Agen the slumbering

Please excuse my absence, I have realized that when I can't write in the sun I don't seem to write.  Winter seems to have broken here in the lovely southwest today it's in the warm and sunny enough outside that I'm sitting on a bench in a nearby park writing to you with a lady smoking beside me, France.  Last week it was in the 20s and I was wearing winter gloves on my bike ride to work.  Next weekend I'm heading out for a trip in the Pyrenees skiing and the like and soon after I'm heading back to the US to see Everett coming back with some friends to travel a bit together.  My classes have been going pretty decently we've been working on pronunciation and even dancing the cha cha slide.  The winter sales have been going on and I've spent a day or two in Toulouse checking out the shops as well as in Agen itself.  For this return post I thought I would grace you with 10 more more things you might not have realized about France.  

Everyone gets 5/6 weeks of paid vacation a year, teachers get more.

Most towns have free public toilettes downtown.  Always carry tissues in your bag just in case, if you dare.

They don't really use drywall, walls are sturdy you guys.  In general construction materials are higher quality.  They also don't use carpet and wash their floors regularly, squeaky clean.

Mattresses, unless you are at a fine establishment chances are you will be on a foam mattress.  Terrible foam mattresses...

Everyone seems to have impossibly skinny legs.

French people are seemingly unaware of others around them when walking, meaning that they bump into everyone going down a hallway and don't notice someone coming from the other direction.  Now that I say it they would be very easy to scare...

Lots of stereotypes are real.  You might not find a smoking beret wearing man with a mustache carrying a baguette everyday but maybe once a week.  And yes there are times when I ride home from work with a baguette straight outta the oven sticking out of my backpack keeping me nice and warm.  

Stealing is a real threat, so watch your things and never leave anything visible in your car.  Heck even public plants are sometimes chained down.  

We don't ever take breaks in service, but we do have tea and dessert together afterwards.

No pain no gain. It was in the 20s all week and everyone was still in cute little wool coats and had rolled up the bottom of their pant legs in order to be stylish and show some ankle.  No gloves no hats, yes enormous scarves.  

+apéro (drinks) never has real cheese (sometimes a bit of chevre) or blueberries.  It's usually nuts, olives, chorizo, and some type of buttery salty baked hours d'oeuvre (a French word that the French don't use).