Cheating

I think it's going to be a lot easier to cheat in Paris than I thought.

Cheating? I mean, it will be really easy to speak English. A lot. As a casual tourist to Paris, you'll find that you really do need to speak some French. If nothing else than to start off on the right foot with the Parisians. But once you spend some time exploring, especially if you speak a little French, you'll find a world of English just beneath the surface.

This weekend I went to this cute restaurant for a big lunch (I love the fact that you can have a 3 course meal for lunch in France and it's Totally Normal. I stumbled across Au Pied du Fouet by accident, and had a full meal with wine and coffee for 20 euros!). Anyway, I was speaking only French with the waitstaff, but of course I still have my Cute American Accent, and pretty soon the waitress was translating everything into English for me, even though I said "Oh no, je parle francais."

Saturday night I went out with some French friends, and I quickly realized that I could speak full-on Franglais and they would still know what I'm talking about. My French teachers would cringe. But it definitely makes it easier to sprinkle in some English when you forget some key vocabulary. We ended the night at a Canadian bar, Moosehead where speaking English was the thing to do (truth be told, perhaps there were more Anglos than usual because it was the night of the Rugby World Cup final). (Let it be noted that I do not, at all, enjoy sports bars. But for some reason I had a great time at this one. Maybe it reminded me of home!) I think I'll have to make a real effort if I want my French to improve. I can already tell my comprehension is getting better, but if I want to feel less like a 5 year old when I speak, I'm going to have to make Personal Rule #284 and Only Speak French for awhile.