Episode 10: Janice in France Shares Her Story of Moving to Paris at 70

In this week’s podcast, host, Jim Santos speaks to Janice Deerwester, an adventurous and unstoppable single woman in her 70s, who recently moved to Fontainbleu, near Paris, France. 

Navigating everything from restaurant etiquette (service in France is a lot more relaxed than in the U.S., it seems) to exploring on the excellent public transport, Janice recounts her adventures in her popular vlog, Janice in France. When you take life with such a positive attitude, every day is an adventure.

Recalling her first steps on starting her new life overseas, from finding a place to live to making sure her beloved pets were settled in, Janice takes us through the early days, and what she fell in love with immediately about living in France. From old-fashioned manners to bureaucratic red tape, the French way of life is not what she was used to back in the U.S., but it suits her just fine.

Settle in, press play, and find out as we welcome you to the latest episode of International Living’s Bigger Better World podcast.

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Music: Royalty Free Music From timtaj.com.

Chapters

• 2:05 An Expanding Set of Single Expats
• 4:06 Teaching Across the U.S.—How it Set me up for an Expat Life in France
• 7:30 Re-Inventing Myself as a Lifestyle Vlogger
• 10:18 Finding a New Home in Fontainebleau
• 15:23 Dealing with the Residency Process in France
• 22:11 Making the Move & Settling in
• 27:52 My Tips For Exploring Paris
• 30:40 Joining Women’s Groups
• 32:41 With a $75 a Month Travel Pass I Can Get to Anywhere I Want to
• 35:02 Healthcare, Insurance & Medicare
• 44:20 Old-World Values
• 47:45 Dip your toe into the water and see what is really for you’

Transcript

Jim Santos 0:10 

Hello everyone. I'm Jim Santos, and this is Bigger, Better World from International Living. In this podcast series, we introduce you to a bigger world full of communities that are safe, welcoming, beautiful and largely undiscovered. A better world. A friendly, warm, great value world where you can live richer, travel more, invest for profit, and enjoy a better life. We talk with our writers and other people just like you who took a chance and followed our guidance to create for themselves bigger, better lives all around the world. Let's get to it. Hello everyone, and welcome to Bigger, Better World. I'm Jim Santos, your host. 

And today we're going to be dealing with a topic I often hear raised by attendees at International Living conferences can a single woman over 60 safely retire overseas? In retrospect, it's clear to see why this is an important subject. Women, after all, tend to live longer than men, so are more often faced with retirement alone. Less obvious is the impact of the rise in dual income families. In 1967, for example, the Census Bureau reports that only about 30% of households were dual income. By 2020, that number had gone up to 60%.

So more resources are also available now for the single retiree, and more working women are set to collect larger Social Security checks. Finally, improvements in medical care and geriatric health programs have helped keep people healthy and active well into their seventy s and even 80s. Rita Moreno appeared in the remake of West Side Story at 91. Tony Bennett is still singing at 96. And former President Jimmy Carter is still building homes for humanity while pushing 98. 

Our guest today is a great example of this expanding segment of single expats. She was featured in the Lifestyle section of the August 2022 edition of International Living magazine. The article entitled ‘Writing Children's Books on the Banks of the Seine’. It's my great pleasure to welcome to the show Janice Deerwester, currently living in Fontainebleau, France. Janice, thanks for joining us on Bigger, Better World.

Janice Deerwester 2:21 

Well, thank you for having me. I am so excited and I've really been looking forward to this.

Jim Santos 2:26 

Yes, I've been looking forward to talking to you about this. Also, I was lucky enough to visit France for a week or so and really love the country. So I'm interested to hear your impressions on this.

Janice Deerwester 2:36 

Well, I have lots of impressions. I'm always having something to say.

Jim Santos 2:42 

Now, one of the things I think most of our listeners will be interested in mentioned in the introduction, we're seeing more and more singles who are looking at expat life, particularly widows and widowers who are looking at just kind of reinventing their lives after the loss of a spouse. So what was that process like for you? I understand you lost your spouse in 2012, was it?

Janice Deerwester 3:04 

Yes, I did, but losing my spouse in 2012 really had nothing to do with me moving to France, except for only having one person to depend on financially, myself.

Jim Santos 3:19 

Right.

Janice Deerwester 3:20 

But as a widow, it had nothing to do with me moving to France because, as we know, I became a widow in 2012, but my daughter was also twelve, so I had to raise a child. And so, you know, there were several years after that that I was still a mom and still had the responsibility of raising a daughter. In one hand, it really was not the reason I moved, but on the other hand, because I only have the one income coming in. So it certainly doesn't hurt.

