Just another Wednesday...not

Well I've realized that if I don't write immediately about the little things in France that I have enjoyed, I won't write about them at all. Therefore, I am writing now about last night, which was a quite fun experience. For those of you who don't know, I am the 3rd au pair my family has had. The previous two have both been Colombian, as the family wanted someone from South America, since that is where the kids are from. Anyway, one of previous au pairs' parents are in Paris now visiting their daughter who is also an au pair outside of Paris. So, my host family invited the parents and daughter to dinner last night. 2 immediate observations: (1) I have lost at least half of my Spanish (2) It is incredible to have not one, but 2 different cultural backgrounds in the same room at once and for an extended period of time. My host mother went all out making appetizers and a wonderful dinner and dessert. And although the cuisine was great, that was nothing new. The highlight of the evening was just sitting and talking (in 3 different languages, no less) with my host family and the Colombian parents and daughter. I had a great conversation with the father about the situation in Colombia with the drug trafficking (sp?) and to hear his views on Chavez and the Venezuelan situation, which were surprisingly similar to my views on the situation. It was nice to revisit Colombia a bit, since I had studied it in depth in one of my spanish courses in college and also just to hear the various perspectives. It was also neat to meet someone who is doing the same thing I am doing and who lives near Paris as well, although since there is a big Colombian contingent in Paris, I think they generally do things with one another. Nonetheless, we talked about Prague and I am now set on going there no matter what, so hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later. Anyway, these cultural exchanges are just one great part of living in France and I feel very fortunate to be able to meet and talk with such interesting people. Sorry if this post seems rather disorganized, I wrote it in a hurry and without much thought...that's it for now though!