France, Land of 365 Cheeses

On my way home from India, I took a short stop in France to have Christmas with Neuilly and my future in-laws.  This is my third visit here and I now consider myself a serious francophile. I was only here for eight days, so my observations come mainly from decompressing my Indian experience in another foreign culture that is much more familiar to me as an American.

The French are famous for their demonstrations, revolts and strikes.   This is a protest, in the airport, by airport security workers.  They are on strike over pay, hours, working conditions.  Their US counterparts, TSA screeners, are legally prohibited from striking in the US.  The French are also famous for not working. Nobody seems to work here, yet they are one of the most productive countries in the world, making the best wine, airplanes, bicycles and frog legs.  I think the world can learn a lot from the French, even though they sometimes seem a bit smug on the world stage (perhaps with good reason). I love France.

Here is me as a FOB in Nantes.  I felt very out of place on this day and I only had the clothes I took from tropical India.  One of the first contrasts I noticed in my reverse culture shock was how grey and black everyone was dressed, perhaps they were in morning over Kim Jong Il.

Another reverse culture shock coming from India was going from using my hand to eat everything, to being presented with an insane number of eating utensils to eat very elaborate and succulent meals.  I also gained several kilos in just a few days going from a diet of rice, vegetables and spice to a diet of heavy cream, pork and wine.  I think my innards are foie gras now.

Neuilly took me on a wonderful evening dinner on a boat cruise on the river Erdre. She did most of the ordering and talking to wait staff (on account of my French language deficiency), this is in contrast to Bangalore where the wait staff only talked to me, even when she paid, apparently because of gender norms.  

Neuilly's outfit matches nicely with the French flag, drapeau tricolore. 

French cities and towns are lovely, but they have broken stuff too, just like in India and the US.

Posing on Christmas Eve.