Jim Santos 3:55 

Right. You started out as a teacher in state of Texas, is that correct?

Janice Deerwester 4:00 

No, I started out as a teacher in California and I taught for ten years. I taught in Colorado for two years, and then I taught in Georgia for 13 years.

Jim Santos 4:15 

And what did you teach?

Janice Deerwester 4:16 

I taught elementary, fourth grade, fifth grade, mostly. Fifth grade.

Jim Santos 4:21 

So you weren't a French teacher?

Janice Deerwester 4:22 

No.

Jim Santos 4:24 

Did you do much traveling before your tour of Europe?

Janice Deerwester 4:28 

Yes, I lived in Africa in the ’80s.

 Jim Santos 4:33 

Wow.

Janice Deerwester 4:33 

And every six months, being expats, we had to leave the country and go travel. And of course, we began to travel first in Europe and loved it. So we would travel about two weeks in Europe and then go home to visit family for about a week. So I really had the opportunity to travel around most countries more than once during those travels.

Jim Santos 5:02 

Did it ever occur to you that maybe you might want to live there?

Janice Deerwester 5:06 

Absolutely. I wanted to live in Marseille, France. I just knew one day when I retired, I would live in Marseille because I loved the European way of living.

Jim Santos 5:18 

What was it about it that attracted you most?

Janice Deerwester 5:21 

I love the idea of walking. I love the idea of shopping every other day. I love the slow way of living. Now, that is so contrary to my personality. I am not a slow, laidback person. I am very hyper. But I love that type of living. And I just knew one day I would live in France.

Jim Santos 5:49 

Yeah. I think one of the things I like about some European countries, particularly France and Italy, is, like you say, everything is based more around walking than driving. Every neighborhood seems to have its own butcher shop and bakery and vegetable store, and you just make the rounds and shop for just a day or two rather than stocking up for a week at a time at a big mega store.

Janice Deerwester 6:11 

Right. I walk to my vet, I walk to my doctor, I walk to the grocery store, and I have a huge grocery store that if I need to stock up on meat and large items, I just take the bus and I'm there. And I don't have to worry about car insurance, I don't have to worry about car accidents, I don't have to worry about a car payment. It is absolutely wonderful.

Jim Santos 6:38 

Yeah. That's removing a big financial burden when you don't have to support an automobile. Something else I wanted to ask you here, kind of fighting a lot of stereotypes. I mean, one of the stereotypical thing about people once they get past 60 is that they're not very tech savvy yet. You have an Instagram feed, you have a YouTube channel, you've got a website. Have you always been interested in computers and the Internet or is that something you picked up on your travel?

Janice Deerwester 7:04 

Absolutely not. I have the best editor ever. Her name is Grace and she is responsible for everything except for Facebook. I took care of it and it's just easy to throw something on, although I pay a little bit more attention to it because she will bring it to my attention that maybe I shouldn't say this, maybe I should say that, but she does everything. I have learned to be more tech savvy because of me going into YouTube. But as far as the editing and all of that, I have a wonderful young lady that does that for me.

Jim Santos 7:44 

Yes, you seem very comfortable in front of the camera in your YouTube videos.

Janice Deerwester 7:48 

Well, I think I've always been a ham and being a teacher for 25 years, there are just some days that you have to make it interesting for the children. If you just stand up there and quote from that history book, it is not ever going to soak in. But if you put a little pep in your step and maybe do a little creative things when it comes to teaching, that's going to make all the difference in the world. And I think that's why even though my first time I was in front of the YouTube, I was a little apprehensive. But then once I got to talking, it was just natural.

Jim Santos 8:25 

 I see in the article that in 2018 you made a six week trip to Europe and that's where you found Fontainbleau. Now, was that trip planned to look for a place to retire to or was that just a vacation?

Janice Deerwester 8:39 

No, it was a vacation, but it was also planned because I wanted to move at the end of 2018, 2019 to Europe. That was my plan. So I just started out and I went to London. I went to Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, because I really wanted to check everything out. I really have always loved the island of Lido because it's very small and you just take it the water taxi on into Venice and I like that way of living. And that would have been my second choice. And then I came into France and I thought, okay, let's go to the east coast. And then I went to the west coast. And then I thought, you know what, let's just go into Fontainbleau. And let me tell you how I knew about Fontainbleau. I had retired in 2017, and I had started watching this wonderful thing called Netflix, and I came upon this movie called The Reign, and they something in there about Fontainbleau. And I thought, well, I'm right outside of Paris. Let's go. So I got on the train, and then I got the bus.

