Everyone knows that if you go to a different country, things are going to be done differently from the way they're done in your home country. I've decided to try to keep track of some of the things that are different about being here in France.
Doors. The style of the doors, door handles, and locks is different here. Not to mention the number of keys! When we moved into the house, we were handed a big bunch of 12 keys. Granted, a couple of them are duplicates, and two of them don't work in any door at all. Here are what the keys go to: the outside gate, the mailbox (one for getting the mail from inside the gate, and a separate one for getting the mail from outside the gate), the front door, the shutters that cover the front door, the kitchen door, and the garage. One might expect the front door and kitchen door to use the same key, but they don't. Now, I want to contrast this group of keys to our Bethlehem house, where we had ONE key that opened all of the various doors, including the garage. Jennifer and I are constantly trying to remember what key goes where here.
Laundry. Most people in Europe don't have dryers, and right now we don't have one, either. We bought a second-hand washing machine, and the wash cycle takes one and a half hours. (When I spent my two summers in Spain, I used a washing machine there where the cycle took two hours.) When the laundry is finally done, we have to hang it to dry. Our garage has a number of clothes lines built in, but things take a really long time to dry there, since it's dark and cool. So the first time Jennifer did laundry here, she spread all of our clothing out in the front yard to dry in the sun. Needless to say, this included quite a few pairs of underwear. We've been told that Charbonnieres les Bains is considered quite a chic town to live in. We think that the town's reputation probably went down a notch the day the Americans had their underwear strewn all over their front yard.
Food handling. In the States, people who work in food service wear plastic gloves when they handle your food. Here, they use their bare hands. People here don't seem to be getting sick in droves as a result of the lack of plastic gloves.
Insurance. The French seem to have insurance for everything. We had to get home insurance and car insurance, which we expected. But we also had to get school insurance for the girls (each school child must have it), and insurance on our garbage bin (in case it gets broken or stolen). And we received notice from our insurance agency that we can get insurance to cover us in case we get sued for any reason. We opted not to get that.
Sundays. Nothing is open here on Sunday, except for the occasional restaurant. I mean nothing.
Lunch break. Most businesses and offices, unless they're really large (like a chain department store), are closed from about 12:00 to 2:30. This happens in Spain, too, where it's called the Siesta time. I didn't know it happens in France.
Coffee: Americans are used to big cups of coffee filled with sugar and cream (although Jill and I just add a bit of milk). In France, everyone seems to drink teeny tiny cups of black esspresso and it's never available in a to-go cup.
ReplyDeleteLunch time: I'm used to eating at my desk and being antisocial. In France (at least where I work), everyone goes together in large groups to the company cafeteria. They eat huge lunches (protein, vegetable, starch of some sort, fruit with yogurt, bread and cheese, and dessert). And everyone eats everything on their plate! The company subsidises the food so all of this might cost 3-4 euros. After lunch, most peopel go to the large room upstairs where free esspresso is served and everyone stands around chatting together. It's great to be forced out of my eating-at-my-desk routine - a nice part of each day.
ReplyDeleteDoors: Do your doors automatically lock when they're pulled shut, and have to be opened with a key? That has it's pros and cons; it's a pro if you're inside, but a con when you're outside!
ReplyDeleteLaundry: Another thing we Americans have figured out and the Europeans haven't. Or is it just that we're so impatient?
Food handling: I don't know if they still do it, but it used to crack me up the way the French would carry their unwrapped bread from the bakery under their arm pits.
Sundays: I LOVED it that shops weren't open on Sundays, and lawn mowing wasn't allowed. So peaceful. What about the church bells ringing on Sunday mornings--isn't that lovely?
Lunch break: One time when we took Mom and Dad to tour a small town in France we made the mistake of arriving at 12:15pm, and the tourist office was closed for it's midday break. We'd seen most of the town by the time the tourist office opened two hours later.
Most of the smaller shops in Germany are also closed for two hours at midday, though it was much more common in the 80's than it is now.