Bubbles and Bellies

I'll start with bubbles - I mean space bubbles.

In Europe, people's spacial bubbles are pretty small. If you want some space between you and the person in line in front of you or behind you, you need to wear a big backpack. They just stand very close to one another there.

I wish I had kept track of the number of times we were in a café or restaurant that was empty besides us, but when the next person walked in, they would choose the seat right next to us! Often times, this would be at a table for 4 people and they would choose to sit at the two seats at our table! I always laughed because I knew this would never happen in America; we love our space.

Or, in the train. If I was sitting with empty seats all around me, I just knew someone would choose to sit right next to me instead of across from me or in the seat one row away. It's just the way they are in France.

I never thought that I had really adjusted to this---until returning to the USA. Without even really noticing it, I have been unnerved by the distance everyone keeps from me. I have found myself thinking, "Do I have bad breath?" "Is there something wrong with my appearance?" "Should I move closer so that I can hear them better?" Then, I try to move closer but the person I am talking with just slowly backs up!!!

It finally dawned on me, that this was just the normal 'space bubble' of an American. I need to re-adjust. Too funny! I had adapted more than I had thought!

Then, there's the subject of bellies.

I am leery to comment, but it is really hard not to notice how many heavy people there are in America these days. I don't want to judge. It's just interesting to watch and notice the differences between the French culture and the American culture - differences that I believe contribute to the problem.

If we had never moved out of the USA, I would never have seen it. But, because we have lived elsewhere, it is so much easier to see the 'herd mentality', as I call it.

We are all prone to walking in herds. Going with the crowd. Seeing what others do and just copying it, almost without even thinking. There are so many ways that 'herd mentality' affects us, and we don't even know it.

I was walking around a mall today and I was amazed at the difference between shopping in the USA and shopping in France.

In the USA, you find big cushy seats available in lots of places throughout the mall. The mall is not even that big! Do you really need to sit down? In France, I never saw a seat in a store or in a mall - EVER! Most likely this is because space is at such a premium, but still, no one is sitting down to rest in the stores there.

In the USA, you have a much larger proportion of food shops in shopping areas than in France. In France, you'd find a sandwich shop, a pizza restaurant, a coffee café. Here, you find restaurants (with huge portion sizes!), ice cream shops, popcorn stands and vending machines full of pop all over the place. Yes, there are coffee shops, but most of them sell coffee drinks loaded with other things besides just coffee - and the sizes are enormous!

In the USA, you see people eating all the time and anywhere. In France, you almost never see people eating alone, and you only eat at meals or at the afternoon snack hour.

Ice cream is everywhere in the USA. I remember wanting to take the kids out for ice cream in France, and having to go to McDonalds because I couldn't think of another place to buy ice cream without going to the center of Paris. It's just not very accessible like it is here in America. And, if you do choose to go to the center of Paris for an ice cream, the scoop sizes are about 1/3 the size of the scoops here.

We went to the movies today as a celebration of 'making it this far'. We were absolutely shocked by the amount of food people were eating in the movie theater! Popcorn, enormous cups of pop, candy galore! Oh my, it's really quick incredible to see. In France, very few people even buy food at the movies.

What I am noticing is the culture of consumption. The culture of eating all the time. The culture of eating food that is really bad for you on a regular basis.

People are always asking why French women are skinny and I have a lot of thoughts about why, but one really, really big reason is that they don't have to fight against the culture every single day in order to control their eating. They are not being tantalized by food every 30 minutes there. I'm realizing what a battle it is in our country to just simply eat healthy and to only eat a reasonable amount of food each day. And, I have to admit that it makes me weary just to think about it.

I wonder - how do you change an entire culture? It would be a rather enormous project. Before I try to change all of America, I think I'll just try to figure out a 'game plan' for this family. I really hope we can stand up under the pressure!