French Foibles and Other Oddities

I’m going to be honest here. Forget cultural sensitivity or relativism or whatever. This is objective truth. The French are weird. It’s not a bad thing. Nor is it a fault in character. It is just they way they are. And let’s embrace that, shall we? Let’s explore just how different the French are.

The French…

~ don’t mind being cold – Seriously. I expected to have to wear slippers (see below) to too keep my feet warm, but this is ridiculous. Two examples (in no particular order). 1) I see my breath during Sunday Mass on a regular basis. That means either it is actually freezing INSIDE the Church, or the Holy Spirit is wafting out of my lungs. I’m inclined to believe the former. 2) They sit outside in any weather. All the cafés have outdoor seating and there is always a French person braving the elements. Be they sunshine, wind, rain, sleet, hail, snow, etc., these people are more dedicated than the U.S. Postal Service.

~ wear their shoes, always – It makes sense to take your shoes off when you enter the house in America, but not in France. Instead, you just wipe your feet on the (tiny) rug just inside the door. If it is raining and your shoes are wet, no biggie. Wipe them off as best you can and try not to slip. Sure it may get a little messy, but that is no bother. Most of the houses here are pretty old, so the dirt just adds a little more character. I brought slippers, but I actually just keep my shoes on for most of the day. It is just easier.

~ like to strike – Relatively speaking, America’s workers are pacifists. There are threats of striking, but rarely does anything actually transpire. Not in France. Perhaps it is the tradition of rising up against the man (see French Revolution in any history book). Perhaps they just like to make signs, march around all day, and yell. Either way, there is always a strike here. Workers at oil plants. Air traffic controllers. Even Ikea employees. All this in the past month. All covered thoroughly on the national news.

~ like to eat lunch – Every day, between 12:30 and 2PM or so, France shuts down. Retail stores close. Businesses shut down. Even the government (non-essential personnel, that is) locks its doors. The only places open are food related (restaurants, cafés, grocery stores, and bakeries). They like to take their time, savor the experience, and talk. Also, I’m not sure the French like to do work. Not that anyone likes working, but I think the French try to avoid it as much as possible.

~ vote on Sunday – We are in election season here (and will be for the foreseeable future). This Sunday is the first of the elections. Yep. Sunday. Isn’t separation of Church and State beautiful? What I don’t understand is that virtually every store/business is closed on Sunday, supposedly in observance of the Lord’s Day. And yet, they hold public elections on a day when, traditionally, French people don’t actually leave their house. Am I missing something here?

~ stare – In America, we are taught not to stare at something out of the ordinary. It is impolite. France must have missed that memo. As an American, I can just feel the eyes glued to me as I walk past. I can sometimes pass for French, but if I do something out of the ordinary (like breath funny) and French eyes spot it, they stick like magnets. And runners? Forget about it. If runner jogs past a bus stop, every single head in the vestibule turns as he or she passes. The synchronization is impressive.

So there are some of the little things that they just do differently here. No judgments. I’m just saying the French are strange, that’s all.