C&D
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Posts posted by C&D
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As a new teacher myself, and with the majority of my friends being teachers as well (from Kindergarden to Middle School), we all know that working with kids is hard on your immune system for many years. My best friend has been a Kindergarden teacher for 6 years now and she still isn't acclimated to all their bacterias and viruses (if it helps you, she's French and teaches in Brittany). She is constantly sick and she has been told by many alternative doctors (my close friends, my relatives and myself are all into organic food and natural things - I could write a whole paragraph about all the ####### they put in medication and how it actually destroys your immune system after a few years of taking the same ones so you only end up worse !) that her lack of immunity was due to a little stomach weakness. She managed to cut down to half of the colds she used to get by eating a lot of fresh produce, a little less meat, more fish and more whole grains. I remember she also used to drink some weird stuff that I wouldn't advise, haha, but it worked for her (it was some artichokes and radishes extract that to me tasted like sock juice, but whatever).
Also I would strongly advise you not to eat or drink dairy when you are sick, as the dairy proteins enhance the production of mucus and then delay healing (even regular doctors agree on that fact).
I used to have lots of very bad sore throats when I was a teenager and stopping milk really helped.
Also if you can switch to organic food for some of them, you might eat less pesticides and less antibiotics against your will, so that your body learns again how to correctly fight germs.
I am not at all against vaccination but the flu virus doesn't change enough from one year to another to be in the need to get a shot every year. Once every three year is enough. Remember that it's too young for us to know the consequences and a good doctor should always give you the choice if you don't already suffer a chronic disease, if you're not over 60 or if you're not a premie. The lobbies want you to think that you need it every year but of course they only want to make money, and the so-called companies which investigate on the efficiency are of course paid by the labs !
Not to mention that nobody knows what will lead to getting shots from recent viruses so often. It has already been proven that getting too many vaccines at the same time and/or too many of the same lead to auto-immune diseases (leukemia, cancer...). It's OK to give the flu shot to a 70-year-old patient every year because it's more likely he'll catch pneumonia than he'll live 40 or 50 more years and will declare auto-immunue diseases after 50 years of the same flu shot.
Think about nurses and doctors : they need to get immunized against tons of thinks every year (I went to med school before switching to education, I had to get the shots myself !) and they have such a higher rate of cancer and other auto-immune diseases (meaning your body attacks itself).
My dad is in the military and he also needs to get tons of shots every year... but their doctors "cheat" on the records and only give them the flu shot every three years - they believe it's too dangerous otherwise because the soldiers are too young. Better facing a week in bed with cramps and fever than cancer in 40 years.
Now something even more simple I do (and as my first year teaching was last year, I got sick only once in winter, and once in spring !) : don't talk to the kids too close to their faces. Don't touch your face/nose/eyes after you touched something they did. Get a big bottle of alcohol-free/kids-safe hand sanitizer (Whole Foods sells the best one !) and teach them to always wash their hands after they blew their noses. Hand-sanitize yourself or wash your hands often, of course before you eat or after you used somebody else's computer (very frequent if you're a sub). Teach the kids to cover their mouths and noses.
And just think about everything possibly-sick people touched that you also touched before touching your face or putting something in your mouth.
You might ride the subway : same rules. In a quite warm environment germs survive a whole bunch of hours, even worse if it's a little humid (like a classroom full of kids coming back from phys-ed).
I don't agree with the Vitamin C tablets : whatever isn't naturally in your food is not accepted and proceeded as well by your body. You'll still get the benefice but ...
Eat an orange in the morning, bite a carrot for lunch, cut some fresh ginger and add a slice of lemon and some honey in a mug then poor boiling water on it : here you have a great tea for the afternoon snack... very simple. Ginger, kiwis, oranges, bell peppers, all have a lot of vitamin C. Plus you get the fiber your stomach needs to fight germs :-)
And don't forget that honey is constituted a certain way that the alveolus capture the germs and kill them in a few seconds : useful !
All this is just the opinion of a person raised by an organic and green family and it has worked for me and my relatives over the years. I truly hope I was able to provide help.
Thank you so much for your in-depth reply. Your advice will be really helpful.
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Hi,
Even a good move causes stress and it's possible that dealing with the stress and continual exposure to viruses has left you immune system weak . I'm no Dr but you may want to add vitamin D to your diet and look up some info on your adrenal glands and what will build up your immune system.
