|
|
|
Best Places To Travel During The Holidays With Your Family
Thinking about taking your family on a Christmas vacation?
Although it has long been tradition to wait at home for Santa to arrive, a number of American families spend Christmas away from home each year. Christmas vacations are becoming more and...
Destination Holiday
Hey you, where you going on holiday this summer? Kayaking in the Andes, golfing in Russia or sunbathing in Thailand? Is this going to result in a washout drinking spree, a fall-in-love with local girl heartache story or a thief stole my purse...
Playa del Carmen, Mexico: Beyond the All-inclusive Resorts
Mexico's Caribbean Coast has become a top vacation destination over the past few years. What attracts most visitors to the area is the many mega-resort properties that line Highway 307 from Cancun to Tulum, also referred to as the Riviera Maya....
Travel Agent in Egypt
EGYPT ADVENTURE TOURS
The Finest Travel Agent in Egypt offer Travel Tips , Best Nile Cruises Deals, Budget Travel Packages , Special Hotel rates in
Cairo, Alex, Aswan, Safari, Golf, Hurghada, Sharm El-Sheikh and Red Sea in Egypt.
EGYPT holds a...
What You Need To Know About – Cruise Holidays
Are you tired of the hustle and bustle of driving, sitting erect in a plane etc., go for a voyage through water- a cruise which provides you the best comfort and sight seeing. Sea journey has its own charm and charisma. The world seems a live...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Moving to France - Bring your sense of humour!
Copyright 2005 Oliver Phillips. May be freely reproduced "as-is" for private and commercial use.
In this article from PFS France (http://www.propertyforsalefrance.co.uk/), B A Boyle a British expat, writes a "tongue in cheek" account about the communication challenges they faced when they moved to France.
For many newcomers to France, one of the greatest challenges is actually to make sense of the French language which we studied years ago in school.
If you’re lucky you may still remember a little vocabulary or how to conjugate verbs, the exceptions and the rules. Nevertheless, beware. french learned at school has its limitations. It’s most unlikely that you will be able to impress anyone by asking “Where is the station?” “I’d like to book a room with a shower” or even “How do I get to the Eiffel Tower”
So, soon after we moved here, we came to rely on two very good pieces of advice:
If you can’t make yourself understood, try saying it in a different way.
Learn how to ask politely for the French person to speak a little slower/clearer for example “doucement, S’il vous plait” (literally, softly please)
Let me give you an example. Our first summer here and we’re living in a quiet little French village. We’re ready to receive our first visitors, daughter, son-in law, & two young children; a family more used to seaside than countryside holidays. How do we keep the little ones entertained. The supermarket is full of little plastic paddling pools. We buy two. One for water and one for sand. Water, we have plenty of but we need to visit the DIY store in search of sand.
If I ever knew the French word for sand I’d
surely forgotten it long ago. We find a helpful assistant but make no headway. Even after playing the usual charade-like game, we still cannot make ourselves understood. I sense increasing frustration all round. Then I remember the first piece of useful advice. “Find another way to say the same thing”. Sure enough, somewhere safely stored in my head was the French word for beach, so we ask for a sack of beach. Although this brings howls of laughter from everyone within earshot – triumph for us – we get the sand.
We are now prepared for our visitors but the tap in the bathroom has started to drip, drip and drip. Happily our DIY skills extend as far as replacing a tap washer. Back to the DIY store. Sadly, not only do I not know the French word for washer I cannot think of any sensible word as an alternative.
The assistant, helpful as ever, is determined not to be beaten this time by a simple thing like language but after a barrage of totally incomprehensible conversation I try the second piece of advice. “Doucement, s’il vous plait” Ah, ah, the relief on his face shows us that at last we have made ourselves understood. “Un moment” he says and disappears. True to his word, a moment later he is back, “Voila, deux ciment” and from his laden trolley he produces two sacks of cement!
On our next visit to the DIY store we ignore the useful advice and take a dictionary instead.
