YOU + ME = OUI

I think I've admitted before that I just love reading stories of how couples got together in the first place... the more long-winded the better! I love reading relationship stories...

I came across this blog 365 days in Paris by 24 yo Leonora Epstein. She talks about trying to find love in the city of light. There are some interesting and funny bits in there although I admit, reading it, she does show her age.

I ffffound this picture above on ffffound.com and you can buy the t-shirt here on SixPack France.

you, me, oui.
you, me, we.
you, me, yes.

De-facto relationships in France - PACs

Last week, in my French class, we were given a newspaper article about the lives of women in France since the 40s, particularly after the 70s.
It mentioned the work, baby, marriage thing (which of course is a hotly debated topic in any country!)...

So anyway, I found out that a de-facto relationship in French is called a concubinage, a union libre or a PACs (which stands for "pacte civil de solidarité", meaning a civil union between 2 people, including homosexuals). PACs has been around for 10 years.

I found two recent articles about the rising popularity of being PACsed in France here and here.

In the second site (France info) there is an interesting graph with statistics at the slightly decreasing rate of marriage and rapidly rising rate of PACsing. It's in Flash so I have uploaded it as a jpg here (click on it to see it larger).

I think the topic is quite fascinating as everyone knows that in most Western countries the age of first marriage and first baby is increasing, and birth rates are generally declining. Also, in France, there isn't as much of a religious impact on people's daily lives so having a de-facto relationship without marriage, or having a child without marriage seems totally OK there because they are so free and liberal...

Both websites are in French so if you can't read it you'll have to use Babelfish or another translator. There are quite a few audio files on the second site too which are good for listening comprehension practice. :)

The age at first marriage seems to the oldest in certain European countries including France. It's also quite old in Australia (stats from nationmaster).

Women

# 1 Sweden: 30.4 years
# 2 Denmark: 30.1 years
= 3 France: 29.1 years
= 3 Spain: 29.1 years
= 5 Norway: 28.6 years
= 5 Australia: 28.6 years
= 7 Finland: 28.3 years
= 7 Netherlands: 28.3 years
= 9 Ireland: 28.2 years
= 9 Switzerland: 28.2 years
= 9 Germany: 28.2 years
# 12 Austria: 27.9 years
# 13 United Kingdom: 27.7 years
# 14 Canada: 27.4 years
# 15 Japan: 27.3 years
= 16 Italy: 27.1 years
= 16 New Zealand: 27.1 years
# 18 Belgium: 26.6 years
# 19 United States: 25 years

Men

# 1 Sweden: 32.9 years
# 2 Denmark: 32.5 years
= 3 France: 31.2 years
= 3 Spain: 31.2 years
# 5 Norway: 31.1 years
# 6 Germany: 30.9 years
# 7 Switzerland: 30.8 years
# 8 Netherlands: 30.7 years
# 9 Australia: 30.6 years
# 10 Finland: 30.5 years
# 11 Austria: 30.3 years
= 12 Italy: 30 years
= 12 Ireland: 30 years
= 12 Japan: 30 years
# 15 United Kingdom: 29.8 years
# 16 New Zealand: 29.2 years
# 17 Canada: 29 years
# 18 Belgium: 28.9 years
# 19 United States: 26 years

According to the chart

Average age of (first I assume) marriage (2006)
Men 37.6, Women 35.6

Average age of (first I assume) being PACsé (2006)
Men 31.5, Women 32.9

Almost French re-visited, Ce que pensent les hommes

Previously talking about 'Almost French'...

I decided to read 'Almost French' again and re-live all of Sarah's experiences with her. Only a few pages into the book she wrote:

"...We can't even communicate, for god's sake, I'd thought. What are we going to talk about for a whole week? At the end of ten excruciating minutes I'd said goodbye and he'd said, 'I kiss you,' which made me cringe. What a sleaze! Had I paid more attention during French classes at school I might have remembered that in France this is the sort of farewell you could say to your sister or grandmother but all I can think now is how weird it sounded..."

I almost laughed out loud because the first French guy I met (C), we had only met once and we had only exchanged a handful of emails.. he signed his email with 'bisous' which means 'kisses'. I was quite shocked and surprised when I first saw this but didn't think too much of it.

I guess on one hand it could be interpreted as being sleazy but I didn't take it that way at all. I just thought it was funny and sweet. And what's even funnier is that I wouldn't know of a single Australian (or Anglo) guy who would sign off his emails like that... it would be the equivalent of signing off with 'xxx' or 'xoxo' I guess (which I do myself sometimes, with close friends)... I couldn't imagine a guy who barely knew you doing this until you were already dating each other and were exclusive. Does it really mean that French men are more open with their feelings and/or more romantic? I can't say I'm qualified to judge but we shall see...

Now I don't have any sort of romantic connection with these guys so I wonder if it's just an ordinary every day thing they do to everyone and that French people don't make a big deal out of it like 'we' do.

A couple of months ago I was looking up something... can't remember what... I think it must've been around the time I saw the film 'He's just not into you' (which is called 'Ce que pensent les hommes' (What men think) in French) and I found this interesting series of videos by Liz Tuccillo (who is one of the authors of the book the movie was based on).

In this particular video she is interviewing (through an interpreter) two young men on the streets of Paris who I assume are in their early 20s and talk about dating and love. I think the interview is quite fun(ny) to watch!



Your tango - other videos in the 'Single in France' series.