Janice Deerwester  10:05.22 

And the bus took me straight into the middle of town where the carousel is and the open restaurants and the beautiful standing white bulbs and lamps, and I said, this is it. My heart opened up, and I said, this is where I want to live. And it's only 16,000 people, so I can walk around Fontaine Bloat. In about 30, 40 minutes without stopping. So it made me feel very comfortable. I stayed here for five days, and I just knew when I left here that it was the place I wanted to live. And believe it or not, while I was here, I met a friend on Facebook that knew a friend on Facebook, and I took a tour of the apartment that I'm living in right now.

Jim Santos 10:57 

Seems like the stars were aligning for you to end up at Fontainebleau.

Janice Deerwester 11:00 

They were all lined in the right direction.

Jim Santos 11:04 

So did you go home and immediately start the process of getting ready to move and applying for a residency?

Janice Deerwester 11:10 

I started the process, and all of a sudden, my daughter said, mom, I think I don't want to graduate this year. I think I want to graduate next year. And I thought, well, mom, you're not going to France. So that just went away. My daughter took another year to graduate, and then she stayed in the home for another year. We sold our home and moved to an apartment, and then I began to tutor, and I substitute taught, and I even worked in a retail shop for a while. So really France was put on the shelf.

Jim Santos 11:52 

So when were you able to resume the process of moving to France?

Janice Deerwester 11:55 

I was working one day and I came home and I lived in the most gorgeous area. I lived on a 50 acre horse farm. There was only six people that lived on it. It was beautiful. And I came home from work one day and I laid across my bed and I thought, you know what? I am 70 years old. What am I going to do retail, teach, tutor for the rest of my life? And then I thought, you know what? I don't want to be one of those women that sit in the nursing home thinking I should have done that. I want to be one of those women sitting in the nursing home thinking and telling people, look what I did.

Jim Santos 12:39 

Right?

Janice Deerwester 12:40 

And that's when the process started. And it took me about one week to really make a decision, talk to my daughter about it, and it was full speed on ahead after that.

Jim Santos 12:56 

So it sounds like your daughter's delay actually might have taken you past all the COVID lockdowns that would have interfered with your move anyway.

Janice Deerwester 13:04 

Absolutely it did. Things always happen for a reason. I believe that very much so. It just happened that it was at the right time and I wanted to do this. And then I thought, you know what? I just can't sit around and not encourage other people. And that was for the reason I started my YouTube channel.

Jim Santos 13:27 

And that YouTube channel for listeners. Is Janice in France? All one word. You just do a search on YouTube and you'll find plenty of information on it.

Janice Deerwester 13:34 

Yes. Thank you.

Jim Santos 13:36 

You also have a website by the same name, correct? JanicinFrance.com?

Janice Deerwester 13:40 

Right. And it is gorgeous. Grace and a friend of mine named Berrett who lives in Canada have done a beautiful job on it. Let me tell you about my website. We just finished it, believe it or not, about minutes ago, the recreating of it, because I am starting my own business. I do have people, women who wouldn't travel by themselves. I'm going to invite them to come over. I'm not a tour guide. I'm not going to even profess to be a tour guide because in France, you have to have a license. You have to be fluent in French. I'm going to be like a concierge. I'm going to be like your best friend, and you're going to travel with me, and we're just going to have fun. And the women will stay in Airbnb to cut down the cost. And I cannot wait because no one is going to know about that until tonight when my YouTube comes out and my website will be live tonight for the first time. And I'm so excited. I can't wait to announce it to everyone.

Jim Santos 14:45 

Well, that sounds great and a great service. I know when I meet potential expats at conferences, that's a big concern of theirs, especially if they're single and moving overseas. They just don't know how to take those first steps, and they're not real comfortable taking those first steps by themselves.

Janice Deerwester 15:01 

Well, and that's what I want to do. And I'm hoping that at the end of their journey with me, their self confidence is going to be great, whether they want to move to Europe or whether they want to move to another state, that I've instilled enough self confidence in them that they know that they can do it.

Jim Santos 15:20 

Did you have any difficulty with the residency process?

Janice Deerwester 15:23 

Well, I will tell you that starting the residency process is not for the faint of heart. I was absolutely so nervous because they give you a list of items that you need to prepare for. But there's these things in between the lines that if you have not seen it on a forum, if you have not done enough research, you might just be really apprehensive. When you go before the VFS, you don't go before the consulate like you used to years ago. The French consulate as long as well as the UK and India and other people, they have contracted it out to a company called VFS. And this is where you go in Atlanta, Chicago, or wherever you are. They all have one. And this is where you go to take your paperwork and all of my paperwork. Had my passport ready, had my bank statements ready, everything that I needed. And I went and I turned everything in, got my fingerprints done, et cetera, et cetera. And about twelve days later, I received my password back. And I was so disappointed because I only received a temporary one year visa. Now, it wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it wasn't what I wanted.

