Super Soirée

In the interest of celebrating the end of our language class and one exam left until school's out, a bunch of Middkids went out to dinner tonight near Montmartre. We went to a restaurant acclaimed by many for having the best salads in Paris and they lived up to their reputation. Every salad is topped with garlic potatos and full of other yummy things. Mine was smoked ham, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and onions. Very delicious. I wonder how many of my posts have been on the topic of food...........

After dinner I went to a soirée chez Sahar, the girl who stayed with our family four summers ago. I was nervous about going to a French-only evening and I couldn't convince a friend to go with me, and then I got lost on the way in an unfamiliar neighborhood. I was so flustered when I finally arrived in the elevator that I didn't realize that it was Jasmine (Sahar's sister), who came to meet me until we got to the appartment. The first half-hour was super-duper awkward, as is the usual at parties and particularly those where you know no one and don't speak the language. However things got easier quickly, and I found a few people to make awkward conversation with. In a rare situation in Paris, I was the only anglophone in a room full of Frenchies, so they all made awkward comments in English and then said they couldn't possibly speak it, they were so terrible in English (I imagine that at least half of their English is better than my French). One guy made a great comment about speaking a foreign language...he said when he speaks English it's like hearing a conversation with subtitles because the anglophones repeat back everything he says word for word except gramatically correct and with the proper accent. Another guy chimed it that it's like when Africans or Canadians try to speak French and the French need subtitles. I promised there would be no repeating of words on my part, but the English didn't come. Oh well. It was fun to meet some French peeps and some of Sahar's friends, including her boyfriend and Jasmine's boyfriend (both cute and nice). Sahar's apartment is adorable and she's a great hostess. It's unfortunate she leaves for Iran on Saturday, but I made plans to spend time with Jasmine after her exams end.