Total Art Soul - for artists

Thanks blu.

Shame, but be hard to be alone.
Yup, internet and my etsy shop has been so helpful. I hvae made some lovely friends on twitter.

What I miss is just going for coffee and chatting about my day etc.

Thanks Cathy
for your honest answer. I am also quite a social gal but find it hard to have a heart to heart conversation in french.

I have also thought of giving art classes to kids to help their english too.
I think I will also lok up to see if their is english/french conversation groups.

One problem I have is that I have two day jobs, etsy and having to look after my two year old so time and energy is low.

Luckily Strasbourg is not so isolated and there are english speaking here, just gotta hunt for them.
Its been lovely to get you know you though:)

I lived and taught in North Carolina, (born and bred in Liverpool UK) but it was near the mountains in a place that got VERY few 'aliens' passing through. A friend I made there (the kids called her a yankee to give you an idea of their attitudes to outsiders) was firmly of the opinion that the famed southern hospitality was only to other southerners...I did feel terribly isolated and miserable at times. I'm quite reserved and felt uncomfortable pushing myself forward as it were. I joined the local Y (YMCA gym) and went to pottery painting classes and was terrifyingly honest with others about my loneliness and also got used to travelling alone
Now I'm isolated for different reasons. Back home in Liverpool, but housebound much of the time (I have fibromyalgia)....
SO,
I wholeheartedly concur with Blu and Cathy's wise words. The net is a lifeline for me now and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't survive without it, (ah the joys of internet grocery shopping ) I hope that their advice helps. My feeling was that it took at least a year before people got used to you let alone anything more...(unless you're very lucky, fate was kind to me and I made a very dear friend who I'm still close to now, 8 years after coming home)
Lots of luck and I hope things get easier soon
and as Blu said, look me up on Twitter

thanks sand625 for your reply. I found you on twitter(I am Francevintage).
Thank you for your kind words.

Where I live, we've been here 3 years, they still call us l'anglais (the english), even though neither of us are actually english, we just speak english. They show total disrespect by driving on our lawn, not delivering letters, etc. It's very obvious that we are not wanted here. They even set one of their dogs on one of our cats one day.

I speak very good French Hayley, but it's still not the language I'm most comfortable with and I also find that I cannot express myself as I would like to. I feel that my personality cannot shine through.

I also feel really strongly though the difference in cultures. When I make a joke for example, no one ever laughs and they start explaining furiously or defending themselves. I do find the French quite serious so that makes light banter difficult.

It's funny because we have not set out for it to be that way, most of our friends that we see here are in fact foreign.

I also say thank goodness for the internet! We would not have this site for a start! lol

Thanks Cathy, its sometimes nice to know, you not alone out there in such a 'different' world.Sounds like you have had a very rough time there.At least Strasbourg is used to the english.

I totally understand about the humour thing.I generally love being a clown/funny but just dont do it much here as I am frowned upon or misunderstood.

i do wish we lived closer to one another.

BUT I try remember each day that I am here in France so that my little boy can have a better life than the one I could give him in South Africa. So, I just keep thinking of that.

Thank you for all the encouragement and understanding.You do such a great job here and give a lot of yourself. So many people are enriched by what you do.thanks.