Random differences between France and NZ

• I've seen at least two shops that, from the exterior, I thought were supermarkets, yet seemed to be full of freezers. Am still not sure what is with this 'frozen supermarket' idea.
• I went to the post office and was standing in line, waiting my turn... until I noticed that the post office workers were calling people by number. Sure enough, next person who came in went to a little machine off to the side, and took a number. Am a little bit bemused by this. It's not a particularly big post shop. Maybe there have been lots of arguments about whose turn it was next?
• You do not have to wear a helmet here when you're riding a bike. And the only people who I've seen do it are young kids.Things shut here (at least, in Saint Gaudens) for about 2 hours over the lunch period. Am learning not to try to get anything done between 12 and 2.
• People pay by cheque, often. I reckon that, in NZ, people would look at you funny if you pulled out a chequebook at the supermarket. But it's totally the norm here.
• It's weird seeing kids smoking outside schools (well, only the lycée, but still). Apparently, you can smoke from age 16 here.One day, when I went down to the staff lunch room, there was wine on the table. Alriiiiiiiiiiiight!
• When the Government looks like it's going to change a law and people don't like it, they all hit the streets with banners, and ready to make noise. Ok, well, similar protests happen in NZ. But it seriously looked like most of the town out in the streets today, and I've never seen that at home.
• Here, if you work on a train, you get a cool uniform. AND if you're the person who gives the all clear for the train to leave the station, you get a whistle, and a little paddle to wave.
• Teachers here do their studies, sit a pretty competitive exam, and then get sent to a school of the Ministry's choosing. I much prefer the NZ style, where we get to choose a school! Also got told by a first-year teacher that they have recently changed the rules, so that new teachers go straight into and 18-hour teaching week. Ouch.
• Just for something really random: light switches and power points. I'm pretty much basing this on the hotel we stayed in in Toulouse, and my room now, but they are different. :) Lightswitches seem to be about 5x3cm, and you can pretty much just jab them with an elbow to make the light turn on/off (like). Powerpoints (aside from the whole 2 round prongs instead of the 2-3 flat ones in NZ) have no switch. You plug something in: it's on. Which is quite good if, like me, you have the occasional absent-minded moment and forget to do unimportant stuff like turn your appliances on at the wall.
• I've seen quite a few different wines for sale for about 3 euros. Which would be about NZ$6. *Amazed*
• Xavier has crustless sliced bread. What is this strange idea? I guess it saves parents with fussy kids a bit of trouble. He reckons it's the latest fad.Speaking two (or more) languages is nothing unusual around here. Although, I've met a few people who tell me they've forgotten all the English they learned at school!
• Credit cards in Europe have a chip in them: ie you don't swipe them, you just stick them into the machine. This means a) that I can't use my NZ debit card in several places because they don't have the correct reader, b) that, when I do use my card, there's a decent chance I won't be asked to sign. Bizarre. I could have stolen it, for all they know!It takes me considerably longer to do my shopping, as pretty much all of the products are different.
• Camembert (at least, most of it in the supermarket I shop at) comes in a little, cylindrical, light wooden box. Hard to describe... so here's a pic.
• White pants (for those that aren't Kiwis, that's trousers, not underwear!). What's up with that? Is it just me, or is it asking for trouble? As soon as you so much as sit on a park bench you're gonna have really blatant marks.
• There are condom vending machines outside the pharmacies here. And I think I saw one in the lycée.
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