I had similar issues for a couple of years, you name it I caught it . Had some blood tests done and was found my vitamin D level was close to nil. We use so many skin care products that have SPF 's in them that unless we spend 30 min a day in the sun we will lack this essential vitamin. There is lots of info out there to help our immune systems
Oh how I loved France by the way! Hope this info might help, feel better soon!!!
Thank you for your reply and kind words. I will look into adding more vitamin D to my diet and getting a sun lamp as suggested by another poster. Off to research adrenal glands...
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Getting a flu shot each year will also reduce the instance of common cold by 30%. Doctors are unsure why that is, as the flu shot protects against a seemingly unrelated virus, but there you go.
I would like to know more. Source?
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I have lived in 7 European countries before I came to the US. First I lived for a while in Florida, then after going back to Europe and visiting India, I moved to Southern California.
The main reason why I'm where I am -- close to Santa Barbara -- is the weather. My house is built in 1938 and I can walk to the beach in less than 5 minutes. I can ride my bicycle all year long along the bike path to work, or drive any of my classic cars and motorcycles any day without having to worry about rain. We have about 20 to 30 days of rain per year, mostly in the wintertime. The rest of the years it's just nice; due to the close proximity to the beach that means never really hot and never really cold. My house does not have air conditioning and I don't need it. The heater I turn only on during the winter months.
Anyway, two years ago one of my wife's sisters moved from California to Laramie, Wyoming. We visited them shortly after Christmas 2008, which meant a road trip from Cailfornia through Nevada and Utah to Wyoming.
In the 53 years I'm alive, I've never been this miserable. Cold, snow, blizzards, and in Laramie there's really nothing to see or to do, not even a Starbucks which I need to visit at least once a day.
I told my sister in law and my wife that I would rather be hit by a train than live there, and I meant that. That's not the USA, that's a hellhole!
Meanwhile my sister-in-law and her husband (who is an English professor) moved back to San Diego. The house in Laramie is for sale.
Why am I telling you this? Because you need to understand that life's too short, too valuable to be tortured, to live with somebody you absolutely hate or who is abusive to you, and to live in Wyoming.
Get out of there as soon as you can and see what the US has to offer. There's really no comparison of Wyoming to anything in France, but if you think Santa Barbara, think Cote d'Azure or, better yet, Monaco.
We have schools here too, you know . . .
Your answer made me smile (in a good way!) - I guess one either loves Wyoming or hates it! It can be pretty extreme.
I fall in the first category, the outdoors, the big skies, people are nice too.. Also, Wyoming has good teacher wages, there is almost no crime... And no state income tax doesn't hurt either!
I am not trying to convince you that Wyoming is awesome, there are issues there (nepotism, corruption..) and I agree with you on Laramie: the combination of dry climate and altitude is a killer, and it's a tiny college town. I would not want to live there either!
My point is: living and making it in Wyoming in spite of its climate (that I want to adapt to! Hence my first post) allows me to enjoy my everyday life there (especially FOOD - hey I'm from France!
), the rest of the US, and to take trips back to Europe.It's all about enjoying life!
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I haven't found that I get sick in the US, but the strength of the common cold is different. I can still function... anyone who has caught a UK cold will know how that will knock you on your a$s for about a week.
Weird. It's the opposite for me: an American cold is a LOT stronger than a French one!
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How much has your diet changed since coming here?
John
Hey John, Thank you for replying!
Well, I tried to keep a diet close to what I used to eat in France, cooking most of my meals myself, using fresh produce.
Except for the cheese and some dairy products that are a bit different (probiotics and TASTE!), my diet hasn't changed much.
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So I've been living in the US for a year and a half now, and I've never been so sick!
A few factors I am aware of:
*The cold and dry weather: We live in Wyoming;
*My working environment: As a substitute teacher, I am in constant contact with kids (from kindergarteners to high schoolers).
I eat healthily, I am active and I exercise.. and in spite of being careful with germs at school, I still get sick quite often (colds with fevers, sinus infections...) and everytime it is knocking me down!
Any ideas why? I used to get a cold once in a blue moon in France, and the symptoms were never as strong as what they are here.
Any tips on getting my immune system stronger and more adapted to American germs/bacteria/viruses?
Thanks a bunch!
