France Archives - Kangaroos & Kimonos

Au Revoir (Again)

July 15, 2015 by Laurie Deppa 5 Comments

The whole gang at the Towne Center concert

Raphael contacted me through Facebook. He and his family – mom, dad and two siblings stayed with us two years ago. They were a LOVELY French family from Lyon whom we met through Couchsurfing I believe. Hard to keep track sometimes.

Raphael and his friend came to tour the area and spent the weekend with us. We had a great weekend catching up with Raphael and hearing all the updates on family members. We had a great time at our favorite Friday night summer hangout – dinner and concert at the Annapolis Towne Center. Then Saturday, we had an engagement party to attend and we invited them along. They had a wonderful time and got to meet more locals and enjoy a lovely event!

Definitely going to Lyon sometime, been to France many times – but never Lyon!

🙂 Au revoir amis

Vive la France

April 1, 2015 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Laurie & Ellie giving Phillipine personal tour of Annapolis

Phillippine and Ellie enjoying Eastport Maritime Museum exhibits

We had lovely dinner conversation. She is French, but fluent in English and doing a study abroad. She is taking her spring break to tour a bit of the East Coast. I believe we are her first hospitality stay. I was anxious to practice my French – we all know how we forget those second languages without regular practice. She noted that my French is very good and I am pleased as I have been speaking Spanish more than anything.

I was going to do my own thing the next day but she was only with us for 2 nights. So I changed my plans and took her sightseeing through Annapolis in the car. Turned out to be an OK day. We are able to go through the US Naval Academy since my husband is a Marine. I think the academy is one of our greatest attractions. We also enjoyed our local Annapolis Maritime Museum, where my daughter and guest learned all about oysters and their impact on the area.

We had a nice lunch of local specialties like soft shell c and more interesting conversations. Ellie had to nap so I took her home and our guest stayed out seeing more of beautiful, historic Annapolis.

We had an event that evening and invited our new friend to join us. She reluctantly declined as she had to move on to her next adventure. Hopefully, a hospitality that will enjoy her company as much as we did. Brian drove her to the bus around the corner while my daughter and I waved sadly goodbye to another friend.

Joyeux Noel

January 2, 2015 by Laurie Deppa Leave a Comment

Audrey, Laurie, Ellie and Adrien Christmas Eve 2013

That year my husband was in Afghanistan and Ellie and I were alone for the holidays. I was very excited when a lovely person was emailing and asking if she and her boyfriend could spend Christmas with us. YES! We really had a wonderful time. We got invited to TWO parties on Christmas Eve. They were both hosted by big Italian families and they were so welcoming to all of us (they were the families of friends). Needless to say, we ate like kings and had a VERY memorable Christmas. I don’t have a big Christmas family event so it was very special to be included in someone else’s.

Audrey and Adrien really took to my daughter and vice versa. I prepared them both Christmas stockings and a few inexpensive gifts to make them really feel welcome Christmas morning. What would have been a lonely and unexciting holiday turned into one of my most memorable ever!!

Audrey & Adrien at USNA Chapel Christmas Eve Service