Harsh Realizations

Foreign languages are difficult. I took years of French and  used Rosetta stone and have done Duolingo, but none of that really prepared me for getting off the train in Paris and not find anyone who spoke English. Now having been here a week I've learned to communicate much better; some most people turn out to be fairly patient once I stumble through " Desole, mon francais est mauvais." So I feel like I've gotten much better, I can communicate what I want at a market, ask a few questions, order food, but yesterday I went to the post office. It isn't the same as an American post office. That might seem obvious the office in question being in France, but they do more than just mail at La Poste here. There is a national bank of some sort, the do mail, they sell wireless phone service, copying, 3d printing, and what else I'm not sure. So imagine a post office, Verizon, bank, and Kinko's all rolled into one, crammed in a small space filled with people in long lines who don't consider it necessary to shower daily, then make it all another languages. Thankfully a women with a shirt that said "Bienvenue" was doing triage. So it seems like even if you are French you would find it confusing, they have a greeter to help head off any problems or disorientation. It's exhausting trying to take care of anything in a foreign country. I get why immigrants have such a hard time and I imagine impatient Americans who have the luxury of growing up with English and the presumption to demand they speak in better English or leave are super frustrating. It's hard work to communicate when you don't know the language very well. What's worse is that when you are only able to carry on the kind of conversation a 5 year old might and your brain starts forming thoughts in that language, but with a 5 year old's vocabulary you're limited to juvenile thoughts; you start to go a little crazy thinking you have begun to regress in intelligence. Couple self doubt with the seemingly insurmountable brick-wall of bureaucracy in a foreign language and that's enough to make any furious. I am thankful people here have been a patient as they are, and next time someone in America has a hard time communicating what they want I'm going to try a little harder to figure it out.