There are definitely days where I feel like absolutely no one understands me in French … and then there are good days with little frustration stemming from the language barrier. But I had a day of solid, although random, French conversations, and that’s worth writing about! I was at the bus stop, and a man asked me a question about the schedule; when I responded he noticed the accent and asked if I was German. It turns out he was a reporter on assignment from the Congo, and we had a pretty interesting conversation about politics, culture in the US, etc.
The next conversation was with a French professor at the high school; when he found out I was American, he was enthralled and told me all of the places he loves in the US! I’ve never met anyone that excited about the US; he said that he thinks Americans are more friendly & open than the French, and his favorite place is Las Vegas, haha!!
The next interaction happened when I was walking to a party and got completely lost, so I stopped a couple to ask for help. There were super nice and went all the way back to their car to give me a map. I told them I was an English assistant at my school, and they thought that was great; another perk of working at the most well-reputed high school in the area … people respond pretty favorably when I tell them what school it is, so that always helps!
Ah, and I might as well throw in an example of a not-so-smooth French convo. I went to the little market nearby to buy some liquor for a party, and as I was buying Jack Daniels, I tried to explain to him the significance of me taking that to the party (I’m from Tennessee, etc etc). Well apparently he didn’t understand much because he asked me, in both French and English, if I was drunk! It was like Wednesday afternoon, and no, I was not drunk. Then he was really interested in knowing if American men are better looking than French men. Not my place to generalize on that one … J
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Allow me to generalize: a) it depends on whether or not either the french man or american man prioritize personal hygiene b) does he speak english? yes? then on to c... c) does he speak with this english with an accent, and gaze seductively into my eyes as he mentions his cottage in the alps, his preferences in french wine (i.e. what are his cabernet recs?), etc...okay, I'm leaning towards french men on this one...hope you're enjoying your time with them...and the cabernet... ;)
xoxo, d
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