The French Invasion
Last Friday was the 200th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Trafalgar - basically when the British navy kicked some French butt and they are really proud of it here. They even had beers made to commemorate it - although I think they would possibly make beers to commemorate everything if they could. For more on the Battle of Trafalgar click here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Trafalgar.Completely unrelated to Trafalgar, the French invaded Barkingside this weekend. Barkingside has a twin city in France and every year, a group of people from one of the cities visits the other for a long weekend and they switch off year to year.
On Friday, our guests from France went with us on a tour of a really beautiful church in the area (click on flickr.com box to the right to find pictures) and then we had lunch at the local cullinary college. Saturday night is when the fun came for me -- I went to dinner at our churchwarden's house. Six was the number of bottles of wine we polished off; 5 the Englishmen; 4 French people who oui ouied all night; 3 - the number of hours we sat around the table; 2 dessert courses; and I was the lone American and the youngest there by FAR.
The French all seemed to have no clue that I was not part of the English bunch until someone outed me as their resident Texan. Looks of confusion (or maybe distress?) came over their faces. As usual, to solve this somewhat uncomfortable moment of silence when people wonder what I must be like cause I'm from Texas (images of cowboys, trucks, big macs, and George Bush dancing ungracefully in their heads --- yes, that IS what many people later said came to their minds after they met me) I break the ice with "Oh, don't worry - I didn't vote for him." This, of course, broke the ice with laughter immediately with the English and, after successful translation, with the French as well. What had not happened up to this certain situtation was the hostess actually asking -- so, Shelley, what is your position on the war in Iraq? Oh. No.
Suddenly eyes from around the world were focused on me - this poor little young Texan in a sea of glares had been made into an international diplomat in a matter of moments. I was sweating, shifting in my seat, wondering how she could have the nerve to ask such a question over a peaceful meal and in international non-english speaking company. She was one-upped though -- 2 minutes later, after my shaky explanation of my basic anti-war sentiments, a Frenchman asked why Texans hated the French so much. I don't even remember what I said, but it must have been good because they were all joking and laughing with me, and when they left made sure to exchange email addresses with me to keep in touch and send me pictures. Whew.
posted by Shelley @ 8:10 PM
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