Assimilating into a new society

I haven't been up to a ton, so I don't have anything really new and interesting to write about. It's kind of hard keeping a blog like this going for a year because the fact is I have more of a routine now and my day-to-day life isn't necessarily very interesting. Although it may be very different to most of the people reading this blog, I don't find it interesting to write about. So I figured I would write a story about assimilating into French culture. It didn't happen to me, but Mianke (a friend of my host family who has been staying with us for the last few days).

Mianke (I hope I'm spelling his name right) is from Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He came to France about 30 years ago as a political refugee. When he came to France with other refugees they went to a French restaurant in Paris and decided to eat a traditionally French dish. So they all got artichokes, and when he told me that I knew exactly how the story was going to end... They ate everything, instead of just eating the tender part of the leaves. They ate everything, and thought the French were weird for eating such a terrible thing but still reassured the waiter that it was excellent when he returned to pick up their dishes. So there's a little story about trying to assimilate into another culture... you have to educate yourself about it a little bit first.

So I'm exhausted after a long day and I need to "hit the hay," even though there's absolutely no hay involved. Good night, and I hope everybody is doing amazing. Thank you if you're still reading!