Not bad, just different

So many things about life here are different from home.  They are not necessarily better or worse, but they are not what I'm used to.  Like the pink toilet paper, for example.

Take the doors.  When I want to push, I need to pull.  When I want to pull, I need to push.  This happens a lot.  I will get used to it.

How about that French computer keyboard?  This is like the old joke about rearranging Helen Keller's furniture as a practical joike.  There are just enough keys in different places to make a touch-typist such as myself  a wee bit cranky.  And when I'm in the library all day and using the French keyboard, I start to adjust to the fact that, for example, the q and the a are in opposite places, and that you have to shift and hit the American m key in order to type a period.  Not better or worse, on the face of it, just different.

And the outlets, well, they are different, too.  And the electricity they emit is powerful stuff.  We learned long ago not to even bother with appliances that have motors over here, especially after we fried the second laser printer.

The paper is different.  We use 8 1/2 by 11" paper, which is what exactly now?  Anyway, the French (and all of Europe, I suspect) uses A4 paper.  It's taller and skinnier than 81/2 x 11, which means it sticks out of my file folders and hangs off the edge of my clipboard.  Also, no file folders here.  They use pochettes, or large envelopes made of thick cardboard (like posterboard) or even some kinds of plastic, and they close with velcro (a French invention, did you know that?) or string or elastic.

And I can't leave this topic without mentioning the non-refrigerated eggs.  The eggs are fine.  They are not kept cool.  I doubt that they've been radiated or anything creepy like that, but they can stay at room temperature.  So can the milk, by the way, so long as it's unopened.  The milk generally comes in rather heavy plastic bottles.

Tax is already included in the price of items on the shelf.  That is what you pay, just like at the gas station back home.  At cafés and restaurants, the tax and the tip are right there in the price on the menu.  Just pay that and you're good to go.  It's always nice to leave a little extra on table for the server, but there's strictly optional.

And since we just finished watching the World Cup match, I guess I can say that the French deal with a tie much better than we Americans do.  I remember a time, back when I was in college, that American football games could end in a tie.  No more.  And tonight's match might have been 0-0, but we know who won, right?