I got to Paris. It was kind of slow going getting here.

Yesterday I needed to pick up a few things — toothpaste, soap, etc. — so I walked towards the Pompidou Center nearby and found a supermarket. I went through and got my things, and waited in line to pay.

That’s when it hit me that I don’t speak French. If the cashier needed to ask me anything, I would have no idea what he’s saying to me. That wouldn’t be good. When I finally got to the cashier, I started to place things on the belt carefully in such a way that my items won’t get confused with the next person in line’s items, to try and avoid the situation of having to explain it. I hoped none of my items are sale items that require one of those stupid grocery store cards. There are so many things that could go wrong.

Finally, the cashier got to me. “Bonjour.” I said hello back to him, and then I started to carefully watch the price as he scanned. When he finished, he looked and me and told me the price. I looked at the scanner. 9.66. I gave him a 10 euro bill.

Then he looked at me and said something, at least 30 syllables, I have no idea how to even fake it. “Uhhh…” is all I can let out.

He looked at me in the eye, and then said “Do you have one cent?” with a crisper ‘t’ than I would have expected.

“Oh. No, that’s all I have.”

He nodded, and gave me 34 cents back.