Morning #2

Jetlag has hit mom, hard. It is 9:45 and she is still in bed and I've decided she gets 15 more minutes then the whip cracks. Hey, we've got a whole city to see. So I'm taking a few moments to muse on a few things.

First of all, it's been sixteen years since I was last in Paris. I was 20, a college junior, and I thought I handled the six months I lived here pretty well. For all intents and purposes, I was pretty much fluent by the time I left.

Here's the funny thing: I was way too hesitant with the language back then. My grammar was excellent, my accent more than passable, my vocabulary was huge... but I hardly ever spoke to strangers or initiated a conversation. I would never ask questions about something on a menu, or stop to ask someone the time. I was to worried about screwing up or being judged or being - as we Americans do tend to be over here - disliked.

Now, I don't care. It's funny, I will speak the most mistake-ridden French - and I'm sure it is, because I sure don't speak a whole heck of a lot of it back in the WC (That's the Worcester County, in Ma - sort of like the OC, but...nah, not so much) and yet it flows fairly freely now. Amazing what 16 years of living can do for your perspective and your self-confidence.

okay, well, enough about that. Just... it's a different city as an adult. At 20, I'm sure I thought I was pretty wise and mature, but, well, turns out I wasn't. Probably when I'm 52 I'll think I was a complete moron at 36.

okay, here's a weird thing: My computer knows I am in France. Seriously, it scares me sometimes how smart this little macbook can be. As soon as I logged on here it was like "Hon hon (that was an attempt at a mocking French laugh) you think I do not know where you are, but you are mistaken. I shall now open your facebook in French...." Seriously, I logged on and it was like "Shall we change your facebook format to French?" to which I was like "Non, merci." Then I started this blog and I got French e-blogger. Which was fine until I tried to edit something and since it was the dark ages back when I lived here (there was no email, kids :-() I am not real familiar with computer terminology en francais. It took some trial and error. Not until this morning did I figure out how to change the commands to English.

Bottom line: My computer is way smarter than I am. And it's French is better too.

Alright off to wake up sleeping beauty for another day in the big city.