Surprise Surprise !

A few French friends of mine in India (namely Mehdi, Louis and Jean-Eudes) asked me to specifically tell them what really surprises me in France. I've seen so many things already that have raised my eyebrows, i think i might have to make this a feature of my blog from time to time.

I plan to call it What I Did Not Expect To See (aka WIDNETS)

So, here goes. This is part 1 of the feature.

1) Graffiti, everywhere in Grenoble. Usually along the tram lines, where it passes under a bridge. But beleive me, some of these spray painted artwork is quite amazing. One wrong stroke of the spray can, and you cannot even wipe the board clean...

2) A gentleman in the late 50's using a bluetooth headset !! Someone suggested it might be a hearing aid, but i dont suppose people speak into hearing aids, do they? I didnt expect someone his age to be so tech savvy. But yeah, a lot of the young crowd are hooked onto mp3 players, which is quite normal.

3) Beggars. With all due respect, i never expected to be approached by a lady saying "peut-etre, une petit piece monsieur" (perhaps, something small sir).

4) Gothic girls in France !! Oh yes, i saw quite a few. One of them stands out in my memory, cuz she sat next to me in the tram. Dressed in all black, her hair was coloured a deep red, totally unkempt (or was that her hairdo?). 2 rings on each finger, nails on left hand painted sky blue, nails on right painted red and yellow alternately. A ton of bracelets and other assorted trinkets on wrists, a dragon tattoo on her left arm. Also, her eyeliner... was like 1 centimeter thick, on her lower eye lid. Almost onto her cheek !!

5) Guys... i saw this one guy dressed like Jeetendra in a 70's Eastmancolor movie. White shirt, white pants, white shoes !! Do u get white shiny shoe polish?

6) I've also seen guys kiss each other on the cheek, as a greeting !!

7) A lingerie shop called "Darjeeling". Is it just me, or is this name highly misplaced !!

8) I never expected French women to smell so great !! My vocabulary runs short of words to describe the way they look, behave and ... smell !

9) Lastly, i walked into a shop in St.Bruno to buy a calling card, on my first day here. I greeted the guy at the counter with a regular "Bonjour", and got an "As-salaam-alai-kum" in return !!