French Quirks: Media Spines

Media Spines? What the heck are those, you may ask. I'm talking about the part of books and DVDs, etc, that you see when they are lined up in shelves. Why is this blog-worthy?

Because the French do it differently! Now, I know I often let off steam when I find things that are different from the things in the US, things that I am used to. Whether these differences are unique to the French, I cannot say. I do, however, harbor some suspicions that the French decided on certain things because they HAVE to assert their very Frenchness on things.

So back to media spines. Why do they have to be different? Take a look (you can double click on the images if you have trouble seeing what I am talking about).

Books:

DVDs:


See how the American (and English, for that matter) titles are lined up, with the words top-down? The French titles are decidedly the other way, the words going bottom-up.

I am rather OCD about orderliness and this is one of the sources of my pet peeves, that the shelves do not look like they have been arranged properly. Anybody know why the French do it this way, pls let me know. Do the French have a different visual orientation? I need to understand in order to rid myself of this particular angst.

French Quirks: Breakfast

I can't even remember when it was that I first came to PeeWee's parents house to sleep. PeeWee had his own place when I had met him, and I had only been to his parents' for Sunday meals. So whenever it was that I actually had to sleep there, I was a bit apprehensive of what may happen - and I wanted to be on best behavior, of course.

The morning after I arrived there, I got to the kitchen feeling a bit timid, not sure how breakfast conversations would go. PeeWee's first breakfast at my parents' house had gone something like this.

Rae's father: "So .. you eat French Toast?"
PeeWee: "Uh... no... not usually"

<< awkward silence >>

Rae's father: "So... you eat... French Fries?"
PeeWee: "Yes! Yes, I do"

<< awkward silence >>

So you see why I was so apprehensive about my first breakfast with them, especially since my French back then was much worse than PeeWee's English.

Well, his mom and dad greeted me with three kisses on the cheeks and asked me if I wanted some "tartine". I answered in the affirmative. She then handed me a piece of baguette.

I waited, my hand with the baguette suspended in the air, waiting for a plate to place the baguette on. When it did not materialize, I wondered whether it would be rude if I got up and fetched a plate for myself. I decided that that could indeed be construed as rude behavior, and I just continued to hold the baguette. When his mom and dad both sat down and proceeded to butter their bits of baguette right there on the table, with no plate to hold the baguette on, I thought - hmm? Is this how they do it? PeeWee then walked in, took a chunk of a baguette and started buttering it right then and there, with no signs that it bothered him in the slightest not having a plate.

As for coffee - well, I got handed a big bowl, I mean like a bowl big enough to hold two servings of corn flakes. I thought that was a bit weird too, but saw that they all had a bowl just like mine, so it was not an effort to single me out or anything sinister like that.

It's been a while since that first morning, and since then I've had the occasion to have breakfast with lots of French people in their homes. And the no-plate policy and the huge bowls of coffee in the morning are just, well, a very French way to have breakfast. Not even for the crumbliest croissants do plates make an entrance. And the big bowls are found to be very convenient to dunk bread in - and believe me, everyone dunks bread in their coffee. And breakfast is what Americans call "continental" - bread (usually a baguette), butter, jam and coffee. Never any hot food like eggs or bacon or pancakes or French toast even!

And they think the Japanese are weird for eating rice for breakfast!

My Quotable Kids

Ever on the lookout for a get-rich-quick scheme, I was dumbfounded when I found a book that all moms like me would want. It's actually not even a book. It's more like a blank notebook. However, the cover says "My Quotable Kid" and every blank page features bubbles for recording cute things that your progeny has sprouted out, with smaller bubbles around the page for recording who, when, where and at what age.


What a great idea for a mom or a mom-to-be? Why didn't I think of that? As it is, I have been recording my girls' funny sayings in a dispersed and somewhat disorganized fashion, and I immediately took to this idea. I had my sister buy it for me while I was in Seattle.

And while I am recording them on this little genius of a book, I thought I may share some of the gems here - so here is one of my favorites:

Where: Restaurant in London
When: May 2007

Dessert arrived for the girls - scoops of ice cream. Manolee positively squeals in delight.

