first night in Paris

Finally made it! Not that it was that bad (17 hours to South Africa definitely made this one seem like a breeze), just lots of anticipation. I love being here; just the French atmosphere is exciting, at least for a foreigner, I suppose :).
Arthur got me from the airport, and we sat for a good while in traffic. The comments made about the weight of my bags weren't toooo out of line :P. Back at Chez Heller, got caught up with Catherine and took a lovely 3 hour nap--very necessary after only getting about 2 hours of sleep on the overnight flight. Woke up to a lovely lunch of salmon then just spent the afternoon chillin (including watching Sherlock Holmes in French, which sounds rather funny).
Now, Rosh Hashanah dinner: big family gathering. All the Hellers, plus grandma and grandpa, plus a few cousins and their families, a great aunt or two...I think 22 overall? Here were the courses: apperatifs (sausages and fish on toothpicks), les entrees (bread in honey, apples in honey with sesame, what looked like pomegranite seeds, dates, gefilte fish, soup with crackers), the principal dish (beef meatball things, potatoes with onion, greens including beans, leeks, chickpeas..), dessert (fruits, quince, sesame "cigars"), then tea. Y'all should be so proud, I tasted almost everything, and always cleared my plate: good practice for Jordan!!
Came home absolutely exhausted: French wears you out, man. And, of course, lots of questions about my semester abroad; these people vacation in destinations like Tunisia..they had lots of questions and suggestions!
I almost forgot...during the entrees, shotglasses full of vodka were passed around. I passed, fully aware that my few sips of wine would suffice juuuust fine.
Bit of computer time back at the house, but otherwise totally passed out at 2am. Another dinner at "mami et papi's" tonight, but smaller crowd it seems. Going back to bed!