Correr Es Mi Destino » French Summer

Are French Rude?

Zhu — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:28:04 +0000

Les Halles (Paris)

Right before going to France, I had a discussion with an American friend of mine. His parents had been to Paris many years ago and remembered French people as pretty rude folks. I wasn’t surprised nor offended because it is a pretty common stereotype on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Japanese travel a lot and take pictures, Chinese kick ass at math tests, British have bad teeth, Australians wrestle crocodiles down under… you’ve heard them all before.

I entered France with my Canadian passport and I decided to become a woman with a mission. I was going to find out if French were rude. Who else could better find out the dirty truth about French than a former French?

About an hour after setting foot in my former country, I was ready to say yes. As soon as the plane landed, you could tell the French returning back home from the Canadians: the former loudly rushed out of the plane while the later politely let each other go first. The same thing happened at passport control: fortunately, there was a special line for U.E. passport holders so all Europeans were able to complain together about the uselessness of European policies.

I was still dazed and confused when I showed up at the train ticket booth in Roissy CDG. Yet, it was the kick I needed to find my French fighting spirit back. “The only tickets we have left are first class tickets”, claimed the bored employee. “For all the trains today?”, I retorted. “You didn’t say you wanted to leave today!” Feng watched me arguing and finally buying the cheapest tickets available, slightly taken aback. “I’m not rude, honey, I’m just getting us tickets”. Lesson one: sometimes you need to be a little bit rude assertive in order to get business done in France.

I soon remembered something I had forgotten: French always seem to go by two rules. 1) There is never enough for everybody 2) The system hates you and is screwing you. Case in point, public transportation. People board the subway/bus/train the way Chinese people do: they queue vertically and rush inside, grab a seat and defend their territory. When we arrived at the terminal to take the local regional bus to St Michel, about 25 people were already waiting. As soon as the bus arrived, people crowded together at the door. Feng and I looked at each other, slightly bemused. In Canada, the Greyhound is sometime very busy and there isn’t enough room for everybody – that’s no problem, another bus is brought in to accommodate the extra passengers. “I got you seats”, called my grand-mother, who had already fought her way to the bus front door. You should have seen the last few passengers fight! Because indeed, not all of us were able to board the bus, and the next one was scheduled… the following day.

But this “French are rude” stereotype is mostly just a big cultural misunderstanding. First, a lot of foreigners’ bad experiences with the French happen in Paris. In bigger cities, people usually mind their own business and may have less patience with tourists. Imagine being asked every single day where Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower is!

Second, the body language is different in France. For instance, French don’t smile as much as Americans and they certainly don’t smile unless they mean it. I personally found these perky coffee shop baristas annoying when I first came to Canada, because I could tell they were not sincere, they were just told to smile and sound upbeat to please customers.

Finally, the notion of personal space is different in France. Instead of the regular North American’s arm’s length of personal space, you may find people squeezing you and even — gasp! — inadvertently bump into you or touch you in crowded areas. Don’t be offended… it’s just the way it is.

I eventually developed a theory: French people are not rude, they just defend their territory and tend to be distrustful at times. However, they are extremely friendly and generous with those close to them, such as family and friends. On the other hand, Canadians tend to be polite and treat strangers better. But they value their privacy and personal space and are more reserved, even around their friends and relatives… and all that can be interpreted as rudeness by foreigners!

London Shopping

Zhu — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:46:32 +0000

I don’t care for shoes nor jewelery — I’m a t-shirt girl. I’ve always loved collecting them. They are usually cheap, they last for years and they (almost always) fit. What’s not to like?

I sleep in oversized rock bands and music t-shirts: Metallica, U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers… I have my collection of Hard Rock Café t-shirts I started in Beijing, in 1999. I also buy designers t-shirts online at Threadless, such this nice one and this funny one. I have blue, red, pink, yellow, black and green t-shirts, neatly folded in piles in my closet. You can never have too many t-shirts, can’t you?

In France, I bought a bunch of beauty products. In London, I found a t-shirt mecca at Camden Market. Originally a craft market, the Camden Lock Market is now a thriving shopping area and hundreds of retailers sell clothes and souvenirs. You can find pretty much anything, from your basic “I love London” t-shirt to trendier vintage clothes. I fell in love with the Funky Chameleon brand and bought a few embroidered tank tops.

It’s also in Camden Market that I fell in love again with my teenage years shoes: the famous Doc Martens shoes. The British boots have long been popular with punks and other subcultures and they were very trendy when I was in high-school. I actually went through a couple of pairs of the iconic Dr. Martens 8-eye boot in purple, and I even brought back to Canada the first pair I got when I was 12 years old. In London, I fell in love with the same pair of shoes, in cherry red this time — for £40.00, it was quite a deal.

