Those poor French people will never know what hit 'em

Now that I have YOU under my spell and addicted to this blog lets get down to the nitty gritty, the juicy stuff, what REALLY goes on hear now that "Veronique" has arrived. If you really know me you should be saying to yourself..."Self...DUH!! Ceci would P-A-R-T-Why?...Because she's gooood at it!" No, seriously here is how good I am at this whole part planning thing...BEFORE I even arrived in France, I already had Frenchie draft up some invites for a themed party to celebrate 2 of his friend's birthday. (That was just a cover up, they were really there to celebrate my arrival to France, teehee)

As is the custom for all of my parties (in french the word for party is fete, and remember you never use the last letter =), so it is pronounced, "feht") so back to the custom of my "fetes", there is a THEME!!! I went with a classic one of having everyone dress in all white. Give me a break, I have to ease the french into this theme fete idea. Not to say they dont have themes, but they dont have "Ceci" themes. I love that my name has now become an adjective!! So with invites out and guests RSVP'd, the week after I arrived we had the Fete Blanche (if you can't figure out the second french word too bad, i'm not stopping the bus for you).

Almost everyone, showed up in all-white. As is the custom in France, we drank a ton of champagne and wine. I did all the cooking, so naturally it was scrumcious, some highlights were my tasty guacamole, some of my famous stuffed mushrooms, and Stephane handmade some sushi (watch out ladies, he's taken). I also introduced them to "jello-shots". They looked at them like they were lab samples but upon shlopping them down, they said, "Voila! C'est magnifique!!"

They don't know what jello is here!! They don't have it! I can't imagine childhood or college without jello. I discovered the jello at a small tiny bagel sandwich shop that sells some American staples like stuffing (6 euros), fluff (7 euros), Trix (10 euros), Dr. Pepper (2 euros), Budweiser (5 euros), Arizona Iced Tea (4 euros), Aunt Jemima syrup (11 euros), and jello (5 euros) Now go back and multiply the euro amount by 1.5 and you have the equivalent amount in dollars. So for what normally costs me $0.39 a box in the US....here I have to pay $7.50....for FREAKIN JELLO !!!! Dr. Pepper $3 a can!!! So if you are feeling generous send me some jello or some Dr.P.

Continuing on, after some champagne, some wine, some jello shots, some beer, it was time for me to show them real party music. Hee hee hee. All of my BYOW peeps better know this playlist by heart. (I will explain BYOW to all the deprived in another post) Songs included some Bohemian Rhapsody, Crank That, Santeria, Walk It Out, Hypnotize, I Got Friends in Low Places, etc. I didn't speak a lot of French, but I think I got my message across pretty clear! I'm "unique". hahahaha.

After the craziness of Ceci singing solo (Stephane helped a little but didnt want to look look tooo weird in front of his friends) it all went down hill. I think I may have "tossed" a couple of glasses on the floor, balcony, wherever there was prime breaking area. I think I may have comically went off one of Stephane's friends for not being "gangster" enough. Oh well, if they didn't know Ceci before, they know me now. Just a small discalimer .... they all had a blast, they want me to throw another one (with jello shots), and they still hang out with me. (well not the kid I reamed into for not being gangster, but 1 out of 7 ain't bad).

*the guy in the right is the one I yelled at for not being gangsta enough

**the blonde one is actually a gangsta

When this fete happened, I had already been in french school for 5 days. The class had some interesting folks in it but one imparticular stuck out. This spanish girl with black hair like the color of toros (in english that's "bulls") and fiesty like one too!! Hahaha but from day one we were a pair. I take the words from Mae West, "If you've got nothing good to say about someone, come sit next to me!" So, I teach her Ceci english and she teaches me Paula spanish (for all you mexican spanish speakers....im learning Thpanish from Thpain) We are quite a duo trying to survive in France and making fun of the french way of doing things the whole time. So from here on out Paula may appear in some of my posts, so readers let's make her feel welcome. I'm proud to say that even after inviting her to my all white party and her seeing me in all my glory, she told me, "Veronica, you are one crazy *spanish explicative* and I LOVE IT!! We will get along just fine!" and we have. On a crazy side note, her and Stephane have the exact same birthdate, right down to the year!

Needless to say, after one week, I made like a dog and "defined" my territory. So I hope you enjoy the post, the pics, and stay tuned for more of Veronique Moves to France.

P.S. To all my BYOWs and BYOW groupies, Bohemian Rhapsody is no fun when you sing it drunk and alone. So when I get back to the US, we are totally getting wasted and belting out at the top of our lungs all the BYOW favorites!

This is Veronique the American formerly known as Ceci...signing out.