Author: simhende

What do you think?
(Dégustation des plats internationaux)

At my first dinner with my host family, I noticed that the table was set formally- plates, knives, forks and tablespoons then, my host mother placed what she called the entrée/appetizer before us. I was surprised because I actually expected a bowl of food (main), plates with spoons beside.
After the entrée, we had the main dish during which everyone except me employed the services of their knives. We were having salads and bread. Instead of using my knife to shred the salad and bread, I used my fork and my hands to fill my bread and ate with my hands. She looked at me and said, “Les Américains préfèrent utiliser les mains parce qu’ils mangent vite” (Americans prefer to eat with their hands because they eat fast. I tried to tell her that I am not really good at using cutlery but her husband continued by saying “C’est pareil. Les Américains mangent des burgers avec les mains, ils aiment les burgers et ils mangent beaucoup avec les doigts” (It is similar. Americans eat burgers with their hands. They love burgers and they eat with their fingers a lot. And finally, we had déssert/dessert.

All the while, I couldn’t take my mind off the fact that they believed Americans lived on burgers. It was almost as though Americans were synonymous to Burgers.
Considering the fact that they have never been to America, I believe their theory was incited by American movies. If we go by that channel of information, they could be right depending on the movies they have seen. Most times in comedies, high school movies, and others, the actors are mostly seen eating burgers, in a hurry and of course with their hands. I thought about how that discovery made me feel, I definitely did not feel bad because I reminded myself that circumstances shape our culture as humans. Most times, they are learnt involuntarily. We just grow up behaving the way we do because of the society we found ourselves in.

As at the time I sat down to write this, I was commended for my cutlery skills. I barely use my hands to eat anymore.

When asked about American food, the first word that comes to mind is bland. As an American student, I have ascertained that American food is bland. Most times, one has to choose Mexican in order to get a tasty meal. On the other hand, the French have more tasty meals. It would not be out of place to say that they are among the best globally. With my host family, I discovered it is possible to not repeat a meal in one whole month. I really cannot say Americans have many options when it comes to food recipes considering the fact that they also use French recipes.

Looking at the theme for today’s blog post and considering what I am about to write, I think my readers should determine if it is a cultural incident or not.
Hearing the phrase Paris, the city of love and actually witnessing the love is amazing. Now, I feel this is a cultural incident because it is very much different from my country of origin. Don’t get me wrong, couples show affection for each other but in France, I am a witness to the fact that they love public displays of affection for their partners/spouses.

On my arrival to France, I noticed couples (French) always holding hands and I thought to myself “these are probably just lucky couples”. Getting to my city of residence, it was like a Nigerian slang “the pressure is getting worser”. I could literally see most couples working hand in hand.
I reside in Vichy, a few minutes walk from the famous Napoleon III park. Whenever I am at the park, I take pictures of lovely couples, mostly elderly, and gradually I fell into the habit of doing so in order to prove my point.
Compared to the society I was born into, men and women rarely display affection in public. We see it as being “disciplined” or having control over our emotions/feelings.

This can be likened to the cultural metaphor of a computer’s inbuilt software. Every command carried out is based on the configuration of its CPU. The French see public display of affection as being normal. From our point of view, it can be seen as letting people see too much of their private lives. I do not disagree with holding hands though. It is possible that it has always been that way; children imitate their parents and the cycle goes on and on. In the same vein, we imitate our parents’ stance on public affection and the cycle goes on till someone decides to change the order of events.
I see both cultures as unconsciously imbibed which has succeeded in becoming a core part of our existence.

In all, not just Paris, but France in its entirety, is a country of love!

Watching your goals being achieved is very fulfilling. From my first day at school till now, I have seen significant changes in my attitude towards learning French culture. I am more open to learning new ideas, trying their various cuisines, and speaking in their accent (something I still find very strange). There is so much to learn about the city where I reside, Vichy. I was made to understand by my host family that the city has a thermal source of water. In fact, most of the tourists/visitors to Vichy come because of the healing properties of the water. For that reason, hotels were constructed almost everywhere in the city to accommodate the influx of tourists.

During the tour around Vichy, I was shown the Park created by Napoleon III. He is celebrated every June because of that. This year, the celebration commenced on the 16th of June and ended on the 18th of June with a parade of French officials in 19th and 20th century costumes depicting the Napoleon era.

Tomorrow, Music will be celebrated in every city in France. I can’t wait to see how that turns out!