A debate that has been flaring in the UK for the last year has come to a head today.  Aishah Azmi, 23, received compensation but did not succeed in her discrimination claim.  Ms Azmi argued that the school board that dismissed her because she refused to remove her head veil was unjust and discriminatory.   

To read the entire article, click here. 

  This is certainly a touchy issue and as much as we all want to ignore the issue, I think your only going to see more and more of these types of discussions until it is addressed and confronted. 

Immigrants, who travel to the UK or Canada in search of a better life still want to hold on to their cultural ties.  Understandable so.  But where is this line between cultural inheritance and cultural dog leech?

Example: Until a couple of years ago, I was an immigrant to Canada with my roots directly in England.  Soccer (football) is widely celebrated and watched in the U.K but not so much in Canada.  If I went to a bar and every TV was tuned to the hockey game and I demanded the management had equal sports coverage to allow for my soccer, would I be out of line would I be in my rights to say so?  How would you govern, enforce, refuse or allow that? 

If a woman demands she has her face covered because her old culture you are to cover your face to males because of religious ties; does she have the right to do so?  In her culture her religious ties and actions represent that she is lesser to males.  In Canada and more developed cultures we are taught that we are all equal. 

So what do you do?  Do we act like those we appose and say “You are in our world now, you can’t watch that here” or “in our world we don’t wear those, take it off!”  Do we oppress those in an act to liberate them because we think it just?  Isn’t that what they just departed from?

Growing up in Sarnia I came to notice that there is a strong Italian presence.  I hung out with an Italian family quite a lot in my youth.  I came to see that their family was always over at their house and they were always making food. 

While in France I saw that the all stores close for 2 plus hours in the afternoon for lunch.  I’m not joking, its not just one or two mom and pop stores shutting their doors; large companies as well.  Strong emphasis is placed on food and eating it with family. 

Growing up in an English dwelling I experienced the same European principles of eating with the family.  Although my mom worked full time, she still managed to prepare evening meals.  As we became older and our families timetables became more cumbersome and all over, less and less time together was at the dinner table. 

Yet this isn’t the case in Europe I have found.  Most families eat together. 

So what is it then that differs from North American to European families?  I think it has a lot of to do with eventful schedules.  In Europe, you wouldn’t dream of saying “hey lets hang out at 6pm tonight.”  It’s a common fact that at 6pm – its dinner time.  No ifs ands or buts about it. 

My brother, sister and I were always very athletic in our youth.  We were always in some type of evening athletic program.  I came to notice that these activates always took place at dinner time.  This is very disruptive for parents when you’re trying to mach the potatoes for dinner and make sure your kids’ gym bag has the proper attire. 

This wouldn’t be the case in Europe.  In all the places I traveled to on my trip, I observed that children are not seen or heard in the evening until after dinner.                   

There is no law that prohibits activity at dinner time but it’s just a rule of thumb with everyone in Europe.  Just outside the apartment where I resided in the south of France there is this game played by all the locals.  Many people gather to partake or watch.  They play right up until this magical hour (dinner), everyone disperses and the game resumes a few hours later.  There is no bell and no clock; people just know.    

Eating is another rule of thumb.  Europeans (the French more so) stick their nose up at unhealthy eating.  While growing more popular in urban regions; fast food is seen as a disgusting replacement for dinner and unhealthy practice.  In my European trip alone (I covered more than 4000 kilometers) I found less fast food restaurants on the road than are in Sarnia alone.  That’s a sad statistic – but true.

Drive through is unheard of.  No one has “to go” cups.  The Europeans it appears have found this type of utopia in regards to food and consumption.  Food quality is another ball game all together.  The Europeans eat a lot and they demand proper servings!  Their healthy eating practices reflect the stature of everyone.  It was refreshing to see that there are still societies that have slender and vigorous citizens.          

Now we could argue that we as North Americans have more demands and that everything is so fast paced because we need to make more money and work more because everything is so expensive and that our standard of living is so much higher.  Not so.  The standard of living is very high in Europe; much more so than North America.  Europeans are heavily taxed. 

I just read a report stating the top 10 countries in regards to economy.  European countries took 5 of the 10 spots.  America ranked 4^th (1 spot behind France) and Canada 7^th. 

Europeans live a more laid back life; work less, spend more time eating quality food and hanging out with the family. 

North Americans I feel would be un-easy with this approach to life.  Although we complain about how we would like things to slow down, I think deep down we like the fast-paced, consumer based life we have created for ourselves.

To see all of my pictures from the trip, click here  

The Eiffel Tower – beautiful, the Mona Lisa – small, The Arc de Triumph – definitive, Notre Dame – historical.  Going to Paris is all about “what you saw and what you will see next time.” 

The center of the city is a tourist heaven with plenty of sites and lots to do.  You could spend weeks in the museums, walking the streets and eating.  Out side of the city center though is an over crowded and busy city. 

If you are ever thinking about going to Paris let me shed some light on it for you so you can avoid some of the pains I experienced. 

Leave your car out of the center of city; it’s near impossible to drive.  Park your car in underground parking and say good bye.  Rely on the transportation the city provides.  The Subway system will get you within blocks of anywhere you want to be tourist wise and taxis are near by to take you the rest of the way. 

Taxi drivers are not your allies.  Don’t waste your time asking them questions unless you are a paying customer.        

If you want to see all the sites in the downtown area then go to the Eiffel tower first.  In the front of it you will see Double Decker buses pulling up every 10 minutes or so.  Pay the 25 euros and climb aboard.  These buses are a god send.  The fare gets you 2 days of access to the buses and all they do is drive around the “big ticket” attractions.  You receive head phones on the bus and you can plug them in anywhere you sit and you can listen to English commentary about the sites you drive by.  If you stay on the bus for the whole tour (lasting 2.5 hours) you will have seen the majority of the tourist attractions.  I did this and I developed a good grasp of where everything was (also because they provide you with a map with all of their bus routes). 

The bus makes 9 stops along the way where you are free to get off and on.  A bus arrives at these spots every 10 minutes.  I think it would be extremely beneficial to get off at each stop to explore and then return to the bus and continue on. 

The food is awesome.  Paris (most of France for that matter) has great service and what they serve is even better!) 

When looking for a hotel, shop away from the city center.  Don’t worry yourselves with being away from the action.  You are only a quick subway ride away.  Getting a hotel away from the city center will save you at least 45 euros a night (which is like $85). 

If you’re a tourist then I would say “go to Paris.”  Once you have been there and got it out of your system; the rest of France has plenty to offer.