one cultural difference i am very aware of, here in france, is the morning greeting. the “bisou” is the word for the french 2 cheek kiss. p said that, at his work, everybody stops by to greet every other person in the morning. fully half an hour is spent greeting the colleagues. the men come in and shake his hand to say good morning. he would be working and would feel a tap on his shoulder and it would be yet another colleague coming to say good morning. i said “ i guess it would be rude to tape a sign on your back saying ‘bonjour’ ”.
i work in a room with about 15 others. in the morning each person arrives and makes the rounds saying “bonjour” to each person. men shake each other’s hands. women get a bisou (pronounced “beezoo”) or “biz” for short (pronounced“beez”). women give bisou to each other. i’m ok with it, but it was weird on my first full day, because it was the first time i was meeting my colleagues. they just stopped by said “bonjour” and leaned in. but i’m an uptight american! especially after all those french languange lessons about how you must “vous” someone you meet for the first time until they tell you that it’s ok to “tu” them. somehow, meeting someone for the first time and kissing their cheeks seems too “familiar”. as i said, they say “bonjour” and begin leaning in to me, face turned slightly and lips puckered, and i hesitate and extend my hand. this throws them off and then there is an awkward pause and they pull back their face and take my hand. then, the next day, they are not sure what to expect. i lean forward to beez (trying to fit in) at the same time they are extending their hand and then they lean forward to beez. i further confuse things by not being consistent. “to beez or not to beez, that is the question”. finally, i figured it was easier to just beez than not to. (though, there is also the new yorker in me afraid of all the colds being passed around. )
working again is interesting. i am actually thrilled. i love the community and the structure. i sit at my desk and work intensely for 8 hours with a break for lunch. i am thrilled that i can still do it. though, i am afraid of time passing very quickly. i spent so many years working so hard and those years just passed by like the landscape you see from a train. we will probably only be in paris until july, and i am afraid if i’m working full time, the time in paris will suddenly disappear.
i love the new verbs that have been created out of american words that don’t exist in france. layout is the department that lays out the first scenes. it’s an american company that has brought the projects. the terms were created in american cartoon studios. so the verb in french is “layouter” and the person is a “layouteur”. the academie francaise is probably hard at work to come up with a true french term that would probably translate literally as “first step of design and rough camera movement”.
