I WAS PREPARED for the big items: new language, slower pace of life, different currency. What I didn't expect when I moved from the U.S. to France were the subtleties-the nuances that sometimes managed to throw me off my game.
Decades of French lessons had schooled me in the strict rules of politesse. I knew to dump my usual Philly greeting ("Yo!") for the more proper "Bonjour" when entering a shop or running into a neighbor in the elevator. What I didn't know were the other, less obvious rules. Walking into a doctor's waiting room: Bonjour, everyone. Entering a department store: No bonjour. Getting onto the bus: Bonjour. Encountering a stranger on the sidewalk: No bonjour. Encountering a stranger in the courtyard in front of your building: Bonjour. Passing an older woman on the street: Bonjour, madame.
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