I gather this will be news to most of you, faithful readers of ye olde internet, many of which do not even know me, but I’ve decided to shake things up a little bit in my life and have taken a break from residing in the good ole’ US of A.  I have embarked on a sojourn to the wonderful country of France.

Not that living in France is really that different from the US of A, but there are a few things here I’ll be getting used to for a while.  Trying to speak the language is one of them.  I can read and understand French with minimal success, but speaking is another story.  I really have a way to go before I feel confident in my speech.  I long for the day when I don’t have to be translating in my head before I utter a word.  I find myself awkwardly rearranging words prior to speaking a sentence out loud just to avoid using the one, two, or three, words I don’t know the French equivalent of.

All these new words also seem to screw with my unconscious mind, floating around in some kind of guttural mélange (note: French word).  In other words, sometimes I have no idea what I am saying.  For example, I went to get a coffee (not really any “North American” coffee here) and the barista asked me if I wanted to have my drink in the café.  I responded that I would like to have the drink to go.  She then said something to me and rolled her eyes at me; I couldn’t understand exactly what it was she said, but I heard “big” and “joke” in there.  It wasn’t until after I left with my drink that I realized I hadn’t said “No, I would like my drink to go” I actually said “No, I would like my drink delivered”.  For her, my straight face probably was reeking with sarcasm.  I laughed about that for a while.