To begin with

Beginning my new blog!

To inaugurate, I thought I'd write about a few oddities I've noticed in France.

This past weekend I had a driving lesson to improve my stick shift capabilities. I find it funny that there are so few automatic cars in France when there are so many in the US. I suppose the reasons the French have told me are valid: better fuel economy, better control of the engine when driving up or down hills/mountains, better feel of the road, and a lower purchase price. All that has made me wonder now why Americans buy automatic cars in droves. Do all parents dread teaching their teenagers nowadays to drive a manuel?

And speaking of driving, I'm still getting used to "priorité à droite" and the sacred rule of no passing on the right. Yielding to cars coming from the right whenever there's no other sign posted (stop or yield or priority) seems just plain silly to me. I much prefer the American way that either the more important or through road has priority, or there's a stop. That way there's none of that "Oh, look at that terrible driver! I'm on the right, they should have given me priority!" And I hear that a lot.

I noticed a while ago that I'd never been in a French home with carpet, and fellow American blogger appeared to confirm this. All the homes I've been in either have tile, stone, or parquet/wooden floors. Apparently this is to make it easier to clean. Maybe. But despite this easy to clean floor, most families still take their shoes off indoors and wear slippers. I thought only the Japanese did that, but the French do to. Of course, if you take off your shoes, but don't put on slippers, watch out for typhoid fever or diphtheria. Walking barefoot in a French home is a sure way to catch your death of cold. I suppose I'm some what used to all that now, but I still find it all a bit weird, somewhat like Carrie in that episode of Sex and the City.

And that's a wrap!