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CultureAssimilator 4. la maison. 1. Visiting a home in France .
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CultureAssimilator 4 la maison
1. Visiting a home in France You are invited to a friend’s home in France for a dinner party. They have a beautiful home and you would love to see it, but everyone seems to be staying on the veranda. You ask to have a tour of the home and your host is a little taken back at your request. Why?
1. Visiting a home in France • French people are very messy and she was embarrassed about the state of her home. • French people have a weird sense of decoration and she thought you might be afraid of all the cheetah print fabric in her bedroom. • It is not customary to let people into your home in France because they are terrified that someone will rob them. • It is not customary to show others around one’s home in France because they are very private people.
1. Visiting a home in France • French people are very messy and she was embarrassed about the state of her home. • French people have a weird sense of decoration and she thought you might be afraid of all the cheetah print fabric in her bedroom. • It is not customary to let people into your home in France because they are terrified that someone will rob them. • It is not customary to show others around one’s home in France because they are very private people.
1. Visiting a home in France You are swimming at a friend’s home in Cannes, France. You really need to use the bathroom and you ask your friend how to find the toilet. He says it is located on “le premier étage” so you look all over the first floor, but it is nowhere to be found! What do you do? • Go back and ask directions again. • Give up and pee in the pool! • Use the sink when no one is looking! • Go upstairs, maybe you missed something in translation.
1. Visiting a home in France You are swimming at a friend’s home in Cannes, France. You really need to use the bathroom and you ask your friend how to find the toilet. He says it is located on “le premier étage” so you look all over the first floor, but it is nowhere to be found! What do you do? • Go back and ask directions again. • Give up and pee in the pool! • Use the sink when no one is looking! • Go upstairs, maybe you missed something in translation.
1. Visiting a home in France Your family is visiting your relatives in rural France for the first time. You just arrive and your younger brother needs to use the restroom right away! He comes out to you a few minutes later and says that he needs your help right away because he can’t flush “it” down at all! He says it looks really weird! What do you think has happened?
1. Visiting a home in France • The plumbing in France is VERY old and you normally have to pour a bucket or two of water in the toilet to make it flush. • He did his “business” in a BIDET instead of a toilet, which looks a bit similar but has an entirely different purpose. • He ate way too many French pastries and simply clogged up the old toilet.
1. Visiting a home in France • The plumbing in France is VERY old and you normally have to pour a bucket or two of water in the toilet to make it flush. • He did his “business” in a BIDET instead of a toilet, which looks a bit similar but has an entirely different purpose. • He ate way too many French pastries and simply clogged up the old toilet.
A bidet is a low-mounted plumbing fixture that resembles a toilet, but it is more like a sink as it is made to rinse up “the under side.” They are quite common in Europe!
2. Visiting a home in West Africa You are on a volunteer trip to La Côte d’Ivoire in French-speaking West Africa. You are helping to build a school in the small village of Vavoua in the center of the country. Your friend has invited you to his place for dinner. You arrive at the home, which looks more like a hut, and you are about to knock on the door but you realize that there is NO DOOR! What do you do?
2. Visiting a home in West Africa • You knock on the wall of the hut next to the door. • You yell “BONJOUR” as loud as you can! • You yell “Serpent” because that always gets attention! • You clap your hands twice and wait.
2. Visiting a home in West Africa • You knock on the wall of the hut next to the door. • You yell “BONJOUR” as loud as you can! • You yell “Serpent” because that always gets attention! • You clap your hands twice and wait.
2. Visiting a home in West Africa It is customary in many rural villages of West Africa to clap your hands when you arrive at someone’s home to alert them to your presence instead of knocking on the door. This occurs because many homes do not have doors! Even if you did have a door they would clap since this is so engrained in their culture. They don’t spend much time inside their homes like we do. They hang out, cook, and eat outside. They only keep a few personal items inside and a sleeping mat or two.
2. Visiting a home in West Africa After you visit your friend’s home for dinner, you go to the local market. You want to buy one of the colorful floor mats for your home. The merchant asks you if you want a “unepersonne,” “deuxpersonnes,” or a “troispersonnes” mat! Why do you think he would ask you this? We normally use mats for decoration on our floors but in rural West Africa, they are meant for sleeping. For this reason, they come in sizes created for one, two, or three people to sleep on!
3. UneMaisonà Vendre These videos take us on a tour of homes for sale in French-speaking countries. une maison à vendre à Marseilles- - Cliquez ici une maison en Haïti - Cliquez ici une maison au Sénégal - Cliquez ici une maison à Bruxelles- Cliquez ici
4. Notre Maisonà Abidjan Notre maison a Abidjan- Cliquez ici A man speaks in French about his home in Abidjan, the capital of The Ivory Coast (La Côte d’Ivoire) in West Africa
Additional Cultural Resources • Lectures Culturelles de Bon Voyage: Chapter 4 • pages 130-131/Audio Track #28 • Glencoe Video Program, Episode 4