Janice Deerwester 16:56 

I wanted a resident visa because with a temporary resident visa, that meant I had to return to the States and do the process all over again.

Jim Santos 17:11 

Okay. I had read that there was a one year temporary residency first, and then you could renew that for a longer residency. But I didn't know you had to go back to the States to start that.

Janice Deerwester 17:21 

No, there's two of them. If you get a temporary, that means you can only be in the country one year. Not everyone gets a temporary residency. Some people will get a residency, and then they can sign up for their medical benefits and all of those benefits. And then when they renew it, they can do it online in France. But if you get a temporary one year visa, that means you have to go back to the States and do the process all over. Keep your fingers crossed that they won't give you a temporary one again, and they will give you that BLS TLS the one, those big words that says you get to stay.

Jim Santos 18:07 

Right. Now, we also, when we moved to Ecuador, took a dog and a cat with us. And there were a lot of hoops to jump through for that. Did you have similar paperwork to deal with to get your dogs to France?

Janice Deerwester 18:20 

Yes, I had a dog and a cat. I have just acquired this other dog recently for my Christmas presents. But I had a dog and a cat, and because I can't take but one animal, my daughter had to come over with me, and I had a shitsu. So that meant that he had to go underneath the seat in front of me because he's a short, snub nose dog, right?

Jim Santos 18:47 

Yeah. They don't want him in the luggage compartment.

Janice Deerwester 18:50 

Right. They can't go into… my cat could have gone into cargo, but probably would have never forgiven me. So my daughter came with me. She took care of the cat, and I took care of the dog. And then I had three suitcases that I brought with me.

Jim Santos 19:04 

And what year was that? When did you first arrive to begin your residency?

Janice Deerwester 19:08 

My first year was 2022, and it cost $125 per animal. But that wasn't the expensive part. The expensive part was taking the animals to the vet. And you have to have a certain vet that has the qualifications, because they have to make sure that they're in good health. They have to make sure they've had a rabies shot within a certain period of time. France did not require a deworming, but I know UK does, but, I mean, it was like $250 per animal, so that was a lot of money to bring my animals. But if my animals couldn't come, then I wasn't going.

Jim Santos 19:51 

Well, what was that like then, once you arrived in France? Just starting over? Did you speak any French at all when you arrived?

Janice Deerwester 19:58 

No. All I knew was Bonjour, madame au revoir. I mean, not much more than what I know right now, but I did know because of the traveling that I had done prior, just to greet people and to be as nice and kind. But let me tell you what happened to me. We got here around 07:00 a.m., and I had a car meet us at the airport because I had two animals, three suitcases and a daughter with me, and I was not about to travel through the metro with all of that.

Jim Santos 20:30 

And you've been flying overnight, so you're also exhausted.

Janice Deerwester 20:34 

Yeah, you're terribly exhausted. Plus you're not sure what's going to be there. Is it going to be like it was that you remembered from 2018? And all of that was just very stressful. We got to the apartment that morning, and my daughter, of course, was 21 years old, so she's got lots of energy. We came in. My main thing was to make sure my animals were taken care of, that they were fed, they were water, the litter box was set up, et cetera, and then we could do the rest of it when we wanted to. Well, my daughter had me out the door within about 4 hours. And we were at the grocery store. We were stocking up. We were refreshing the place that afternoon. And then that evening, I didn't even sleep in my bedroom. I slept on the sofa. I didn't want to sleep in the bedroom, and I just stayed on the sofa. And I remember the next day, my daughter came to me and she said, mom, what's going on? I said, I don't know. There's just something I'm missing. And she said, mom, this is what you've been wanting to do.

What is going on? And I said, I miss my yellow tennis shoes. What? I said, I miss my yellow tennis shoes. And she said, mom, what's going on with you? And I said, I just feel like I don't belong. 

And bless her heart, she started taking things, and I had brought pictures like that from the States. And she started getting everything out and she started putting things around that was ours. And there were memories from our life. And all of a sudden, it didn't matter. I was home but I'm so grateful that I had her with me because I'm not so sure I would have started attacking for a few more days, but that's the idea that, wow, what the heck have I done? What have I done? I've uprooted myself. I have three suitcases, I have two animals, and my daughter's leaving in five days. But by the time she left, I was really wanting her to leave because she was treating me like a ten year old. And I finally said, I can do this on my own. So she left, and I think it's the best move that I've ever made in my life.

