"T'es une française maintenant..."

Well, according to my host father, Antoine. It was basically his way of congratulating me for getting over my jet lag. There was a very French moment during our repas this evening wherein my host brother, Ferréol, and Antoine were having an intense discussion about something I couldn't catch on to. Then, all of a sudden, Antoine turned to me and asked "Et Catherine, quelle est ta opinion?/What's your opinion?" Despite knowing that the French highly value strong opinions and furious debate, I could come up with nothing and stumbled over the sentence I've probably used most often during my stay here in Lyon: "I didn't understand very well...."

Turns out they were talking about Ramadan, since one of Ferréol's classmates is observing it, and Ferréol attends a Catholic school. This led to an elaborate discussion about how a complete understanding of France is impossible without the concept of laicité...

I also made the discovery on the way home today that I live perpendicular to the street where Antoine de Saint-Éxupery was born. The street is now named after the famed aviator/writer. At the risk of exposing how cliché my francophilie is, I must admit that Le Petit Prince is one of my favorite books of all time. That I'm living around the corner from the man who gave us this little guy:

must be a sign of good things to come.