France Day 27 - Reunited and it feels so good!!
Trip Start
Jun 25, 2008
1
66
77
Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Chateau-Gontier,
France
Friday, August 22, 2008
Around 10am Sandrine stops by the house and she and Janice head off to the market to buy some food for today's lunch. Franck goes to the back doctor. The girls sleep (jetlag!). The kids and I enjoy one of our last walks to the boulangerie, and wait at the house for everybody's return.
By noon, the entire house is full of playing kids and laughing adults. Franck and Sandrine and their three girls, Vincent and Guenola and their three little ones, and Janice, me and our kids. Thats six adults and eight children!
Vincent and Guenola have brought pastis. "Atencion!" and Rillettes "Atencion!" and crust wrapped hot dogs ..
Cookin!
. "Atencion!"Meanwhile, Sadrine slaved away in the kitchen, creating a masterpiece of Greek Chicken (chicken, onions, raisins, peppers, curry powder)... YUM!
We find that our conversation with Franck and Sandrine and Vicent and Guenola is wonderfully pleasant and easy. I continue to play the American fool role ... and everybody enjoys teasing me. The group also finds plenty of opportunity to pick on Mr. Bean as well. ... And before I know it, Janice is laughing and laughing and laughing. Even more than usual. And then I see that she is on her 2nd glass of wine. "Atencion!" This is not normal! She is drunk (well, at least as drunk as Janice ever gets....) ... and its funny for all of us.
I do my best job interogating Franck and Sandrine, asking them about their American experience. What did they enjoy best about Sacramento/San Francisco? What were the biggest differences they saw between our countries? Any negative experiences? ... We learned that their largest surprises were our very overweight population (they were shocked to see that some need wheelchairs to move), our huge streets and freeways, how often it seemed that we eat out at restaurants, ..
Sandrine's food smells GREAT!
. and how many "For Sale" signs were on the houses. ... Also, we talked for quite a while about the differences between the European religious experience and that in the States. It seems that everybody we've spoken to about religion on this trip in both Spain and France has related how much a personal affair it is, spoken of to only very close family. Unlike the Evangelical movement in the Americas where personal conviction and faith is the key element, ... here it seems to be much more about culture and tradition than anything else.Our feast of food and fun goes from 11am to nearly 6pm. At the end, we are all exhausted and full to the brim.
Tomorrow's plans: Janice and I have challenged the two Frenchmen to an olympic scale tennis match. We shall fight ... blood, sweat, and tears ... for the pride of the Red, White, and Blue! Well, the Red, White, and Blue with stripes and stars. Yes, for the Stripes and Stars!
