My Pride and Joy

Having lived in Europe for almost three years now, I have to say that one of the most surprising things for me has been seeing the great amount of diversity found within each country.  When I came here to France I had a kind of caricature in my head as to what a French person is--a Red Baron mustache, a striped shirt and beret, pointy nose long enough to look down at the rest of the world, french bread and wine under the arm, and all thrown together with the grace, joy, and sadness of a mime.  All of these traits together, along with the general European look that I have come to easily recognize, and you have a Frenchman.  

Well, it turns out that France is just like America.  In America we have people who claim to be Texan, not American.  Here in France there are the same things.  Each region even has a dialect that other regions can't understand.  In the North, where I live, the people and dialect are called Ch'ti.  Unfortunately, this isn't the most cultured or diverse region of France.  It reminds me of the time I went to Florida to visit a friend.  I told him how surprised I was to see so many huge trucks.  I said, "I thought there were only old people and bikini babes in Florida."  He told me that in fact most of the people in Florida were rednecks.  Shocking.

Same thing here in Ch'ti country.  They are the rednecks of France.  Just two hours south of here, I can find a Parisian who looks a little like my completely politically incorrect generalization of a caricature of a Frenchman, but here in the North the people look like they just walked out of Sunny Meadows Trailer Court.  They are more likely to vote for the fascist, racist political candidates (The National Front) and tell dirty jokes to their priest than they are to smoke Virginia Slims and talk about Existentialism.  So, on Sunday, when my son was being dedicated at the church (a sort of dry infant baptism for anabaptists) and the Pastor held him up and said, "Now you're a Ch'ti, a real Ch'ti!!" my son started crying.

I've never been more proud in my life.