Mother's Day!

I was lucky enough to have my mom here for mother's day. I was quite excited when I found out that this was going to be the case. My roommates and I decided to have a brunch for the mom's that were traveling with my parents as well. So Sunday morning we went to mass at the Cathedral and were surprisingly met by a bunch of women jumping around in Place de Victoire. I forgot that there are always big races on Mother's Day to support breast cancer. The interesting thing is that, according to a completely unscientific survey, France is the only country not to celebrate Mother's Day on the same day as the rest of the world. I talked to international students later in the evening and everyone had called home and spoken with their mom's because everyone else was celebrating the day. Not the French, they actually have Mother's Day later in May.
Anyhoo, after church we came back to our apartment and had scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon, pastries and fruit salad. It was a scrumptious brunch. When we were finished I took my parents over to check internet and our landlords decided another reception was necessary with champagne and other little goodies. So we sat around talking with them and drinking champagne with the entire group. I thought it was interesting that upon meeting the 6 Americans who had traveled to Clermont for the day, one of the first things my landlord did was to say "Thank you" to the Americans for helping out the French in the war. I think it caught everyone a little off-guard, but my parents and their friends accepted the thank you and we moved on to other, more broken conversations mixed between English and French with ample translating going on in between.
Sadly my parents and their friends had to leave in the early afternoon to continue their travels, but my roommates and I went to the Mexicans' place that night for the last international students' dinner. We had yummy pulled pork in sauce made by one of the Mexicans and tried to avoid having to go outside into the torrential downpours. A great Sunday and a great Mother's Day.