FAQ 1 How did you decide to live in France for a year?

The seed of possibility was planted firmly between 2009 and 2012 as Francois and I led CCO donor trips to the Alps. We’ve both had a lifetime love of the mountains. We also carry seed packets of possibility wherever we go. “Wouldn’t it be amazing to live here someday?”

Then the kids came along and we dreamed of them being bilingual and knowing where their Papa comes from and their Frenchness. Research and experiences of others told us that preschool and elementary age is the best time to go. Part of what we want to give our kids is a big view of the world and the beautiful diversity in it! We wonder how we will be different living outside the city, with mountains as our back yard. This is a clip that was shared by our neighbor in La Masure of visitors in our back yard.

Baa-ram-ewe! To your breed,your fleece, your clan be true. Moving the sheep to pastures new and greener higher up the mountains with the lovely berger Sebastian. #lamazure #mountainlife #frenchmountains #lifeinthemountains #sheep

A post shared by Anna Pearce (@annamountainmaman) on Jun 30, 2018 at 11:38pm PDT

So, there’s basically two ways to make this type of adventure happen. On one hand, you can save a ton of money, and/or sell everything and take a year off. Or, you can have work that can be done from anywhere - anywhere with WiFi, that is! So, when I transitioned to becoming a leadership development coach last fall, that freed me up from location. Francois will do much of his planning and preparation from home in France, but since he leads trainings, teaches classes, and facilitates groups - all of that will require him to travel.

Practically speaking, this has been a lot like a wilderness expedition. We entered the planning phase. Is it possible? What route will we take? How will we get there? What will we need to do to prepare? We went round and round, back and forth, over hours and days and months of conversations. We made a estimated budget of living in the Alps vs. Paris. Could we go for 4 months? 6 months? 9 or 12 months? It was an ever-moving target as we learned what it will cost for things like rent (do we prioritize having a 3rd bedroom for guests or save money and live tiny), health insurance (3 out of 4 of us have French citizenship - will we be covered there?), transportation (can we get by with public transport via trains, buses, and Ubers or do we need to lease a car?). It’s been exhausting. I’m eager for this part of the trip preparation to be over and for the adventure to continue in the next phase... actually getting on the plane.

Alas, the bags are not packed. The house is not ready for others to move in. There are more friends to have time with before we board. Stay tuned. There’s so much to learn!