Life in France - the beloved French
As foreigners living full time in France, the most common question we field from guests is, ‘How do you get along with the French? It is really a question with two parts. How are we received by the French, and secondly, how do we find the French?
We can categorically say that we have never for one moment ever been made to feel we were other than welcome. We have always been greeted warmly, treated with respect, and have had scores of offers of kind and thoughtful assistance. I will quickly remind you that we have not lived in Paris!! But in Provence, and the Cote d’Azur now here in Burgundy it has been the same treatment.
For example! Our neighbour in Saint Rémy-de-Provence was Renee, a recently widowed 82 year old, ‘41 years in that knee, and 41 years in this knee’ he would tell us. Renee owned an antique shop just around the corner, along from the Nostradamus fountain. In our first few days of taking up residence we thought we should do the neighbourly thing and go and introduce ourselves. To our surprise and delight he immediately invited us to his home that evening for ‘un aperitif’.
That’s when we learnt to drink pastis. Three hours later we could hardly make it back up the stairs. Poor Anne had an even bigger challenge. The drink options were pastis, scotch or muscat, none of which Anne ever drinks, so she opted for muscat being the lesser of the three evils. Or so she thought. Renee, while dispensing our ‘seconds’, (or was it thirds?) inadvertently poured scotch on top of her remaining muscat. Cat-a-strophe! Being the robust Aussie that she is, Anne valiantly sipped her way through it.
Another example. One of your first actions in France, probably carried out by 95% of foreigners, is to visit your local bricolage (D.I.Y) shop. After three visits, Marjolene asked if we were doing a lot of ‘travaux’ an all encompassing word for ‘work’. As we were, she told us she would open an account for us, which apart from making it more convenient with one monthly payment it meant we accessed ‘trade’ prices which we thought was very generous.
Now you may be thinking, what are they saying behind our backs? Without a doubt they talk about us, we are a novelty after all. But of course not only do we not know but we will never know! They are too respectful and too subtle for that to happen!! They too have questions, which are always the same. Why are you living in France, and why did you leave such beautiful countries? (Australia and New Zealand) Which is quickly followed by ‘c’est mon reve, mon reve’ (my dream) to visit Australia/New Zealand. (well okay, usually Australia!)
So, how do we find the French? Arrogant? Non. Intolerant? Non. Impolite, inconsiderate, disinterested? Non, non, non! We have no idea where these perceptions of the French come from, but they seem to be commonly held by those who have yet to visit France. (Perhaps there is one unhelpful waiter in a café somewhere on the Champs Elysees!)
On the contrary we find the French to be charming, respectful, helpful, passionate, humorous and stimulating people. There is much to admire in the way they live their lives. We admire most the way they have retained ‘respect’, a quality that is fast disappearing in many Western societies. Respect is of course imbedded in their language, the use of the formal ‘vous’ and the more familiar ‘tu’. But they have also preserved it within their social behaviour.
You can be waiting in line to purchase a ticket at the railway station. When a staff member arrives to take up his/her position their first act is to move down the row of booths to kiss, kiss their colleagues. No matter that for a minute or two all work stops and clients wait, everyone understands that is the custom and the proper conduct to observe. We think it is delightful.
Here in Chaudenay, each January the Mayor holds a welcome reception for everyone who has moved into the area in the previous 12 months. It is for everyone, not solely for foreigners, and to us it typifies their commitment to hospitality, their caring, community attitude, and their pride in wanting to create and preserve a friendly, non-stress living environment.
They have many, many endearing traits, their social ability over any given meal, how they can be so unrushed over a cup of coffee, their perspective of ‘time,’ (once you get use to it!!) their ability to debate issues with passion and conviction. To return to the original question, we find the French just great, we learn a lot from them, we love them!!
A Bientot,
Bruce.
September 17th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
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