I entirely sympathise. It’s less marked for me because I have only been away half as many years as you (I remember EFTPOS) but I recognise it and often had a similar problem when we lived in the UK. Because I spoke English as my mother tongue people assumed I knew how things worked and didn’t explain nearly as carefully as they would have if I had been Bangladeshi (for example). The health system and the banking system used to trip me up regularly. I actually find that France is more similar than Britain in many ways for these sorts of services. We are in Paris at the moment, btw.
Fraussie
September 18th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
So what is EFTPOS? And enjoy Paris!!! Visit the Palais Royal gardens.
I imagine EFTPOS stands for Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale. It’s a system for enabling debit card use by customers and you can also ask for cash from the retailer, who is reimbursed from your bank account.
Fraussie
September 20th, 2012 at 8:59 am
Ah, I see. We don’t have anything like that in France, do we? Does it mean that you can get cash out of the train vending machine?
Jill
September 17th, 2012 at 11:53 pm
I guess 37 years of living another culture IS a long time… Im sure you will get into the swing of it..funny to hear about the ozzy things you find strange 🙂 keep us posted! Jill
Fraussie
September 18th, 2012 at 3:46 pm
I’ve decided just to ask now how things are done. I seem to be doing a little better in Tassie.
Could you try speaking English with a French accent? 😉
In all seriousness, I can empathize with you about feeling like a stranger in your own land. It’s happens to me when I visit the States and realize that there are things that I just don’t get.
I entirely sympathise. It’s less marked for me because I have only been away half as many years as you (I remember EFTPOS) but I recognise it and often had a similar problem when we lived in the UK. Because I spoke English as my mother tongue people assumed I knew how things worked and didn’t explain nearly as carefully as they would have if I had been Bangladeshi (for example). The health system and the banking system used to trip me up regularly. I actually find that France is more similar than Britain in many ways for these sorts of services. We are in Paris at the moment, btw.
So what is EFTPOS? And enjoy Paris!!! Visit the Palais Royal gardens.
I imagine EFTPOS stands for Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale. It’s a system for enabling debit card use by customers and you can also ask for cash from the retailer, who is reimbursed from your bank account.
Ah, I see. We don’t have anything like that in France, do we? Does it mean that you can get cash out of the train vending machine?
I guess 37 years of living another culture IS a long time… Im sure you will get into the swing of it..funny to hear about the ozzy things you find strange 🙂 keep us posted! Jill
I’ve decided just to ask now how things are done. I seem to be doing a little better in Tassie.
Could you try speaking English with a French accent? 😉
In all seriousness, I can empathize with you about feeling like a stranger in your own land. It’s happens to me when I visit the States and realize that there are things that I just don’t get.