Easter Weekend through Tuesday

I had a very lovely weekend.  All of my host sisters came for the weekend as did Sophie (the eldest)’s husband and two young boys.  On Saturday night, I babysat for her while the rest of the family went to late-night Vigil mass.  The boys, a toddler and infant, had already been put to bed, so it was more or less just keeping my door open and listening in case of crying, but luckily the evening passed without incident.

On Easter Sunday, I accompanied my host dad to mass.  He was singing in the choir and I sat in a pew near the front of the church.  The church was several hundred years old, built in the roman style with pretty stained glass.  Near the end of the service, the sun had risen to just the right angle so as to shine through a piece of golden-colored glass to spotlight the altar, which was very neat.  I found that I was able to follow what was being said throughout the service fairly easily, so I was excited that my comprehension is getting better.  It helps that almost all of my family’s friends are Catholic, so I’ve been to more than a few masses before.  With all of the incense burning, I have got to say that the Catholics have the best smelling churches that I’ve ever been to.

The main course for Easter lunch was lamb.  My family was very amused to learn that Americans eat ham for Easter.  I didn’t have the courage to tell them about vinegar soup, sorry Gracie and Polish friends.  The Cloche de Paques, or Easter Bell visited the house and left everybody their chocolate presents.  Yes, in France a magical flying bell visits each family and leaves them gifts.  To be honest, it makes just about as much sense as a rabbit delivering eggs, so I can’t say much.

On Monday I worked on homework; it being a national holiday in France, I did not have class.  We had another big lunch before everybody left.  The first course consisted of fois gras with a vintage 1970 wine.  That was a neat experience.

Now I am working on my end of the semester work, my radio episodes, and studying for my exams.  It turns out that all of them are going to be before my spring break, meaning that during my actual exam week, I will only have to work on two papers for my Minnesota courses.  That’s exciting.

Today was beautiful.  The sun was shining and the temperature hit 63° F.  I accidentally set my alarm an hour late, but I still managed to make it to class with ten minutes to spare.  On the way home from class, I was walking along the esplanade and passed a florist, and, on the spur of the moment, bought some flowers for my host family.  My host mom was very appreciative.  She apparently used to plant the same type, but the last one had died out this spring, and so she was happy to be able to replace them.