jennykay

Hi . I am a 24 year old mother of 2 young children. I live close to Carcasonne and have been here for 18 months. before having my children i worked as a PT and fitness instructor in England. i find it very hard and lonely living here and i really want to get back to work part time. I want to know if expats in france in my area would be interested in Pesonal training sessions. The french do not seem to be into fitness as much as the English. would love to know peoples opinion, and if you think there is a call for this service.
Thanks.

onlyonebrenda

The French are very into personal fitness. Try going on one of their randonnées or going to the local sports hall, football club or salon de danse. They knock the spots off most of us, although you sound fitter than me. I'm not sure that they are into things like personal training in the same way though. Might be worth targetting the many British residents in your area through an advert in French news or the French Connexion.
Sorry to hear about the loneliness. I can imagine it's hard if you have very young children. Do you speak French?

jennykay

i get by with French but im not fluent. I live in a small village and the people are nice but all a lot older than me, just think if i can get out and work part time it will help me to settle and enjoy life here a bit more. thanks for the reply, ill test the water on the expats sites i think.

dmu

If I were you, I'd organise child-care before starting to look around for work, esp. if you live in a village. Go to your Mairie to find out whether there are any Assistantes Maternelles near you, or they'll direct you to the nearest town with a Crèche or Halte-Garderie. They can also tell you what's going on in your village so that you can meet people and not be too lonely. My village of 1000 inhabitants has for example Gym Douce twice a week, a Decorative Arts Workshop, card-playing evenings, not to mention hiking, etc..., but there again, you'd have to organise baby-sitting. Put a small ad for your services on the www.languedocsun.com (I think it's com, check on Google) website when you've set up your child-care, and put ads in all your local outlets (in French!). I must admit I don't know what Personal training is in French - probably something like "Life Coaching" (sic)!!! Good luck!

dmu

Sorry, I've just noticed that you are in the Tarn, not the Aude (the Carcassonne département) and strictly speaking you aren't in the Languedoc. But try the languedocsun website all the same.

onlyonebrenda

The point about small ads being in French is very important. It is against the law to put things in English only. Be careful about charging for your services. I think you would count as a 'profession liberale' which means you cannot go down the micro route but would have to have an enterprise réel which means paying lots of taxes up front. If you have someone handle your finances for you then they will take about 65% of what you charge to cover the taxes etc.
What I'm hearing though is that, with two small children, you need some adult company and 'me' time. The mairie suggestion is a good one. They cover far more things than we would have expected from our local council and may even introduce you to other English mums - which might help with the babysitting.

dmu

It's me again. Before you start advertizing your services, make sure that your qualifications are accepted in France. I read on another expat site (Weekly Telegraph) that, despite Europe, equivalent diplomas are not necessarily valid here. Check on that, but organize your child-care first! Good luck!

treskillard

Hi,
Around us the expats go to a pilates session a couple of times a week and in the next village they like a good bit of Tai Chi! Come to think of it the person who runs the British shop/grocers in Carcassonne is a pilates teacher and tennis coach too. Might be worth chatting with her? I think tailoring your fitness classes to fit fashion is a good option. You've got to locate the centres of expat activity and then work from there I would suggest.

Just an idea but maybe you could kill two birds with one stone. Find an assistante maternelle or whatever a child care specialist would be called and offer child care for mothers/fathers with fitness classes at the same time. I could imagine that might attract a few people. Good luck with your project.

dmu

Just to clarify vocabulary, an Assistante Maternelle (aka Nourrice) is a registered carer, minding a limited number of babies and toddlers all day in her home (thus for mothers working full time). When such children are 2 or 3 (depending on whether they are "clean"), they start Ecole Maternelle. For mothers working part-time, the Halte-Garderie looks after babies/toddlers for a few hours during the day. A Crêche offers all-day care for the lucky full-time workers who put their name on the waiting list the minute their pregnancy is confirmed, and priority is given to low-income families. There are all sorts of laws and regulations concerning Child Protection and Insurance and I don't think a collective baby-sitting service could be set up in a public place (the fitness classes would take place in the the salle communale, I imagine), just like that. The Mairie is the only place to find out....

jennykay

Thanks for all the replies. I will speak to our mairie and see if he can help at all,
thanks again.