12 Mars: money, money, money

Last night we had dinner with our religious pilgrimage teacher and we all had a lengthy conversation with him about differences between France and the US and it was very interesting. Our director, Tim, has lived in France for seven years so he was able to add some input to the conversation as well. One major topic was work. Obviously, Americans work more than the French- they only have a 35-hour workweek here. And it's governmentally enforced. If you own a store, it has to be closed Sunday. And if it's not closed Sunday, it must be on Monday. And basically everyone shuts down from 12-2 every day for lunch, except for the restaurants. Growing up in a capitalist society, that sounds ridiculous, I didn't understand how France could even compete globally with that definite dent in their production. Apparently though, Tim informed us that they have enough of a domestic market to keep them going. Also, Eriq helped us realize that although it doesn't completely make sense to a capitalist, it's a great way to live. I mean really, if everyone had Sunday or Monday off, that means they would have that much extra time to visit with your family and friends who are also conveniently off work as well. It would be a great mindset to just simply not be completely concerned with making money like so many Americans are. I wouldn't consider myself a materialistic or money-crazy person, but even I was surprised at the thought of no work throughout the entire country on Sunday. I automatically think so myself, "Well that's nice but companies and stores could accomplish so much more and make so much more money if they didn't do that." It's not that I'm greedy but like many other Americans, I think of progress and production first. But obviously that's not the most important thing in life. It's imperative that we be productive as opposed to lazy, but it's also more vital to make sure we prioritize other things, like people.

We also learned something else interesting. Apparently when a woman will get like eight months of maternity leave automatically. How amazing is that? And from what our professor told us, the more kids you have, the more maternity leave you get! That makes sense, doesn't it? I should have my kids over here. : )