Vive la France!

Wow, I spent a fabulous weekend in France, where I went for the celebration of the 30th birthday of Armelle and Gérald. They are two of the five children of the family with whom I lived in 1997/1998 when I spent a year in France. Since then I have stayed in contact with the family and so now I was invited for a weekend-long party in the Champagne region.



After my arrival on Friday, I helped with the final preparations for the weekend: cooking, cleaning, preparing decorations. It was the usual chaos with which I had already gotten fanmiliar during my stay with family. From time to time I exchanged a look with Polish Martyna (also a friend to the family) which says it all: We both understand that some things never change... and maybe that's even for the better. ;)



Their party took place in the village where I had lived with the family, but where none of the family members still lives nowaday. So instead of being around the house where we lived, we now went to land belonging to other family members. I had not been on their property yet for they had bought it after I lived in France, but it was stunning to see the venue! A beautiful house above a water mill, a very nice space for us to eat under wooden beams and a very big garden with... a swimming pool. Excellent for a festive weekend on the countryside, particularly because tempuratures were high all weekend long.



On Saturday around noon the partying started. According to French traditions we started off with an apéritif, followed by a long five-course meal accompanied by a variety of alcoholic drinks. We had fish, meat, cheeses of all kind and great cakes for dessert with a lot of champagne (basically as much as we wanted!). This whole 'exercise' took as at least five hours.



And then, after five hourse of eating and drinking, what do you do? One could take a dip in the swimming pool, participate in our local 'World Cup', rest in the shade and get ready for the evening activities. Because what were we going to do that evening? Yes, of course, eat and drink more...



Late in the evening, after some more champagne, we continued with a buffet in the garden. More guests had arrived to party with us in the evening. The sun slowly went down, peeking trough the leaves of the trees in the garden and the candles were lit. The weather remained beautiful so we prepared ourselves for a long night in the open air.



The evening also brought us a great surprise: My French hostmother had asked an Djembé band to come perform for us and they were just great. The African and Latin rhtyhms sounded through the garden. Armelle played the drum for part of the performance, some of us danced and the kids could have a go to. At the same time others performed acrobatics with lit torches. A great addition to the evening!



Like on Sunday, I am currently still recovering of the festivities. ;) I am sure that by now everyone has returned to their homes, in different locations in France or abroad. However, it was great to have been all together enjoying so much 'Frenchness' in one go! Bisous à tous... :)

Picture taken by: Eduardo, Fanfan, Sanne. Merci de les avoir partagées!