Burka Musings

Since starting this blog I've been more and more observant about the multi cultural world we live in now. I preached a couple of days ago about how in a world of information ignorance is a choice, and how I still act this way concerning the burka. 

I am always frightened for the women wearing Hadjibs etc in a way that a lot of people are frightened for me being with a black man. 

But yesterday I had a beautiful but sad encounter with a lovely Arabic woman. Her whole body and hair were covered but her face showing.

Her two boys were running her ragged, at the same time she was playing with my daughter and kept smiling at me friendly and apologetically. Then she did something I do when I don't want people around me to know I'm telling Tiana off, I speak in English. Seeing that she was at the end if her tether I was fully prepared for her to starting shouting in Arabic but she starting telling her boys off in Italian. I understand quite a bit of Italian unlike nothing of Arabic! And she was saying to her two boys "you're making mummy look bad, let's go and not bother the lady and the little girl anymore."

My heart went out to her. 

She was covered head to toe, maybe by choice, maybe because of her husband or family, but underneath it all she was really just a young woman embarrassed by her children playing up in public. 

I was guilty of making stereotypical assumptions and tarring everyone with the same brush, the very thing I am trying to help stop with this blog.

I got up from my comfy place in the sun and helped her get her littlest back in his buggy and get the older boy off the climbing frame and back to his mothers side. 

The woman was shocked that I came to help her. But in her eyes I could see it was a good shock. 

Would I have acted the same way if she had spoken in Arabic and I had not understood those all familiar pleadings? Definitely not. 

But now I know that might be what every Arabic woman is saying to her children. I'm sure I will in the future not hesitate to lend a hand, with a smile and a lift of an eyebrow between mummies to say "I know the feeling".

Bienvenue Chez Nous

I was saying the other day about how much I hate dubbed over programmes in France. But the French TV is actually very good. Yes, they have their share of ridiculous big brother style reality shows, but their documentaires are fascinating and their culture shows even more so. The one I'm loving at the moment is called Bienvenue Chez Nous (Welcome to Our Home)

Every week four couples who run bed and breakfasts around France, stay at each other's b&b's and judge everything from the welcome to the dust on top of the wardrobes! The French definately have a comptetive streak as sometimes the comments and scoring are just ridiculously low but I love it for how it appeals to my nosy nature! You get to see into people's homes, the fabulous regions I've yet to visit and oh the breakfasts are mouthwatering.

This was the Champ Bruneau B&B in Normany. An old working water mill transformed into a fantastic B&B. Isn't it fabulous?

They didn't win but they were such a lovely couple and played the game fairly, not like the others who said places were fabulous they gave them 4 out of 10! I've bookmarked their website and hopefully will go for a weekend there very soon.

Excited!

I'm one step closer to becoming a student again. I had my place confirmed today, now just to sort out funding!!

Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong

My parents gave me this book not long after I moved to France. I read part of it and put it away. Being only 18 and working in Disney I was living anything but typically French. Ten years on and completely immersed in French life I thought I'd give it another go. And let me say after just the 1st paragraph of the introduction I found myself nodding enthusiastically along with the authors. I am thoroughly immersed in this excellent book, although written before the financial crisis of 2008 it is still surprisingly relevant today.

Let me give you a taste ...

"Imagine a country where people work 35 hour weeks, take seven weeks of paid holidays per year, take an hour and a half for lunch, have the longest life expectancy in the world, and eat the richest food on the planet. A people who keep alive their local shopkeepers, who love nothing better than going to the public market on Saturdays, and who finance the best health care system in the world. A people whose companies are the least unionized and most productive among modern countries, and whose post-industrial consumer society ranks among the most prosperous in the world.
You are now in France.
Now imagine a country whose citisens have so little civic sense that it never crosses their minds to pick up after their dogs or give to charity. Where people expect the State to do everything because they pay so much in taxes. Where service is rude. Where the State is among the most centralised and pervasive in the world, and where the civil servant class amounts to no less than a quarter of the working population. Where citisens tolerate no form of iniative or self rule, where unions are so pervasive that they virtually dictate the course of government and even run French ministries.
You are still in France."

Pure excellence! I'm sure I'll be back musing over their findings over the course of my journey with Jean-Benoit and Julie.

I'm also loving that it has been translated into French and the title has been changed to translate to "Not so crazy the French"!

The Dubbing Nightmare

After being forced to sit through The Wolf of Wall Street in French a few days ago I have to vent my spleen here!

All expats all over the world will know exactly what I'm talking about here! Dubbed films are, well, how do I put this ... excruciating! You can see what they're saying but you've got some stupid voice talking in a different language and half of the time not even saying the same thing! It's enough to make your brain explode!

Luckily a lot of the programmes and films on French freeview, you can switch to listen in VO (original version) and a wonderful piece of software is available called Expat Shield that you download and then can have access to iplayer etc. In our house Tiana and I watch everything in VO when possible, Badara watches the films upstairs in French and we only watch documentaries together!

If you're not an expat and want an idea of what I'm talking about, we all know and love Jack Nicholson's voice. It must be one of the most famous in the world. Have a listen to this ridiculous voice they've given him in French then you'll understand my pain!

The Mind Boggles

Every country has it's own expressions, and to the French we British are crazy! Here's a few examples of how different our minds work ...

English : Raining Cats & Dogs - French : Raining Ropes

English : As Easy as Falling off a Log - French : As Easy as Fingers in your Nose

English : Filthy as a Pig - French : Filthy as a Comb

English : Smoke like a Chimney -French : Smoke like a Fireman

English : Bull in a China Shop - French : Elephant in a China Shop

English : Subtle as a Sledgehammer - French : As Fine as Coarse Salt

What do you Speak at Home?

I get asked this question a lot as soon as soon as anyone realises I'm English. My partner doesn't speak English, other than what he learned at school, so we speak French. I try my hardest to speak as much English as possible with my daughter. This is easier when there's just the two of us. I do pester Badara to speak to her more in Bombara (the native language of Mali). I think it's important that she knows it, I find it such a shame that 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants can't speak the languages of their origins.