Umm . . . oopz ?

Learning to speak a second language has proved to be challenging, naturally. So, naturally, I make little faux pas that French people find hilarious/cute/charming etc. But I have found that even though speaking the language is difficult, other situations prove to be even more difficult. Case and point - setting up the voicemail on my new phone.

I was taking a little nap this afternoon and was woken up cos my phone was ringing. The caller ID said "Antoine" and I was so confused. I don`t know any Antoines. Did I meet any Antoine`s last night? I thought that one girl`s name was Jenny . . . could she have saved her number as Antoine ? So, not wanting to talk to this mysterious person I didn`t know, I let my phone go to voicemail. Then as soon as it stopped ringing a little lightbulb turned on in my head and HELLO LAURA !?!?! Antoine was your first foreign exchange student from five years ago doy ! I even sent him my new number in a facebook message last night so he could call me when he got back to Paris.

So, feeling my stupidest, I start to try and set up my voicemail so I can hear his message. Everythang was going fine, I could understand the little automated lady no problem but for whatever reason, I couldn`t figure out how to make my answering machine automated. I kept directing myself into recording my own greeting which is definitely not something I wanted to do. So I made my roommate figure it out for me :)

So, after finally hearing his voicemail and giggling like little girls, I try to listen to his message again to really hear and understand what he was saying. I thought I pushed the button to repeat the message . . . but the message wasn`t playing back. The automated lady just kept blabbering on about something or another then beeping and I had no idea what she wanted me to do. After a few frusterating moments I yell into the phone "PARLEZ ANGLAIS BIATCH!!!" ("speak english biatch") then hang up the phone.

Then Lance came back into the room and was like, "Did you just call him back ?" and I was like, "No, why?" And Lance was like, "I think you did . . ." then out of no where my phone starts ringing and low and behold it was Antoine.

Somehow in the midst of all the button pushing I managed to find my way into his voicemail box and left the message "PARLEZ ANGLAIS BIATCH" and hung up. Freaking out and totally embarrassed, I made Lance answer the phone and tell him I was sleeping and that I would call him back.

Phew, problem solved (I hope). So now I`m sitting here, staring at my phone, trying to get the courage to call him back so we can catch up and get drinks. It should be a simple task, but even the simplest tasks are intimidating when inevitable awkwardness and embarrassment are on the horizon. Zut.