Salut le monde!
So, It is Saturday, just another gras-matinée, as the french call it, meaning "fat-morning", for sleeping in as late as 2 or three, eating slowly, and taking it super easy. Had some chocolate bread as usual to begin with, a little piece of a baked-crescent sort of thing with bits of chocolate in it. So good. And then my host-mom made some quiche, which I afterwards posed the colorful question of how it was related to the word "quiche" in french for throw-up/up chuck/loose your lunch/vomit chunks. I know, such a lovely topic for eating. But knowing their sense of humor there was no problem, and she just laughed and explained that it's origins aren't really well known, but it isn't connected to the smell or color of quiche, the pie food. And seeing as it's slang I guess no one really could explain it completely correctly. Speaking of "quiche", last night I was invited to go to a birthday party of one of the girls in my "rheto", or senior year. I of coarse was a tiny bit hesitant at first, not because I'm shy to partying or drinking, no not at all... but just because I wasn't sure exactly if I'd feel right being at someones birthday party when I didn't know the birthday girl very well, nor had any idea of what to get her for a gift. And all the others that were invited were very close friends of hers, and of coarse all in our rheto, so anything said or done there would be eternally remembered for future gossip at school... oh high school, how I don't miss you, neither here or in the states :P Anyhow, I ended up deciding that it was a necessary mission, to go to a birthday party to see how they do it here. And as for the gift, I found a cute little white orchid in a white little cup, and some chocolat avec nut coco, "chocolate with coconut". I like to find things and pair them as if I were designing clothes, so I figured the white in the coconut chocolate would go perfectly with the cute little white orchid. I know, probably I am the only one to appreciate these little pairings but what the hell... ;) So with my "mignon" little coordinated gift, I went to this birthday party.
It started out as five girls, including me. I arrived to her house, which was conveniently very close to mine, and started to get in the party groove with the girls. We ate some home made spaghetti and sauce with each other, which later on I greatly appreciated since it was the only dinner I'd have for the night before the inevitable drinking games :) We talked and talked, about funny things and superficial things, and it was very enjoyable, especially since I find it hard to do so at our school, when everyone stays to the same topic of gossip and if you're not in, your reserved a seat labeled "observer for the day". So, later on of coarse more arrived, and more and more... and the evening gradually elevated to a real party. It was really a sort of private but at the same time light-spirited and lively party, and all the girls were giddy and frisky, and all the guys, well, the same actually, haha. It's quite often that you can see the similarities in the behavior between the boys and girls here, they are very much on the same page, except when it comes to appreciating the opposite sex, of coarse. But even in this category, I find the boys here much more discreet with words about the girls whose bodies they comment on. By this I mean, I'm used to the simple and quite unromantic phrases such as "she's hot", or more commonly "she's f...ing hot". Oh how romantic conversation has disintegrated. But anyways, the french boys here are very peculiar in this way- they don't often talk amongst themselves about which girls are hot, what parts of their body are "especially hot", and then some.. more like only if a girl is in the room that is attractive, maybe then they talk about her. Otherwise its more like something they saw on the Internet, something someone said on Facebook, etc.
So, I ended up joining in the drinking, not abusively so but not exactly gracefully either. And after that it was just more and more dancing, more fooling around with darts, singing, laughing for no reason, and all the stupid yet fun things that being highly buzzed/mildly drunk brings. I found it extremely amusing that a group of girls wanted to go "pipi nature" even with perfectly good heated-toilet papered-bathrooms inside. I guess its just a phenomenon here, and because I've been forced to resolve to it myself in my many experiences here in the wilderness part of Belgium, I can't judge. There must be something about the call of nature and our more primitive side that lures them to do their business in the cold outdoors in January. :) After what it seemed like a good amount of time, and late in the night/early morning I found a ride to take me back to my house, even though I was kindly invited to sleep over with the rest, I've learned a most important lesson in my life. There's nothing like your bed. Haha. And even before I learned this I was always extremely fond of my bed and it's wonders. So I returned, after saying a quick goodbye to everyone, giving a peck on the cheek for bisous. And I returned home, somewhat stumbling through the house, not just from the state of mind but from the utter blackness that filled every room, and the numerous objects on the floor just waiting to make a fool of me. I took a moment to go outside, and because I still had the lingering buzz effect of the drinks I decided to walk all the way in the middle of our back yard, and stare at the beautifully clear night sky with stars. The stars here are more plentiful than those in my view back home in my own back yard. But that's to be expected living near such an enormous city. The sky is often tainted orange and purple, and rarely black. So I had a lasting image of a beautiful starry night before I hit the sheets and completely passed out.
~R
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