A product of your environment?

A couple of weeks ago, we started watching a program on BBC3 (from what I have read on other blogs, BBC3 and BBC4 audiences differ widely, please educate me as I haven't got a clue what the difference is between them) called 'Peckham Finishing School for girls'. I know it sounds like a trashy, reality TV kind of program. We started watching it because some of Mr Foodie's relatives live in London and he did find himself in Peckham. I, on the other hand, wouldn't be able to place Peckham on a map, and had never heard of it apart from Mr Foodie's stories. Also, since Glee finished, we need to fill the big void that have become our Wednesday evenings.

Basically, the program centers around 8 girls, 4 upper class, rich girls who have never wanted for anything, and 4 girls from Peckham which I now know is one of the roughest neighbourhoods in London. I believe the aim of the program is to educate one extreme of the society spectrum with the other. The 'golden girls' are portrayed as your stereotypical stuck up upper class person, all about shopping, partying, playing polo, proper etiquette and have never met (it seems) anybody outside of their high upper class social circle. The Peckham girls are portrayed as the opposite stereotype, the somewhat aggressive chavs living on benefits, in a derelict crime ridden estate.

It's full of the usual stereotypes which make me cringe and it feels that none of them really want to learn from each other's life and everything will go back to normal after the show. Some of these 'fish out of water' programs sometimes lead to changes in people but I really think this one is doomed. They won't keep in contact, there won't be any life changing act of kindness at the end of it. It won't make for memorable TV and certainly won't be TV anthology. But, as there has to be a but, it got me thinking (oops, watch that steam coming out of my ears!): Are we a product of our own environment?

Of course, you can't answer this question without generalizing. I don't have enough knowledge and experience of what it's like to grow up on a crime ridden estate, or on the other type of estate (the one with mansions and horses) to be able to answer without generalizing. But I think the program really shows that, to a point, you are. The girls' speech, accents, vocabulary, dress sense, attitudes all prove to be the result of how and where they grew up and what they had to deal with in their life. Now, I don't believe for a second that you can't break free from your environment and are doomed forever to live on an estate if that's where you grew up. But you will always carry with you something, whether it be skills or knowledge from that environment.

What I know for sure us that I, for one, am a product of my environment. I grew up in a middle class working family in the countryside. Although I knew that it happened, I never really encountered drugs or crime until I went to college. I am not street wise. I am somewhat naive when it comes to all this. Where I come from, we are all pretty polite to each other, I never witnessed fights, bar brawls, shouting in the street, public drunkenness etc until I was in my late teens. I am comfortable with my own company having grown up with no neighbours my age. I love food because my mum and dad were into food. I love reading because that's pretty much all there was to do where I lived. I have the same political opinions as my parents. I am not comfortable with aggressive behaviour and name calling because I never grew up with that kind of thing. I am not good at answering tit for tat when being verbally challenged because I never really had to. I was kind of sheltered from some of the hard realities of life. I am, to a point, the stereotypical country girl even though I have lived in an urban environment for more than 12 years now.

I can safely say that Mr Foodie is also a product of his environment. He grew up in a working class urban environment and is a lot wiser than I am. He has seen a lot more than I have. He knows how to react in some situations in which I would only panic and be completely out of my depth.

We were recently talking to someone we know, who happens to live in what would be considered an underprivileged area. And I was amazed (yet slightly uncomfortable) at how they were describing the everyday life there. Police raids taking place, drug dealing, stealing from shops, people in and out of jail, name calling from a young age etc. Yet, they were relating these events in the same way my grand father used to tell me about his vegetables growing in the garden. Things I would personnally be horrified to witness on a daily basis were just 'normal' for them. Not that they approved of them, far from it, but they had developed a 'That's life, it does happen' kind of attitude, some kind of shell that I don't think I could develop. Don't get me wrong, I know it happens, I have seen it happen but it doesn't make me anymore comfortable with it.

