Les jeunes

There are some things that surpass the differences in culture between France and the U.S., like the youth, for example.

Kids everywhere are pretty much the same, at least in some ways that we found this week: they like to hang out with friends, be silly, listen to music, dance, eat. Like on Wednesday, for instance, we went to a concert with one of our friends from Les Petits Frères. She just finished up her civic service there about a week ago, and we've kept in touch (plans this week include seeing Le Petit Prince in theaters). A couple of her friends were visiting from Lyon and they wanted to check out a gospel band that had come to the Var, so she invited us, too.

It was like being with friends back at home. Johanna drove, her friends joked around a bit, we laughed that we couldn't find a parking place close to the venue. But as the night continued, I noticed a couple of differences between the typical American hangout versus the typical French hangout.(Granted, I'm Mormon, so that skews my perception a bit. Regardless. . .) The girls weren't as crazy as I think I would have been. With my good friends, I do all sorts of silly things, and we laugh a lot. The French girls were more 'chill', as the kids say. They didn't clap a lot or yell or dance. Also, the girls from Lyon smoked during the intermission (again, that's partly a difference because I'm Mormon; partly because French culture includes smoking and American culture doesn't).

That didn't take away, however, from the things that we did that I'm used to doing with my friends. We took a selfie with our friend before the concert started; during intermission, we listened to The Lion King songs in French and English. There was plenty of teasing and smiling, too.

Then, on Friday, we went to a Just Dance party with the young adults from the Toulon ward. Again, I
found the youth to be much calmer, much more casual--more natural in how they were dressed and in how they spoke. They definitely weren't trying to impress each other or be someone they weren't. In America, even a casual party like that is an occasion to show off or flirt or really try to make friends. In France? Everything was just...natural.

Plus, I found it very funny that they served the food and drinks as if we were at a French restaurant. Rémy--the only young adult dude in the ward--asked what we wanted to drink and then served us. They put the snacks on the table in courses: first the Bugles, then the bread, the pizza, and last the brownies. But again, the nature of the party and the food were definitely still just like anything you'd see in America. (Besides, most every song on Just Dance is in English.)