Life in the South of France

Life here so far, after 6 months, is okay. We have our routines as far as shopping and cooking, and our French, although not progressing by leaps and bounds, is much better than when we first arrived.

We have a total of three French/English dictionaries: one with probably every word in it; one that is smaller and will fit in a backpack; and one with pictures. The picture one has been very useful. If we have to buy something, we look up the item in the proper section (sports, housewares, clothing, etc) and find the word.

There is a daily farmer's market in Antibes, about a 15-minute walk from the apartment, so we go there once a week. There is a cheese shop near the market and we go there also to sample cheese. They have a bunch of cheese that look like a science experiment, but they taste really good. I guess all the mold is good for you; at least we have not gotten sick from it yet.

Food prices are comparable to the US and the UK I think, if you go straight money across the board, no exchange rate (1$=1Pound=1Euro). Wine is very cheap; you can get an okay (well, we it is okay) bottle for less than 3Euros.

But wages are less here than what we made in the UK. Kari's salary in the UK was pretty close to what she made in the US in terms of straight money. My wages in the UK were MUCH less, and they are even less here (once again, straight money).

Taxes are more here than the US, but they are somewhat similar to the UK. The payslips are MUCH more complicated than in the US or the UK. Both of our payslips have 20 to 30 lines of deductions or credits. Honestly, we don't know what most of them are for.

Basically, they take the social taxes off your paycheck (about 25%) and you pay your income tax once a year. Kari was told by a tax accountant to set aside one month's gross salary for income tax, this should be close. So we are looking at about 30-35% taxes. This isn't bad, when you consider it includes your health care and a pension (like Social Security, I think).

Restaurant prices (straight money) are comparable to the UK, which are comparable to the US, for an average, nice restaurant.

Housing prices (straight money) are comparable to the Bay Area. This is mainly (from what I have been told) a result of the influx of people who have come to work in the Sophia Antipolis area. Supply and demand.

Drinking at a bar is prohibitively expensive (although we still do it maybe once a month). A pint of Fosters is 6+Euros. A blessed Coke is about 3+Euros. Don't even think about mixed drinks. I REALLY, REALLY MISS ENGLISH ALE AND THE ATMOSPHERE OF THE PLOUGH IN ASHBY.

The weather is really nice though. The climate is much drier than home and the UK. Even during the winter, it never got as cold as what we were used to at home. There has been apparently an unseasonable amount of rain so far this Spring; it does seem to follow us. This fact may lead some of our UK readers to blame us for last year's wet summer. Which may lead to our readers at home begging us to come back in time for the winter.

Overall, things are pretty good.