I continued to gain skill in French language.  One hard lesson, that of  the difficulty of making jokes in a foreign language, was driven home to me.  I had learned that fried potatoes were called "pommes sautees".  I had also learned, from jumping rope with Francoise, that the word for "to jump" was "sauter".  One evening, when we had fried potatoes at dinner, I took a potato and threw it hard on the floor so that it bounced (jumped) under the dining room table.  Madame looked absolutely aghast--how could this be, she demanded of my father...what is the meaning of such behavior?  I explained that the "pomme sautee a saute sous la table"...Madame, Claude, and Francoise did not get the "pun."  My father got it but told me in both English and French that this was no way to make a joke.  He then spent time explaining it to Madame and there followed a discussion of the difficulty in making jokes in another language.

Living in Paris, and in particular living with a French family, again opened many varied and broad opportunities, especially in regard to the remarkable set of Americans who lived and worked in Paris during this post-WWII time period.