The French Way of Potluck

Alas, I have no pictures of this amusing event, so a detailed description will have to suffice. Potlucks are frequently questionable, no matter where you are. France is no exception. What was the exception, was the unusal method in which their potlucks take place. Apparently, the American way of patiently (or sometimes impatiently), standing in orderly line and following the person ahead of of you to calmy take the food is a too little excitement here in France. Instead... we crammed we're guessing about 200 people into our school gym, had tables set up all over with an assortment of...interesting... looking dishes, and then when the word was given, we all just kind of tried to find a spare corner the size of a small dwarf and squeezed into to hopefully attain some food. People had multiple plates at one time, I saw one guy with three plates in his hand, and we were all after the same thing. Madness this was. No direction, no order. Survival of the fittest. And we thought we outsmarted them for dessert, but no. As people finished their food, they nonchalantly meandered towards the back where the incredible dessert table resided. We thought we would just happen to be in the vicinity when they announced the commencement of dessert. Unfortunetely, they saw our scheme a mile away and quickly herded us away from the table. Some girls who tried to sneak some chocolate received a prompt scolding. The crowd was getting restless, so the pastor got on stage with a mic and attempted to explain the situation, that we were all going to eat together and they were moving the desserts more towards the middle. No one could hear him over the crowds restlessness, and many of those who could were Americans and didn't understand what in the world he was trying to say. He was begging, pleading with us to calm down and be patient. He cupped his hands over the mic, and at one point I did catch him saying "S'il vous plait, s'il vous plait, s'il vous plait....! Please, please, please! They finally got all the desserts situated, and then before you had time to look away, the villagers had moved in and were quickly grazing on the bounty.