Hands on the table, s'il vous plait

I always thought I was a fast eater. In the States, I finish my whole plate of enchilladas before my mom finishes one taco. In France, I really have to shovel it down to keep up with my family. Although meals at resturants can take up to two hours here (each part of the meal comes out separately), eating with the family is always a race. Tongiht we ate a dish of tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese (du chevre) and my plate was still half full after everyone else had already sopped up the juice with their bread. Table manners are so different for me here. The french cut their food and eat it without changing which hand their fork is in. Perhaps that is common in the States too, but I literally cannot eat food off my plate with the fork in my left hand. I am practicing every day though, so hopefully I will master the technique soon. The french also eat with their hands on the table. This habit is probably the hardest for me to get used to. I do not know how many times my mom has told me to put my hand in my lap at the dinner table, but it is a very large number. With my host family, I am torn between two feelings of disrespect. When I rest my hands on the table while I eat, my American conscious tells me that I look sloppy or antsy to do something else. But when I catch myself with my hand in my lap, my French conscious makes me feel guilty also! We will see how well this new habit carries over when I return home.

Tonight I learned a new magic trick! Constance cracked open her new Texas cards and showed me the card trick which involves guessing a certain card in the deck after making a few piles. It completely bemused me and took seeing three performances before I finally knew what to do. It is rather mathmatical but allows for some creativity to make the trick believable. Hopefully I will learn more tricks and card games that I can bring back with me in my head rather than my suitcase. My family has Settlers of Catan here and Racko at the country home, so I know family game nights are not far away.

I also found out that my host dad works with the Pope (le pape, John Paul II) and handles the logistics of his travels. I am not too sure of all the details, but one of my family's older sons will take over working with the logistics of the Pope after my host dad steps down. I think he is working with the travel logistics for a world-wide youth Catholic event called Journee Mondiale de la Jeunesse (JMJ). The next JMJ is in August of 2011 in Madrid, Spain. I still need to continue to dig deeper into this subject to learn more about his involvement with the Pope.

--Edit-- I do not think he actually works with the Pope directly, but they are in charge of organizing all the food, housing, transportation, and activities for a few thousand youth who will be going to Madrid next fall. Apparently the largest groups of youth who will attend the JMJ come from the States, France, and Spain.

Another good acronym to know here is SDF. It stands for Sans Domicile Fixe, or a homeless person. I have not seen too many yet, but apparently they get a little more aggressive at night around le centre-ville. Some more good French words to know are carrefour (intersection), trottoir (sidewalk), laid (ugly), couvre-feu (curfew), and poile (hairy).