l'apéro

Charles and Amandine really wanted me to meet their dog. "Madame, when will you be back in l'Héronnière (their neighborhood)?" When I told Viviane, who lives up the street from them, she said, "Well, we'll just have to invite them to have l'apéritif with us." By the way, the apéritif usually consists of chips, nuts and/or crackers, fruit juices and more grown-up beverages like whiskey, Pineau, Port or Pastis. I don't think it's every day that students get invited to their math teacher's house to have before-dinner drinks (non-alcoolisées, bien sûr) with their American English teacher. When I visited with their parents at a school event a few nights before, their dad said they talk about me all the time. I didn't say so, but I talk about them all the time too. They are trop craquants! Saying goodbye isn't going to be easy.

The kids arrived on time, with Oscar in tow. Or was it the other way around? Oscar is a chien de montagne de Pyrénées, and weighs more than the twins combined. We sat outside and talked about all sorts of things - what they like to do in their free time, who walks the dog, where they are going on vacation.

Last night, I was invited to another student's house for l'apéro. Nicolas is a particular little boy. He offered me a hamster and a kitten in the autumn when he learned I lived by myself, and I had difficulty making him understand that it wouldn't be fair for me to adopt an animal for such a short time. He is always the last student to pack his school bag and leave the room (sometimes without the bag), and his teachers tell him to reflect a bit before asking a question, because he's usually way off-topic. His curiosity is refreshing, though, and it's going to be difficult to tell him goodbye as well. He has been telling me I was invited for quite some time, and we finally got our schedules and my transportation worked out. His dad went to England with us, so I knew him a bit, but I'd never met the mom. From Nicolas' homework, I'd learned his little brother & sister's names and that they were building a house near the sea. This was the main topic of conversation, but we also talked about the differences in the education system (his parents are teachers too) and visited with their English neighbors. What started out as before-dinner drinks turned into four hours of more warm memories of France and more particularly, the French.