International Harbors

france

I'll get to France soon.

But to start you thinking, just prior to my second trip to France, I mentioned to a friend what a difficult time I had on the first trip. No one was rude, as is common opinion, but I just can't learn other languages . . . except Japanese. I do okay with Japanese; I'm sure it's because there are no Latin roots, thus no confusion between English, Spanish, French, etc.

So my friend handed me a book (I forgot which) about getting along in France . . . I had only enough time to glean the wisdom: learn at least a few words of the language such as excuse me and thank you and count the change.

It sounded too simple, but I was willing to try anything, so I did as advised.

On my third trip to France with my then-15-year-old daughter who spoke fluent French and actually got us through, I had occasion to order and pay at a small bakery away from the tourist areas. The bakery owner, a man, looked as us askance, so I determined to try my best with "please" and "thank you." It did not work, until I counted out the change to the franc. He looked me in the eyes, quite surprised, and pronounced "bon."

So it works. Since then, I try to learn at least "thank you," "please," and count the change. That works in every country. It implies, I think, that we are on foreign soil, they should not be accommodating us, that we have made an effort to at least be hospitable.

During my first trip to Japan, lost at the airport in Tokyo, one of the flight crew asked where we were going and pointed out our direction. I thanked them very politely: "arigato gozimashita" (which is the equivalent of "thank you very much). She looked at me totally amused, and repeated, "Oh, arigato gozimashita." It made my day, and probably hers. During that same trip on a journey Hakone (north of Tokyo), I didn't realize that the bumps on the ground out of the train station were for blind people. A Japanese man bumped into me, I instantly realized that I was in his path and it would have been impossible for him to know that. Embarassed, I repeatedly mumbled "sumimasen, sumimasen" (excuse me, excuse me). He turned in my direction and rewarded me with a smile and a bow.

Laminated maps such as this are useful for negotiating cities as large as Paris. It is an amazing walking city, but there are times when public transportation is necessary—and this laminated map includes metro lines and stations. We used this type of map throughout Japan and our trip was much easier for having it along.