I have also seen how children adapt to the environment they are in. Marie has sometimes come back from Noodleland using words we don't use, speaking differently to the way we speak, or with knowledge on some things that we didn't give to her (like how to french kiss age 5, anybody?). Children, in some socio-economic conditions, have to grow up a lot faster than they should. And I don't think that's right.

Which is why I am glad we are moving to the countryside. Some people might say that I am trying to shield my children away from reality and I suppose I am. I am just trying to give my children the best conditions for them to grow in (without making them sound like some kind of fruit or vegetable), keeping their innocence a bit longer. They won't be living completely in a bubble, ignoring even the existence of things like these but they won't get to experience them first hand, day in, day out. They will gain from my and Mr Foodie's experience and hopefully will become a product of our own environment, a mix of streetwise country naivety, if that's ever possible. I certainly don't want them to be like either of the groups from that program, one completely clueless to life outside their golden cage, and the other that has seen too much in too little time.

So what do you think? Are you a product of your environment? Or do you think my theory is completely flawed? Let us know!

I need a holiday!

With the imminent move and everything else that has happened this month (the cat has deflated, by the way, all by itself!) I need a nice holiday. Heck! I need a nice long holiday, preferably in a nice luxury hotel.

A bedroom like that would suit me just fine!

So to my surprise, I have found a competition being held by Radisson Blu. It's called The Greatest Holiday in the world.

Radisson Blu are offering 365 hotel nights to spend in more than 200 Radisson Blu hotels across the world over a period of 5 years. 1 year of free hotel nights! I immediately imagined that the process to win such a luxury prize would be quite daunting, like writing a novel or something along those lines. But no, it is very simple. You need to visit their website, the greatest holiday in the world, and leave an entry describing why you deserve to win. You can also upload videos or pictures to make your point even further. I'm sure if these people witnessed a day in my life, they would award me the prize straight away! Visitors to the website vote for their favourite entry and whoever has the most votes by July 24th gets to win the prize. Easy!

Please note that this competition is only opened to EU citizens, or citizens from Norway, Liechstenstein, Iceland and Switzerland.

On top of this competition, they are also holding Creativity Awards. Every week, the people at Radisson Blu select 10 of the most creative, funny and original entries and award them with a special Creativity Badge (and a special Radisson Blu prize too). But winning a Creativity award will not only allow you to win that but it will also raise your profile and drive more traffic to your entry, hence the potential to earn more votes. Does that make sense? Are you still following me?


Now, it's time to put my thinking cap on and come up with the most witty, funny, original fantastical entry that will win the judges hearts.

Would you enter? Why would you say you deserve that fantastic prize? Leave us a little comment and let us know!
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Business and Pleasure.

People often say: ' You can't mix business and pleasure.' (Or variants thereof). My answer to them is: 'Why not?'

What if you discovered a way of doing so? What about mixing blogging (pleasure) and business (making a bit of money for it)? Well, I have just discovered a new platform that allows me to do both. It's called ebuzzing.



Ebuzzing is a platform that has been connecting bloggers and advertisers in France since 2007 and has now launched in the UK . By broadcasting campaign videos on your blog (with dedicated players or banners as pictured below), or simply writing an article on something you genuinely like, you could be earning a bit of money for yourself (I can see a new pair of shoes winking at me!).

 

All you need to do is register on ebuzzing.com. Once you have registered, you will have access to many advertising campaigns by well known brands (Coca Cola, L'Oreal, Intel only to name a few). There is no pressure to write about something you don't want to write about, you chose the campaigns you want to talk about, you recommend only what you want to recommend. You apply for the campaign, write a post following the brief and submit it. Once your post is approved and up and running for a bit, ding dong, you get paid for it. It's as simple as that! I always thought that to incorporate monetisation into your blog was complicated, how wrong was I? It is so simple and easy with Ebuzzing!

Still not sure? Why don't you take a look at their blog post called 'Why you should join Ebuzzing' and have a peek at some previous campaigns?

They also run a referral program for bloggers in the UK (not sure about Ireland though), in which you can get a bonus if people sign up and write at least one article (details on their website)

Convinced yet?