You can follow our trip to the U.K here on Flickr: United Kingdom.

The Girl on a Swing T-shirt

Funky Chameleon

The Girl with Big Eyes T-shirt	Wounded Bear T-shirt
The Girl with Red hair T-shirt	My Red Doc Martens Shoes

Beauty Comes From Within (And From Shopping In France)

Zhu — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 15:56:49 +0000

For a French girl, I’m remarkably low-maintenance. Like I explained before, some women claim their husband wouldn’t recognize them without make-up — mine won’t recognize me if I put make-up on.

I do have a fondness for cream though. I probably got it from my mother who insatiably test and collect various creams, commenting on their textures and their efficiency. Putting cream on is comforting and their smell often remind me of places I’ve been too: for instance, I used the Olive Body Butter from Body Shop in Australia 7 years ago and to this day, it still makes me think of Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne.

I don’t buy creams often but I’m always on the look for a great face cream which will protect me from our harsh Canadian winters. Last year, after completing an early morning exam at university, I walked through The Bay and sampled a few creams at the beauty counter — that’s how I relax. Pathetic, I know. One of the salesgirls must have sensed I was in the mood to spend money and she presented me with a few samples. I must have looked interested: she gave me a small white beauty case with two samples inside. “You will see”, she claimed. “You will come back to buy the cream in less than a couple of weeks”.

The cream she gave me smelled great. It felt great — the texture was soft and rich, yet it didn’t leave any oily film. My skin was glowing and it wasn’t so dry after a couple of days, which was no small miracle considering we were in February. One night, I looked that miracle cream up on the web, determined to go back to The Bay to buy it. I was ready to dig deep in my pocket. I wanted it badly.

I gasped when I saw how much it was. And that was the online price, in US$. Let just say I could have bought a very nice Ipod for the price of the small jar, and another zoom lens for my camera for the price of the not-so-small jar. Bah.

I felt like one of those people who are offered drugs at a party, got hooked and ended up selling their car for a few grams of crack or whatever is trendy these days. The girl at the counter had me hooked on the best cream ever by giving me a free sample. I decided to do the sensible thing: I just said no. I’m not spending that much on a cream, this is ridiculous, no matter how good it is.

During this trip to France, I went back to basics and shopped for creams and beauty products that are a great value and yet don’t break my bank account.

I bought:

Les Gouttes Bleues (Innoxa, €4.50) : really cool eye drops that relax tired eyes and make the sclera looks very white.
Argan Oil Cream and Oil (around €15 each): this nutritive oil is great to repair dry skin. The cream is moisturizing yet not oily.
L’Occitane soaps (€9 for three soaps): for the longest time, I used liquid soap before I eventually realized it was expensive and I switched back to bar soap. L’Occitane, a company based in Southern France, has great products inspired from Mediterranean beauty rituals. These soaps smell good, are moisturizing and last me for quite a while.
Pierre d’Alun (€7): Alun is a chemical compound that can be used for a variety of thing, including as a deo. I’m not a huge fan of North America deos, I find the smell strong and they tend to stain clothes. Funny thing, I heard a lot of Americans complain about French deo… I guess our bodies are just different! The Pierre d’Alun, a deodorant stone, is supposed to last for ages, just wet it a bit and rub on the skin as you would do with other deos. It works very well and has no smell.
Nuxe Crème Fraîche (Nuxe, €22): this is one of the best face cream I know. I love Nuxe products in general, they are not too expensive and the quality is great. This cream smells good, moisturizes the skin yet doesn’t leave an oily film. Plus, it’s about €150 cheaper than the famous French cream mentioned above…
Nuxe Honey Lip Balm (Nuxe, €8): I had to buy this one, the box stated it was the tests were conducted in conditions of extreme Canadian cold! It smells of honey and makes the lips super smooth.
Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse (Nuxe, €10): this shimmery oil is truly multipurpose and can be used on the face, body and hair. It repairs dry patches and makes the skin glow.

Gouttes Bleues from Innoxa

Huile d’Argan Cream and Body Oil

L’Occitance Soaps

Pierre D’Alun (Natural Deo)

Nuxe Products: Shimmery Body Oil, Face Cream and Honey Lip Balm

Tests Conducted in Conditions of Extreme Canadian Cold!

The Walls Are Talking

Zhu — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:24:24 +0000

Every time I go to France, I like to take the pulse of the population and to sound out current issues. Graffiti and stickers can be found everywhere, and these little words written or stuck on urban fragments tell a lot about how people feel.

A lot of these stickers are given by far-left political parties, including the Fédération anarchiste and the Ligue communiste révolutionnaire, which are still quite active in France. Some are anonymous and quite witty. They promote social justice and oppose political and social establishments.

