EuroKacky: My First Real French Dinner Party!

So the other night, I went out for drinks with a colleague from école Edmond Laguerre named Thierry, because he wanted a chance to practice his English. After an hour of talking, he invited me to a dinner party he was going to at his friend's house in Louppy-le-Chateau...a town 20 minutes North of BLD by car. His roommate Julie drove, and we met up with their friends Hélène and Nicolas and one other man whose name escapes me at the moment.

The dinner was great, we had wild boar that had been shot by Nicolas' father who apparently likes to hunt, with mashed potatoes and homemade bread...YUM! They were very welcoming, when we sat down at the table, they immediately asked me what swear words I know in French. After answering, they 'filled in the blanks' of my vocabulary for me. The conversation was great all night, mostly in French, with a few sentences in English here and there, for both their benefit as well as mine. They had me try several different types of alcohol, including a Portugese white wine, orange liquor with beer, vodka mixed with homemade apple cider (SO tasty!) and two VERY nice, apparently expensive bottles of bordeaux (this was hands down one of the best wines I have ever had) - they opened 2 of the 3 bottles they had for "soirée Kathryn" - and I also tried a liquor named Suze. NEVER drink this!!! Its original purpose was to numb your mouth at the dentist!

After dinner, Nicolas brought out his electric guitar, and asked me to play what songs I knew...which is the three-note base line from 'Louie Louie'. So I played it, and everyone joined in singing and clapping to it. Then Nicolas taught me how to play 'Come as you Are' by Nirvana, and of course, 'Smoke on the Water' by Deep Purple. After that, out came the microphone and karaoke! Thierry and I wailed out a song by Celine Dion, and Knockin' on Heaven's Door, but unfortunately as I am sick at the moment and we were singing as loud as we could, my throat hurt too badly and I had to stop. We had coffee and talked for a long time, the party ended a little after 3, then Julie drove us home.

We discovered that Julie and I have a birthday a week apart, and they decided that a joint birthday party is in order! I will post again after I get back from my trip, we leave early tomorrow for Brussels, Bruges, and Amsterdam!

Thierry gave me all of the photos of the party today, so here are a few of my new friends!