Archive for July 2011

The clock/thermometer reads 31° where I am on the 3rd floor of the house. The electric fan hums on the pc tower. The sky is its usual summer blue. Then, the excited French, aroused by the summer heat + the tourists, local ones included, to mark the official R & R of the year in France. The Viaduc de Millau

Although there are three principal periods of holidays in France, Christmas, winter & summer, the latter is still the most busy season. There are three ways to travel around - by road, by rail & by air. On the news, it was computed that Paris-Nice by plane will cost ±750€ for a family of four. Around 550€ by train & ±350€ by car. Adding the economic crisis, the French will have a shorter vacation & a closer destination. And part of that destination is here in the south but it feels like everybody is already here.

My short drive to Cannes & back was peppered with curses, mocking laughs, conflict scenes & near accidents. Only more current at this time of the year. There is a curiosity between the heat & the tourists on the road. Not only that it's so hot & it's so traffic & that everybody is trying to get to a manmade beach by the main boulevard of Cannes and the island of St. Marguerite, everybody is damn rude & impatient. Not to mention how they can allow themselves to do whatever they want like double park on the middle of the road to get a baguette, or make a U-turn anywhere.

The highlight of today's drive was between an old lady & a young man who happen to shout at the old woman who was literally driving in the middle of two lanes. After a minute or two & when the lanes were back in order, the old woman began screaming curses to the guy, complete with hand signals I have never seen before, throughout the 200meter road with 3 stoplights. The guy was just laughing at the old woman who seemed to be more pissed. The only thing that reassures me with this scene is that you'll be sure there will be no guns to finish a petty road conflict.

In a way, I thank my 10 year driving experience in the horrifying streets of Manila & somehow taught me courage in this crazy world of driving. And I just don't mean here or back home, but anywhere else. I guess crazy is universal. So we are truly not deserving of the quote, "Only in the Philippines". The driving rules might be square & clearer here but it's the human nature of selfishnesst & pride that makes driving stressful.

I still love summer. It's the best season. But we try to avoid peak times & go during the last leg of the season. So that's two less crazy people.

I still remember how I felt when I first arrived Paris. All the awe, overwhelm, the gasping that is the beauty of this City of Lights. But there is likewise a mix of shock & a little bit of dismay. I vividly recall speaking with a Thai friend about how one's smile can just disappear in Paris. Consumed by the speed of life, the stress, or that's just the way it is. It is not that hard to dive in the city's daily bustle that is so obvious even to a mere tourist. But living in Paris is a whole different story.

Last night, I saw a documentary on the Japanese expatriates in Paris & the mysterious syndrome simply called the Paris Syndrome. The show followed a Japanese couple on their honeymoon, accompanied by both their mothers (I know). First, one of the mothers almost had her purse snatched in the metro. Then in entering a shop, they couldn't believe how not even one salesperson attended to them. It is shocking for these Japanese tourists to experience both these normal scenes of Paris.

Then there's Kenzo, a Japanese writer doing a Paris-Tokyo back & forth for 10 years now, sharing his seemingly ordinary depression when he arrived Paris. He talked about the humiliation in ordering coffee in a café not because of the language handicap but on how the waiters handle their customers. He added that if he was the paranoid type, he would think that the waiter's disregard was because of him. He continued that Paris has so many opportunities to feel humiliated like when people cut lines where it is inexistent in Japan because of their culture of order & respect. And it is with the repetition of these daily episodes that Kenzo plunged into depression. He already had a serious back problem that worsened & necessitated a cane for him to walk. He found refuge in his apartment & refused to talk to anybody, especially to anybody French.

More than 700,000 Japanese tourists alone visit Paris & some 10 of those living here get hospitalized every year due to severe depression caused by the feeling of being oppressed by the French culture & its language that some even go to the extent of having neuroleptic treatments*. And I thought I was already sensitive & my having the occasional blues made me feel I'm losing it. At first I also felt humiliated with Paris' lack of customer service & especially its rudeness. I have also experienced my wallet almost being snatched in the metro. The other day in the supermarket, I was in line hestitating when I saw an old lady running as fast as she could, then she looked at me while she was cutting me in line. But all these scenes are ordinary & universal. In the Philippines, one might even cut you by pretending they don't even see you. At the worse, there are even no lines nor order when you're buying barbeque from the street vendor.

The Japanese are adorable people. They might even have invented the word polite. I've never been to Japan but I'm quite sure that like in the Philippines, there are places where you won't be treated as well as you expected & yes, but not as worse as in France though. But Paris still remains the world's number 1 destination & it's just probably that. The Parisians are so neck-high of tourists that at some point, they are just not that happy to see you. I know, we just cannot justify rudeness because respect is respect. That is why it's no wonder why the French are so uncomfortable with the kind of cutomer service they receive when visiting an Asian country. They are rather bothered, or surprised with this kindness they find outside France. But to add, going back to my last post, my cousin who visited Paris found the Parisians rather nice compared to where she lives (an Asian country).

My Thai friend & I might have lost our Asian smiles but we're not as fragile as to hit depression when we did experience the culture shock of living with the French. Afterall, the Paris Syndrome is exclusive to Japanese.

*facts from the show 66 minutes on M6, aired yesterday
More reads on the Japanese's Paris Syndrome here & here

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