That story brought back the culture shock I experienced as a lad of 21 on a month-long business trip to Sept-ÃŽles, Quebec.
Most of the people I dealt with were bilingual, so things went pretty well. However, in one store I was having a great deal of trouble making my needs known to the clerk. After several attempts, I burst out, "You MUST know what I'm saying! You have only TWO TV channels!" Ugly American, eh?
I also remember that the food was fantastic. We ate practically every day at Lino's Restaurant, taking a break every few days at the Auberge. Lino was an Italian trained to cook in France, and he had Chinese cooks, so my three favorite cuisines were well-represented. I had truffles twice (and never since) and gained 15 pounds!
Pete