You can take the family out of the (small) village, but.........
Guadeloupe is like the French Myrtle Beach. Not many Americans come here, and you get to see the French in their own environment, interacting as they do at home. We're kind of like Jane Goodall here, living among them.
Now we've been to France. Paris is cosmopolitan........everywhere else, despite appearances, must be an elaborate tourist charade (even outlying areas) because the French haven't lost their "small village mentality". Case in point- we're eating dinner and these very young people sitting next to us have postcards spread out all over the table. Postcards ? When was the last time you saw that ? And they're writing on them.........in cursive !!!!! When my daughter sees interesting roadkill, I have a picture of it in milliseconds via her whiz bang cell phone. At 17, she's never written in cursive.
And that's not all. Everyone goes to the bakery in the morning for a baguette. Just a baguette. What will you do when you're thirsty ? Walk back up the hill ? How about some parallel processing ?
Another interesting aspect of the small village mentality is their inability to create order or processes out of any recurring situation. Go to any restaurant and your check is hand calculated, summed on a calculator some American probably thought he was donating to Somalia, and then presented to you. America seems far away at these times. Remember your Palm Pilot ? The French are at least a generation away.
When we checked into Guadeloupe, there was a dedicated computer that was used to collect customs information. Ahead of us in line was a French family attempting to use it for e-mail. I don't know their names, but let's call them "dumb mom" and "fearful dad". Dumb mom was standing in front of the ancient computer pecking with one finger. Dad stood a bit behind her, fearful that the spirits and magic which make this machine work would somehow place a curse on him. It took them 20 minutes to type out an e-mail........."Dear Jean Claude- so far our talisman is working........no gypsies have cast a spell on us". My question was this- How did Dumb Mom get to be 40 and not know how to use a computer ? She couldn't even get a job at the DC DMV.
Anyway, this is fun to watch. When I see reports of sluggish economic growth in France, I'll understand a bit better what's going on. In some remote village warehouse, there are a bunch of people staring at a pile of IPads stacked on a loading dock scratching their heads.........maybe not cavemen looking at fire but certainly Pilgrims looking at cellphones.
Now we've been to France. Paris is cosmopolitan........everywhere else, despite appearances, must be an elaborate tourist charade (even outlying areas) because the French haven't lost their "small village mentality". Case in point- we're eating dinner and these very young people sitting next to us have postcards spread out all over the table. Postcards ? When was the last time you saw that ? And they're writing on them.........in cursive !!!!! When my daughter sees interesting roadkill, I have a picture of it in milliseconds via her whiz bang cell phone. At 17, she's never written in cursive.
And that's not all. Everyone goes to the bakery in the morning for a baguette. Just a baguette. What will you do when you're thirsty ? Walk back up the hill ? How about some parallel processing ?
Another interesting aspect of the small village mentality is their inability to create order or processes out of any recurring situation. Go to any restaurant and your check is hand calculated, summed on a calculator some American probably thought he was donating to Somalia, and then presented to you. America seems far away at these times. Remember your Palm Pilot ? The French are at least a generation away.
When we checked into Guadeloupe, there was a dedicated computer that was used to collect customs information. Ahead of us in line was a French family attempting to use it for e-mail. I don't know their names, but let's call them "dumb mom" and "fearful dad". Dumb mom was standing in front of the ancient computer pecking with one finger. Dad stood a bit behind her, fearful that the spirits and magic which make this machine work would somehow place a curse on him. It took them 20 minutes to type out an e-mail........."Dear Jean Claude- so far our talisman is working........no gypsies have cast a spell on us". My question was this- How did Dumb Mom get to be 40 and not know how to use a computer ? She couldn't even get a job at the DC DMV.
Anyway, this is fun to watch. When I see reports of sluggish economic growth in France, I'll understand a bit better what's going on. In some remote village warehouse, there are a bunch of people staring at a pile of IPads stacked on a loading dock scratching their heads.........maybe not cavemen looking at fire but certainly Pilgrims looking at cellphones.