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why did you decide to use wes? did some university or institution suggested you to do so? Now i see there are many other companies that evaluate diplomas... I wonder is there any other better than wes and ece? http://www.naces.org/members.htm
I am a teacher and WES was the only company recognizing the Bologna Process in the list provided by the Board of Education of my state, so i could get a teaching certification.
Make sure the company you pick is accepted by the university/company/school district/... you're doing this for.
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Thank you so much for your prompt reply! I also read online some people were very disappointed with WES, so I am really confused. I like that ECE replies prompt to e-mails, while WES, i wrote them several days ago but still have no answer...
Could you please tell me when did you use WES and ECE? Was it long time ago? And when you request those documents at your university, should they be in English or in local language? Because my university can provide them just in Lithuanian, so I don't know if that's ok for WES?
I wrote to ECE an email today and asked about Bologna process and this is what they replied to me:
Good Afternoon,
Thank you for your message.
Yes, our trained evaluators are aware of the Bologna process.
If you have further questions, please contact us.
Sincerely,
ECE®
Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc.
I used ECE in april 2009 and WES in july 2009. I had also read bad reviews about WES but turned to them as they were the only option I had to get an accurate evaluation report, at the time. ECE was for me a waste of money and time.
No translation needed for the transcripts. Mine were directly sent to WES in French as requested. Check HERE for requirements and process for Lithuania.
ECE was not aware of the Bologna Process last year, but they *might* have updated their evaluation patterns.
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wow good for you! I wonder which one is better ece or wes? Coz I see less trouble with ece, but not sure which evaluates more accurately? Any ideas?
In my case WES evaluated my diplomas accurately, following up-to-date evaluation patterns (to know what i'm talking about, i retrieved those links from a previous thread: Evaluation of European Diploma Rip-off and Bologna process). ECE was indeed less of a pain to deal with, but they gave me an evaluation report that was all but accurate, and after numerous phonecalls and internet research, I found out their evaluation patterns were from 1994 or earlier. My MA was evaluated as a BA through ECE! I would STRONGLY suggest you to go through WES to get your transcripts evaluated as this is the only organization (i've heard of) that recognizes the Bologna Process.
Hope this helps!
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was your master degree evaluated properly? did you also get the same equivalent in USA system?
Yes my master's degree was evaluated properly by WES. I was given an MA equivalent in the US system.
Good Luck!
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Hi, could someone suggest how to request transcripts to be sent directly to WES? Should i print our that form and just take it to my university? What if they have no idea what WES is? LOL
Yes, you have to contact your university yourself and give them instructions.
Good Luck!
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Avant de partir, je suis allée chez mon médecin et il m'a fait une prescription pour tous les bobos que j'ai eu depuis 2 ans !
Evidemment, j'ai oublié un truc, que je me tape en ce moment...
Ton déodorant préféré aussi !
Pour les epices, j'ai trouvé un super site ou je me suis commandé la dose de trucs :
http://www.thespicehouse.com/spices/freeze-dried-shallots
Là tiens y a des échalottes !
Il y a tous les épices et herbes francaises même sur ce site et des trucs bios et tout et tout.
Et la qualité des trucs est époustouflante, les pots sont vraiment jolis et grand !
Franchement je trouve que c'est bon marché vu la qualité proposée.
J'ai commandé deux fois déjà ! :X
Sinon j'ai envie de partager un truc avec vous !
Pour le moment, on vit chez des amis, il était prévu qu'on vive là jusqu'à ce que j'ai la GC en gros.
Et on va dire que ca se passe moyennement bien, deux filles pour partager une cuisine ca le fait pas, même si elle est grande.
En plus, evidemment comme je suis francaise, je voudrais que ce soit autrement.
J'étais pas très optimiste quant à la recherche d'appart ou de petite maison tant que j'ai pas la greencard (j'ai même pas de SSN...)
Mais comme ca commencait a devenir un vrai problème pour moi tout çà, j'avais commencé a cherché serieusement.
Et ce matin, on a été approved ! pour la petite maison de mes rêves !
J'suis toute émotionnée, je vais pouvoir enfin emménager avec mon mari.
Felicitations EasternDE! Ca fait chaud au coeur!
Merci pour le lien pour les echalotes!
Aussi pour les fans de brioches et autres chouquettes et pains au lait, n'oubliez pas une boite de sucre perle, introuvable ici (enfin bon en meme temps j'suis dans le Wyoming!) ou alors a commander a prix d'or sur le net! La boite ressemble a ca: Sucre perle
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Y a t'il des choses indispensables que vous regrettez et que vous me conseillez de prendre dans les bagages ?