Well, I was. Why don't you try it?

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Living in chaos.

We are living in complete chaos at the moment. I have started packing for our move (next week!!!) and honestly, it can't come fast enough now. I have come to dislike greatly that state of limbo we are living in. There are still quite a few days to go so there are a number of things that can't be packed just yet (why can't we just live of fresh air and naked for a week!). Whatever has been packed already has just left a sense of emptiness where it used to belong. Empty bookshelves are staring back at me. Wires that used to be hidden by boxes and other various storage units are now exposed, very much to Noelie's delight and curiosity. And still despite that feeling of emptiness, it also feels like chaos, everything else is out and scattered everywhere. Boxes and bags are piling up, cluttering every bit of the already small space we have. We are stumbling over boxes and bags in the hallway, in the bedrooms, in the kitchen. There are so many things that can't be packed still that it leaves me with a feeling of uselessness. I'm just staring at what's left and can't seem to realize how much I have done already. I'm getting overwhelmed by how much there is still to do. I try and take it a day at the time and pack a room at a time, but there is still so much that I have to live in situ because we still have a week to go. Maybe it's because we are already shifting some of our belongings to Mr Foodie's mum and dad's that I can't seem to realize that I did pack quite a lot already. It feels like I'm not packing enough and that we will never be ready and yet, in a quite ironic way, I can't get myself to take down all our ornaments and pictures hanging from the wall because I don't want to aggravate that feeling of limbo, strange, hey?

 Marie is very excited and is counting the days too. We registered her in her new school last week and she came with us and met the Principal. It is going to be quite a change for her. She is moving from a 300+ pupils school with class sizes between 28 and 30 to a 120 odd pupils one and a class of 19. From an education point of view, it is going to be much better, should she need extra help. The school is also being renovated and a whole new part of the school is due to open in September, with state of the art white boards, projectors, laptop and wireless mouse in every classroom. She is also delighted that she will be wearing a dress or skirt to school, a proper uniform rather than the not so nice blue tracksuit that she gets to wear everyday in her current school.
 
The next couple of weeks are going to be so so so busy. There are changes of address forms to fill in here and there, contracts to cancel and contracts to set up with such and such provider. Van rental to organize, Plans of actions to decide (Mr Foodie loves his POAs). Lists to make. More boxes and bags to pack. All that on top of normal 'duties' and appointments. And what am I doing? Well I'm sitting here blogging! Why, because it helps me put things in perspective. But somebody please come out of the screen and give me a good kick!

It's all going down the drain...

OK, just to set the scene. I grew up in a football (soccer if anybody reads from outside Europe, you never know!) family. Not just the 'watch it on TV' football family, the 'out there on the pitch' one. My dad used to play at a fairly honourable level when I was born and, by the age of 2 months, I was out by the side of the pitch every Sunday, whatever the weather.


He then set up a ladies team, which included my mum, and 4 of my 5 aunts at the time (and other girls too of course). He eventually ended up coaching the main men's team of our local club, then moved to another club and was in charge of the kids team my brother played in for a good 15 years. 5 out 6 of my uncles play(ed) football. My grand father was a referee, my grand mother was secretary of the football club. When he wasn't coaching or playing, there was always a game to watch on TV or a meeting to go to.

I grew up on the side of a football pitch, played football myself until I wasn't allowed to play with boys anymore. There also were the tournaments in the summer, which I used to love going to, as most of my friends were playing (I always got on better with guys than I did girls), not to mention other fit footballers from other towns and countries too. Later on, my friends and I used to help with the local tournament, serving at the drinks stand, decorating the hall etc. I used to be called upon to translate for the foreign teams, in broken English or Spanish. In France, a lot of girls started liking football after the 1998 World Cup, because we won it, because the players are nice to look at, because boys would pay more attention to you if you said that you liked football. I wasn't one of them, I was really interested in football, I could (and still can) explain the offside rule, I can tell if that was a yellow or a red, a corner or a goal kick.

