On French in France

Well folks get ready to be told someting obvious. Speaking a foreign language in another county is nothing at all like speaking a foreign language in class. Having been in France for long enough now to realize that what I thought was a vast knowledge of French is really just a couple of important phrases and tons of forgoten vocab words and conjugations. Luckily I have 4 hours of French a day to help with that(8 30 AM thank you very much). At the end of one month of four hours every day after having taken 2 semesters of French in the States, I will officially be at an "intermediate" level. Or at least what the French government calls intermediate. Let me explain what intermediate is. Basically you can carry on a brief conversation if it sticks to the topics of food, colors, basic directions and many other things children in Elementary school love discussing. What Im trying to say is that languages are hard. Luckily I have not encountered any of the French stereotypes, everyone has been really nice about the fact that I communicate like Im in kindergarden. All the French people speak to me in French about the states and love to ask really complicated questions about if I love Obama or if I really love Obama. I obviously cant communicate at this level quite yet so most of the conversation is them lauging at my accent and saying how nice it is and that I should keep trying. I never said they werent patronizing, but at least they are nice about it. Im trying to go easy on myself as well, the 13 year old French kid who is fluent in English can get you down in the dumps, but I just refuse to give up. I will continue to make a fool of myself in public places for as long as it takes. I have gotten much better at ordering in restaurants and bakeries... hey its all about baby steps.