The first, and by far funniest examples, happened in the hostel where I stayed. It's France, so I never wanted to assume that anyone spoke English, even though many do. I don't want to be that American that just assumes everyone speaks English, so I always started conversations in French and then shifted when necessary. But Paris is also the center of international tourism. The day I went to the Place de la Concorde, I was the only white person surrounded by several, older, Asian tourists. But how do you start a conversation with someone, when you have no idea what languages they speak? I'm not the only one who struggled with that idea. The funniest time I witnessed this was at the hostel. One morning at breakfast, a woman went to sit down across from another woman and they exchanged pleasantries in French, simply saying "bonjour" to each other. About a minute went by and one of the women leaned over and said hesitantly "Do you speak English?" and the other responded, with a sigh and laugh of relief, "Yes, I'm Australian." At this, they started a nice conversation that continued well after I left the room. I suppose if I was more of an extrovert, I would never have those awkward silences, but I do and the experiences are still funny.
The 2nd example is the opposite of the first. At the tourist sites (Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame) rather than finding out what languages people speak, no one cares. Asking someone to take your picture is like a smile, the same in every language. All you do is point and hand your camera to someone with a smile and they do it willingly. I took multiple pictures for people and had them take pictures of me. Sometimes they just happen to speak English, others French, and others I have no idea. But the amount of cooperation and understanding between tourists, no matter what nationality, was really intriguing to watch.
The last example was the church I attended Sunday. I went to Hillsong Paris, which for those that don't know, Hillsong is a megachurch in Australia that has started to expand internationally. They write a lot of popular worship songs. So beyond the fact that Reuben Morgan helped lead worship, the coolest part of the service was the fact that it was entirely bilingual. Everything was in both French and English. They alternated which language was used to lead the worship songs, although both languages were also on the screen and sung around me. There was an interpreter for everything spoken, translating every couple of sentences. Logistically it was really well done, and I'm sure sometimes a nightmare. But how does a church function when some of its members can't communicate with others? I'm not sure how many people are in the church, but there are 2 services and the theater holds over 800. It obviously works, or else the church wouldn't be growing. I would enjoy talking to some of their staff to see how they make it work outside of the weekly service.
On a side note...I love worshiping in French. I don't know if it's just because I think about the words more, but it's amazing. And while I don't love everything Hillsong does, my experience at Hillsong Paris demonstrates to me that they understand that the Kingdom has no national borders. Hearing scripture, a sermon, and worship in French reiterates to me that Christianity is not an American thing, but a global thing that encompasses different languages, cultures, and styles of worship and connects people across oceans and mountains, from every corner of the earth. And that my friends, is an encouraging and awe inspiring idea.
From Roussillon with love.
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