Learning French early on definitely made my life easier in Brussels. I started making more local friends and being more confident using public transport and doing grocery shopping on my own. It's easier when you don't have to search for words in a language when you have a huge queue at a checkout counter behind you. You can dare ask why something was not discounted as indicated on the packaging. You can communicate faster and without drawing attention to the fact that you aren't completely fluent. Of course there is that awkward period when you can't get someone to understand you over the phone. And you hear the frustration in the voice on the other side of the line hitting you even more because you absolutely want to be understood.
I however remember this one incident that stood out to me and has remained in my memory from all those years ago. Maybe nowadays in Brussels one can get by easily in English, but back in 2003-2004, it definitely wasn't the case. Many people struggled speaking back in English to me. And luckily, I'd really worked on my French as I attended school for more than a year.
During that period, once I was coming back with my family on the tram back home. My husband was at work but I was accompanied by my dad, my elder sister and my baby. We entered the tram at the first stop and it being the morning of a weekday, the tram was absolutely empty. As my baby was quite small, I had a big pram which consisted of the baby seat and the carriage all in one. Since the seated section was far from the allotted section to park the pram, we had taken her out of the baby seat and were carrying her in our arms.
The tram hadn't started and I headed to the driver to buy tickets for all of us. Those days, one could still buy the tickets on board using cash. After buying the tickets, I don't know what provoked the aggressive tone of the tram driver. He said very rudely in French that if the baby wasn't in the pram, then we needed to fold the whole thing. I was taken aback as I'd travelled hundreds of times in Brussels by tram and not once had I seen anyone fold their pram. Also the fact that we were in an empty tram made the 'order' that he had given even more suspicious. I'd seen enough of the world to understand that this was someone trying to throw his power over someone whom he thought wouldn't stand up for herself. Maybe he thought we were all tourists, maybe he heard hesitation when I'd spoken to him in French while buying the tickets. I felt very irritated, but I kept my cool and replied in my best French possible. " I'll put the baby back in the pram as soon as there is a reason to do so or if it starts getting crowded. If someone asks for the area where the pram is parked, I'll move the pram then. There's no need now. Also, please kindly communicate with politeness".
And I went and sat down with my family who were looking at me with questioning eyes about what had just happened. As the tram moved forward, I felt relieved that there would be no follow up to the conversation, but completely justified with the way I'd reacted.
Liked what you read? You can read another one from early days in Belgium...here
Wow, that was boldly handled👌
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading and commenting Anon💕
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