French Culture – A Covid Christmas Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 8, 2020
Life’s celebrations, the big and small alike, are especially important to the French. I’ve rarely met anyone who takes the art of celebration as seriously … especially Noël. Sadly, this year, due to the on-going Coronavirus pandemic, like many of us, les Français.es are having to rethink les fêtes de fin d’année. Comment les Français…
La Révolution Posted by Bridgette on Dec 3, 2020
La Révolution Salut mes amis! Hi friends! Maintenant que l’hiver approche et la pandémie se poursuit, c’est le moment idéal pour démarrer une nouvelle série télé sur Netflix. Voilà ma recommandation… La Révolution. Now that winter is approaching and the pandemic goes on, it is the ideal moment to start up a new TV series on…
French History – Flights of Fancy Posted by Tim Hildreth on Dec 1, 2020
Current travel restrictions have kept me grounded, but I have to say, I love to fly. And while the U.S. and the Wright Brothers claim “first in flight”, France has its share of honors to celebrate in aviation. Un avion sur les toits In doing some follow up research to last week’s post, I learned…
French Culture – Decorating Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 24, 2020
For many, the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US marks the official start of the holiday season. France doesn’t officially have Thanksgiving, and so souvent le temps des fêtes commence (the holiday period begins often) right after la Toussaint. Noël aux Grands Magasins One of the first signs of Christmas’s impending arrival, in Paris at least, can…
French Slang Posted by Bridgette on Nov 20, 2020
L’argot français et le verlan Aujourd’hui on parle de l’argot français et du verlan… today we are talking about French slang and verlan. C’est parti! Argot, as in any language, is an ever-changing and important part of the French language and culture. The more formal French you learn in school will be perfect for les…
French Culture – I’m hungry … and I’m in a hurry! Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 17, 2020
A friend of mine was recently asking me about fast food in France. France – one of the world’s undeniable gastronomic powerhouses – has a complicated and conflicted history with la restauration rapide. La malbouffe France is, after all, the country that coined the term bad eating and where, in 1999, the future candidat à…
French Commerce – Glow in the dark Posted by Tim Hildreth on Nov 10, 2020
Well here we are, almost at the mi-novembre (mid-November). In France, tout comme aux États-Unis (just like in the United States), we’ve changed the clocks and it gets dark earlier. Growing up in the northeastern United States, I’m used to early evenings. But when I went to France for the first time, I was hardly…