Sneezing :: Eternuements

don't worry, I'm not about to say French people sneeze out of their eyes

In the USA, we have a bunch of things to say when someone sneezes.  People usually choose between God bless you, bless you, and gesundheit (for some reason we use a German word too).

how Americans secretly act inside the house

I suppose it's a bit...traditional, but my host family told what the French say after someone sneezes.  After the first sneeze, you'd say à tes/vos souhaits, depending on how formal you want to be.  After the second, you'd say à tes/vos amours, and the after the third, et qu'ils durent toujours.

Google tells me that all that means, "to your wishes, to your loves, and that they'll last forever", but in France it essentially means "bless you" - in the sense that they say it after people sneeze.

What I dislike, and I think that this is the first time I've disliked something here, is that they don't have boxes of tissues here.  I miss my French class in the United States, where everyone brought kleenex boxes for participation points.

not "bribing", per se...

No participation points for me here (evidentially, French people have more integrity than that).  I haven't seen any of those boxes in any of my classrooms here at all.  No, no, everyone has those little folded up tissues in the little packets instead.

That's not the problem.  My host family gave me a little packet after I started sneezing like mad because of my allergies.  Yay, I can now fit in with all the other French girls!!!

OMG, that kleenex totally came out of like, a box - that weirdo

I suppose any gaffe I make here is excused generally because I'm "American," and people are less likely to call me out on it, but I can't even tell when I'm doing something wrong.

It's always awkward to get up and go to the front of the class to go to the trash can, but I didn't think it'd actually be a problem to do so.  I guess that in France, where everyone is glued to their seats, trying to make an exact copy of the teacher's notes, getting up is inconceivable.  Maybe it was because I'd absentmindedly tuned the teacher out (French turns into a beautiful, flowing babble if I don't pay attention) and I stood up right when she was saying something important.

American light doesn't know when to turn off