vendredi 8 juin 2012

Right now I’m sitting in a French-Asian Café called Aki Boulanger eating my lunch. It makes me laugh when I come here: there’s a mix of French pastries and sandwiches, green tea muffins, baguettes, rice bowls, salads, and some milky Japanese drink called “Calpis.” But I like it a lot; it’ s right by my work, so I get my morning café au lait here, and sometimes a sandwich for lunch. This whole area near my office is full of Japanese and Asian restaurants—but let’s just say that the sushi here doesn’t taste like Texas sushi. Maybe that’s because it’s not all fried into tempura…It is definitely just as expensive here though!

The French culture is fascinating to me: I’m learning SO much about it even over just 2 weeks. Here are some of my favorite things I’ve learned recently:

• Just like in everywhere in the world, there are certthings that are taboo to talk about here:

o   Religion: religion is seen as a very private thing here. My program director said that even with her closest, best friends, they don’t talk about religion. They’re not necessarily against it; they just think that it should be something you do in private.

o   Salaries: like in the US, you don’t talk about how much people earn at work. But uniquely, I think that in Paris it’s not something that’s really discussed with your boss either.

o   Politics: this one must be very clearly understood. From what I’ve learned so far, Parisians love to talk politics, the economy, the President and his policies, current national issues, etc.

                 -But what you never talk about it how you individually vote. There aren’t buttons or bumper stickers that say things like, “I voted for President Obama, have you?”

o   There is a very clear distinction between one’s private and public life:

- One example that I find so fascinating to compare to American culture is that of giving guests a tour of the house. According to what I’ve seen in my life, Americans (or atleast Texans) love to show guests around the house. Maybe we feel it makes them feel more at home if they know their way around? But in France, you would never show a guest your bedroom! That is your private space, and there will literally be curtains in front of a door or window to show a distinct barrier between one’s private and public life.

-Along with that come private/personal issues in conversation. People are less likely to open up about their family, their marriage, their past, etc., early on in relationships. Whereas I was raised in the US to talk to my boss/coworker about family, and immediately go deep, that doesn’t happen here. Of course, these things can be discussed in time and as a relationship develops. But at the beginning, there is more conversation about intellectual things: art, movies, books, politics, etc, and less conversation about how your quiet time was today.

o   Of course, talking about sex is not taboo, as it is in the southern US.

•  One does not eat their pizza, hamburger, or fruit with their hands. You cut it with a fork and a knife on your plate. I went into a burger place the other day and not one person in the restaurant picked up their burger to eat it.

• Lunch is seen as the bigger meal of the day. I just learned this. And Beatrice just learned that in America, it’s normal for one to eat a just a sandwich for lunch, and then have a big dinner at night. So now she’s started fixing me a steak every night haha. She says it’ll make me strong and it’s good for me.

• You NEVER eat infront of the TV. When I asked if they did, they said that it makes you fat. I said that maybe that’s why there are so many fat Americans, or why Parisian women are generally slender.

• Parisians really value taking a break. They work really long hours each day (Olivier doesn’t get home from work until 9pm), so they take at the least an hour lunch break. It’s not Parisian to eat in front of your computer while fitting extra work in.

o   Along with this comes the subject of coffee, one of my favorites.

- If you want a coffee during the day, you don’t drive through Starbucks to get a venti latte to can carry around the rest of the day. If you want a coffee, you stop at a café, you sit yourself down, and you drink a cup of coffee. And once you are finished, you go on with your day.

- This also reminds me of the issue of quality vs. quantity:

• A Parisian would rather have 4 oz of absolutely incredible wine than guzzle down 2 bottles of low-grade cheap wine just to drink a lot.     

• If you order a coffee at a restaurant, they give you an espresso (about the size of a shot glass). No it’s not a 16 oz cup, but the quality is amazing and rich.

• I will also note that the one time that I did get a grande Starbucks to go, my coworkers commented on it. I felt like I might as well have been wearing a t-shirt with a light up American flag on it.

• At least in my host family, they really stick to the chronology of a meal. They have courses, and you don’t start eating the next course (ex, the meat), until everyone at the table has finished their salad and tomatoes. And you don’t move on to the dessert (in my house, fruit), until everyone has gotten their main course, and of course their cheese and bread.

