A Day in Paris

Tuesday, November 09, 2004

Things I Love About Paris

I just had my French class at my husband's office. He works for an International organization. I love attending class because it is so interesting and often I am the only American in the group. Today we had 14 people in the class from: Spain, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Poland, Czech Republic, Italy, the Philippines and the US. I love living in a European city where I get to meet people from so many places, with different perspectives on life and varying opinions of the US. For example, today we talked about recycling and what each person's country does to recycle. In some European countries they charge for each plastic bag you use for your groceries. They said it really lowered plastic bag consumption. I didn't tell them that in the US, not only do they give you the plastic bags, the cashier actually bags your groceries. Such a luxury!

-- said Auntie M in Paris
1:01 PM

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Comments:

I read your site with interest as I still am interested in life in Paris, though only been there as a tourist. As for charging for bags at the grocery store, I remember that happening in Florence. As Americans, we may tend to think "how cheap" to be charged but I think it does cut down on the resultant garbage. Have fun with your French classes - I see they teach you more than just language, great!

# posted by Anonymous : 2:08 PM

I never thought too much about those plastic bags myself, but when you think there is a whole industry that makes plastic bag holders for Americans (like those sold in Provence), it does make you think...

# posted by Auntie M in Paris : 10:03 AM

I was watching the news in French last night, so there is no telling if I actually understood what they were staying. But, if I think I understood it correctly, it was about how the tap water is totally safe to drink in Paris, but, yet, still everyone buys tons of bottled water. At the end of the piece, they were showing how much waste the plastic bottles caused.

Personally, I can't get into drinking bottled water, because I think it is ridiculous to pay that much money for water.

Jason
http://jasonstone.typepad.com

# posted by Anonymous : 11:24 AM