MANNA is here!

Today’s the day! I am so excited to launch MANNA Paris for fellow English-speaking women and mothers abroad and our Francophile friends back in the home country.

I have been dreaming this up for a year. And like all journeys and adventures in life, over the months and months I took some wrong turns, made some mistakes, almost gave up, met wonderful and wise people along the way who pointed me in the right direction, and then kept moving.

When I first moved to Paris three and a half years ago, I spoke terrible French—still do actually—and I was kind of in denial that this was my new home. Every morning I religiously checked the NYTimes or CNN Online to know what was happening in The States. I trolled American blogs for recipes and inspiration, then got frustrated that most of the products were not sold in France.

I spent forever trying to figure out where the heck I could find ingredients like buttermilk or brown sugar. The grocery store was a nightmare for me! I circled the store multiple time trying to figure things out. (My neighborhood Monoprix has the worst phone reception, so I often had to pop out in the street to use my Google translate.) I always had to pay extra baggage or overweight fees at the airport when coming back from New York or Texas. All my friends or family visiting knew I needed 1/4 of their suitcase space for things like pre-natal vitamins, beef jerky, anything from Target, Serena and Lily bedsheets, and powder chicken stock.

And I do not even need to tell you about my frustrations with the French bureaucracy because you already know.

The point is that life adjusting to a new culture and language is a major challenge before and after becoming a mother.  I could have saved myself so many unnecessary breakdowns and extra baggage fees if something like MANNA had existed when I arrived. (There are many great lifestyle blogs and magazines here, but like I said my French stinks so I only comprehend 70 per cent of what I am reading sometimes.)

Paris was a rocky start for me, but I hope MANNA will make yours smooth sailing!

My goal is for MANNA to be a source of inspiration and information for mothers living abroad. But you don’t have to be a mother to enjoy it! I hope to bring you content that will be compelling and motivating as well as resource information to make life easier to navigate in Paris, mother or not.

So what else can you expect?

• Stories, interviews, photography, and art from me and my team of regular or guest contributors about fashion, beauty, health, motherhood, children, travel, Paris, and home. Our contributors will not always be mothers nor exclusively English-speaking, but they will be great people that I enjoy working with.
• We will feature or write about products and brands that are sold in France or ship internationally to France.
• Stories of English-speaking mothers living in Paris who can inspire us and share tips and tricks.
• Stories of men and women (French and English-speaking) who are entrepreneurs, managers, artists, writers, etc… about their life and work here.
• Advice from experts such as lawyers, accountants, life coaches, therapists, and doctors.
• We will visit homes, nurseries, and businesses for behind-the-scenes peeks into other people’s lives and work and tell you where you can buy the beautiful things we find in these spaces.

• Recipes with conversion information and notes about where to find ingredients or substitutions. Sometimes the recipes will be original or we will repost recipes from other sites and add notes or changes so you can easily cook them here. Always feel free to send us an email or post a comment  in a thread if there is something you can’t find or translate.

• What not to expect?  We are not here to bash France or other women. We might however, occasionally poke fun at ourselves, share “lost in translation” moments, and complain about the fun frustrations we experience living here.
• We do not plan to be a comprehensive city guide with an exhaustive list in each category. There are so many wonderful city guides and apps that do a great job. But we are currently working on a nicely curated list we want to share with you.

As this is launch day, you will find a lot of “Coming Soon” pages. You might stumble upon an error here or there. Please bear with me and my awesome team as we create content and fix errors. We have lots of great things in store—we promise! And as you guys know, things are kind of slow around here in the Summer, so we plan to do the same: take it slow this Summer. We will post two to three times a week, ready to rock and roll for La Rentrée (back to school) in the Fall.

We want your feedback, ideas, or questions. Please contact us here and follow us online.

Enjoy this MANNA from Paris!

Bisous xx, Ajiri

Image by Ajiri Aki