Party Time

More thoughts on our party from Dan...It can be a little nerve-wracking to host a party in a foreign land where you don’t know the customs or the people very well. But we figured it’s like everywhere else – provide food, drink, music and a relaxed atmosphere and people will have a good time. The biggest question was whether or not they would come. Thankfully, they did. We invited a lot of my colleagues and their significant others, our landlord’s family, our neighbors who don’t speak a word of English, and our language professor and her husband. We weren’t sure how many to expect, but we guessed that about 50 people showed up. So with that kind of crowd it was actually a very lively party. The guests ranged in age from 1 to 75 and nationalities included French, Hungarian, Canadian, Polish, Australian, Turkish, German, and of course a lot of Portuguese and two Americans. It made for a great evening and helped make us feel a part of the local community. Now we will turn our hosting attentions to smaller dinner parties as a way to socialize and get to know people.