After lunch, we passed around a bowl of fruit. I had an apple but wished I could have been Guilhem; he had a banana and helped himself to the Nutella as well. When everyone had had enough fruit, Christine invited me into the kitchen to scoop myself some coffee. There were two types and I decided to go with the less strong and slightly sweet of the two. The coffee is so finely ground that it goes directly into your mug as if you were making chocolate milk. After the water, you add your milk or cube of sugar if needed. It was the best coffee I may have ever had! The four of us took our drinks to the living room and sat around sipping hot drinks and eating chocolate. I decided that was a good time to finally give my gifts to the family. I bought Christine and Lionel "Mom" and "Dad" mugs, Guilhem got a ball cap, and I gave a very pretty ornament to the family- all from Disneyland. And my parents bought three types of See's candies to give to them as well. I have never had more fun giving gifts! Guilhem was ridiculously adorable about his hat, which was a relief because I wasn't sure if french boys wear ball caps. And Christine and Lionel loved their mugs. Lionel couldn't keep his hands off of the See's candy, and Christine wanted the ornament on their Christmas tree right away. Later in the day, she told me how many of the ornaments on their tree were gifts, and that each year as they go up she is reminded of the person who gave it to her. So every Christmas, Christine will put up my ornament and think of me :)
Guilhem with his new hat and a See's Candy sucker
Our after-luch tray with some of the presents
My ornament to the family, on their tree
In the afternoon, Christine and I went to Le Clerc to fix a problem with my cell phone (which we did fix, thanks to her) and then went grocery shopping for dinner. As we were driving towards the Le Clerc parking lot, Christine noticed a spot we had just slightly passed. She turned sharply to the left to backtrack and pull in but the car right behind us cut in front and took the spot. The only other spot just happened to be right next to that car. *Cue french style of dealing with annoying drivers* After parking, Christine gets out with absolutely no intention of letting that other driver go without understanding how rude he was to her. They start arguing and I just kind of sat there quietly, pretending I wasn't really there. You'd be wrong to picture Christine and this man getting in each other's face pointing fingers; for, they were certainly arguing but a lot of the time Christine didn't bother looking at him. She was getting things out of the car. It was the most calm argument I've ever witnessed- I didn't even know what they were saying! She told me after that he had apologized and hadn't realized Christine wanted that spot. I guess she told him that he was a nice person and that he shouldn't lose that. She told me that it's important to encourage people when they have kindness in them.
After grocery shopping, Christine took me to the local library where I checked out two movies in french- Titanic and Enchanted- and three french CDs. If french music and movies don't quite tickle your fancy, just know that I am tingling with excitement about having these things for a few weeks :)
Dinner was a wonderful experience: I was invited to have a friend over and asked Roshanna to come for dinner. Lionel and I picked her up from the student residence building and brought her back to the house around 6:45p. Roshanna and I got to spend some time talking and getting to know each other better before dinner and that was great. For dinner, it seems like we went all out. Rather than eating at the table, we ate in the living room next to a blazing fire and were accompanied by Christmas music from Christine's childhood. There wasn't a main course tonight but we had a lot of small dishes to choose from- foie gras, bread, small cheese/tomato bakes, codfish-egg tarts, fresh guacamole, tangy salsa, and vegetables for dipping. Lionel served Roshanna and I two different drinks- one was a sweet white wine from Spain and the other was also sweet but was only meant to go with the foie gras. Speaking of which, if you haven't had foie gras before then don't eat it in big chunks. The texture, the taste, and the reality of what it is each need to be accepted by the eater separately. I know foie gras is a delicacy, but I think I will need many more experiences to eat it the way Christine and Lionel ate it tonight. Roshanna's an opera singer and offered us a small concert after dinner, which was absolutely fantastic. I've never heard opera without music but it is actually very beautiful. Christine and Lionel enjoyed that a great deal and appreciated that Roshanna and I both tried our best to communicate in french throughout the evening. It was a completely wonderful evening and Roshanna, as my friend, passed the test- she's welcome at the house anytime she wants. :)It's time for bed; we're having a picnic in the mountains tomorrow so are leaving in the morning. Before I go, let me just say that I am also having a ton of interaction with Lionel but it is very different than with Christine. With Lionel, all communication is done in french and is almost entirely him telling stories. It is an absolute shame that my french isn't better because I can't understand everything he's telling me and I know it is all invaluable. For instance, he has talked to me about the French Revolution, how that was a time of great shame for the french and is not something they are proud of today, a lot about world war II and so forth. There is so much more; today alone, Lionel talked at me for a total of at least 3 hours. I am very frustrated that I can't share with all of you what he's sharing with me, but I can hope to understand it all by the end of my four months here.
Bed time. Thanks for reading these super long stories. Good night!
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