J'ai de Français dans ma tete!

I had an experience today that I have never really had in America. I was walking down the street to my boulangerie. As I was headed towards the bakery, I heard someone calling "Charles, Charles, come here" (In French). He asked me if I would like a beer and would like to see his house. His house is a beautiful 60 year old farm house. He told me about how they used to raise pigs there and what it was like before he renovated it. After the beer, he asked me if I liked fish and salad and would like to stay for dinner. I said of course. Before I knew it, we had some fish, some cheese, some coffee, and a dessert alcohol. I spoke in French the whole night. I realized how much I will miss the challenge of speaking in French. When I arrived, I was terrified of speaking in French because I knew my French wasn't very good and I was afraid to sound too much like an American. So, I spent a lot of my time in France speaking in English with the other teachers and my Americans. And, I needed that because I am the type of person who needs a deeper conversation then the basic conversations I can have in French. However, its difficult to learn the language and to get over that hump of really simple conversatoins without trying. For the first time tonight, the words were coming to my mind in French. It is a great feeling. My professeur wanted to practice his English but once the conversatoin was flowing in French he just found it easier to speak in French. It was the same way at the bank the other day. I went to talk about closing my account and the lady said she could speak in English but my French was better than her English so we just spoke in French. I don't say that to sound arrogant but when I came I always tried to get them to speak in English because it was so much easier for me. But, now, I can converse well enough in French that I feel just as comfortable using my basic knowledge of French instead of contending wiht their basic knowledge of English. Also, a couple of my studnets found out I could speak in French during the week. They kept asking me if I could speak French and if I would show them, so because it was the last week I did. It was funny because their mouths dropped. They were kind of mad because they thought they could have been speaking French the whole time, but of course that would not have helped their English. Anyway, it was a great meal and one of those great things about living in France that I will certainly miss.