About the Author
BA Boyle writes on PFS France (http://www.propertyforsalefrance.co.uk/) a website that helps French property owners advertise and sell, and potential buyers find, some of the finest and best cared for traditional French properties available.
|
|
|
|
|
| Holidays on the Net - Welcome |
| Includes music, graphics, historical information, suggested activities, kids pages, links, and other features for most holidays. |
| www.holidays.net |
|
| Kids Domain - Holidays |
| HOLIDAY FUN with crafts, recipes, printables, games and activity suggestions for your family to enjoy. |
| www.kidsdomain.com |
|
| Earth Calendar |
| Every day is a celebration! The Earth Calendar is an online calendar of holidays and observances around the world. |
| www.earthcalendar.net |
|
| Federal Holidays Calendars from 1997 to 2010 |
| Offers a list of federally-recognized holidays celebrated in the United States. |
| www.opm.gov |
|
| TELETEXT HOLIDAYS : Cheap Flights, Last Minute Deals, Ski Holidays ... |
| Search for package holidays from over 250 tour operators, find last minute charter flights, ski holidays, snow reports, cruises, destination guides and ... |
| www.teletextholidays.co.uk |
|
| Thomson.co.uk - Great Value Holidays from the UK's no.1 Tour Operator |
| Thomson Holidays Online offer cheap package holidays, flights, sun holidays, faraway holidays to exotic destinations, late deals, city breaks, hotel booking ... |
| www.thomson.co.uk |
|
| Holiday - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| 4.1 Holidays traditionally in the winter holiday season ... Public holidays can be either religious, in which case they reflect the dominant religion in a ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Bargain holidays and cheap flights from Bargainholidays.com |
| Choose from 2 million+ late availability cheap flights and last minute bargain holiday packages departing from the UK. Order online from an ABTA bonded and ... |
| www.bargainholidays.com |
|
| First Choice - Book your dream holiday online - Great value ... |
| Find great value package holidays online with First Choice. Book last-minute holidays, all inclusive holidays, family holidays and villa holidays. |
| www.firstchoice.co.uk |
|
| Holidays Around the World for K-12 |
| Holiday Internet links for US and international holidays, religious holidays, and a holiday calendar for K-12. |
| falcon.jmu.edu |
|
| Holidays - cheap holidays, bargain holidays and bank holiday deals ... |
| Book your cheap holidays and bargain bank holidays at lastminute.com. |
| www.lastminute.com |
|
| Cheap holidays and package holiday discounts - Holiday.co.uk |
| Cheap Holidays and package deals from all the major UK tour operators including Airtours, Argo, Avro, Balkan, Club 18-30, Cosmos, Crystal, First Choice, ... |
| www.holiday.co.uk |
|
| Virgin Holidays |
| Tour operator offering holidays to mainland USA, the Caribbean, the Far East, South Africa and Mauritius as well as a ski programme in California and New ... |
| www.virginholidays.co.uk |
|
| Saga Holidays, Travel Insurance, Short Breaks, Vacations, cruises |
| Specialists in providing travel services to people over 50. Details of river and sea cruises, resort holidays, tours, short breaks, special interest and ... |
| holidays.saga.co.uk |
|
| Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators - Holiday Information |
| A categorized, annotated list of over 2500 sites to help educators, teachers, and parents enhance instruction and support the curriculum. |
| school.discovery.com |
|
| Queensland Holidays - Queensland Holidays |
| Queensland Tourism & Travel Advice - Find accommodation, events & activities as well as special packages & deals - Queensland Holidays. |
| www.queenslandholidays.com.au |
|
| BBC - Holiday |
| Information on worldwide destinations as covered in the series, plus advice and travel information, presenters, message boards and postcards. |
| www.bbc.co.uk |
|
| COSMOS - Package Holidays, All Inclusive Holidays, Self Catering ... |
| Looking for cheap holidays online? COSMOS offer great value deals on package holidays, all inclusive holidays self catering holidays, villa holidays ... |
| www.cosmos.co.uk |
|
| Late Holiday Deals and Discount Holidays at DirectHolidays.co.uk |
| Book late holiday deals online at Direct Holidays - discount breaks to destinations around the world. |
| www.directholidays.co.uk |
|
| Contiki Holidays - Holiday packages for 18 to 35 Year Olds |
| Contiki Holidays offers holiday packages and budget travel tours for 18 - 35 year olds including destinations to Europe and the UK, Asia, Latin America, ... |
| www.contiki.com |
|
|