To speak of rain and nice weather

I learnt a new french phrase today:

Parler de la pluie et du beau temps

Guess what it means? The literal translation is: 'to speak of rain and nice weather'....any closer?

Yes, its 'small talk'. Ironically, its a phrase rendered fairly useless in France due to the fact that it doesn't really exist. Those who know me well are probably imagining me breathing a deep sigh of relief; relief that I can finally rest easy during those lulls in conversation, in the safe knowledge that the other person is not finding it as awkward as I. 

However, strangely enough I miss it. I don't mean the small talk with those people that you half know...that is always a tough one to work... But I really miss it when you don't know someone at all. In fact, I would say it is probably one of the biggest differences between French and British culture. In the UK, I find that people are generally willing to strike up chat if you cross their path for more than 5 minutes. In France, I am becoming aware that if a group of people were randomly thrown together for an afternoon, without the prospect of becoming 'friends for life', nothing would happen.

When I first arrived here, I was warned that the French can be a little 'closed' in nature, very family & friends orientated. I thought nothing of it at the time, but on entering my third month of being almost entriely surrounded by French speaking people, I have seen first hand that small talk doesn't happen, and friendships take time to form. Break time in the staff room, for example, does not consist of people chatting about how cold it was when they woke up, or what they did at the weekend (believe me, I've asked...nothing). Instead, its a 20 minute, heated debate about Greece and the economic crisis; or whether Sarkosi is really f***ing everything up; or what I think of the pound (did happen...). And then, as abruptly as it started, tempers are calmed and an amiable farewell is made before the next lesson, all in the space of 15 seconds.  I have yet to see that happen in the UK, that is unless it is fuelled by a whisky or a wine and happening after midnight.

Anyway, I guess the point that I am making is that, if I hadn't lived here - I would probably have just thought that the French were unfriendly and left it as that, but I'm getting there now and soon I'm sure I too will be giving a heartfelt opinion on how disorganised the French educational system is.

As a final point, for those of you still in the UK, take some small talk tips from this, its FUNNY. I ask everyone who has read this to follow point number 2 tomorrow iust for a laugh and report back

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