Party A La Francais

Before P&S left they hosted a party so they could say goodbye to their friends and introduce us to them. Talk about being thrown into the deep end! There were about 20 adults and 10 children all speaking rapid-fire French all at once while I attempted to translate and communicate for four. Fun times.
No, really. It was fun. Here's some of the most memorable moments:

1. David tried all the food. He actually did. AND he saved his negative reactions to today, when we went to eat the left-overs for lunch, all by ourselves. I was so proud of him! Some of the more "foreign food" was a homemade bread that had clumps of some kind of cheese and raisins in it. I thought it was delicious. David, not so much. The kids wouldn't even touch it. Then there was some sort of mashed beet mixture which none of us liked. The left-overs went to the chickens. Mashed smoked salmon served over a mound of some dill-cream mixture (eaten with the smallest spoon I've ever seen), "fisherman's salad" - which consisted of tuna (I think) potatoes, and seasonings/mayo (by our impressions, "not bad"). The yummiest new discovery were lamb sausages with curry and other spices. These will be a regular purchase while we are here and David quickly declared he will miss them when we are gone. Of course there was also lots and lots of wine. We ended the evening with champagne and cheese (which none of us ate) and two incredible tarts - one pear and the other pineapple/coconut.

2. I broke my wine glass. I was the only one to break my wine glass. After apologizing profusely, I proclaimed, "hey, maybe I have greek roots - Opa!"

3. Finding Bo and Vivi held up in their bedroom playing by themselves. After much effort and some success from the French children including our kids in their play, Vivi and Bo hit their limit and took a break. Once the had recovered some, they did rejoin their respective groups - girls playing in the house and the boys playing soccer (excuse me, football) in the courtyard. Bo especially was in his glory. At the end of the evening the girls wanted to give kisses to Vivi. It was so sweet and the whole evening served to be a great encouragement to me.

4. A woman wanted to "french kiss" my husband, but I wouldn't let her. As people were leaving everyone was giving the customary french greeting of kissing both cheeks. David was caught off guard at first and this very nice woman tried to explain in broken English, "it's okay. I give you french kiss." I quickly retorted, "Non. Pas mon mari. Vous ne donnez un baiser francais a mon mari! Je ne pense pas!" (No. Not my husband. You don't give my husband a french kiss. I don't think so.) She turned beet red and everyone laughed. Including her. It was so exciting to be funny in French! A proud moment indeed.

5. Paul learned Republicans can be nice people. At one point in the evening, Paul broke down. "I know I shouldn't ask you this and it doesn't really matter. I told myself I wouldn't ask. But I am so curious and can't figure it out. Are you Republican or Democrat?" I almost fell laughing off my chair. When we admitted our staunchy conservative leanings, he was shocked. "Sylvie was convinced you couldn't possibly be Republican because you are too nice." Ha ha! I guess we showed them!

It was great, great fun and THANK GOD for the jet lag because the four of us went to bed around 1:00AM!!!