Why do the French put salad with EVERYTHING?

Delicious HOT roast chicken with vinaigrette ?

I love French food, I love the way the food is so simple and is cooked perfectly. It is not ‘messed about with’.

But, I still struggle with the ’salad with everything’ rule.

This meal was absolutely delicious, the chicken was full of flavour and the sauce was absolutely delicious then I get chicken, lovely sauce and vinaigrette in my mouth at the same time. Confused taste buds.

I now have a plan to deal with the rogue salad and vinaigrette that shouldn’t be on the same plate as a roast chicken… I divide my plate in two!… first I eat the ‘main course’, then the salad!… It works.. two meals in one… and no confused taste buds!

French Education

I like most things about the French education system. It is very solid. Respect and good behaviour are very important. Students must stand up when a teacher enters the room, insult another pupil and you risk suspension, insult a teacher and receive immediate suspension and detentions are given if you forget your books or pencil case.

BUT.. the students have to work hard, incredibly hard..too hard. The pressure is constant. There are evaluations in every subject every three weeks, there is at least 1 – 2 hours homework a night and most of the weekends are spent on schoolwork. The school day is long, Iona and Joe catch the school bus at 7.00am and get home at 5.30pm.

The homework and evaluation grades are important. Fall below a certain minimum and you are at risk of having to redo the school year again. In every class, and the classes are small 20 – 25 pupils, at least three people a year redo the same year.

All students have access to the school website which they can log into to access their homework, any timetable changes and the weeks’ canteen menu!. This year there has been a new addition to the website. Now you can track your grades in each subject either in detail or there are some nifty graphs whereby each student can track their average grade in each subject against the class average. Is this a good motivational tool or does it just add to the pressure?

Is too much emphasis placed on students grades?

French etiquette is beautiful but it can be awkward even for the French.

Faire le bise

Today I was asked, ‘Do your children still ‘faire le bise. ‘ when you drop them at the school bus, mais non tu es anglaise, c’est plus simple pour vous!’

When and when not to ‘faire le bise’, to kiss both cheeks when you meet someone.

As far as I can work out the general rules are:-

1) Usually women ‘faire le bise’ to men and women. Men always shake hands with men unless it is between male family members when men do ‘faire le bise’.

2) If you don’t know the person, male or female or if that person holds a position of authority then whether male or female, shake hands. Never kiss the school teacher!

3) ahh, but when do you know that person well enough to ‘faire le bise’.. Good question, and even then French don’t know the answer!… My rule is wait until the French person says, shall we faire le bise?

4)How often do you ‘faire le base’, i.e. if you see the same person several times during the day. Generally the first time you see them in the day and the last time in the evening

5) This kissing starts at collège (secondary school)… It can take my daughter a good 15 minutes at the start and at the end of the day to ‘faire le bise’ with all of her male and female classmates.

French parents kiss their children in public a lot more than we reserved English parents!..
It is quite common for children up to 14 -16 to ‘faire le bise’ with their parents when they leave then in the morning and when they are picked up from school.

Conclusions. I like it, it is a nice way to greet someone. You know with everyone, you either shake their hand or ‘faire le bise’. Sometimes in England I don’t know whether or not to shake the person’s hand when I greet them. Maybe a handshake is too formal?, but then to just say ‘Hello’ seems an insufficient sort of a greeting somehow….. Things can be just as awkward in England!

Went out to buy a baguette but bought a house instead!… It can happen!

Over the summer we have met and remet ( I don’t think that is a word!) lots of lovely people that have stayed in our gites and some of them became unwittingly (!) fully immersed into the French way of life!.. And now really understand how things happen here!

For the first time in the last 4 or 5 years I really noticed that there is a thirst for all things French and one couple even bought a house whilst they were here, despite, having no desire for a French property when they left Portsmouth!

We also have several gites let throughout the autumn/winter as couples search for their ideal French home! It is so exciting and I am envious of their journeys. A journey that we did 20 years ago when we bought our first house. Totally NOT by the book… We were on holiday and went to buy a baguette for lunch and ended up buying a wreck of a house with no water, electricity, drainage or a roof on our credit cards!

La Maison Rose - Laying the concrete floor in the lounge two years ago!

La Maison Rose – The lounge now

Since then we have bought 10 more houses… Once the bug bites it won’t go away.!…..so be warned, if you catch yourselves looking in Estate Agents windows look away quickly!..

However if you do intentially or ‘accidentally ‘ buy a French property we are always here if you have any questions about the miles of red tape of the masses of paperwork required!

There is also a house buying page on our website http://www.frenchgites.com/Tourism%20Brittany%20House%20buying.htm

Happy House Hunting!

In France there are as many pets as owners!

Dogs go everywhere in France, shops, restaurants, beaches..nowhere is forbidden

The most popular pet is a fish, but all the same, 19 million dogs and cats. One out of three French people has a dog compared to 18% of Germans and 22% of Brits.

In these difficult times there are some that abandon their dog but most prefer to deprive themselves rather than give their dog cheap dog food!

Another growing problem in France, and I am sure it exists in the UK as well is that dogs are being given human food and this results in more money being spent on the canine friend in medication for their teeth and more seriously, digestive problems.

In France, the pet market represents 3.5 billion euros pa and this figure is increasing.

Not only are dogs costly to their owners, they also cost a lot to the public purse, in La Rochelle alone where there is a population of 80,000, it costs 170,000 euros pa to fight against dog mess. This cost is increasing because prevention initiatives are put into place but dog owners are reluctant to clean up after their dogs. There are penalties in place for dog owners who allow their dogs to foul in public places but this is difficult and costly to enforce.

There seems to be a cultural difference, in the UK, dog owners are more responsible when it comes to cleaning up after their dogs whereas I have never seen a french person clean up after their dog. Similarly there is a cultural difference with regards to men relieving themselves by the roadside. In France, this is completely normal but very much frowned upon, if not illegal in the UK. I am sure there is a link here but I haven’t quite figured out what it is!