Close Encounters

Last night I decided to go out and have a drink, Paris-style. Dillan and I found a small bar very near the Bastille and grabbed a couple of seats out front to people watch. No one in the bar was speaking English but we managed to get our drinks. We made idle conversation for a while and wondered if anyone nearby spoke English.
Soon, the woman (let’s call her Sarah) at the table next to us asked us where we were from. She is a student at the Sorbonne and speaks 3 languages. She was with her boyfriend (Alex) and his two friends. Both her boyfriend and his friend were Russian nationals in the Foreign Legion and were wearing their uniforms and accompanying stiff white hats. The two men in the Foreign Legion were paratroopers. At one point one of them pulled out their cell phone and showed us a four minute video of his military training. How incredible is it that -- using a cell phone to overcome a language barrier?!

Sarah said that when she first met her boyfriend, he couldn’t speak a word of French, only Russian and German. They only spoke in German to one another for the first few months of their courtship. Since then his French has developed and his Russian accent was nearly indiscernible. The woman was the only one who could speak English so she served as translator for the rest of us.

We were mostly talking with Sarah and then Alex interrupted and asked Sarah to interpret for him. He told us that when he was a small child in Russia that he had two dreams. One was to come to America and see the Twin Towers before he died. The other was to see Michael Jackson perform in concert. Then he looked stonily at both of us and said something that translated to “now both those dreams are dead.” It was fascinating.

Next we met two German nationals, Tom and Martin. Martin has been living in Paris for the past twelve years with his wife and children. He and Tom were childhood friends. Tom was in town visiting Martin for the weekend. They both spoke impeccable English (actually they put most Americans to shame) and they were a lot of fun. I have a very German last name and when I told them what it was they were horrified that I didn’t speak German. They felt that I was turning against my heritage. Overall, they were very confused as to why most Americans don’t speak more than one language. Honestly, interacting with all these Europeans who speak at least three languages fluently made me feel inadequate.

Anyway, it turned out to be a really fun night. Hearing about these strangers’ lives and how they live was extremely interesting. Thanks to Dillan for letting me tag along!