I also noticed quite a few stickers promoting Brittany’s independence and the use of the regional language, Breton.

You can follow our French trip here on Flickr: France (2010).

Consume, you will be a man

For your security, no more freedom

Police everywhere and no justice	Legalization of all illegals
Solidarity with Palestinians	Police everywhere and no justice
No Sarkozy day	Hunt them down! Out, fascists!
In Breton! Breton is a modern language! (written in Breton)	All together to fight back against the labour world
Unemployed people on strike, gathering every week	Privatizing the post office? You gotta be crazy!
Loire-Atlantique belongs to Brittany	Poster against nuclear weapons

Unemployed Strike Poster on a Staffing Agency Window (Nantes)

Europe in our Eyes

Zhu — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 14:00:49 +0000

It started as a joke: Feng wanted to take a picture of the London Eye reflecting in my eyes. After a few trials (try opening your eyes as big as you can without blinking for several seconds!), we got hold of it. We then decided to do the “eye picture” for a few major landmarks during this trip.

For each location, we took one picture in my eyes and one in Feng’s. You should be able to tell which one of which — I’m the non-Chinese one, remember?

You can see the whole Eye Reflections set here.

Arc de Triomphe (Champs Élysées)

Notre Dame in Paris

The Eiffel Tower

Nantes’ Elephant

Streets of Nantes

Nantes’ Tramway

The Tate Modern in London

The London Eye

A Parisian Bug Story

Zhu — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:06:35 +0000

At the Greyhound Station, back in Ottawa

And here we are, back in Ottawa.

We left Nantes on Friday night, taking the last train to Paris. The plan was to sleep for a few hours and catch an early RER train to Roissy CDG since we were due to fly at 11:00 am. We were in luck and had found a nice and cheap hotel… a few minutes’ walk from the Eiffel Tower, for CA$70. No kidding.

By the time we got to the hotel, it was already midnight and we were both exhausted. The room looked just fine at first glance: we put our backpacks down, checked the bathroom out quickly and sat on the bed. A minute later, Feng opened the window to see if we could actually see the Eiffel Tower from the room. He pushed the curtains back off the window and opened it an inch or two, then quickly closed it when he saw there were mosquitoes flying outside. The hotel neon was right below the window, attracting all kinds of bugs. “Shit we thought, no fresh air tonight!” I closed the window shut and instinctively, we both looked up to the ceiling to see if there was a fan. Oh, there was one alright. There was also a huge cloud of bugs, both mosquitoes and midges, clearly visible on the white ceiling.

We looked at each other, sighed and went back downstairs to the reception. I explained that we were invaded by bugs but I could see the receptionist was not taking me seriously. I begged him to come have a look. He rummaged through the drawers to find bug spray and followed us, slightly annoyed.

I pushed the door open, slightly annoyed myself, and let him in. “Ah oui, ah oui!” he exclaimed in surprise, suddenly realizing I was not a drama-queen after all. We stared at each other, unsure of what to do. Fortunately, after 6 weeks in France, I had my Frenchness back and I could try to solve the problem as diplomatically as possible. Indeed, the key to negotiating with French is to find a common enemy, to take it easy and to not offend anyone in order to hopefully work out a suitable solution for both parts.

Finding a common enemy was easy: the receptionist and I figured the housekeeper must have left the window opened for too long — that alone took 20 minutes. I admitted the room looked perfectly clean but for the bugs, he stated that it was indeed very clean. He said it had never happened before, I concurred it must be the very first time. We both apologized for no reason and blamed the housekeeper.

The receptionist first offered to spray the room with bug repellent. However, we had to leave the room for at least 30 minutes. I pointed out it was well past midnight and that we had an early flight to catch. Besides, we clearly could not open the window since more bugs would fly in, and I stressed it was not recommended to sleep in a tiny room right after having it sprayed like that.

Then, I asked if we could have another room. He ran back downstairs to check but unfortunately, the hotel was full. I could see Feng was getting annoyed and I was getting tired myself.

I explained our situation, the early flight and all, and stated we were definitely not going to sleep in that room. I asked if we could have a refund. Puzzled, the receptionist ran his hand in his hair. “But you will have to see the boss, I can’t give you a refund”. I knew very well we would never see the boss nor have our money back.

Tentatively, I asked if he knew other hotels in the street. Suddenly, he gloated: “let me call the head office, we have another hotel in the neighbourhood, they may have a room for you to take instead of that one!” I translated for Feng who looked back at me, most concerned. “Duh, isn’t that the best solution?”