Jim Santos 23:06 

What you went through is not uncommon at all. In my book, Living Abroad, I have a chapter about that, about homesickness and this fitting in process that you can suddenly just become hyper aware that you're in this completely foreign place and you can't speak to the people around you, and the simplest things suddenly start to seem completely insurmountable.

Janice Deerwester 23:26 

Absolutely.

Jim Santos 23:26 

And having those little pieces of home around, like your yellow tennis shoes, I hope you brought them on your next trip can help make things a little bit easier and help you make that transition.

Janice Deerwester 23:36 

Yes. Let me tell you about my yellow tennis shoes. I moved here February the first, and I had a friend who was my editor at the time she came to visit, and she came in May, and I had to ask her to bring a few things. Of course, I didn't ask for the yellow tennis shoes, but anyway, she came and she started unpacking and she said, oh, by the way, Jennifer sent you this. This was my yellow tennis shoes, and I have my yellow tennis shoes on right now. They are just something that reminded me of home, and as silly as it may seem, it was just something that I missed, and it just represented me and being home and just being happy in my situation and being comfort in my own shoes. No pun intended.

Jim Santos 24:33 

I think what probably also helped you out a little is that not having a car and having to walk out and be in the neighborhood and be immersed almost every day in your new surroundings.

Janice Deerwester 24:44 

Absolutely. And the people here are marvellous. They want to practice their English with me, though.

Jim Santos 24:49 

They want you to speak French?

Janice Deerwester 24:52 

No, they want me to speak English. So I have this one lady that I go to the store all the time, and I told her right before Christmas in January, no more English, no more English. And she said, yes, I have to learn my English, but I have never been treated so kindly and here in France, and I know I don't look my age, but I guess it's just transparent sometimes. But when I get on a crowded bus coming into Fontainbleau from the train station, or maybe the train is crowded, people will get up young people will get up and offer you their seats. And I thought that was the nicest thing. Although I don't know why they think that I'm that old. But it's okay.

Jim Santos 25:41 

That's something I've noticed abroad also, is that veneration of elderly people or maybe it's just good manners, but you hardly ever see anyone give up a seat anywhere in the US. But it's very common in other countries.

Janice Deerwester 25:54 

No, and very honestly, I've never been on a bus in the United States. Now, the only bus that I can ever remember getting on as a teacher is when we went on field trips. But going bus, we lived in a town that didn't even have one. And to go on the city bus in Atlanta, I wouldn't even dream of it. So going here on a bus was a real treat for me because I had never been on one and I had to learn how to navigate this bus on my own. Because if you don't make sure that you're going to the next stop and you don't let that bus driver know and there's no one at that bus stop, he's going to go right by, he can't read your mind. So I had to figure all of these out, but I found it fun to do. I didn't find it exasperating. I didn't find that it was one of those things that just ruined my entire day. It was one of those things that I would get off the bus and go, well, I learned from that. Next time I'll push that button a little sooner.

Jim Santos 27:01 

I used to occasionally get on a new bus number and just ride the entire route just to see where it went.

Janice Deerwester 27:07 

Absolutely.

Jim Santos 27:08 

So I know myself.

 Janice Deerwester 27:09 

Yes. Where it's going to go? Now, I live in a very small town. It isn't going to go too far, right, but it goes in a direction. And you know how we all get stuck, like going to work, we go one way and same thing here and every once in a while on a different numbered bus just to see where it will take me. But I really enjoyed the walking.

Jim Santos 27:35 

Yeah, that was my thing too. I figured wherever the bus ended up, I could always take a cab back.

Janice Deerwester 27:39 

That's right. This never worked out as Jennifer and I were traveling in London one time and I said, we're just going to get a bus and we're just going to go where it goes. And we ended up one afternoon at the end of the line and we were at the prison and we had wait for us to go back. And I thought, well, maybe that wasn't a great idea just to get on the ride. But most of the time it turns out real well.

Jim Santos 28:10 

Now, when you moved in, were there other expats or social groups to help you learn all these ropes or help you get settled into the area?

Janice Deerwester 28:17 

No, there is an expat group here, but I did not join it. And I have not joined it yet, but I'm getting ready to. I did not want to join it because I didn't want to get in the habit of speaking English, dealing with people that only spoke English and asking for too much help. I wanted to do this on my own. For the first year now, I've had a little bit of an insight that probably most people don't. I met a woman on Facebook when I had just started this process of moving and talking about it. Her name is Lisa, and she lives outside of Paris, her and her husband, and she has just taken me in, and she has helped me make my doctor appointment. She's helped me through situations such as I need medicine or what is this, what is that when it comes to it? Now that I've been here for a year, if I ask her a question, she'll say, Janice, you need to look that up. And I'll say, you know what? You're right. I need to look that up. And I use my Google Translator quite a bit, and so do they here in France.

