People

I went to choir rehearsal early to work on a few things with Lionel the director (he gave me some solos!)  I realized in working with him that he is one of the few people that I've met here who treat me like a normal person despite the fact that I have a huge accent and make no sense most of the time.  That isn't to say that everyone else is unkind.  Actually, most people are nice and very helpful, always looking out for me, and telling me where to go to do certain things.  Its just that most people, unconsciously I'm sure, assume I somehow don't know anything about anything just because I can't speak the language and don't know the social system.  I think it is completely natural for people to think that.  In fact, I didn't even really notice they did that until, when working with Lionel, I noticed that he treated me like a normal person.  Perhaps being a musician helps, in that people assume I know nothing until it turns out I can sing and sightread anything despite my French problems.  Then they see that I am not completely useless, so maybe I'm actually pretty smart in my own world.  Finally, I've noticed that all the people who are unkind or rude to me are unkind or rude to everyone!  So every time I think its just because I'm not French, it turns out that they are mean to everyone.