16.38 - Is there really a French “wall”?
Tomas k - Senior News Editor 
Today at a Glance: Your FREE weekly newsletter
Bonjour mes ami(e)s !
It’s wonderful to have you back here with me today. Bienvenue !
In this newsletter, you’ll find these wonderful fresh articles taking you to France beyond the cliché.
And coming later today for PAID subscribers: 16.38.a — Four Renoirs vanished. The French “wall” didn’t & other things I got wrong this week. Plus my new Deep-Dive Essay, which began with four Renoirs stolen in three minutes… and then three little letters sent me somewhere else entirely. — It’s not too late to upgrade & to be sure you receive it ←
À bientôt !
Warmly,
Judy
26.9.2026
1. MyFrenchLife™ Magazine new articles
“There are many talented contributors to MyFrenchLife Magazine and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with us in such an engaging manner.
You take us right across France & deep into many worm-holes. We delight in discovering
and learning more about France beyond the cliché”
Merci
Judy
Our list of valued Contributors →
A reminder that ‘The Writers Room’ now resides here →
INVITATION & RSVP:
The MyFrenchLife™ French BookClub is back. DISCUSSION EVENT: 7 & 8 NOVEMBER 2026
We’ve started reading Live Fast (Vivre Vite) by Brigitte Giraud, 2022 Prix Goncourt winner. I’ll be hosting, together with returning co-host and valued contributor Keith Van Sickle, who suggested this book.
Now’s a great time to get the book and start reading, in French or English; our discussion will be in English. RSVP is essential to receive the access link.
I’m looking forward to many of you joining us in a lively chat.
HERE you’ll find the invitation and RSVP form→ This event is across many time zones - check the time for your location←
Judy
a) The French Art of the Welcome
by Kamille Longstreet
Before we moved to rural France, I did what any reasonable person does before making an irreversible life decision: I consulted the internet, asked people who had done something vaguely similar, and watched a lot of movies set in Europe.”
The picture I assembled was consistent. The French, I was told, are reserved. Private. Polite in the formal sense, warm only once you’ve earned it, and earning it takes years. There would be a wall, and the wall would be thick, and I should be patient about the wall and not take the wall personally and perhaps bring something nice to leave at the base of the wall while I waited.
I had made my peace with the wall.”
There was no wall…” wrote Kamille.
b) Mouvaux: Experiences in France
by Emily Monaco
It’s like listening to someone while underwater, I think. No, not quite. It’s like… watching television while my mother is vacuuming. Yes, that’s it. Just enough comprehension to make it completely and wholly frustrating when I can’t pick out enough words to understand. Oh, and my neck is tired; I feel like I’ve been nodding for thirty minutes.”
I smile back at the man grinning widely across the table at me; he reminds me of an actor, but I can’t remember who.”
Since arriving in Mouvaux, a tiny town in the North of France, it feels…” wrote Emily.
c) Handshakes, Hugs and Eye Contact: A French Guide to Polite Distance
by Richard Holdsworth
As a child, I was impressed when an adult shook my hand. Gradually, handshakes became more frequent and signaled everything from making up after a schoolyard fight to joining a secret gang. “
Hugs, however, were taboo except for consolation after a tragedy. Eye contact was related to social status. Without embellishing it, I will just report that the only time I remember making eye contact with a teacher, I was accused of dumb insolence…” wrote Richard.
2. Merci mille fois
“Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’, the newsletter of MyFrenchLife™ Magazine.”
Judy MacMahon
Merci mille fois d’être ici, mes ami(e)s. Thanks for being here.
Well, our Contributors have taken us into some wonderfully awkward territory this week.
Kamille arrived in rural France prepared for the wall… only to discover there wasn’t one.
Emily had me laughing at that painfully familiar experience of understanding just enough French to make not understanding the rest absolutely maddening.
And Richard? Well, now I’m wondering whether I’ve been standing too close, hugging the wrong people, or making entirely too much eye contact all these years.
Merci, Kamille, Emily and Richard.
Three very different lived experiences, but that’s exactly what I love about our MyFrenchLife Contributors. France isn’t one person’s France. Put enough people around the table, and suddenly all those certainties become rather less certain.
And merci to you, mes ami(e)s, for reading, commenting, following the wormholes and continuing to explore France beyond the cliché with us.
I wonder where our Contributors will take us next week in FRANCE AS IT HAPPENS?
À bientôt !
Judy
judy@myfrenchlife.org
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