Soirée Nanas!

One of the things I miss most about the US is my friends…....and the possibility of making new ones. French people are weirdos. For cultural reasons that are way too complicated for me to go into here, the French generally tend to have a small group of friends that they have known since adolescence, and then see no point in adding to the group. Hence, if you are an “outsider” transplanted into the land of the Frogs, after sometime you realize just how hard it will be to acquire new friends in your adopted home.

I’ve been here in Froggy-land for nearly 5 years now and have managed to make a few French acquaintances, but none of these people are really my “friends” yet. You know what I mean? So what’s an expat to do? Party it up with other ex-pats of course!

Not long after I moved to Metz I met my French, by way of California, friend Jill (the adorably crazy one pictured above on the right.) who as it turns out---knows every freakin’ English speaking Ex-pat in a 50 kilometer radius of Metz Centreville. Being the peach that she is she was kind enough to organize a “Soirée Nanas” (Girl's Night Out) so that all the lovely ladies she knew could get to know each other. And hat’s off to Jill because it was a huge success! At least twenty ladies showed up for the event. In actuality it was a mix of Americans, and UKers, and a few Frenchies thrown in for good measure. These type of gatherings are always hilarious to me because you're forced to remember which person speaks what langauge. It's total mental gymnastics.

And an event it was, there was eating, drinking, and eventually some dancing! I forced my buddy Madame R., the Saucy Aussie, to do shots with me….very watered-down shots mind you. Also I didn’t do the one that smelled like mouthwash. I just couldn’t. Gag reflexes and all.

So anyhoo, there was dancing and laughing and all manner of chit chat around the table. I even met another woman who is an artist. (Who woulda thunk it?) I’m trying to convince Jill to do another party, but at her huge city house next time. I would have liked to do more chatting with the other ladies at the party, but after dinner the DJ turned the volume on the music so high that I nearly went deaf, so there wasn’t much talking after that. On the other hand, still, Fun!