Saturday.

The first night I was here, my family did have some interesting questions for me.


First, they asked about cats.  They said all their American students have told them that all Americans keep their cats locked inside because they are afraid they won't come back.  I told them that my family, personally, does keep our cats locked inside, but I don't think it has anything to do with them coming back.  Cats get hit by cars, and eaten by coyotes, and various other reasons that just make it safer and easier to keep them in the house. Besides that, I don't think my cats really have any want to leave the house for an extended period of time. They've just been conditioned that way...


The other thing they asked me about was eating with a knife.  I wasn't sure what they meant. They said none of their other American students ate with knives, or knew how to. And the example that she gave was cutting things with the side of a fork instead of using a butter knife. After watching them for a bit, I understood what she really meant.  They eat with their knife in one hand and their fork in the other, and instead of chasing food around the plate trying to get it to go on the dang fork, they just put it on with their knife.  (An alternative to this is using bread.  Then if there's sauce, you get sauce on your bread that way. But they have bread with every meal because it's France.)


As mentioned, I did go to the neighbors' to have dinner with Anne and her host family last night. It was delicious. It was a Basque dish, with peeled and steamed potatoes, and then this mixture of sliced and cooked onions, tomatoes and green bell pepper with egg mixed in. (And, of course, bread.) When it was cooking, the smell reminded me of jambalaya...  It was very good.  


After dinner their daughter Adele wanted to take Anne and me around town and show us all the bars and clubs... We ended up only going to 2 bars, and I didn't drink anything because I didn't feel like it. But I met Adele's French friend Carol, and her Irish friends Adele and Aoifa (pronounced ee-fa). They said we'd do it again next weekend but I think I'll stay home. I didn't want to be out really late and we got home at almost three in the morning.


I've officially been in France for over a week. I do miss home, but it's not too bad yet.