Dinner at our place

Last night Jeffrey invited his American friends from West Virginia over for dinner. These are the students who are studying in France this summer at the university that Jeff is attending. They had complained that they were longing for good ole American food so Paul and I set out to find something that we would consider American. We first thought of fixing hamburgers, but we weren't sure about the mustard, ketchup, and fixins that go along with that, and besides, they HAD eaten already at McDonalds here. Then we thought about Tex-Mex but dismissed that idea since they were from West Virginia. Barbeque was out since we have no pit and no place to cook. So we finally settled upon a roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, SOFT rolls, and a salad made from iceburg lettuce (not very common here) with Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. The dressing was compliments of Kate's friend Melanie from New Orleans who sent us a package that arrived on the day of our big dinner! Dessert was brownies with vanilla ice-cream.

They arrived at the planned time as Americans do. We all enjoyed good conversation and a good meal. They did thank us for providing comfort food at a time when they are ending their summer stay and longing for the familiar things of home. Each student is staying with a different French host family and the discussion at dinner centered around the different experiences each student was having. One student was staying in the suburbs with a family who had a really nice house, a nice "mom" who cooked delicious meals and was very welcoming to the American student. Another student was staying in a small apartment with a family that had 7 kids and it appeared they were struggling to make ends meet. In her case, the "mom" didn't cook very often and the student was left to find food on her own. In another case, the student had good accomodations but was expected to do chores like cleaning up after dinner.

They all complained about how hard the bread was... and how stinky the cheese was.... and how difficult things can be when you don't know the language very well. Two girls told the story of how their plane was delayed on the trip over here and so they arrived late. The host family was not there to greet them and they didn't really know what to do. It was a very uncomfortable situation for them. I wished I could have known about the problems and helped them in some way.

The dinner party ended late and everyone was not looking forward to getting up for class in the morning. But it was a very nice evening with good food, good company, and good conversation!