Around half a year from now I've gotten to France for the first time. With totally mixed feelings I've left in a month to return for longer next time. Today, I can say that somehow I did fell in love with the tiny city of Besancon and French lifestyle, but still there are so many things I don’t understand…
1. All shop close at around 7 p.m.
In Besancon and most other provincial cities you won't be able to buy anything after 7 p.m. No food, no clothes, no medicine.Nothing.
What a 24/7 store or at least 7/11?Nope. No one ever heard of that here.
What is more, a number of shops have lunch breaks from 12 to 14 daily. And some places have even more weird hours. Who may have though that Pizza Hut and Domino's work daily from 11.30 till 14.00 and then re-open at 18.00 till 22.30? Definitely, not me getting there around 4 p.m. and staring at closed doors.
Luckily there are just a few exceptions:
- Most boulangeries work from 6 am till 20 in the evenings (even onSundays!),
- Some small corner shops run by Turkish or Arab expats may be open late.
2. Everything's closed on Sunday.
In regional cities all the shops, malls and services are closed on Sunday. For my humble, estimate in Paris it’s around 70%.
Some small cafes and bistros don’t work too.
I'm still kind of curious what French do on Sundays?A mystery I’m yet about to solve.
3. Why is tea so unpopular?
For a desperate tea-love like me it's been such a struggle to find normal tea here. By "normal" I mean yummy brewed team not that awful substitute ditched in tea bags. Only in big supermarkets you'd be able to find fine black tea, but it is pretty expensive, I’d say.
When ordering tea in a cafe, you'll probably get a teapot of hot water and a cup with one tea bag to torture over and over again till the liquid you drink gets pale brown. That cost me 4 euro in Paris when you can get awesome coffee mug for twice cheaper.
Seriously, what’s that all
about? Does it have something to do with the Brits? :)
4. Winter is a light season.
Winter here is definitely not that cold as in Kyiv, but after the sun goes down; the temperature may get good below zero. Still, I see plenty of people dressed in flats without socks or short jeans with bare ankles. Looking at these lightly dressed people makes me zip my winter coat harder and hiding my nose into the scarf.
5. Getting undressed as the first warmth comes.
As soon as the weatherman says it's sunny and +16 C all French immediately get bare legged. Man in shorts, women in dress without any pantyhose.
Yeah, I’m happy for warm days too, just isn't it a bit too early for undressing that much?
6. Blowing your nose out loud in public.
It's okay to blow your nose in public. The louder the better. Don't feel shy :) It’s spring here and seems like everyone around already caught one massive cold. (The reason's most probably the previous fact).
When living in different county and culture you always come across this sort of differences and odds that may be particularly peculiar to you. What would you say?