I might not follow football as much as I used to but I still watch it sometimes, especially if France or Ireland are playing. Mr Foodie is more of a rugby person and I find myself starting to enjoy rugby a lot more too.

So, of course, the World Cup is on. I had decided not to post on it, because of the shameful way we got to qualify against Ireland. I still supported France of course and hoped that they would win. But something happened last week that made me change my mind. One of the players was sent home on Friday for insulting the manager at half time of the game against Mexico. He told him to 'F*** Off, you son of a b****'. And it made it onto the front page of the national sports newspaper. Not just the fact that he insulted him, the actual words (and not bleeped as I did here) were printed on the front page. And that's just wrong on so many levels.

First off, the newspaper should have had more sense than to print the actual words on the front page. They should have had more respect for their readers and their families. Young kids walking into the newsagents that day got to see those words in bold letters on the front page. I know that particular newspaper likes controversial headlines but this one is just plain disrespect for their readers.

Second of all, don't get me wrong, I know what happens in dressing rooms. From both sides. I know what it's like from the manager's side, I know what it's like from the player's side. I have seen and heard what has been said to my dad as a manager, and I have seen and heard my friends complaining and cursing at their manager even at the lowest of playing levels. So I have no illusions, I know it happens at all levels. What I can't accept is the lack of professionalism. These players are role models for young kids who look up to them, who dream of, maybe, one day, being like them. My dad and my brother, both, manage young players. They do their best to instill a love of the game, respect for all people involved, fair play and fairness. And I feel like all their hard work as educators has been completely and utterly obliterated by the fact that such a high profile player has now made it acceptable to talk to their manager that way. Especially, since he refuses to apologise.

Thirdly, the whole French team refused to train yesterday in support of him, in protest against the decision to send him home. A so called solidarity that they don't have and never had either on or off the pitch. There have been talks of players ostracizing other players because they don't have the same background, they're not 'ghetto' enough, they don't talk the same way, don't listen to the same music. A fist fight nearly broke out between a player and one of the technical managers, in front of cameras. They're looking for the 'mole' who leaked the story to the press. They're calling for that person to be sacked. What kind of message does that send to young players?

So, mes chers Bleus, I am just completely disgusted at all of you, players, technicians, managers and federation. I have a feeling that you do not want to be at the World Cup. Well, in that case, you should have let a team that really wanted to go be there instead of making it in such a controversial, un-fairplay, shameful manner. I'm sure Ireland would have enjoyed it a lot more than you and we did. And they would have made people here dream a lot more than you did (and god knows, we need to dream here in Ireland).

You are sending the completely wrong message to young kids. Your heart was never in that tournament. The size of your ridiculous wages can only be topped by the size of your equally ridiculous egos. You have slashed a lot of people's dreams and hopes and are laughing at everybody who might have been supporting you. You act like little scumbags (excuse my french but I am just so so so very annoyed). And you succeeded in achieving more damage to your sport than anybody else before, undermining a lot of the hard work done by honest, passionate educators who do so in their spare time and for no money whatsoever, just for their love of the game. The same people that helped you to get where you are now, who nurtured your talent and helped you to grow. And that, you see, mes chers Bleus, that's not Football.
 
So thank you for having achieved, with brio might I add, the opposite to what a national team should do. Thank you for having stained forever the national team. Les Bleus made us dream, they made us cry with joy, they united the nation back in 1998. You have just managed to ridicule that same nation all because of your attitude off the pitch. Thank you for having completely ignored the basic values of football, those of respect, equality, fairplay and fairness. The same values that educators, in all types of conditions and environments try and instill in young players.
 
You do not deserve to be called les Bleus.
 
Definitely not yours anymore,
Foodie Mummy.

My first ever review: Bayard Press Children's magazines

Imagine my delight when I received an e-mail a couple of weeks ago asking me if I would be interested in reviewing some children magazines from Bayard Press.

