Having parents who come from totally different sides of the country

Tell me about that culture shock.

Okay. So I am going to explain you the thing : my parents come from EXTREMELY opposite sides of France. My father comes from Western France, Brittany, and my mother is from Eastern France, Lorraine (just next to Alsace, so not far from Germany you could say). And sometimes..... I can really tell the differences between their cultures. I mean, it is not only a matter of the kind of education they got, but the actual, ancient traditions they try to carry on.

And let me tell you about all the situations that can happen when your parents come from totally different parts of your country. But one thing you have to know first, if you're not French : you probably all know that, within a country, many regions can differ from one another. You can really feel those differences in France, especially when there are on the extreme sides of the territory, like, for example, my parents' original ones.

Please don't mind that hideous arrow.

I - Food

   Of course. Well, this is one of the main - if not the main - differences between my parents' home regions. In Brittany, people eat galettes (garnished with ham or andouille, an egg and some cheese like Gruyere) and crêpes (yes ! the famous food which is one of the only words you non-French people would say in my language), kouign-aman and far breton. Those are typical food you can eat there. (My father loves andouille). But in the East of France, people tend to eat quiches lorraines, or flammenkueche, pâtés lorrains, etc... In general, they are used to eat fried dough filled with sour cream, eggs, ham and onions inside. Everything my father cannot stand even though my mother likes food from his region. So when my father likes it crunchy, my mother rather eat soft food. Simple. But I take from both, because I love both of these traditional dishes !

Galette, from Brittany. (my father is a galette chef)

    

And  Flammenkueche, from Lorraine (or Alsace) 

(My mother only buys tons of them at the supermarket but never makes them, she rather bake quiches lorraines).

II - When they are arguing

   Sometimes - or should I rather say, very often - when my parents are arguing, they use the "People from the East/West, that's very your kind of acting like that !" excuse as a "You're doing things wrong, but it's because we're totally not the same kind of person, knowing that you come from there and I from there." meaning. And every time, I am either laughing or rolling eyes.

III - Celebrations

   My father doesn't have much of a traditional """routine""" for celebrations like Christmas, but my mother really does. On the 6th of December - get ready -... is Saint Nicholas, (my father's name is Nicolas... what a coincidence too) which is pretty much an equivalent of Santa Claus. In Eastern Europe, Saint Nicholas is celebrated with a carnival in the streets of the cities, such as Nancy. And, while the family is away watching the whole carnival, he comes by their house and leaves them a few gifts, like coins or candies. (And you have to leave milk and biscuits for him but also some carrots for his donkey - because, yes, he rides a donkey.) When you come back from the carnival, you discover everything St Nicholas - or rather an uncle, a brother of the family - left for you. I used to go to the carnival with my cousin when I was little, and we would get so excited. So, to mark the difference : Brittany doesn't have this celebration. This is a typical Eastern France (or East Europe in general) celebration, that I also really love. I think that Brittany people might have one "pre-Christmas" celebration too, but I really don't know what it could be. .___.   /o

   Anyway, the thing is..... this celebration means : FOOD ! And my mother always gets us ginger bread and other cinnamon-related food ! Okay, I don't like cinnamon that much but damn. It always puts me into a Christmas/winter mood and I can't say no to this. My mother really gets into this mood too, receiving gifts from her sister who still lives in Lorraine and so on. My father can't really say no too because... he is just fond of gingerbread.

This picture literally made me realize how much St Nicholas looks like if the Pope and Santa had a child.

We also get to eat St Nicholas shaped like gingerbread. Yes, I know, this is really weird.

IV - When one of them is actually experiencing what you could call "culture shock"

   My parents met in the extreme West of Brittany. I know this seems kind of odd, as my father is from the centre of Brittany and my mother... from extreme East of France, but that's how it happened (thanks to one of my mother's childhood friends). And they decided to move in the region next to Brittany to start a family. One thing my mother told me about is that, one day, she decided to go to the bakery and asked for vanilla éclairs and pie dough. The salesman looked at her and laughed, then yelled something like : "Vanilla éclairs and pie dough ?! Do you really think we sell that ?! Vanilla éclairs ! Weird ! And dough ? We sell already baked things !" at her. My mother felt very insulted and a bit humiliated, and she explained me that, where she used to live, vanilla éclairs are a thing, and bakers also sell uncooked dough so that you can buy it to make your own stuff at home. As we still live in Western France, next to Brittany, she assumed, afterwards, that it was not a thing that could be done there. She felt very disappointed and upset at this moment.

  So, remember kids : food always makes a huge part of culture shock. Always.

Lookin' good.

My mother now.

And my father when she maybe told him about that salesman.

V - "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"

   Okay, quick and simple : Brittany is (almost entirely) surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, while in Lorraine, you can ski in the Vosges mountains which are encircled by loads of woods (literally the part where my mother is from). My mother likes skiing, but what she loves most are Brittany's beaches, with or without any tree hiding the view of the infinite sea *sigh* — so poetic. Aaand, what my father loves most are long walks in the woods. Not snow and mountains particularly, but he really can't stand bare beaches. The perfect combo for them ? Dinard, Brittany.

It's green, it's blue, it's sunny : what can possibly go wrong ?

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So, here it is for this post. 

It was kind of more "cultural" than """psychological""" compared to my other posts, but I thought it would be a great idea to compare my parents' differences as it also teach you about French culture and traditions.

I am very proud to say that I belong to two totally different regions that I really, really love. It is a true culture mix for me and I think it is really cool to have origins from both really distant parts of the country because I get to know both of their cultures pretty well.

I can eat twice more yummy food, and celebrate twice more feasts ! Who wouldn't want that ?