On Monday at the end of the fete for the workers party (very similar to the communist party) I wandered over to the American booth out of curiosity. Each country had an information booth, usually with a themed restaurant next to it which made it fun and I'd noticed the American booth early in the fête but it wasn't until Monday that I got around to checking it out. The woman managing the booth acted a little odd, didn't answer many questions and mainly spoke to Little S in truncated French (we call that cave French around here, Seb gets it a lot when we visit the States, "moi Tarzan, toi Jane") "Hi are you here to represent the workers party in the US?" I ask. She doesn't answer and turns to Little S, "moi je traville dans les etats unis ici" and she points to a picture of a factory "Oh that's an auto plant" I say. "which one?" She looks around to see if anyone's within earshot and whispers "FORD," and I get even more curious "so what brings you to France for the Fête de la LO? and then suddenly she stops talking points to a singing elephant all the way across the field, going off on this explanation of how wonderful this clown elephant show is and how my son would love it, and then just disappears. So odd.
***
Last night Seb walked into the bedroom, over to the shutters and said to me in french "tu as oublier de fermer les chomages" (you forgot to close the unemployment). I laughed "what did you say?" He said it again, this time right and I told him what he'd said how I thought maybe he was finally once and for good losing his mind. My poor husband.
***
When we were in Mexico most of the expat families, well okay ALL of the expat families worked for the automotive industry. If you get sent to another country it usually means you're pretty high up in the company and they had all the typical perks of the high rolling expat family, --a new car (usually leased), a nice house, domestic help, free trips home etc. The families with the biggest perks though were the GM families. They all drove huge SUVS and had full time live in maids. They were members of the best golf club, the elite sport club and they often had every Saturday and Sunday booked for months in advance with trips all over the country and dinners in expensive restaraunts. It was a strange world viewed from the outside looking in and it was impossible for me to fit in, not because they weren't friendly and gracious and fun, mostly because of the conservative politics and the religious zeal. Other things made me uncomfortable too. It was strange to read in the news about the drastic cutbacks at the company but then turn around and see a GM mom drive up to the school in a brand new Chevy Yukon, a 50 thousand dollar car. It's not that her car had anything directly to do with the problems at the company but it just made me cringe a little to think how unbalanced it all was.
I often wonder how much longer the corparate GM families will be camped down South. I suppose maybe they'll eventually change production and start producing their politically correct hybrid vehicles, and the high profile cadres will be able to finish out their careers with a little help from the government. I'm not so sure that the perks will be the same though and psst...I can't say I'm disappointed to hear that,...
now go over and check out that singing elephant.
Last night Seb walked into the bedroom, over to the shutters and said to me in french "tu as oublier de fermer les chomages" (you forgot to close the unemployment). I laughed "what did you say?" He said it again, this time right and I told him what he'd said how I thought maybe he was finally once and for good losing his mind. My poor husband.
When we were in Mexico most of the expat families, well okay ALL of the expat families worked for the automotive industry. If you get sent to another country it usually means you're pretty high up in the company and they had all the typical perks of the high rolling expat family, --a new car (usually leased), a nice house, domestic help, free trips home etc. The families with the biggest perks though were the GM families. They all drove huge SUVS and had full time live in maids. They were members of the best golf club, the elite sport club and they often had every Saturday and Sunday booked for months in advance with trips all over the country and dinners in expensive restaraunts. It was a strange world viewed from the outside looking in and it was impossible for me to fit in, not because they weren't friendly and gracious and fun, mostly because of the conservative politics and the religious zeal. Other things made me uncomfortable too. It was strange to read in the news about the drastic cutbacks at the company but then turn around and see a GM mom drive up to the school in a brand new Chevy Yukon, a 50 thousand dollar car. It's not that her car had anything directly to do with the problems at the company but it just made me cringe a little to think how unbalanced it all was.
I often wonder how much longer the corparate GM families will be camped down South. I suppose maybe they'll eventually change production and start producing their politically correct hybrid vehicles, and the high profile cadres will be able to finish out their careers with a little help from the government. I'm not so sure that the perks will be the same though and psst...I can't say I'm disappointed to hear that,...
now go over and check out that singing elephant.
4 comments:
I run into strange acting Americans a lot here in France. They act like they belong to some secret society or something...maybe they do :)
But still, it's not like I want to best-friend them because they are American, I just want to chat in English and your LO fair would seem just that kind of chatting opportunity, so that she wouldn't want to talk is weird.
Singing elephants or pink elephants?
That was one weird woman....
m - older lady, & she was the spokeperson for the US workers party so supposed to be there to chat about it, but I think she was uncomfortable with my probing into why she was there, like maybe I was a governement spy or something. I bet she did it for the free trip to Paris ;)
J - singing elephant was standard gray.
Yes I too run into many Americans who think we are "brothers" because we live in France. I go to a few English speaking groups for fun but the ones I like the most are the ones with people from all over the world and lots of French people who are practicing their English.
In Toulouse there are AMericans who work for Airbus and large Agribusinesses (sp?). I once went to a meetup and had nothing in common, conservative and religious comes to mind. They all live in the suburbs of Toulouse just like if they were in the suburbs of any American city. Why bother living in France if you live the same way you would have lived in the US?
Life's mysteries.
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