Playful Rooted

I’m really trying to capture as much as I can during our final stretch as French residents. I know I’m going to forget so many things after we’re gone, so I’m immortalizing them here. (Ha. Do you ever wonder about that? How long things like blogs will be around? And how things will be totally different 10 years from now? Okay, moving on.)

I wrote a sort of outline for this post a looong time ago. Like, back in September. I don’t know why I didn’t post it then, but it’s funny to read it now because I had kind of forgotten what a shock these things used to be. Let’s just say this is pretty commonplace stuff these days.

Eggs are non-refrigerated

I remember this freaked me out so much the first time I saw it. At the grocery store, there are stacks of egg cartons on the same shelves where they store crackers and canned olives. I still don’t fully understand this, but since it doesn’t apply to me, I’m not that concerned. Should someone be, though?

There’s dog poop everywhere

I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s such a thing. It’s always a treat to visit another country and not have to look down constantly to avoid stepping in a huge pile. It’s only happened to us a few times, but that’s way more than enough.

Secondhand smoke is a part of life

When I returned from my trip to States for my brother’s graduation, I immediately noticed the familiar ‘France’ smell. It’s a mixture of dog poop (see above), baguettes, boozy air, and secondhand smoke. Pretty much everyone smokes around here, and smokers aren’t ostracized the way they are in the US. Restaurants sometimes have non-smoking sections, but usually it’s just a smoker’s paradise.

No one wears gloves when serving food

The food service standards are not nearly as strict in France as in the US. (But that’s true of Europe in general, not just France.) You’ll often see flies buzzing around and landing on food that immediately gets served to the next customer. And food frequently sits out for quite a long time. The lax food standards were something I really had to get used to, but now I don’t even think about it.

No “customer is always right” philosophy

In the US, of course the customer is always right, and the merchant is responsible for catering to the client’s every need. Not so in France! I’ve never had a truly bad experience at a shop or restaurant, but it’s just a different atmosphere. In fact, when I was in the US, I went into a store one morning and was greeted by 20 different people saying, “Good morning! How are you? What can we do for you today?” All that attention was way too much. I really felt awkward about it. In France, no one’s going to go out of their way to discover your needs. If you need something, you have to seek someone out and ask.

Businesses keep sporadic hours

This applies to all kinds of businesses. Government offices, restaurants, clothing boutiques. You can never trust anything to be open, no matter how many times you’ve visited at the same time of day in the past. And if hours are posted on a website? Pshh. Don’t trust ‘em.

Window screens are not a thing

I cannot even tell you how many bug bites I’ve had these last few months. It’s so hot outside that, of course, we have to keep the windows open. (Because air conditioning is also not a thing here.) But … French people, for some inexplicable reason, do not have screens on their windows. No one has them! My American friends and I are all completely baffled by this. It’s a big problem with a very simple solution. I will never understand.

On a lighter note, happy Friday! We’re planning a beachy, Frenchy weekend full of some of our favorite things: food, sun, and putting off the nightmare of packing for our return home. 🙂 TGIF.

French expression of the day
Avoir le cafard – To be down in the dumps (literally: To have the cockroach)