PeeWee: (leaning over) "yummm"
Manolee: (snatches the cup away from his face): "no daddy, I no share with you"
PW: (burying his face in his hands) "boo hoo.." (pretends to cry)
M: (after looking around the table, assessing the situation) "Daddy, daddy, daddy"
PW: (looks up hopefully): "yes?"
M: (all sweet smiles) "Hanaya will share with you"

A Slice of the Morning Chez Merlet

This morning while I was testing Hana on multiplications and Manolee was reading through a cookbook on cupcakes (ever my girl, that Manolee), PeeWee jumped into the room growling, wearing a shower cap, a bath towel cape and a mad expression on his face. Manolee saw him in the corner of her eyes, did a double take, then took him in fully for a minute, and then went right back to her cupcake book, saying to me "mama, you have to make this one with the hearts".

Hana was the only one who was polite enough to chuckle (albeit weakly) for PeeWee. I just shook my head.

Ever notice old men who have only had girls in the family? They all got this somewhat defeated look about them, no? I think PeeWee is getting there.

Mother's Day (for 1/2 the World, notably NOT the French)

Tomorrow is Mother's Day in the US. The second Sunday of May, as tradition calls it. In France however, tomorrow is any other Sunday - the French, of course, cannot simply follow the US example (who officialized Mother's Day first, as it was) - no, it has to show its Gallic difference - and Mother's Day in France is .... the LAST Sunday of May. EXCEPT (and there is always an exception in France) if that last Sunday in May is Pentecost, in which the catholic holiday trumps and Mother's Day moves back a week - so this year the French will hold Mother's Day on June 7.

If I seem well versed on this topic, it is because I had to actually google when Mother's Day falls this year. Unlike in the US, where you start to see Mother's Day cards and posters before Easter, stores here are very muted (notice I said they "hold" Mother's Day, not "celebrate") - I spotted not one card for Mother's Day today (and we were looking at cards at 3 different stores for Hanaya, who absolutely had to have postcards depicting cats and dogs TODAY) - which is just amazing. The French always say days like Mother's Day and Valentine's Day are just too commercial in the US - and I guess they are right. However, I see nothing wrong with commercialism, especially when it is to my benefit. Being a now-stay-at-home mother of two, I wouldn't mind some recognition, you know?

Anyway I am once again dumbfounded that the French could not simply take the second Sunday of May to be Mother's Day. Didn't the Japanese? The Chinese? The Germans as well! OK so I know the British have a different day too, which was just a big pain as well because I had to always remember to buy a Mother's Day card in March (otherwise none would be around anymore when it was time to actually send it on to my mom in the US).

Of course, the fact that Mother's Day is a commemorative day without a fixed date, whether the second or the last Sunday, gives all the excuses PeeWee needs to not acknowledge either of the days. If I call him on that, he gives another one of his well-used lines: "the French do not do that".

On that note, happy mom's day to all out there in the US (and about 3 dozen other countries around the world)! I shall wish the same on my French counterparts in another few weeks!

Stateside views

Got back from 10+ days in the States, most of it in Seattle where my baby sister is on maternity leave with her baby girl. It was nice being in the States on my own for a change (though I missed my girls terribly from day 1) - and it left me loads of time to contemplate life in the US and how things have changed or not so changed over the years.

One thing that caught my eye right away was on a restaurant menu. I'm used to asterisks next to menu items denoting things like, spicy, vegetarian, peanut-based, etc. But this time I noticed that every single asterisk referred to a dour sentence at the bottom, saying "Raw or undercooked food ingredients may cause food-borne illnesses".

Huh. At first I thought it was that particular restaurant being overly cautious. But there the sentence was, at every single restaurant that we went to. I guess it is a state-mandated disclaimer and the restaurants just want to cover their a**es. I do think this is somewhat over the top, though it does not come close to my favorite disclaimer of all times: "This shinguard does not protect the parts of the body that it does not cover". God bless America.

The other thing that was interesting was all this talk about the swine flu, which was just hitting its hysterics peak. But what interested me the most was that every day less and less people on TV were saying "swine" flu and were switching to "H1N1" flu - because of all the lobbying from the pork industry. The anchormen and women also said over and over, "Eating pork does not cause the flu". I found it funny that they thought it necessary to remind Americans of this fact repeatedly - but then again, 6 out of 10 Americans still do not believe in evolution, so I suppose it cannot hurt to be badgering the fact.

Anyway, back home now and back to life as we know it...