Dinner Party

Where to begin…tonight I went to a dinner party for couples that either make wine or have a bed and breakfast that is associated with the tourist office. The man who was hosting the party was recently divorced and remarried to another man named Alex. Both of who were extremely nice. They had a pool and lots of white tables set up because their wedding was a few days before. I had met a few of the couples already because they came to my host family’s house for a wine tasting my first week here. 

There was another lady I met that had lived in Gurnee, Illinois for 5 years. It was interesting to talk to her because she was telling me that no matter where she had traveled to, she felt that all city people were similar and all country people were similar and all types of people had similar values and morals. I thought it was an interesting way to look at things. She was also explaining the French Paradox to me and how it is related to drinking one glass of wine each day and eating duck. 

After standing around and talking for awhile, we sat down to eat the meal. There was steaks, sausage, lentils, salad with tomato and avocado, and potatoes. It was interesting because for drinks they of course had wine, but many of the dads were drinking straight rum with lime. Then they had a food fight and started throwing people into the pool. Fransizka and Renaud both got throw in, but luckily I avoided it. 

Once the majority of the adults had been throw into the pool, they started dancing to warm themselves up. Their way of dancing is to dance alone and kind of hop from one foot to the next. It was nothing like anything we do in America. They also had a playlist with “Genie in a Bottle” in French, and a slower version of the YMCA so I was able to do the hand motions for that and not stand there awkwardly. haha

Then we ate dessert; their tiramisu was to die for. Right as we were leaving Alex lit one of those lanterns that you release into the sky left over from his wedding, and it got stuck in one of his trees. They had to use the hose to put it out. It was quite an eventful night, and everyone was extremely friendly, which was nice.