We all ran back downstairs at the reception and he made the call. In all fairness, the receptionist was on our side. While there was indeed a room left at the other hotel, the person on the phone was clearly annoyed. I understood that since we had booked online, we had paid a much lower price for the room and that the actual price was pretty high (around EUR165, according to the website I checked later). But ten minutes later, it was a deal: we had a room in the other hotel.

The other hotel turned out to be even closer to the Eiffel Tower, two minutes from École Militaire, rue du Gros Caillou. We also had the biggest room, with four beds. Nothing fancy yet at 1:30 am, we were relieved to have a place to sleep and to shower.

We ate a bit, took a shower and walked to the Eiffel Tower (we had to!). We had barely slept for four hours when the alarm rang — good thing we heard it, we never got our wake up call. I can barely remember taking the subway, the RER and getting to Roissy. We must have done it right though: we somehow arrived in Ottawa.

French Bakeries

Zhu — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:03:03 +0000

And that’s it… back to Canada. I’m glad it’s August and the weather will still be hot. It’s harder to come back from traveling when you are facing a total different climate, like we did last year, in March, from Buenos Aires to Toronto.

To close this French series, I wanted to make you drool. Yes, I’m sadistic.

I love French bakeries. There is one at every corner and they all carry fresh bread, croissants, pains au chocolat and pains aux raisin. They also have their specialties, from elaborate cakes to simple fruit pies. I don’t really have a favorite, it depends on my mood, I guess it would be between: raspberry chausson and éclair (long thin pastry made with filled with a cream and topped with icing).… But trust me, they are all good!

See you guys in Canada!

You can follow our French trip here on Flickr: France (2010).

Bread

French Bread

At the Bakery

Strawberry Pies	Flan
Éclairs et Religieuses	Fruit Pies
Macarons	Rasberries Pie
Pains au Chocolat et Croissants	Pain au Chocolat aux Amandes
Pies and Cakes	Meringues

Mille-Feuilles

St Nazaire

Zhu — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:24:32 +0000

I swear, I won’t do it again. For the first and only time in my life, I followed in Sarkozy’s footsteps: we visited the same city only a day apart. Thanks God we didn’t meet.

For our last week-end in France, Feng and I went back on the Atlantic coast. We spent a few days with my family and left to explore St Nazaire, a few kilometers away. The town isn’t pretty: it was heavily bombed during WWII and 80% of it was destroyed. It was rebuilt right after the war in a somewhat minimalist style — understand one main street and square buildings scattered around.

We walked around the harbor and I felt like in Pink Floyd’s Animals cover. The city is very industrial and it focuses on shipbuilding (mostly cruise ships nowadays), aeronautical engineering and port activities. As for art, some Tintin posters are scattered around the harbor, as the comic-strip reporter written by Hergé famously stopped by St Nazaire in the album The Seven Crystal Balls.

We came back in the evening and enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the beach, back in St Michel.

You can follow our French trip here on Flickr: France (2010).

Tintin in St Nazaire

Dockers’ Union Building

Fishing in the Harbor

The Industrial Side

Seagull	Welcome to… the Machines…
The Beach	The Harbor

This is why I failed my driving test in France… twice!

Sunset on the Beach

Nantes By Night

Zhu — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:59:11 +0000

I love cities by night. Most change a lot and reveal a totally different atmosphere — it’s like traveling. I’ve already shown you snapshots of Ottawa by night, Toronto, London, Paris… Here is Nantes, my hometown.

The city is very pedestrian friendly, especially the area around the castle, Bouffay, which has a lot of bars and restaurants. Others cool spots at night are the Isle of Nantes with the Buren Rings, as well as the Quai de la Fosse, on the bank of the Loire River.

You can follow our French trip here on Flickr: France (2010).

Place Royale

Decré Lafayette

Catching the Tramway

Tramway in Motion

Quai de la Fosse

Place Graslin and the Theater	LU Tower
Titan Crane	Nantes Harbor
Nantes at Sunset	Roofs of Nantes
City Hall	Bouffay

Buren Rings

Nantes' Elephant

Zhu — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:00:50 +0000

Since 2007, the Machines de l’Ile de Nantes and the great elephant are one of the major tourist attractions in Nantes.

The 12 meters high mechanical elephant is made from 45 tons of wood and steel. Several times a day, it takes passengers for a walk around the Isle of Nantes, located in the middle of the Loire River. Riding it is quite expensive but it’s free to just see it move around, wink, trumpet, and spray nearby photographers with water (oh well, it was a hot day).

You can follow our French trip here on Flickr: France (2010).

Embarcadère

Les Machines de l’Ile

Sleepy Elephant

Parked Elephant

Elephant Day Off	Elephant Trunk
Elephant’s Head	Peeing!
Moving	And Spraying the Crowd
Trunk	Blowing Water

Painting the Clouds

Walking Around