Spent NYE overnight at my friends’ place out in wine country. Took a newly discovered bus route to the village with a very friendly bus driver to meet my friend at the station.
We enjoyed a multiple course meal for nearly three hours with various liquers, wines, devils on horseback that I made, raw oysters with cider vinegar and shallots, two types of crab terrine, chicken pot pies, a multiple cheese course, green salad, and my favorite new discovery of roasted quail, as well as homemade mince pie and calvados with two kinds of sorbet until we popped open some champagne to ring in the new year and then were offered gifts I was not expecting, including some pastis drinkware and a hardcover comic book from a series named “Game Over”.
Although my friend speaks some English, his other half speaks none and the French he does speak is sometimes difficult to understand due to his deep voice and regional Béarnese accent, but we all plodded through, with sometimes hilarious misunderstandings. We were all full of questions about different French and American culture, various foods, customs, and family.
We then watched the amazing countdown spectacle on television from Paris until it was time to crash out, bellies full and exhausted from multicultural and multilingual exchanges.
It is moments like this when I am happy to be an extrovert to meet strangers who eventually become friends enriching each other’s lives. It makes life worth living, especially as a serial immigrant.
I look forward to all the new experiences in 2026 and beyond. Happy New Year!