Having grown up in France, I am very familiar with Bayard Press publications. From the time I could read until I was 16, I had a subscription to some of their magazines. I remember my delight whenever it arrived. I would rip the plastic wrapper apart and get stuck in. The stories were always interesting, sometimes based on legends or historical events. Their other articles on nature, world events etc were always informative. So I jumped at the chance, hoping that their English publications would live up to what I remembered off the french ones.

When people think of children magazines, they think of cheap plastic toys that break within minutes of being opened and not very profound comics with well known characters. I have to admit I am not a big fan of them. I buy them because Marie loves to read and she will read anything that she can find. But I think that now, she has outgrown most of the magazines I can find. And I refuse to get her any of those tweenagers magazines that come with war paint make up or anything like that.

We received 3 magazines: Story box (aimed at 3 to 6 years old), Adventure Box (aimed at 6 to 9 years old) and Discovery Box (9 to 12 years old). Upon opening the envelope, I was delighted to see that the format had not changed much from what I remembered. I enlisted Marie's help to see what she thought of them.

We started off with Story Box. Although aimed at children slightly below Marie's age and reading level (although she is only 7, she is on the penultimate Harry Potter book and a real book worm), she really enjoyed it. It contains a book length, beautifully illustrated story called 'A Donkey for Two'. It is based on a common Arabic legend and it's moral pretty much reads that no matter what you do, people will always have an opinion and you shouldn't let it bother you. Marie particularly enjoyed learning about sloths in the Nature article, and 'What happens to the rubbish we throw out' especially since this year she has learned a lot about the environment in school. She also enjoyed the couple of pages of games. So, despite being for a younger audience, it gets a thumbs up from Marie. 

We then moved onto Adventure Box, which is aimed at children around Marie's age (6-9). It contained a 44 page chapter story, based on the Greek mythology legend of Atalanta. The story was well written and easy to understand. There also were a few footnotes explaining certain aspects of Ancient Greek life such as soothsayers (or oracles) and gyneaceums. She particularly enjoyed the feature on buttercups in which she learnt the proper names for the different parts of the flower and also that you should not put a buttercup in your mouth and why. She had a good laugh at the Tom and Lily comic. I was gladly surprised to see that this particular comic was still part of the magazine as I used to love it (you don't change a winning team!). We played the games together. She also enjoyed the last comic, Ariol.

The last magazine we received is called Discovery Box and is aimed at children from 9 to 12 years old. In this one, the focus shifts more onto science, nature and history rather than getting your children to enjoy reading. Marie read it and enjoyed it however, I believe, that she did not understand it all since it is for older kids. I read it too and found it very interesting. Once again, the format is the same from what I remember. I found it a great source of information and help for homework when I was in school especially when it came to projects. This magazine offers insight into the world of animals with beautiful pictures and great information. It tackles science in an exciting way and brings it to life with experiments. History features through a picture story followed by a few illustrated pages of information. It also offers easy recipes for children, insight into sport, and various other topics.

So I am really happy that the 3 magazines we received lived up to what I remembered of the French ones. Some people might say that I am trying to relive my childhood, but I am seriously considering subscribing to this one. For me, it ticks all the boxes when it comes to children's magazines. They all are entertaining, informative and educational.

To get an idea of what the magazines look like, or to subscribe, just visit the Bayard Press website. Subscriptions for a year (10 issues) cost £39 (UK only), or 65 euros for other European countries.

Cybermummy ticket to win.

For those who don't know it yet: Where on earth have you been hiding? Cybermummy is a conference organised by 3 great mummy bloggers: Sian at MummyTips, Jennifer on AlphaMummy and Susanna at A Modern Mother on how to start your own blog, improve your blog, make it more visible etc. The day promises to be full of great tips and great bloggers to meet. Now, I won't be going (everybody goes Awwwww). I'll be moving that week end also the fact that it takes place in a different country doesn't help. I personally don't have a ticket to give away, but Arthritis Research UK do. All you need to do to be in with a chance to win is become a follower of ArthritisRUK on Twitter and retweet it. Easy as pie. They will randomly select a winner on Wednesday.

So, for any of you who would love to go but don't have a ticket yet, give it a try!