Life here is a combination of never-ending pop quizzes and one very long game of charades. It’s like when you think you know all the material for a test because it looks familiar but on the actual test you have no idea what it really means. A typical conversation for us goes something like this:
The five of us think, plan, and practice asking a question.
We flawlessly execute the well-rehearsed phrase.
Cashier/Secretary/Student looks at us like we’re stupid.
We ask it again, this time with hand-gestures for emphasis.
They look to another French person with them and figure out what we’re asking. After twenty awkward seconds they somehow magically understand and “correct” whatever we said…saying the same words we thought we were saying.
They respond really fast.
We stand there for a minute, trying to comprehend what they just said. Was that a question? Should I just nod my head and smile? Are these directions for something? Does Hannah know what’s going on? Then it’s time for us to fess up by saying something in French about how we don’t speak much French.
They say in English, “Oh, you speak English? Why didn’t you say so?!”
Note: I’m not sure how they always know that we speak English (and not German or Spanish or some other language). I’m still trying to figure that out. Yesterday we went to a cute little restaurant on the port. All we said was “Bonjour!” and the man asked if we spoke English. (Also, this was in the afternoon so it’s not like we used the wrong greeting. See “Bonjour!” post for more information.)
It's probably because you look so confused all the time.
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