Another International Sunday Lunch

Sunday lunch is a big tradition here in France. It is an important time to enjoy a relaxing meal at home with friends and family and to talk, and talk, and talk. French people love to talk around a table. I think this is why they love meals with several courses. While it is very different than the American "hurry up so we can watch the game" mentality, it is turning out to be one of my favorite parts of life here. Some of my favorite memories of our life here have occurred around a Sunday lunch table and this past Sunday was no exception. If fact, I think I could even go as far as to say that this Sunday lunch takes the prize as my most interesting meal thus far.

Let me explain why......... We attend an International Church here in Strasbourg and it has been such an amazing blessing in our lives. We have met some of the most interesting and wonderful people. And Sunday, I had an opportunity to have lunch with several of them. Our hosts were the Fruhauff's who live in a beautiful farm village 20k outside of Strasbourg.



Evelyn prepared a delicious meal that included several courses, two of which were dessert:


During lunch, we realized how many different nationalities and languages were represented. Somebody had the idea of us saying thanks to our hosts in each of the represented languages. We had a total of nine and it was so cool to hear each guest express their gratitude for the day in their native language. We heard English, French, German, Alsatian, Nigerian, Spanish, Italian, Greek, and Bulgarian. It was a really cool moment.


What a group!


After lunch we decided to take a walk around the traditional Alsatian village of Obernai. These are my friends from Nigeria posing next to the traditional Alsatians. Christian is here studying engineering at the International Space University and his wife Prisca is here visiting him.


The three American girls:


Those of you who know me well know why I had to stop and admire the Easter display at the Obernai Patisserie. (yes, I have been known to eat an entire chocolate easter bunny in one sitting....a big one.)


You may notice Peter is absent from these photos. Don't worry, he is still alive, but just barely.........the work-load has been pretty heavy these past two weeks, so he didn't make this lunch. His hard work will pay off though, when we head to sunny provence in a couple of weeks!