Asking for Directions

"Excuse moi, est-ce que vous savez l'avenue de la Vieille Tour?"

It was my second day in Bordeaux, and I was looking for the location of my future residence. I forgot to print out the directions from the Internet, but this did not bother me, as I didn't mind exploring the streets of the city and asking questions in my deficient French.

After all, asking and giving directions is an obligatory part of any foreign language course. Of course, the part that you always do best is asking, since the answer will more often than not include many words that were not in your textbook...

The girl, to whom I addressed my question, seemed positively delighted about having been asked for help. So, instead of adopting the typical "get lost" manner that many women use when communicating with strangers, she started expressing her readiness to help in a hurricane of French words that I almost immediately gave up to decipher.

She then moved on to the essence of the problem and apparently made a sincere effort to recall the street in question. The girl was sure that it was nearby, as indicated the frequently repeated word "ici," however, her degree of certainty about where exactly seemed to fluctuate greatly as she spoke.

At this point I thought about asking her whether she speaks English. Even if she didn't, this would make her speak slower or in more simple language. But I decided to wait till she resolves the question about the location of the street, and only then to spoil her enthusiasm by making clumsy clarifications.

The girl finally realized that her recollections of the street were too vague to be of any help. She felt devastated about her inability to help. She expressed her sincere regret. She asked for my forgiveness. She said that there are hopefully people in this town who will be able to help me.

Astonished by this well-structured monologue in a perfect French, I uttered - "merci"