Un epluche-legumes, un petit ouvre-boite, du chocolat, des echalotes en 'semoule' (type Ducros - j'ai pas trouve d'equivalent ici!), du dentifrice, des boites de pate, des sachets de sucre vanille, et... des soutifs (la lingerie ici c'est l'horreur!)
Bon demenagement Soph!
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Again, I'm here to seek for help.
If all goes well with our visa processing, I should be moving from France to the US around the end of October. I do not have much but my personal belongings are my life and I want to take them with me. They include books, CDs, souvenirs etc.
Can I ask you what kind of service/company you used? So far the best quote was for EUR 1.350
I brought my belongings with me on the plane as extra checked luggage (around 150kgs). WAY less expensive than a moving company or postal service. I used IBERIA Airlines as they had an online discount offer (30% off)for extra checked luggage - I moved last year so I don't know if they still do it.
I used a special rate at La Poste to send all my books (200kgs - for around 300EUR) and it took 15 to 20 days for all the boxes to arrive in the US.
Here's the link:
http://www.laposte.fr/courrierinternational/index.php?id=173
You can use this rate as an individual, you don't have to be a company (the website says otherwise but you definitely can). My advice would be to be firm at La Poste, as this cheap rate is not advertised and not offered if the customers don't specifically ask for it - some employees won't even know it exists!
It is called "Tarif Livres et Brochures". It requires a bit of planning but it is really worth it!Hope this helps!
Good luck!
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wow, c'est cool merci. par contre, c'est précisé que c'est strictement accordés pour l'envoi de livres et brochures à caractère éducatif, scientifique ou culturel, qu'est-ce que t'as utilisé comme arguement? moi j'ai des livres de cuisines à envoyer, presque 20kg ><.
t'as envoyé par carton de 5kgs?
Ne t'inquiete pas, pas besoin d'argumenter quoi que ce soit, le guichetier de la Poste a seulement verifie ( cad jete un rapide coup d'oeil) que mes cartons contenaient bel et bien des livres. J'ai envoye des livres de cuisine, des Bds, des romans, de la paperasse, des albums photo... Tu n'auras besoin d'aucun justificatif, tu leur parles du tarif et hop! Si tu t'inquietes, imprime les tarifs et va te renseigner a la Poste avant le jour J, et n'hesite pas a insister. Ce tarif est un peu "mysterieux" et ne fait l'objet d'aucune pub car la Poste aurait un manque a gagner terrible vu le tarif! Les guichetiers ont une note de service "n'appliquer qu'a la demande express du client", donc si le client ne connait pas et ne demande pas...
J'ai utilise le Tarif par voie maritime contractuelle, vu le nombre de kilos (plus ou moins 200 kgs), 64euros environ par tranche de 50 kilos, plutot pas mal!!
J'ai fait des cartons et envoye le tout par sacs postaux (2 a 3 cartons par sac), chaque sac ne devant pas depasser les 25kgs. Ca m'a demande pas mal de preparatifs, mais ca valait vraiment le coup, moins cher que si j'avais du tout remplacer! -
Pour celles et ceux qui souhaiteraient envoyer des colis de LIVRES a moindre frais:
Tarif Livres et Brochures de la Poste:
http://www.laposte.fr/courrierinternational/index.php?id=372&pdt_id=52#accroche61
Je précise que ce tarif est bel et bien accessible aux particuliers et que les délais d'acheminement ne sont pas aussi longs que la poste veut bien le laisser croire. Je l'ai récemment utilisé pour envoyer ma bibliotheque (200 kilos de bouquins, BD...!) ici aux US, les colis ont mis entre 15 et 20 jours pour arriver, ce qui est loin des deux mois annoncés ! Insistez bien au guichet de la poste, ce tarif ne faisant pas l'objet de publicite, certains guichetiers ne le connaissent pas ou vous diront que ce n'est pas sur, que les delais d'acheminement sont tres longs ou meme que ce tarif n'existe pas !
Voila bonnes economies!
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Thank you for your advice and suggestions.Yes,I read about your experience with evaluating your diplomas C&D and to be honest that made me a bit worried and shocked because I cannot imagine how the same degree may be evaluated in a different way by different evaluating institutions!
