When in Rome

"Learning about different cultures"... is such a cushy, 21st-century phrase-- I don't like it.  It brings to mind pacifist social studies teachers, out-of-context museum artifacts, and third-hand accounts of people groups I've never heard of... But humor me: ignore the boring connotation and don't roll your eyes when I say:  learning about different cultures is one of my favorite aspect of travel (that + thrilling new things + the undiscovered + the freedom of movement... but they all overlap, don't they?).   On-the-ground, real-life cultural learning is way cooler than it sounds.  People actually live differently-- and not only African tribes that carry things on their heads.

What better way to learn about cultures, than to do them?.. which brings us to the age-old adage: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. ((Often shortened to "When in Rome," as emphasized by Ron Burgundy...))*

So I set about analyzing how many ways of life I've actually adopted in France.  Am I really doing as the French do, or have I fallen back into my habitual American ways?
 
Like the French:

• I don't make pancakes, I make crepes.
• I don't buy salad dressing.  I improvise my own out of olive oil, vinegar, and salt.
• I haven't once bought sliced bread.  I buy it fresh, wrapped in a little piece of paper, not plastic.
• I bring my own bags to the grocery store-- if I didn't, I'd have to juggle everything home.  And I only buy as much as I want to carry half a mile and up four flights of stairs (more of a city habit than a French one).
• I cross my sevens and my ones have long tops.
• I write the date Day/Month/Year, not Month/Day/Year. 31/01/11
• The weeks on my calendar start with Lundi (Monday) and end with Dimanche (Sunday).
• Bread and cheese and red wine go together. I eat bread and cheese alone and something feels amiss.
• I've gotten used to eating dinner towards 7:30/8:00.
• I haven't worn a T-shirt or a sweatshirt in 4 months.   Every time I go out, I wear "real" clothes, make-up, and jewelry.  Only when I'm doing a lot of walking will I go out in sneakers.
• A decorative scarf is a permanent feature in my daily outfits.
• I give "la bise." Def.: the French habit of kissing on both cheeks when greeting and saying good-bye. Men greeting men can shake hands.  For women, it's always la bise. When arriving at a party/church service, it's normal to go around and give la bise to everyone-- a general "hi everybody," "bye everybody" usually isn't kosher (making greeting and farewell-ing in large groups a lengthy process).  The only time I think twice about la bise is when greeting a fellow North American-- we know it's foreign to us both, so do we do it?  Yes, we've decided that la bise is more comfortable than kissing everyone in the room and suddenly changing to a handshake.. that's just cold.

((A Will Ferrell reference for those of you too old or otherwise too preoccupied to watch Anchorman)).