Category: France

In the local paper today, 7th March 2012

Today in “Le Télégramme“

  • A very sad news item: 4 children and a man die in a fire in Lannion, about 1/2h drive from us. The mother and a baby managed to escape. It is the 5th fire in the same part of the old town in less than a year.
  • Presidential elections: Should we give up the 35 hours work week?
  • There’s an egg shortage due to some change in European regulations about hen cages.
  • In Guingamp, a militant from the pressure group Aï’ta was arrested during a demonstration in the post office. Aï’ta is promoting the use of the Breton Language.

Living in France: a survival kit

I found this in the book “[amazon_link id=”2228898368″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Les Français aussi ont un accent[/amazon_link]” by Jean-Benoît Nadeau. It’s a very funny book relating the experiences of the author while he was living in France from 1999 to  the end of 2000. An acute observer, he has very good points to make on French society and the French people and it is well worth a read if you are interested in this country. The book is in French, but the same author has also written: “[amazon_link id=”1861057156″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]Sixty Million Frenchmen can’t be wrong: why we love France but not the French[/amazon_link]”, which is in English. I haven’t read it yet, but I am sure it is just as good.

Here are 4 points that have helped him survive his two years in France:

  1. Only smile if someone asks you to. — In France, someone who smiles without obvious reasons is either a prostitute, an idiot, a door to door salesman or an American, which is not much better.
  2. Apologize before asking for information, and explain the nature of your problem. — French people like to help.
  3. When visiting a shop, always say “Bonjour” on the way in, and “au revoir” on the way out. — In North America, any shop is an extension of the public place, while in France it is an extension of the home of the shop owner, hence the need to introduce oneself. This explains also why one gets such a bad service in big retail stores: there is no way to make yourself heard by everyone when you say hello on the way in. They could put loudspeakers.
  4. Converse quietly. — The French have an acute sense of privacy and they hate feeling invaded.

These are helpful and I’d say that if you want your next French holiday or short term mission to go well you should try to put them into practice.

 

What’s more tragic than when a church disappears? [updated]

[update: Since writing the post below, I had more informations on the church mentioned, see the update here.]

Is there anything more tragic than when a church disappears? I happened to be doing some research on the Evangelical church in St Marcellin, a small town near Grenoble, in France. That’s where my mum was born and brought up, and my grand-parents were faithful members in that church for years. I think they were also influential in setting it up in the 50s.

I remember going to church with them when I was growing up. But I learned today that the church closed its doors in 2008.

There is no more evangelical witness in that town of about 8000. There are nearly 20000 people living in the villages around the town, and Grenoble is about 30 minutes drive on the motorway. Very sad.