Janice Deerwester 29:38 

They use that Google Translator all the time, and they don't seem to mind using it. Lisa has been kind of my secret weapon that most people don't have that I really could not have done without. And she's quite a bit younger than me, and she kind of checks on me, and she and her husband are dear friends, and I know that if I needed help that they would be here. So I really acquired a great friend that I didn't even know I would have when I got here.

Jim Santos 30:08 

Well, that's always helpful to have somebody who's just a little bit more versed with the area than you are. But I think you're right. It's important to use expat groups when you need to, but important not to use them as a crutch also.

Janice Deerwester 30:23 

And I have never been a person that has joined a book club or been a member of a sewing class or writing group or anything like that. I've just kind of always beat to my own drum. And I promised myself this year that I was going to join one women's group in Paris because they do a tremendous amount of activities and they do some charity work that I need to be involved in. And then I will be a member of the expat community here in Fontainebleau. And I would like to have some women come over to my home and have tea in the afternoon, maybe once every three or four months. And that way I can acclimate myself and I'm not so much, just not hidden away. 

Because sometimes on these little dreary 33 degree days and no sun for four or five days, it's kind of nice to know some people. And someone reach out to me today. She lives in a town nearby. She's taking driving lessons and she's going to be here tomorrow and wants to know if I want to have a coffee. And I said absolutely, but a year ago I probably would have shied away from it because even though I love to talk and even though I appear to be very outward, I am a very introverted person, I could stay home forever.

But I did find at the end of the first year, it really wasn't doing me any good and I was not doing other people any good by not finding out more about the community. Finding out more about what? The community offers people because people are always asking me questions and I need to get out there a little bit more and find out what's going being cooped up in my apartment and just being a YouTuber.

Jim Santos 32:15 

You brought up Paris. I see on the map here that Fontainebleau is about 40, 45 miles outside of Paris. In the article you said that you have a $75 a month travel pass. Yes. Does that include the trains to Paris and then the buses once you're in Paris?

Janice Deerwester 32:32 

Absolutely. And everything here in Fontainebleau also.

Jim Santos 32:35 

That sounds like a great deal.

Janice Deerwester 32:37 

Right. So I just get that the first of the month and then I can travel anywhere I want to. And sometimes because I was one of these people that went to Starbucks every day, every day when I was in the States. And now every once in a while, maybe about every two or three weeks, if I'm not meeting someone coming in from the airport, I'll just get on the bus and take a twelve minute ride to the train station. 45 minutes later I'm in Gare de Lyon and I'm having a Starbucks. And I absolutely enjoy it more because it's a big treat for me. It's not something that I get every day. So that Starbucks means a lot more to me than it did when I was in the States and I just took it for granted.

Jim Santos 33:26 

Speaking of Paris, if someone says I've been to France and has a great time in Paris, you've been there a few times yourself, I'm sure. Now, I was just wondering if you find the TV show Emily in Paris as annoying as I do.

Janice Deerwester 33:39 

Yes.

Jim Santos 33:42 

So I just had to bring that up personal peeve.

Janice Deerwester 33:45 

Yes, I do. I wish we could all look like that and all come to France and everything be like that. But not only is it not like that, but the way the French people are portrayed on there is not like that. And I think it really does a disservice to both sides. But yes, I find it terribly annoying. But she's cute and she can wear everything, and that's terribly annoying. Anyway, I think for people who have been overseas, it's kind of like looking at caricatures. But people love it, and I even watched it even before I wanted to come to Paris because I wanted to see sites in Paris. So I just soon go to YouTube and watch people that live in Paris more than Emily in Paris. I just couldn't get into it.

Jim Santos 34:41 

Right. You can go to Janice in France.

Janice Deerwester 34:43 

That's right. Absolutely. Janice in France.

Jim Santos 34:48 

I also wanted to ask you about health insurance and medical care. I see that it's only $460 a year for health insurance where you are.

Janice Deerwester 34:57 

Well, that's one of the items that you have to have in order to apply for residency, you have to have insurance because they don't want you to be a burden on their health system. Go figure. How interesting is that? So I paid $160 a year, and that gives me €30,000. But that is only for emergency situations that's if I go to the hospital or if I have something more than just a sore throat and things like that, and that covers me. 

Now, this year, I will be able to be under the insurance here in France, but I still keep my Medicare because I will probably go back and visit maybe, I don't know. But I want to make sure that I'm covered no matter where I am. So I keep my Medicare, and then I have the insurance here. But let me tell you about the insurance here. Everyone is charged the same amount of money. If I go to my doctor and you go to your doctor, you're going to pay the same amount of money. And when it comes to test, it's going to be the same amount of money.

