English Makes me Lazy

As an American I speak English...obviously.  I took the obligatory and elective Spanish Classes in school so I have the speaking and understanding proficiency of a 3-year-old Spanish speaker....with an auditory processing delay. This means that every time a fluent Spanish speaker speaks to me, it takes a lonnnnggg time for me to process.  I've learned a few key phrases to explain to said Native Spanish speaker such as "Yo entiendo mas que hablarlo", and "Despacio por favor", and "No se'" to get myself out of sticky situations. 

Recently I went to Paris, where Spanish is NOT the official language. Being the slightly-more-than-moderate achiever that I am, I had to learn some French so as not to appear to be an ignorant American. I HATE to be the person who doesn't know what's up. But as I was getting French tutoring (see link below), I was comforted in knowing that as an English speaker, I'll rarely be alone. EVERYBODY SPEAKS ENGLISH. Well, not everybody speaks English but most countries that bill themselves as a tourist trap have plenty of English speakers and accommodations. With that understanding, I've found that non-Americans are so impressed when Americans know facts about their country, culture, and their language. That's a little insulting isn't it?  Oh well, I know that as an American who travels abroad, all I need to do is learn a few key phrases of my host country's language to be impressive. Thus, English makes me lazy. 

My French Tutor-Podcasts on Itunes:
 Coffee Break French
The lessons were short and focused on themes. They taught relevant dialogue. I listened to Lessons 1-10 twice as I was on a deadline to get "tres bien!"  
They also have other language tutorials available. 

Americans In Paris

This post is more of an announcement of my latest Youtube video.  France| Americans in Paris is the last in my Parisian series following France| Black Paris Tour and France| How to Survive Paris. It's more of a recap summary of the trip.

Merci!

Team Tourist or Team Traveler??

Ricki Stevenson, The owner of the Black Paris tour company, mentioned the difference in being a tourist and a traveler. A traveler...travels and researched the language, cultural dress, history, even the government policy. What I picked up is that a traveler immerses themselves in the culture, respecting its differences and similarities to their own.  A tourist visits a place, picks up an "I (heart)__" t-shirt, without trying to learn the culture, and goes home unchanged. In preparing to go to France I quickly learned some rudimentary French. I couldn't have given a lecture on French history or anything, but I was able to introduce myself and communicate that I didn't understand something in French.  I also made an effort to always speak the French that I knew.  When stuck, I reverted back to English or even Spanish as that is my unofficial second-ish language.
After hearing the tourist vs traveler spiel, I said to myself "Kendra T is gonna be a Traveler!"

REVIEW | The Black Paris Tour: Paris, France

On my most recent...and first... trip to Paris, I joined the "Black Paris Tour". I always take a tour on vacation and this one was very different. It highlighted facts, monuments, and the obscurity of the presence of Africans and African-Americans in Paris. It was like viewing the city through a Black lens-so-to-speak.  In case you haven't noticed in my profile picture, I am Black...Brownish actually, but you get the point.  In all of my research before going to Paris, I learned of the history of the majority such as multiple aristocratic "Louises" but not about the Count General Alexandre Dumas. It's interesting to see the perception of Africans and slavery by the French vs English vs Americans vs Africans.
My Video "The Black Paris Tour Review" on my Youtube channel shows some highlights of the tour, including an interview with the founder/tour guide Ricki Stevenson:

www.blackparistour.com