Things I Miss About the States, Things I Love About France

My last post in this series was about things I miss from the States. It was not an exhaustive list (not by a long shot) and I'll continue it later. But today, I thought I'd mention a few things I enjoy about France. Remember I'm focusing on the little things so I'm not going to drone on and on about the rich history, and the to-die-for architecture or the food...well not in this post anyway (;


Two hour Lunches

Yes, you read that right, the post office is "closed on Mondays" in many
areas. In fact, lots of stores closed on Mondays, but this is NOT one of the
things I love about France.

The French have a love affair with food and lunch is no exception. In fact, lunch from noon-2:00pm is SACRED! Most stores, banks, and even the post office in most towns close for lunch. The only exception you'll find is really in the big cities and Paris. But regardless, you do not bother a Frenchman in the middle of lunch. If you trip on a hatchet and it's 3 inches into your thigh, blood squirting in all directions, and the clock reads 1:30pm, you wait the 30 minutes before calling for help. Okay, so I may be exaggerating just a tad, but hopefully you get the point. What is nice about a 2 hour break however, is that it gives you enough time to enjoy a nice cooked meal (it doesn't have to be fancy) and unwind a bit before tackling the rest of the day. Lunch on the go is not nearly as common over here as it is in the States. Even my kids have 2 hours off. I pick them up from school everyday at noon, bring them home for lunch and bring them back at quarter to two. Sure it's time consuming having to cook for everyone and yes, there are days that have me swinging in the cuckoo's nest, but I like to know what my kids are eating. And I'm not the only mother that brings their kids home for lunch either. But as much as I like having them here for lunch, it won't last. The school is building an new cafeteria and next year they'll go a few days a week to eat with their classmates. I think that's important for them too. 


Pétanque


I. Love. This. Game. But don't get that statement confused with me actually being any good at it. If I'm on your team, chances are we're going to lose. But for some reason, sucking at this game doesn't turn me off from playing. Now, pétanque (similar to the Italian's Bocce ball) is a male dominated sport, but it can be played with the whole family. And yes, it is a sport! You can play pétanque just about anywhere except for maybe the living room. We have a typical kids plastic set, but the real ones are heavy, metal balls, made in France.

My kids plastic pétanque set

The goal is to get your ball as close to the cochonnet (the little red ball) as possible.
In this shot, my ball ended up in Spain.