Pâques / Easter

 

So French of me... 

 

Easter egg Hunt 

 

Easter Slippers

 

Fromage

My Easter in France was not that big of a celebration but was still really enjoyable. My host family at the time was the Duponts, who are not very religious and therefore we did not go to church. The morning was relaxed and we kind of hung out and everyone did their own thing. The boys worked at taking town a fence, my mom was in the kitchen and Miso slept, like normal. 

Camille and Pierre came around midday and we had an Easter egg hunt in the garden. The Easter Bunny does not come in France. Instead it’s the “Cloche de Pâques” (Easter Bell) that comes from Rome and passes through the back yards of kids and drops chocolate and presents. We had a little Easter Egg Hunt in the garden and it was Miso’s first. She was really cute and enjoyed it a lot. We all got a wrapped present, a big chocolate bunny and lots of chocolate eggs. Miso and Antoine hid my present in the garden after I had already found it, so while everyone was back inside, in the warmth, I was searching in the bushes for my package. 

After they laughed at me for five minutes, I found it and my host mom had given Miso and I French slippers, the same ones as she brought to Taiwan for all of Flavie’s friends.  It was so nice of her to offer us a present.  We popped a bottle of Champagne and sat around and talked for a while. We had not seen Pierre and Camille for a while, and everyone had been so busy the weeks that followed up to Easter so it was nice to catch up. Miso had finished the ears of her bunny before we had moved to the table for lunch. 

We started with Fois Gras and continued with a little lamb. The poor thing. We also ate beans, potatoes and salad. After the main course, the fromage came out. We had a plate of six different cheeses. Each course was accompanied with a different wine. My host sister told me to take my class of wile and take a picture ‘for the family and Rotary.’  We had an ice cream cake shaped like the Easter Bell that was delicious. 

After three hours of eating and talking, we had tea and coffee and then my host dad drove me to the train station to go to a party. It was such a nice Easter and really relaxing. I was not homesick as I was at Christmas, maybe because it is not as big of a holiday and it was not my first Easter away from my family.  I was happy to be with a bigger family and glad I could teach Miso about the meaning of Easter and why we have Easter in our religion. It was certainly an Easter I will never forget and I was happy to have spent it in France!