There I was, giving directions to the Picasso museum to a French woman -- in French.
It was a little victory.
Another one came when the taxi driver in Nice told me my pronunciation was better than most Americans and then asked why I was learning French anyway because most people from the US are too practical and business-oriented. That may not have been a compliment to some, but it was to me.
That might have been it in three weeks.
Two sweet moments mixed in with a bunch of embarrassing ones like the time pretty much a whole busload of people knew I was hopelessly lost after a woman finally understood where I was going because I said it IN ENGLISH because no one could understand my French and she hollered for the bus driver to let me off in between stops because I was very far from my destination and getting farther by the minute.
I won't list the other times. It would take too much space.
But two victories are enough to give hope. And the other moments were enough to provide motivation.
And what could be more fun than learning a new language and traveling in a foreign country and asking directions -- and giving them?
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