April concludes our fourth month here in France. We’ve now been through French school one-third of our scheduled time. On the one hand, it’s sort of scary to think that we’ve only got about eight months left to get up to comfortable fluency; on the other hand, it’s exciting to see how far we’ve come. We’re now able to express ourselves in ways that we had no way of doing four months ago when we arrived.

This weekend was an especially good ending to our first four months. On Friday night, Poppy spent the night with Granny and Grandad while Emily, Henry and I went out for Chinese food. A Chinese friend at school had recommended the place as one that serves authentic cuisine from the orient–thus, it wasn’t exactly what we were used to eating in the fine buffet establishments in America. All the same, it was Chinesey and delicious.

On Saturday morning we met with our conversation partner who continues to graciously welcome us into her home every week for tea and a healthy inundation of unscripted French conversation. At noon we headed to our professor’s house for a farewell party in honor of two families who have completed their time in France and are departing soon. Good time, good hanging out and, of course, good food. We can say that this was where we first had hotdogs in baguette buns, the hotdogs being the perfectly picante merguez sausages from North Africa. We will be having these puppies at home in the near future.

Then yesterday we had the joy of entertaining a newly engaged couple from church–our first time hosting French folks in our home for a meal. We made ham and potato soup–served with baguette, of course–and served a homemade apple pie for dessert. We spent the afternoon chatting about all sorts of things and I even got to bust out a newly acquired flash card phrase: le réchauffement de la planete “global warming”! I probably won’t use it again, but one time made it worth learning.

In the evening, we explored the château up the hill which turns out to be a fully functioning escargot and dairy farm. Surprisingly, seeing the snails do their thing (i.e., nothing) made us want to try them. How can you live in France and not try snails, right? One day…maybe…