Lil Spill

Why on God’s green earth do I volunteer for school things. So we are hosting two french exchange students. They speak absolutly no english. Thank god jackson speaks french. The first night was painful. One kid was on the verge of tears the whole night and the other kid lost his key to his luggage. I made a huge dinner and they wouldn’t eat a thing. Really not one thing. Jackson’s teachers had said prior to their arrival ” they are raised in the french culture which is very strict. You could feed them cardboard and they will eat it.” Well I got the only freaking two kids that wont eat anything. Yesterday I put out croissants , yogurt , and watermellon. They stared at the food like it was dog pooh. They were shocked by the yogurt. Jackson pulled me over and said ” mom did you see them look at the yogurt like it was an alien product”. I asked them if they would like ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch. The only response I got was ” is it from the butt of the pig?” Of course Jackson is translating all of this to me. I looked over at jackson and started laughing ” I have no earthly idea if its from the butt of the pig. Jackson’s dad picked them up from school and we met at a pizza place. I figured you can’t go wrong with pizza. Well one kid wouldn’t eat it. So I took them to the supermarket and had them pick out foods they liked. Well they are not much different then american kids, they picked chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and french fries. When we got home they went in the pool with Jackson. Finally there was laughter. They had a ball and now the whole mood has lightened up. It was cool to see Jackson playing with these kids and speaking french and laughing.

On a side note, my parents were very strict about eating at other peoples houses. You always try everything given to you. You are never rude. I have also raised Jackson like this. I would be mortified if he went to france and wouldn’t try anything. In their defense, I get the impression that they are from a very small town in France. In fact neither of the kids has ever been to Paris and one of them has never been outside hi  sown  town. So this must be a complete culture shock to them. Ok back to work