My time spent in France wasn't so awesome. Toyota France, like Toyota plants every where, was in the middle of nowhere. So we spent a lot of time in cars being shuttled from the hotel to work to dinner to the hotel to work again and finally to the airport.
One thing that did leave an impression on me was the crazy number of roundabouts in the roads. I'm pretty sure there is some law where you can't make a left turn in France. Instead you have to drive in a giant circle and then make a right turn. Here's a sign for an example. This roundabout has 4 exits or you can go back the way you came from. Every half a mile we'd encounter these, and I was getting kind of car sick riding in circles all of the time. I guess being from the U.S. I'd much rather stop the car, waste some fuel while idling, and when traffic clears finally make a left turn.
Another bizarre traffic thing... The lights here turn red/yellow for a few seconds just before turning green. It's like telling everyone to rev the engine and get ready to race off the stop line!! Seems kind of insane to me, but perhaps it reduces the number of people who run red lights. They know they will likely get broadsided!
All of the mini-cars that we rode in (they were really Toyota Yaris's) were Bluetooth-enabled, and people used that feature extensively. We couldn't drive 2 kilometers without someone making or taking a call! I thought the car was so loud on the road while driving I could barely hear the person sitting next to me, much less hear some voice on the phone! In addition, there are social rules in Japan where you are not allowed to talk on your phone in any mode of public transportation, while France not only takes phone calls, but makes you listen to the crackling, distorted voice on the other end!! Oh yeah, and no one seemed to think the call reception sucked but me. (I'll have you know that a France guy called me today at the office from his car, and I'm not crazy. I only caught every fourth word he said.)
Also, I'm not so sure that France doesn't have acid rain! I found white spots all over my gray pants from rain, and I get caught in the rain all the time in Nagoya without this problem...
Let's move on to the hotel. Here's one feature that I've seen before in Europe that I totally forgot about... the half-wall of glass for a shower curtain. Seriously, that's it. I'm not sure how everyone else manages, but I splash water out all over the place, and it might as well be a pond in my bathroom when I'm done with this thing. Can skinny people keep the shower spray inside the half-glass wall better than me?! I'll never know...
Kawakami, my travel buddy, chose this far away hotel because it has internet access. (The 3 hotels within one hour of Toyota do not have internet.) As it turns out, the internet all over Europe is so painfully slow you might as well not try to do any work any way. I didn't really notice because I always choose sleep whenever we were dropped at the hotel, but this one was Kawakami's observation!!
I was so used to being in London and speaking in English for an entire day that I forgot where I was, so when I stepped in the elevator in the morning and said "Good morning" everyone just stared at me. Seriously stared. I then I remembered that I don't know any French...
What is cool about France?
- Well, how about everyone had sweet 80's ring tones on their cell phones like "The Bangles" and "Cyndi Lauper"!
- They also liked to play English-speaking music really loudly in restaurants and lobbies, which I loved!!
- And to those who say the Japanese are the most "fashionable" people in the world, I'd say that French give them a run for their money. I loved French outfits, too. Many men would have their shirts unbuttoned halfway down their chests, and the amounts of jewelry was fascinating on both men and women! I also noticed some weird piercings, too, like the back of the neck. (That's always where I've wanted to display my latest jewel, too!)
- People were greeting each other with 2 cheek kisses all over the place!! Even co-workers!! Maybe I will try that on the LED guys when I return ;)
- I also saw a place selling cars under the name "Land Rover Ass" Dealership!
The people in France had fun trying to teach me new French phrases, and I just don't have the skills for another language. But I decided I did like saying "c'est la vie", which means "that's life". It has an easy going spirit, and a sense of acceptance even in hard times.
Tomorrow you can learn how I had to put my new "c'est la vie" attitude to use while in the Brussels Airport...
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