George,

Thanksgiving was good here. The program gave a rather well done fête last night. It lasted until 5 in the morning. All of the host families and our friends from various countries were invited to a good old not-so American Européen style Thanksgiving held in a château on the Rivière Cher south of Tours.

It was one of the best evenings that have passed here thus far. It wasn't too much later than a fête that the French have every November to celebrate the release of the new wine of the year. This fête kind of mixed the two, with the local viticulteurs among the families porting the fruits of their récolte.

I've never tasted wine that young before. Interesting. Some of it is violet. It was good wine. This is the country of wine and cheese snobs.

How goes it on the home front? Do we have a president yet or are we still in the midst of rethinking this whole electoral college thing. The French who are known for their adherence to their beauroctatic rules find our little electoral pickle astounding. They find our electoral college system inefficient and atiquated (case in point right now). They wonder why we haven't scrapped the system.

Joey Cheeks (electronic mail, November 24, 2000).