The Good Stuff

Having written several posts about French peculiarities - often in a playfully sarcastic, antagonistic tone - some could take my innocuous remarks seriously and be mistaken that I am living a miserable anti-French life here in Paris.  

I will not lie: I was not exactly jumping for joy when I accepted the work assignment here.  Others may have killed to be in my place, but YL and I were really dragging our feet and deliberated long hours to reach the decision.  Unlike some, we did not find Paris particularly enticing or beautiful or romantic or any of the other gushing adjectives you tend to find in popular literature about Paris.  It was *just* another European city, and one with which we associated all the negative hallmarks of a big city: cold residents, dirty sidewalks, foreign language, strange customs, etc.  My experience in the first couple of months of living here only reinforced my conviction.  


But naturally, there are always two sides in a coin.

So here's another admission:  I fell in love with Paris.  Eventually.

For us, Paris is an acquired taste.  It takes time to get to know the city and the people and see the truth in the gushing superlatives used by generations of writers, designers, painters and artists.  And now, with less than half a year to go, we are already starting to miss this place terribly.  Here's some of the things we will miss:

1. Beauty
The French love beauty.  You only have to look at all those gorgeous shop windows, beautiful luxury goods, glorious architecture, and you will agree.  YL often ask me "But how do they survive??" when we pass shops where they seem to sell only one or two indisputably beautiful, probably painstakingly-handmade, but suspiciously expensive items.  Where we come from, our choice of goods are mostly mass-produced, so this is lunacy to us.  Who will pay 50 euros for a stack of writing papers, regardless of how beautifully-handmade they are?  Will enough people buy them such that you can make a profit?    

But of course, that's the beauty of France.

Galerie Vivienne, one of many covered passages in Paris.  They are basically the 19th-century equivalent of the modern shopping mall, if you wish.  Beautiful architecture, beautiful shops, beautiful goods.   

Tiled floors washed in natural light in Galerie Vivienne

Si Tu Veux, a small toy shop in Galerie Vivienne, selling - what seems to us - a relatively small, albeit interesting, collection of toys. 

Needs no introduction.  They still employ artisans to hand make those leather goods.

View of the city from the top of Arc d'Triomphe.  There are 12 avenues radiating from the Arc.  Here you can see two of them, with the Eiffel in the background.

2. Five weeks' paid holiday
Coming from Singapore/Malaysia, where 2 weeks' paid holidays per year are the norm, FIVE whole weeks just seem indecent.  I didn't even know how to use it.  When I started to plan our summer holidays,  I told my colleague that I will take one week's holiday in Provence, come back to work for a week, then take another week's holiday in Cote d'Azur, also in the south of France.  She looked puzzled, and then questioned me, "But why don't you take 2 weeks off in one go?  They are both in the south."  And with that, my world view expanded just a tiny bit.  So now we'll be off for 2 weeks' vacation in the south of France next week. 

For the French, it is not unusual to take three or four weeks' off in the summer.  That is why Paris is 80% tourists and 20% residents in the month of August.  In fact, most people have 7-10 weeks' paid holiday per year, depending on seniority and other factors.  So five weeks is pretty measly by comparison, but hey we will gladly take it. 




3. Subsidized holidays
Still on the topic of holidays, all large and medium-sized companies have a comite d'enterprise (employer's committee) which organises social events for employees, negotiates benefits such as canteen services, lends out camping or skiing equipment, etc.  For me, the most exciting thing is the subsidies for family holidays.  Flights, train rides, and accommodation are all eligible for reimbursement depending on the salary of each employee.  A lower-income employee will receive a higher percentage of subsidy, and vice versa.  For some, this can represent more than 50% discount on their holiday bill.  I only became eligible to this benefit this year, but it's better than nothing (You tend to lower your demands after living in France for a while).  Woo hoo!

Hurrah for subsidized family holidays!

4. Cheap efficient public transport
A one-way metro ticket costs EUR1.20.  A monthly pass costs EUR62 (within Zone 1 & 2 of Paris).  With the Oyster Card for the London underground, a one-way trip costs GBP2.70 or GBP112 per month for Zone 1 & 2 of London.  

Now whether the Paris metro system is efficient or clean is completely debatable, but the network is extensive, and relatively dependable.

At least those funky, Art-deco Hector Guimard-designed metro entrances and signs make the ride more inspiring

5. Good quality fresh locally-grown/raised food
Again, where we come from, and especially in Singapore, we are surrounded by supermarket-packaged fruits, processed food, imported meat, etc. In France, there is a tremendous amount of passion for locally-grown fresh food.  The morning roving markets are a part and parcel of French life, and it can be difficult to find out-of-season fruits & veggies even in your most Americanised supermarkets.  


Fresh fruits and vegetables tastes different.  Non-farmed livestock tastes different.  This difference, we will miss.  Especially my chef.

The Sunday morning organic market in Raspail

6. Customer service (regular customers only)
Only towards the end of our stay that we realise that customer service DO exist, but only residents are privy to that.  Once you become a regular, you will notice that the cold icy facade of your local shopkeepers melt away to reveal their warm and soft insides.  The chap who mans the cashier of our local Franprix (a common no-frills convenience store) now greets YL and his brood with wide smiles, happily bags YL's purchases, and liberally stuff Ju's hands with sweets every time they go there.