Salut YouTube welcome back to the not
even French channel or hello if it is
your first time here my name is Rosie
and the channels all things Francophile
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little bit about life in New Zealand
with me being a Kiwi and all as well if
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consider hitting that subscribe button
so today's video is all around French
culture shocks and these are some of my
favourite videos to do I have done so
many of them I actually have an entire
playlist I'm gonna link it all down
below so that you guys can do some
binging on French culture shocks these
are very much the random little cultural
differences that I've noticed having
lived in France for six years it's just
those things that you pick up on and
you're like oh that's funny! So
without further ado let's jump into my
random assortment of culture shocks for
today. Okay so the first culture shock is
around the lack of sending greeting
cards so France is not a greeting card
culture so birthday cards Valentine's
Day cards Christmas cards you know if
you're expecting your French friends and
family to send you so many Christmas
cards that you've got the entire mantel
piece covered in Christmas cards keep
dreaming it's probably not gonna happen
it's pretty rare really so if you want it you
better either ask for it or be proactive
and be the one to send it out first or
give it first that would be my advice
for you. Second culture shock it's more
I would call more a cultural phenomenon
is that the French don't really do bacon
I mean in the way that I have it
in mind you know like a big side of
bacon that you kind of cook up with eggs
kind of thing you can find it but it's
really not the most common thing to be
consumed in the French household I would
say but what they're absolutely obsessed
with are lardon. Now lardon are like
little rectangular pieces of bacon and
that's how they consume their bacon so
whenever you have bacon like even if
it's on crepes or if it's on top of like
home-made pizzas or if it's imposter and
that kind of thing
see these little rectangle pieces of
bacon everywhere you may be familiar
with them as being the rectangular
bacon bits that you'd find in a quiche
Lorraine for example and I definitely waved goodbye in France to my weekend
brunches of like you know big pieces of
bacon with eggs for example anyway
French people usually eat sweet for
breakfast rather than salty like the
brunch thing is a very recent phenomenon
that's kind of catching on and I just
found it interesting that the French
adore consuming their bacon in small
rectangles. Culture shock number three is
something that I think is very smart and
very good for the well-being of the
community and society in general but I
was still quite surprised to see condom
dispensers on the wall in the streets
and the train stations you know it's
like a vending machine but condoms pop
out instead. I mean imagine this is
quite a good thing because I remember
like teenagers growing up they've been
really embarrassed to go to the
supermarket and actually ask for condoms
and that kind of thing so it's like
it's got that anonymity and it's
also got that that urgency that comes
with it like oh gosh it's a night out and I
really like this girl this guy and
things are may get there but I don't
have anything on me
so you know I'm definitely a cheerleader
of safe sex
I can't believe I just said that on my
youtube channel but I still found it
really weird the first few times I saw
them I'm like what like just a little
condom dispenser on the street. Now the next culture shocks are around
food I know that you guys love it when I
find these really kind of strange things
that I've found French people eating and
I'm really not used to sir so I recently
spent two weeks down in the South of
France and these are both from this
experience I don't know if it's kind of
like a south south east of France kind
of thing you can let me know if you're
French watching this channel if this
happens elsewhere but the first is
eating raw artichoke which are I mean as
you guys can imagine I mean you know
that there are very hard vegetable they
do is they peel the artichoke and then
they you usually have a little bit of
like all
oil and maybe a bit of salt and pepper
in the olive oil on your plate and you
just dip the tiny little bit of the leaf
that's still quite soft off the other
choke right at the base where you've
pulled it off and you would dip that
into the oil and just eat that it's just
a tiniest little bit until you get right
into the heart of the other chocolates a
lot softer and then you can eat all of
that
another thing that's I think a lot more
common is getting baby radishes and on
your plate usually you have just pure
salt and butter or both and what I've
seen French people do is kind of like
take their baby radishes which I guess
for me they don't have much flavor just
like plain vegetables and then eat like
butter and a bit of salt on them and
just eat them like that as an appetizer
I've tried it a few times and my
obviously the butter and the salt taste
good I don't know if it's the reddish
itself but I like if you guys know which
region of France that's from or if you
eat there as well and just like tell me
what region of France your frog I'd love
to know if people eat it up in the north
for example because I just don't know if
it's a thing now another thing that I've
noticed in France and I guess I noticed
it you know when we decided to get
married another time a married woman but
I really noticed that French women a way
way more low-key when it comes to
engagement rings and wedding rings it's
so culturally acceptable to decide not
to have an engagement ring to just have
a plain wedding band not wear a ring I
mean it's just so it's such a personal
choice thing you know some women say you
know I don't really like to wear it it
annoys me
I just wear a plain band and that's
enough it's definitely not this big
materialistic thing where at the size of
the rock indicates how much your man
