Cultural Peculiarities

Life is good. 

Fortunately, I'm never short of inspiration for this blog. This country just keeps rolling out new material for me, everyday.

In staying on this positive note, I'm getting more and more accustomed to my life here. I go to the grocery store almost every day, and the cashiers are beginning to recognize me. One cashier asks: “Are you ever going to turn in your memberhip card form?" I asked for it a month ago...oops.

They also know me at the bank. I've had to go there so many times at this point and ask for really complicated things (like international wire transfers) that we're now all on a first-name basis.

And my newfound local "celebrity" status doesn't stop there. There are TWO newspaper articles on me. One is in the town newsletter and another piece was done in the regional paper La Voix du Nord.

My town's Newsletter

The piece on me in the newsletter.  It reads "Cydny, notre jolie etudiante americaine" (Cydny, our pretty american student...I'm not a student though...they made a lot of mistakes like that)

It's even been great with friends. I spend a lot of time with my colleagues who invite me for meals. I've made new friends on the train or just walking down the street. But mostly I hang out with this group of other language assistants. It's funny because we all come from different countries (except Haley, who's from Texas...which could be considered it's own country). 

My colleague and I at the English Channel (she invited me for the day)

What's even more amusing is that our common language is French, and none of us are native French speakers. So each of us has a very distinct accent and speaks what I can only imagine is comical French. My friend Sarah often resorts to making sounds to get the message across. “I want to ...you know...*clicking sound*...*finger snaps*...to go to the gym!” We manage. The other day we all were talking and camel toe came up. It was too funny trying to explain that between all our languages. When Lidia realized what we were saying she began laughing so hard and said “In Spain we say, 'Even a deaf person can read her lips.'” I died laughing...I'm going to use that in English now...of course in appropriate settings!

The international assistants

We're all discovering France together through an array of different viewpoints, but we miraculously manage to stay on the same page.

Though everything has been going pretty well, one thing that I have been grappling with lately is how to make the distinction between what is culturally French and what is personality specific. When someone does something that I find to be socially weird, I can't necessarily evaluate through my American lens whether or not their behavior is normal in France. Some of my real life examples:

• A guy on the street lets his dog take a giant number 2 on the sidewalk? Uniquely French.

• A guy in a bar kissing my hand and then proceeding to sniff my arm and tell me I smell good? Weirdo.
  
  
• Giving kisses every time we meet? French.
  
  
• My boss telling me she's going to fart so I need to roll down the windows? Person specific.
  
  
• Wearing the same outfit more than 3 times in one week? French.

These are just some examples, but you can imagine how that could get hard to navigate. My mom's advice to always follow your instincts has actually been really helpful. But there are some things that I'm still confused about. I guess it'll take living here longer. And at least I'm making friends who always  help add their perspectives.