Janice Deerwester 36:20 

It isn't like my doctor is going to charge me $120 and your doctor is going to charge you $240. That is not the way it works. Plus, they give you back a percentage even after you pay. So it's just a win win for someone that is retired and especially someone that is on only one income.

Jim Santos 36:45 

Now, in a town of 16,000, are there enough medical facilities, pharmacies, things like that?

Janice Deerwester 36:51 

Well, there's a pharmacy about every 150 feet and five minutes down the street from the hospital, and they also have urgent care. And because of Lisa, I have had a doctor that gives me refills on my prescriptions that I have brought from the States. And while I was in the States in October, redoing all of my paperwork, I had blood work ran, et cetera, et cetera. And that way I knew that when I came back to have my medicine refilled that I was doing the right thing. I just wasn't haphazardly getting my medicine refilled.

Jim Santos 37:33 

Yeah, you actually raised a good point there. And that's something that anyone considering moving to a country, a different country, should do in the process, is go to your local doctors and get a full check up, get full blood work. Make sure that you know everything about your current physical condition so that you can check to see things like, can I get this medication overseas? And how much is it going to cost? And just much better to do that in your country with doctors who know you before you make the big jump.

Janice Deerwester 38:01 

Right. And I was on a forum before I moved because I was out scouring anything I could find. And this wonderful lady that was on the forum, she said, well, what kind of medicine are you on? And I gave her a list of my medicine, and she went to her pharmacy, and she found out that France has that type of medicine, because just because you get it in the States doesn't mean it's available here in France. So that was so nice of her to do that for me. And so I felt very comfortable coming with my 60 day refill and then getting a position here. And my first visit was €40, and my second visit was 35. And it's just so much easier here than it is in the States. Now, am I saying that the States is much worse than it is here? No, I'm just saying for me, it suits my lifestyle much better.

Jim Santos 39:05 

Is there a hospital there in Fontainebleau?

Janice Deerwester 39:08 

Yes, it's about five minutes down the street for me.

Jim Santos 39:11 

Okay. And I guess if you do need something more serious, Paris is not that far away either.

Janice Deerwester 39:15 

No, they have the American Hospital there, which I have heard nothing but good things. In fact, when I lived in Africa, my husband worked for Shell Oil, and I remember a gentleman there became very ill, and Shell sent him by airplane to Paris, to the American Hospital for treatment. So I do have some type of history knowing that it is a good hospital. What I've heard is that it's very expensive, but if I have the insurance, that's okay, I'll go.

Jim Santos 39:51 

Right. Do you find that your doctors tend to speak English as well?

Janice Deerwester 39:55 

Mine does, yes. And the doctors here are not like the doctors in the States. The doctors in the States, if we were to meet them in a grocery store, probably wouldn't say anything to them because they're, like, revered. And here, if I met my doctor in the grocery store or in the pharmacy or somewhere, I certainly wouldn't have any trouble walking up to her and saying hello. And one of the reasons is they're just ordinary people here. They are physicians. And the reason why some of the cost is so low is that our doctors in France do not walk away with all of the school loans like our doctors walk away with us. Going school here is not as expensive as it is in the States.

 Jim Santos 40:58 

I know a big surprise for us in Ecuador when we started seeing doctors is that you form a relationship with them. It's not just someone who breezes in and out for five minutes appointment and they would give us their cellphone numbers to contact them if there's a problem. Not their office number, reception number, their cellphone numbers.

Janice Deerwester 41:17 

Right. And we did the same thing in Africa. We had a doctor and if we got sick, he just said, come on over to the house. And it's just so different. I remember that when I was a little girl, if I got sick, the doctor would come to the house and take care of me, but not as an adult. But it's just different here. Like I said, I'm not putting one down. I'm just saying they're not revered. Doctors in the States, they're very important to us. Absolutely. And I want to make sure that they have had all of the education, especially if I'm going to go under the knife, but in order to have a conversation with them, I know they're limited. They probably have about ten to twelve minutes with me and they're done and they're gone.

Jim Santos 42:12 

It is quite different and I think it really surprises people when they start living in different countries.

Janice Deerwester 42:17 

Oh, it is. In fact, the last time I went to my doctor, we set the ten minutes and talked about her watch. I liked it. And then she asked where to go and get things cheaper and we looked at that and I thought, there's no way you would do that in the States because they don't have time. They have to see 30 patients in an hour and a half pace or whatever, and they only have so much time to visit with you. And it really isn't the doctor's fault because I'm sure there are some doctors that might want to visit with you, but it's just the way our system is. We try to get them in and get them out as quick as we can. And I hate to say that because it's the almighty dollar.

