Some things I've noticed

This is sort of 'dictated' by my almost 11 year old son, Matthew. 'He' has also written a book (written by me using his voice and perspective) which I hope will be published either by a Major Publishing House (why not?!) or in ebook and print on demand formats (available through Amazon worldwide) soon!

Here's a sample of his (Matthew's) writing style:

CARS

I like cars. There's lots of Renault cars, Peugot cars and Citroen cars here in France, and you don't see so many of them in New Zealand. They are usually little, and they are usually being driven so fast that they are a complete blur and a roar. Most cars in France have dents and scratches. Our car is very French. It's unusual to see cars that aren't French here, although Mum just happens to drive a British Rover car that has the steering wheel on the normal side of the car (right hand side, like in New Zealand). She gets lots of alarmed looks when drivers notice that there is NO DRIVER on the left hand side of our car, or me sitting in the front seat because I am definitely too short to be driving. Mum says they do a 'double-take'. Some of the gypsies who beg for money at the traffic lights get a bit of a surprise too.

An old 2CV car in a narrow French lane, Puycelsi

CULTURE SHOCK

I don't really know what that means. All I know is that things look different here. Nothing is written in English, or if it is, it is for novelty advertising purposes only, Dad says. So to start with you get used to seeing stuff that you don't understand at all. In fact you get really good at just looking and listening, and being really tired for about the first year.

FRENCH CULTURE

Mum is always going on about how much she loves it. As far as I can see, no one here is any more 'cultured' than in New Zealand. The kids eat with their mouths open and try to talk at the same time. Sometimes I want to move tables at school in the canteen because I'm getting sprayed with food while my friends are talking. Gross. There's too much rubbish everywhere too and my sister and Mum are quite worried about that. Sometimes Mum does rubbish collection duty at school in the playground even though it isn't her job! You notice more bonjours and au revoirs here, especially to the adults, as it is can be quite rude to not look someone in the eye and say bonjour (Mum keeps telling me).

FOOD AND DRINK

The food here is quite good and you get to eat more duck and rabbit and turkey and lots of Toulouse sausages and cassoulet and foie gras. The canteen food is sometimes good and sometimes horrible. Dad says that drinking alcohol here is not the big deal it is in New Zealand (or at least people drink in a different way - whatever that means). Maybe it means they drink alcohol here to wash the cassoulet down, rather than to get drunk.

French bread and a bottle of Blanquette de Limoux

FAMILY

What I do see here is that families really seem to like being together and doing stuff as a large group with all their friends. People are generally quite respectful of older people too and seem to use the polite form of the French language. People in the shops are mostly really friendly and helpful too.

HISTORY

I can see too that people have lived in France for ages and ages! Like hundreds and hundreds of years. That's really interesting to think about, and now we have to learn about it at school too. I know stuff about the kings of France now and the years they were in power. There's mind-blowingly old places to visit too and amazing things to see like the old Roman arenas where people were killed by other people or very hungry animals. Yuck. I read lots of Horrible History books too (in English) and I can kind of understand stuff better when they talk about France because I am here and can see it. That's cool.

Bruniquel castle

That's all from me for now. Mum says I have to go to bed because it's a school night. Bye!