Good Times at St Ouen des Toits

Two days ago I arrived at St Ouen des Toits (Seh whe day twa) in Mayenne, and first impressions were ok. Just ok. Marie-Laure and Phillipe, the hosts, were really nice. The house was a little messy, but they do have a 5 year-old boy with Down syndrome and a 6 year-old girl, so it's understandable. The one thing that I don't like so much about this place is the fact that I have to share my room with the 6 year-old girl. I have a little bed in the corner, and a small place on the floor where I can put my suitcase. Nowhere to put my clothes, or any of my belongings for that matter. (That will change this afternoon though, because I plan on cleaning up the room a little and I'll put away a lot of her toys that are scattered all over the surfaces in the room.) Dinner was a little awkward because it was me, Marie-Laure, Phillip, Nathan (the 5-year-old), Manon (the 6-year-old), and Sylvan (their 22 year old son) , their other older daughter (whose name I can't remember) and their girlfriend and boyfriend, who were staying over for the family reunion. Phillip and Marie-Laure had finished and put the younger kids to bed, so I was left with the 4 others, who made no attempt to make conversation with me, and who kept laughing at all these jokes that I didn't understand.
Yesterday morning I got up at 8:30 and Phillip showed me how to milk the cows. It was really interesting, but I don't think I would want to have it as a career and do it twice a day, everyday. At 11, we all got into the van to go to a big family get-together: it was one of Marier-Laure's brother's birthday, and the entire family, about 45 people, were having a big party. At first, it was soooo awkward because I didn't know anyone, and the only talking I did with people were brief conversations about why I was in France and what my plans were. That all changed when we sat down for the big lunch. I started talking to people around me, they got me to taste different wines and cheeses, and we got a few others to come around us when the cake and champagne started being served. Sylvan and his girlfriend came around, and then we all went ouside to play a game with metal disks. One person starts off by throwing a smaller disk onto the plank, and then everyone has to try and throw their 2 disks as close as possible to the small disk. It got really competitive for a while, but that eventually petered out, and we all just stood around listening to music and drinking beer. I got to know the other people that were closer to my age, and we all talked and drank and ate French food until 12:30 in the morning. Everyone (even the adults) were opening beer after beer, cider after cider, bottle of wine after bottle of wine, and insisted that I drink as much as they did. They went on and on about how it's part of the French culture to drink all the time, and how I should experience this French culture since I'm in France. We had so much fun, and I went from standing on my own in the corner to being in the center of all the action because I'm the "exotique", and I have "des beaux yeux et une belle sourire". All the people my age were going to stay over night at the house, and they begged me to stay when I said I was leaving with Marie-Laure and Phillip. I was absolutely exhausted, and declined their offer, because I knew I would probably get about an hour of sleep if I stayed.