Well ECE has a diploma equivalency pattern from 1994 to evaluate diplomas from France. This organization doesn't recognize the educational reforms that happened in Europe in 2004. WES does so i was able to get an accurate and up to date evaluation, especially for my master's degree.
I understand that requesting transcripts to be sent directly to WES is a PAIN ("To be sent directly to WES by the institutions attended in an envelope bearing the institution's seal or stamp and/or an appropriate signature across the sealed flap".) but in my case it was totally worth the wait and the extra work/time and money.
With WES you can translate the documents yourself (word for word translation).
I wouldn't recommend Joseph Silny for Polish documents especially for the evaluation of master's degrees, as they do NOT recognize the Bologna Process
Good Luck!!
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I would not recommend ECE for transcript evaluation from Poland. Poland is part of the Bologna process that ECE does NOT recognize.
You might want to check WES that would recognize your degrees and give you an accurate and up-to-date evaluation.
Here's the link to my experience with ECE and WES, i'm also a teacher.
http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=199746
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Thanks all for reply. We will definitivelly try to do that. Hope we find another way. Even if deployment orders are not gonna come before a few months, all we were seeking for was a back up, I am not sure his CO really understood that. We will see I guess. From what my hubby has seen on the lists so far he should be deployed after end of January, but if the timeline is correct, we should get NOA2 around November, so then waiting for the interview and all is gonna put us to January and I fear we will have our backs to the wall and won't really be able to do anything. I don't know if I am clear enough in my explanations, sorry.
Hey Moonskin,
We got help from the miltary helpline, and especially from the Senator's AND Congressman's offices: get your husband to call them and ask for help!
We didn't involve my husband's CO at all.
I also got an interview really quickly at the USEM in Paris.
PM me (in French if you want, i'm the French half) if you have questions.
Good Luck!
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Well USAA seems to have a problem with me!
My husband is military and has an account at USAA. He could open a joint account and i was added, no problem even when i was still living in France.
I could even open a personal account for myself when i arrived in the US.
USAA doesn't want to give me any type of credit card. I had different answers as to why:
- no credit history
- no income (i'm currently looking for a job)
HOW did you do it???
Phil called and explained that he wanted to add me to his credit card account because I needed to build a credit history here. The clerk suggessted that I get my own card as well. She ran my SSN, told me that it came back as "not sufficient credit history". She said "Let me see what we can do," put me on hold and then gave me a $500 card. They may have been more lenient because Phil's credit is excellent plus we had a credit card, life insurance, auto insurance on our cars, and renter's insurance with them.
~ Catherine
Thank you for your answer! My husband and I didn't want to mingle our credit histories so i just got a secured credit card from Wells Fargo. Will try again to get an unsecured one with USAA in a year or so of building good credit!
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UPDATE:
I got my transcripts evaluation done through WES in the mail today and it was well worth the money and wait!
My two bachelor's degrees were recognized as well as my master's degree!!
So relieved!!
I would STRONGLY suggest immigrants from Europe to go through WES to get their transcripts evaluated as this is the only organization (i've heard of - feel free to rectify here) that recognizes the Bologna Process.
The countries that are current signatories of the Bologna Process can be found HERE
Thanks for this. I have a degree and a celta, and some other teaching quals. hopefully when i go to WES they will give me appropriate credit. Not sure if i have my transcripts with me though, but will see. can you tell me how much this all costs??
My transcripts had to be sent directly to WES by the institutions that issued them in sealed envelopes. I don't know the requirements for the UK though. You might want to check the WES website for this and the costs, and also see what kind of credential evaluation you need.
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UPDATE:
I got my transcripts evaluation done through WES in the mail today and it was well worth the money and wait!
My two bachelor's degrees were recognized as well as my master's degree!!
So relieved!!
I would STRONGLY suggest immigrants from Europe to go through WES to get their transcripts evaluated as this is the only organization (i've heard of - feel free to rectify here) that recognizes the Bologna Process.
The countries that are current signatories of the Bologna Process can be found HERE
French/American Couples - Part II - 2011
in Europe & Eurasia (except the UK and Russia)
Posted
Salut!
Pour les documents francais c'est mieux qu'ils soient dates de moins de 3 mois pour ton entretien.
Je ne crois pas que les actes de naissance americains soient dates en revanche.
Bonne continuation!