• The French business culture is very different also. My boss is much less implicit with me than I have ever seen in Texas. Unless I ask him a question or come to him for help, he assumes that I know what I’m supposed to be doing. If I have a question, he expects me to be proactive and come ask him. It kindove makes sense, actually. I shouldn’t expect to be babied.

• People tend to dress up a whole lot more than I am used to in College Station. Which, of course, I LOVE. I have maybe seen 3 t-shirts in the last 16 days. I was discussing French vs. American culture with my program director last week. Whereas in Texas (and I think America in general), if I go to the gym my exercise clothes and need to run a few errands after, I would wear my exercise clothes to the store, without question. I would value being productive and getting lots done, even if I do wear my workout clothes into Central Market. Atleast everyone else will know that I am productive. However, in Paris, if you need to go get some bread after your workout, you will go home, shower, put on pants, a blouse, and some lipstick BEFORE going to the store. They like to dress for the runway every day. It makes every day really fun for me :)

           That wraps up a lot of what I have learned over the last 2 weeks concerning the French culture. There is so much more that I will write and that I will also learn in the next 6 weeks.

I got to go to Bordeaux, France with my friend Kim last weekend! It was a last minute trip, so we didn’t really have any idea what we were going to do or see. So, we expected there to be lots to see there, because we had both heard of Bordeaux a lot. It turns out that what we liked the most there was the food and the wine. We got to go to the beach about an hour from Bordeaux, which was my favorite part, even though it was 60 degrees. Jeans + bikini top. There's a first time for everything! We had an amazing dinner of porc and pineapple shish kabobs, French-fry-like potatoes, a fresh goat cheese salad, and a dessert---all for 12.50 euros! You wont find that in Paris.

Hootie Happies:

• Because of my bangs, I don’t have to pluck my eyebrows. Whoop.
• I can carry my XO tote to work and no one knows what it is. No one will put me in a box right as they see me, hooray!
• There is a Piano Coiffeur next to my work. Someone plays music while you get your hair cut and styled. Probably will cost me my firstborn son, but I like that it exists.
• I told my host family how often we eat Mexican food in Texas, and we decided that we are going to have a Texas night, where I make Mexican food for them, they invite their kids over, and we will speak in English the whole evening. I might also make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for them, because they were blown away by the idea of that.
•  I told Beatrice and Olivier about the Pixar movie Ratatouille and they laughed their heads off. I’m pretty sure I made a fool of Americans as I explained the chef rat that pulls on a boy’s hair to teach him how to cook. I didn’t mention that it is Kelly and I’s favorite movie.
•  I got to talk to this guy:

• I ate lunch aux Jardins du Palais Royale on Wednesday, and I was absolutely blown away by how beautiful it was. I will definitely get a sandwich to-go and go there again.

• And here is a picture of the Luxembourg Gardens which I walked through last night.....is this real life??

• And I've been walking through amazing bookstores here, not to read books, but to just browse. It's like being in Barnes and Noble, but funner (Elle Woods much?)

• I had my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower the other evening on the bus. Can't believe I still haven't been there yet!! 

I have been pretty pensive recently, just thinking lots about how short life is. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m just starting to settle in to real life here, and it’s becoming less of a dream. There is a saying in French that my wonderful French professor taught me in HS: “Metro, boulot, dodo.” It means “metro, job, sleep.” Kindove like “another day, another dollar” in English, maybe? Basically it means that life can get kindove cyclical, where you are just doing the same thing every day: you stand on the metro, work all day, sleep, and do it again all day.

I’m starting to feel that here, and it just makes me think about what the purpose of life is, and about what I want the rest of my life to look like. Olivier’s cousin died yesterday. And he was really beat down at dinner last night. I am starting to think through what it means to not live with the sole purpose of building my own kingdom, but to live for the King Jesus’ kingdom. 

I think that God is working a lot in me this summer. I am beyond grateful that I am here. And that’s why I can’t help but smile while walking to work with a spring in my step, trying to take as many mental pictures as I can.

Oh, and I am missing my ice cold Fresca’s after dinner. A lot. 

A bientôt,

Jen

PS if you made it to the end of this novel of a post, chances are, you probably already are used to my word-vomiting. 3 gold stars for you!