La Famille

I realized  in my entry last night that I alluded to a few of the family members without really introducing them at all.

The d'Arhuy family is, as you know, quite large. In total they have seven children. As many people asked or pointed out beforehand, they are in fact, Catholic.

In order of birth (i'm probably butchering the spelling)
Maxonce- 17 I think
Quitterie- around 15 maybe.
Alinor- 12?
Cyprien- 9-10?
Pia- 5?
Gaspard- around 3 I'd guess

There is also Augustin who is at prep school as COL d'Ardhuy explained to me so I haven't met him.

Since most people aren't familiar with French names, Maxonce, Cyprien and Gaspard are the boys in the family. While Quitterie, Alinor and Pia are girls. I should probably ask everybody's ages now that I think about it.

The family eats dinner together every night. COL & Mme d'Ardhuy sit in the two middle spots across from each other on the round table and then the rest of us sort of get shuffled around every night depending on how the table is set. As you can imagine, dinner is usually a pretty lively event with 9 of us à table, as they say. Subjects always vary and sometimes it's hard to keep up with some of the kids jabbering away to one another or their parents. I can pick up on some conversations and try to ask questions to the people seated next to me as well.

Last night, for example, I asked COL d'Ardhuy to explain the difference between the Gendarmes and the police in France (except for the Gendarmerie being a military organization there isn't a difference anymore since it operates under the Department of the Interior and not Defense now). I also asked about when the French elections take place (May) and learned that their terms for President are five years.