loves you I mean and we hear a lot less
about this whole like three-month rule
and and spending huge amounts of money
of course you see some woman with
exquisite rings that's for sure but I
would say in the general population
if you see a you know woman with very
low-key engagement rings something
pretty and dainty but not over-the-top
and you know that would be very very
common it's just something that I kind
of noticed here and there's definitely
less of that culture of comparison I
know in New Zealand for example there
can be like a 20-minute conversation of
the girls comparing their rings and the
stones and the cart and the clarity and
like how much who spent how much and all
that kind of stuff never seen them my
next culture shop is really around like
I don't know if it's just my friends but
I feel like French people can't sit like
sit still and just relax and do nothing
for example if we have a weekend away
with friends and we rent a house and
some and stuff all I want to do is lay
by the pool listening to podcasts or
just like really not something for hours
and not do anything and there's this
thing with I like on Santa like I'm like
found to like go for a little walk like
I feel like maybe I feel guilty just
stopping and doing nothing like and I
mean nothing but it's like if you you
know you you eat together and then you
clean up and then you just look our
lexer laughter no but no they want to go
for a walk because they want to go
seeing something and like in the
weekends as well as I guess it's not
well seen just a couch potato just to
like blob out and do nothing but it's
always from it from my perspective it's
always like go go go like no I don't
want to stay on - I just want to do
nothing and I kind of get the feeling
it's like okay now what are we doing and
now what should we do and it's always
like there's always an activity on and
stuff and I don't know if they've
mastered the art of being complete slobs
and I can definitely give a lesson on
that the next point is really hard for
me to say whether it's something that's
common throughout France or if it's just
in my family and my in-laws but in the
south at least like whenever I go they
use a bathroom instead of towels so when
you hop out of the shower like I've got
quite long here
I want to dry and I put on this like
Lodge bathrobe you know the ones that
you would get in like hotels for example
I had to only ever seen them in hotels
before but they actually used them and
they put on the bathroom to dry
themselves and to dry their hair and
everything and the bathroom they often
have like towels available as an option
but the whole family like each family
member has their bathrobe and you really
and like when I go down there there's
like Rosie's bathrobe and we use that to
dry ourselves I don't know if that's a
common thing or it's just a family thing
but I found that a bit weird so let me
know it down below if you're living in
France and you also use a bathrobe if
you're hashtag team bathrobe or you just
use a standard towel the next culture
shock is this like business kind of game
French people play when you are having
like an appetizer and at the hall and
where you're sharing nibbles effectively
having some drinks I feel like you
always have to leave the last of
everything so if there is a book there's
a bowl of nuts
you always have to just leave like two
or three nuts there or there's a bowl of
chips you don't like completely polish
everything off you leave a few chips
there or you leave just a little last
piece of cheese or that last piece of
bread and I don't know what it is if
it's to show like okay you're like we're
not complete gluttons that we're showing
self-control we can leave a little bit
on the plate or it's just like this
politeness thing which is like oh I
don't want to be the one who takes the
last one and there's this huge thing
around it like they'll be one piece of
bread left with all eating a lot and
somewhere will it does anyone mind does
it you know I'm not the last piece of
bread it's like in New Zealand we
wouldn't even ask I think and maybe
we're just completely rude but you know
everyone just takes what they feel like
and if there's the last piece of bread
where you just eat the last piece of
bread and I get it now I like now that
I've been Frenchified but I kind of find
it weird that like sometimes no one
dares to take the last of anything and
so you clear up a plate or this like the
waiter will take the plate away if
you're out and they'll be like you know
like 10% or
of the place are still on there just
because you guys know that I have become
French because I love complaining about
life in France no I'm joking I don't
complain often but something I do
complain about is differently the
customer service and lack thereof and
something that kind of shocks me a lot
is the fact that to get service from
companies your pain so to get service
from your bank to get service from your
electricity provider your internet
provider it's super common to have to
pay to call them and as a paying client
like they already make enough money off
me I find that a little bit annoying
especially because the banks are so
expensive in France I pay like seven
euros a month or something to have my
crop to have my card and usually that's
an annual fee for me in New Zealand and
another one last thing about the
customer service is that it can be quite
surprising you have to pack your own
groceries in France I don't know if New
Zealand's the exception but when if you
go to the supermarket as part of the
staff there's someone there to pack your
groceries or they pack it for you as
they go and in France everywhere you go
you definitely need to pack your own
groceries so I just noticed that well
that's all I had to talk about in this
video what resonated with you guys in
most I'd love to hear down below and if
you've lived abroad in France and you
had your own culture shocks let me know
what some of them were down below
I love reading your guys comments and
otherwise I will see you guys next video
Wednesday on the not even French Channel
a bientot
