we tell says, "ohh, Le Havre. never mind, at least the surroundings are nice"...

Any help on hospitals would also be a great help.

Thank you

Sandy

[andicheval]

Hi Sandy
I'm living in Le Havre for the past year now. My husband is french and I'm american (well, I'm from south america, but moved to the Florida long time ago)
2 weeks after i moved here i got pregnant and my baby came early, he's 5 .5 months now.
My first friend here was one of the nurses I met in the Hospital when my baby was born. But they are very busy so I almost never see her.
If you are having a baby soon, here is a good place. The Hospital is nice and the service is excellent. For me was a hard time having a premature baby in a country where I hardly understand the language, but they made it easier. I don't think I could have a better experince any where else...
I'm still in the process of adapting my self to this place... but if you want I can help you with what I know already...let me know.
Take care

[Sandy79]

Hello to you both.

thank you so much for your responses.

My husband and I are actually in Le havre now, looking for flats, schools etc. We have been really surprised with the city although definitely not the most glamorous it's really not as bad as we expected. The weather has been great since we've been here, cold but really sunny...totally unlike China! People have also been really friendly, I don't know how quickly I'm going to make friends, with my limited language, but I'm going to join some clubs and hopefully do a french course starting in September. Meeting people, or rather not meeting people, is probably my biggest fear. We've lived in China since 2003 and although I have my best friends still at home in Birmingham, we made amazing friends whilst living in Hangzhou...I'm going to really miss them. Never mind, as new start is also great.

I'm so happy that you enjoyed your time here Sarah...it really gives me hope! My husband says, they have a saying about le Havre "you cry when you arrive and you cry when you leave"...we'll see!

As for babies, I have a 2 year old but we would really like a 2nd fairly soon, but I would like to have a grasp of the language before. Mainly because I'm worried I won't understand what the doctor is saying. After having my baby in a wonderful American clinic in Shanghai, I really wouldn't like not knowing what's going on.

We will move here on the 12th July. And we have all our own furniture from China being shipped so we won't need to buy much in the way of house stuff. But I really do find France a lot more expensive than England. I've started to buy lots on the net to be honest, and my sister is going to drive it over when we arrive.

Andicheval, we should meet up when we arrive in July... I promise we're normal! Where is your husband from?

Anyway, we're off flat hunting again!

Speak soon.

Thanks again to you both!

Sandy x

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by Sandy79

I'm so happy that you enjoyed your time here Sarah...it really gives me hope! My husband says, they have a saying about le Havre "you cry when you arrive and you cry when you leave"...we'll see!

Once you get a bit of French under your belt, you HAVE to see the film "Bienvenue chez les Ch'ti's" - It's about a French guy from the south who gets transfered to the north of France and has all sorts of awful expectations. (I'll confess, my DH is from Lille - right in the area where the film was shot. He enjoyed the film. His sister didn't like it a bit.) They use the line in the film about "you cry when you first arrive, and you cry when you have to leave."

You can get the film with English subtitles, but some of the best gags do not translate all that well. But you won't need alot of French to catch the wordplays.
Cheers,
Bev

[Coton90]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

Once you get a bit of French under your belt, you HAVE to see the film "Bienvenue chez les Ch'ti's" - It's about a French guy from the south who gets transfered to the north of France and has all sorts of awful expectations. (I'll confess, my DH is from Lille - right in the area where the film was shot. He enjoyed the film. His sister didn't like it a bit.) They use the line in the film about "you cry when you first arrive, and you cry when you have to leave."

You can get the film with English subtitles, but some of the best gags do not translate all that well. But you won't need alot of French to catch the wordplays.
Cheers,
Bev

This was on TV the week before last and I did catch it. I'm certainly glad I don't live in the Pas de Calais as I had no idea what those people were saying; nor did the main character, initially.

I've started a book by Graham Robb called "The Discovery of France". In his book he says just over a 100 years ago, French was a foreign language to the majority of the population.

Bon Pac.

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by Coton90

This was on TV the week before last and I did catch it. I'm certainly glad I don't live in the Pas de Calais as I had no idea what those people were saying; nor did the main character, initially.

I've started a book by Graham Robb called "The Discovery of France". In his book he says just over a 100 years ago, French was a foreign language to the majority of the population.

Bon Pac.

I caught the Ch'ti film the first time on my flight back to the States, on a 747 without the in-back personal entertainment centers. So it was subtitled in English but only available with the French soundtrack. The subtitles were just awful for the early parts that rely on the "misunderstanding" of the local dialect. But I think the flight was full of Americans returning back home. I seemed to be the only person watching the film - or at least the only person laughing and enjoying myself while watching it!

That Graham Robb book is great fun! And it explains very well the French reaction to foreigners.

I'm currently reading a book in French called "Ces impossibles français" where I'm also learning all sorts of interesting things about manners and habits and attitudes here. Oddly enough, although the author is Louis-Bernard Robitaille (how much more French can you get?), the back of the book describes him as an "American from Québec." His observations about the French are definitely in sync with mine! It's a delightful book.
Cheers,
Bev