During dinner with Jean-Claude and Maryse,  they usually get swept in to the political stories aired on local news and forget all about anything else. This is totally fine by me, but I can’t usually understand much of what they are talking about because my French lessons didn’t cover political lingo.

To combat boredom, sometimes I make “sculptures” out of fruit remainders from my plate. Jean-Claude and Maryse are so used to this habit by now that they push their leftovers toward me watch as I try to balance 30 pineapple leaves on top of each other in a variety of jutting positions. It keeps me amused, and you can see in their faces that they are on edge when my unsteady hands get close to causing a collapse.  When it looks right, I’ll announce I’m finished with my work and they insist on me taking a picture of it.

Who says I’m not spending my time in France wisely?!