Bronwyn's physical therapist told her today that he cancelled last week's appointment because he took the week off so that he and his wife could go to the movies that are being shown in town as part of a film festival. I don't think that this would happen in the U.S. - cancelling all of your appointments so that you could spend the week seeing movies. If it did happen, I don't think that any red-blooded American with a full dose of the Protestant work ethic would dare admit that he took the week off to go to the movies. This is just one example of how the French seem to put a different value on work time and leisure time than Americans.
The French seem to fall somewhere between the Spanish and Italian perspective on work and time, and the German and American perspective on work and time. While there is no doubt that the French value doing their work well (even the bureaucrats in the building across the street from us routinely work until 8 pm), hard work is not put on the same pedestal as in America. The French take lots of days of vacation, and it should not have surprised us that somebody would take the week off to see movies.
