Parler en Francais avec autre etrangers?

I have to say that the easiest time I have had in speaking French has been with foreigners. I think it is because I am not worried that they are going to correct my French or be insulted if I speak it well. Today, for instance, I spoke with a Chinese person and a Mexican person in French and I actually think I was gettin my point across.
Last night, Myriam, my responsable from the school, threw a party for me after classes were let out. There ended up being about 20 or so teachers and 2 other assistants at the party. It took a little bit to get going, but once people started showing up it became quite interesting. By the end, I was amused at the fact that when language teachers get together after hours, they are not much different then students. We are trying to figure out how to swear in every language represented, French, English, Spanish, Portugese and German.
The most interesting point in the night for me, was meeting the German assistant at my school. She speaks French pretty well and English pretty well, so we conversed in both. Yet, for about 20 minutes she talked to me and two other teachers about growing up in Eastern Germany and trying to learn to deal with the fact that her grand fathers were in the German military. She talked about how one left the Nazi party very young, but the other was required to fight because he was a young person living in Germany. It was amazing to watch as she told this tale and talked about how her grandfather had a picture of him laughing with his buddies, and she tried to understand how this was possible. In the end, it seemed to me a powerful picture of the humanity of even the German soldiers who were doing strictly what they were forced to do but to take their minds off of what was around them they sometimes had a good time. Her grandfather never shot anyone either. He was part of the military but spent a significant portion of the war in German prison camp. It was just fascinating to listen to her tell her tale and although she repeatedly said she hated talking about, she was willing to. And, I think it was quite effective in relating to those around her, that she is obviously not a Nazi and her family although German, were real flesh and blood humans. They were not simply some vague notion of evil Nazi killers. It is these kind of experiences why I love being in Europe.
Also, I got my recipisse and I am on my way to being official in France!