Years ago, Bill and I spent 2 weeks at a language school in Cologne learning German. We were in large group classes or self-study for 6 hours each day and then went “home” to a wonderfully warm and welcoming grandmother who treated us like family. Breakfast and dinner were included in our fees and she even invited us to share Easter lunch with her daughter and grandkids. Her son-in-law brought a mini-keg of beer that helped the food, conversation, and laughter stretch well into the evening. This approach worked so well that we decided to try a similar but even more personalized method with French.

Whenever someone from the US is coming to visit Carcassonne, they always ask if they can bring us anything from the grocery store. During our first year here that answer might have been, “Yes, please, spices for Mexican food” but now we’ve even found those so we can confidently thank them and say, “no”. Inevitably the follow up question is, “Do you miss anything from America?” and that too gets a truthful, “no”, although there is a little wiggle room on that response. This headline from French TV/radio BFM will give you a hint as to why: “Dairy Queen to open restaurants in France.” A cliché but true, we all scream for ice cream!

Do you remember the 1981 movie, “Mommie Dearest”, that depicted Joan Crawford’s distaste for how her daughter was storing her clothes in the closet? The quote was, “No wire hangers, ever!” and a town about an hour south of Paris has adopted a similar rule for cell phones. Known in France as a “téléphone mobile (or) portable” because of their portable nature, the government estimates that 95% of the population has at least one. In theory however, despite that overwhelming number, there’s one community where you won’t find them in public.