La Famiglia

So, I've finally done it... I took pictures of most of my host family, except Isabelle, who doesn't live at home, and I can now introduce them to you. So here they are: the family of Comte et Comtesse Phillipe et Véronique de la Cropte de Chantérac, in all their glory.

Here is the Count himself, lighting the birthday candles for Henri's 15th anniversaire. We had tarte tatin instead of cake, and I was just fine with that. Phillipe is perhaps the calmest of the whole bunch, and definitely lends a sort of... centered feel to the house that it didn't have when he was in the hospital (recovering from surgery).






This is the Countess, also known as Véronique, or Véro for those in the inner circle. In this photograph, she's probably forcefully announcing her opinion on something -- perhaps on the subject of teenage drinking, or the fact that Jean (who is 23) doesn't eat dinner at home enough. Véro is a little nuts, but I like her all the same.












This is Jean, the fils ainé, a 23-year-old engineering student who lives upstairs in the old maid's quarters. He's really much more handsome than this photograph would have you believe. Jean's a charmer, with a bit of a raffish streak. He and I have an excellent dinner rapport, where he makes fun of the other members of the family and I laugh, and then everyone else asks what we're laughing about. Also, we have matching sneakers.










There should be a picture of Isabelle here, but you're going to have to make due with Louis. Louis is 20, and spends most of his time studying to get into the grands écoles, the really prestigious business schools in France. He also enjoys soccer and Nicholas Sarkozy.













This is Marguerite, the 16-year-old. Margotte is a woman of the theater, and also plays guitar and sings a lot. She's hilarious. Jean is her favorite brother, although she and Henri are also really close, since they're so close in age. She enjoys making fun of Louis for his prominent chin, which she says makes his head look like a potato chip. This is an important family joke.











And this is Henri, the fils cadet, who just barely turned 15. He's studying Russian (and English and German), and one of his party tricks is telling you what your name would be in Russian (apparently they follow a strict patronymic system, so I'd be Elizabeth Rogeryana or something similar). He also plays soccer, and a lot of FIFA soccer on X-Box when the time arises. One of his aspirations is to buy a big pick-up truck and drive it around both North and South America. He wants to come to the US this summer and stay with a family with kids around his age -- any takers?

So that's the fam. They're pretty wonderful and a little kooky, and I enjoy them immensely.