Oh, the People You Meet!

My hosts, Katy and Hubert, invited us to Sunday dinner after church.  They also invited a family from church who had come over for the day from Marie Galante.  So there we were, all seated around the table, sharing goat columbo  (a local curry dish).  Katy and Hubert are French.  The family who came was also French, except for the grandmother who was visiting from Duesseldorf.  The grandmother did not speak much French, but she did speak English.  Her grandchildren - like most European teens I've met - spoke fluent French, German, and English and were learning other languages, too.

So, there we were, three generations from three countries, speaking haltingly in three languages and translating back and forth so that everyone at the table could be included in the conversation.  We sat at the table together and shared a common dish.

I love these kinds of moments, when the big world suddenly seems small and people are willing to speak slowly and translate so that all are included.  It was such a great day meeting the Godefroy family - father Hubert and children Fllosselle, Couloumbe and Ysaumbert - as well as their friend Kaïsha Jerpan and grandmother Christina Greeven Bierkämper (who, unfortunately is not in any of these photos but is in photos from my previous post from the church service). There truly is a holiness in breaking bread together.