My New Friends

On Friday afternoon my neighbor across the street called to invite me and the boys over for a playdate. She has a daughter in Year 2 with Nicholas at Dulwich. I, of course, said sure and headed over at 4 PM. Her name is Claudine and she invited a few of her other friends over as well. Claudine is from London and has a lovely accent. Michelle from Detroit was there with her 2 children Malorie (in Nick's class) and Cameron, Louise from Australia, and Karen from Cleveland, OH. What a crazy mix of people! Except for the different nationalities I felt like I was amongst a good group of friends in NY. I don't know what it is with me and accents, but when I get around people with accents I tend to have an accent myself. As the day turns to evening and I am on glass number 3 of wine (hopefully Kyle will sleep well tonight) I am using my new favorite word "lovely" in every other sentence and with each time I say it my mid-western/British accent is getting stronger. I can hear myself sounding like a fool, but can't control myself. I finally realize that it is almost 8 PM and look across the street to see that Mark is home from work and probably frantically looking for us. I leave the children with my new friends and run across the street to get him so he can join us for a glass of wine. I am hoping the fresh air will pull me out of my British trance so my new friends don't think I am a complete fool! Anyway - we had a great time and things are looking better. Maybe life can be normal here in China?