Thursday, April 29, 2010

Beauty and the Beast


I am living the life of the Disney classic.

Example:

“Little town, it’s a quiet village”
Check

“Everyday, like the one before”
Check

“Little town, full of little people”
Well, I feel we are all the same size

“Waking up to say . . . Bonjour, Bonjour, Bonjour, Bonjour, Bonjour”
Check.  I love it!  Everyone greets me on the little village roads. Bonjour, Bonsoir. Why aren’t we like that in Vancouver or New York?  You even say hello to everyone when you enter a restaurant!  Just the other morning a man literally opened his robin-egg blue shutters, looked down and waved ‘Bonjour’!  I melted.

“There goes the baker with his tray like always, the same old bread and rolls to sell”

Well, no.  I have to go to the boulangerie.  But she does have the same things every morning:  croissants, croissants buerre, pain au chocolate, almond croissants, raisin croissants, baguettes, country baguettes (no idea the difference).  However, each morning she has one new offering:  vienniesse bread (will try tomorrow), anise bread, brioche

“Every morning just the same, since the morning that we came.  To this poor provincial town”
Check.  And I like it.

Seriously, that opening scene is like every French town we have been in. 















































So let me get this straight:

French people don’t get paid very much money, however, they believe life is for living.  Lunches are two hours, stores close for five hours during the day, you are encouraged to drink wine at lunch, croissants are a normal breakfast, health care is amazing, maternity is two years including free check-ins who do your laundry, medicine is free, holidays are 9 weeks plus an extra week if you are getting married, you are supposed to nap, dinner is usually something with goose fat, hair salons outnumber gyms, crème brulee is a national dessert, crepes are two Euros, the countryside is full of castles and the sun shines all the time.

Why why why are we not moving here? 


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