Jim Santos 42:57 

Well, it's the same thing at restaurants. Restaurants, they hurry you through the meal to get you out the door. And in Europe and South America. It's not like that. You can sit for hours and no one's going to ask you to leave or try to rush you or anything, right?

Janice Deerwester 43:12 

Absolutely. I worked for Cracker Barrel as a retail lady and I remember here guys, one time, one of the up and say, I wish this table would leave. All they want to do is just sit there and talk. Because this server is losing money because his paycheck is derived from the tips that he gets. Well, that's not the way it is here. The servers here are paid a very good amount of money and if you tip, great. If you don't, it's okay because they're still going to get the same amount of money whether he's serving a four top or whether he's serving one person or whatever. So that is a big difference here. 

And me being the person that likes to just eat and leave, I've had to really settle down, sit down, enjoy the meal, look what's around you, and stay off the phone. You don't see a lot of that here. You don't see people sitting in a restaurant scrolling through their phone. You see people sitting at a restaurant talking and drinking and eating the food.

Jim Santos 44:25 

One other thing I wanted to ask you about here, before we run out of time, the title of that article in August 2022 in International Living magazine mentions a children's book. So you're in the process of writing a children's book now?

Janice Deerwester 44:39 

Yes. I had this idea, and I have done this book verbally through the years to younger children at school. But to put it in a book, and it's about how rabbits really did never have a little soft little tail, they originally had long tails. And I've always done this book as a teacher. We would have Book Day and I would go to different classes and act it out. But now I want to put it down into words.

Jim Santos 45:13 

You're gearing it for the same audience that you taught the third, 4th, 5th grades.

Janice Deerwester 45:17 

Absolutely. And I already have a woman that will be my illustrator. What it needs now is Janice, to settle down long enough to do it.

I think writing is a lot harder than people think it really is, because I have to get myself settled down. And I don't use a computer. I don't put my thoughts to the computer. I'm one of those old fashioned people that I like to write it out, and after I get about two or three pages front and back, I will put it on the computer. Because I'm a very fast typist, but I don't like to go from the brain to the computer. I like to go from the brain writing it out. Yeah.

Jim Santos 46:01 

I think it was author Robert Heinlein who said, I hate writing, but I love having written.

Janice Deerwester 46:06 

Absolutely.

Jim Santos 46:08 

Before we wrap things up I just wanted to ask you, do you have any words of wisdom or advice for any other women in near a similar situation, single and considering a life abroad?

Janice Deerwester 46:19 

Well, I do think that you need to at least come and try to see what really melts your heart. Some people think, oh, Paris, it's wonderful, and it is the seven days that you come for that vacation. But is it going to be wonderful after three weeks or six weeks? Or maybe the countryside is more your style? So I always say, if you want to move to Europe or the UK or France or Czech Republic or anywhere, go and check it out. Go see what it's like. Go to the grocery stores, see what it's like to do it. Don't just say, oh, I want to move to France, because France may not be what you really want. 

So I just encourage people to get out. Maybe you can't take a six week trip like I was like I did because I was retired, but maybe you can take a week or two here and then a week or two there, because it may be Spain that you're looking for. Maybe you're wanting that warmer weather, whereas like right now I could use, but then in the summertime, when it's 108, 109, I don't want Spain. I want this country. So I think it makes a difference on what you really are getting used to. So just go out, dip your toe into the water, get it wet, and see what is really for you. And maybe it's not your thing to move to another country, but I would inspire anyone to just go out there and try to do something. Don't just sit by and let life pass you by. Do something. Make your dreams come true.

Jim Santos 48:01 

Well, I think that's great advice. I'd like to thank my guest, Janice Deerwester, for taking time to speak with us today. If you'd like to hear more about Janice and her new life, be sure to check out her website JanisinFrance.com, and her YouTube channel, also Janice in France. Or catch her on Instagram at Janice in France. Janice, Merci!.

Janice Deerwester 48:25 

Oh, great. You're just going to throw that on me, aren't you?

Jim Santos 48:29 

Those three years of French in high school had to be worth something, right?

Janice Deerwester 48:34 

Great.

Jim Santos 48:43 

The Bigger, Better World podcast is the production of international living. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social media, or leave a rating and review. If you have an idea for an episode or a question you'd like us to answer, email us at mailbag@internationalliving.com. And don't forget to put podcast in the subject line of your email. That's mailbag@internationalliving.com. 

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Thanks again for joining us on Bigger, Better World. I'm Jim Santos for International Living. I'll see you next time. And until so then, remember, there's a bigger, Better World just waiting for you.