Quelques Choses

I'd thought I'd share some more things I've learned about France and French culture. There's a lot i've forgotten for the moment, but here's a few things:


-They don't value customer service like we do in the U.S.
-Places to use the bathroom are not as available or nearly as nice as they are in the U.S. You also have to pay sometimes.
-Racism is alive and well among many French people. They blame a lot of problems on the young "Arab" population
-Schools (not universities) get 2 weeks of vacation about 4 times a year, in addition to 2 months off in the summer
- Food is very very important to the French. Therefore, most of the food you find in markets and restaurants is fresh and contains much much less preservatives and sugar than American food
-They really like handing out pamphlets
-They listen to a lot of American music
-Hardly anything is open on Sundays
- The French really value water and energy conservation, but they don't seem to have made recycling as accessible as in the States
-They have a lot of WWI and WWII memorials
-Some French people think it is so cool when they see a squirrel. Emily's host mom was surprised to hear that there are a bunch in Texas.
-Squirrels here have reddish fur
-The national motto is: "Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité"


Other interesting news:


There's a big grève tomorrow (Oct. 12) because the French Parliament is about to vote on changing the retirement laws. All of the strikes this month have been over this issue. If parliament doesn't vote the way the unions want, the strike could continue for an indefinite amount of time. This includes schools, public transport, post, and others. It's all very bizarre to Emily.


Last Thursday in Grenoble there was a public transport strike, but for a very different reason. Apparently Wednesday night a young man was stopped on the tram by one of the men who checks for tram passes, and upon discovering that the young guy didn't not pay to be on the tram told him he either needed to pay or get off the tram. For reasons unbeknownst to me, the guy called some of his friends and they attacked the tram worker. The next day all of the trams and most of the buses went on strike, which they are allowed to do at anytime if they feel there well-being is endangered (for a normal union strike like the one on Tuesday, they have to plan it in advance). Donc, Emily and some of her schoolmates had to take a random bus/walk to school. She was about 40 minutes late to class, but her teacher was very understanding. Then, she and 2 friends waited for a bus to take them back into centre-ville, but it never came so they walked back. Emily had another class later that afternoon so she walked all the way there. It took an hour, but she said it wasn't bad because the weather was nice and at least she knew where she was going.


France is a very interesting place sometimes.