Last Friday I was on my way to pick up Sacha from school when he called me on my cell phone:
Sacha: Hey Mom, since it is the first day of school vacation, I was wondering if after school I could go with my friends for a drink?
(Since we live in the country and have to commute over an hour everyday to school Sacha rarely does things after school with his friends.)
Me: Oh, okay… just call me when you want me to pick you up. I'll go downtown and hang out.
Sacha calls me five minutes later.
Sacha: Hi Mom, I am ready
Me: I thought you were going for a drink?
Sacha: Change of plans, Remy's mom said he couldn't because he needed a haircut, Antoine's mother said he needed to rest for tomorrow since he is going to take his driving test, and Thomas decided we might as well cancel the idea.
I met Sacha downtown, we hung out and later we went out for dinner. French Husband is out of town.
At dinner I asked Sacha, "By the way when you said you were going out for a drink you meant at a cafe for a coffee or something?"
Sacha, "Well no not really, my friend's thought that since the drinking age at the bar is going to be raised from sixteen to eighteen we should take advantage of it since we are sixteen. We thought it would be kinda cool to go in and order a beer.
While I sat there processing my sixteen year old son telling me casually that he was going to go to a bar and have a beer… I thought how very, very different my high school culture was from his. How America and the States are worlds apart on the drinking thing.
Learning French, and becoming accustom to the many nuances of French life has been part of the training to experience life as an American mother with French teenagers. Learning French was the hardest part. Having teens a breeze…. even with very relaxed rules about drinking.
When Chelsea was a senior in high school her Advance Level Math teacher was retiring. On the last day of school the class pooled some money together and bought two bottles of chilled champagne and some appetizers. The asked the director of the school to join them as they proposed a toast in the class room, to their favorite teacher.
Champagne in high school with the director, retiring math teacher and in the classroom… French culture normal.
Me: Sacha you have been sixteen since June why haven't you gone to the bar before and had a beer with your friends?
Sacha: Well, I don't like the test of it for one. Secondly, I prefer Coke a Cola and it is a whole lot cheaper to go to the grocery store and buy a liter of Coke then to have a drink in a bar.
Me…. Practicality, I'll raise my glass to that idea.
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