A Well Kept Man

After trekking the hills of Lausanne in search of a bicycle tire repair kit, I finally found what I was looking for at a small sports shop. After successfully locating the patch kit, I proceeded to the cashier (caisse) where I attempted to pretend to be a local.

Clerk: Bonjour Monsieur
Mark: Bonjour (I hand him the kit)
Clerk: (Scans item, totals the price) Huit francs et quatre-vingt-dix centimes (8 francs and 4 twenties and 10 cents...or 8.90 CHF...at least that's how much my receipt says, again, I'm not fluent yet, so this may be incorrect)
Mark: (I swipe my bank card, punch in my pin...life is good)

At this point I'm expecting the transaction to be over, maybe getting a Bonne Journée (Good Day), but I'm pretty sure he doesn't know I'm American (maybe the fact that I was super sweaty from walking up to the city distracted him from my Ohio State Buckeyes football t-shirt, causing him to mistake me for an exercising European)


Clerk: Voulez vous un sac por le kit? (or something close to this "Would you like a bag for your kit?")
Me: Uhhhh (I didn't have a clue what he was asking. It's interesting; I'm to the point now where I can understand some basic questions, and if I listen closely I can understand some words, but if I'm expecting to hear one thing and hear something else, or if I'm not expecting anything at all, I turn into a deer staring into headlights)

Clerk (in perfect English): Do you want a bag for your purchase?
Me: Non, merci beaucoop.

Why is this interesting? Because when you pretend to know French and get caught not knowing how to respond, people notice the fact that you are wearing white socks and running shoes even though you aren't working out, and that you are sweaty because you are out of shape, and that you probably only speak English. He didn't bother repeating the question in French, nor did he switch to German or Italian (2 of the more common languages spoken around here); he went straight to English. I guess I need to keep learning.

For those that were wondering, I patched the tire on my bike so I am mobile again. I tested it out with Alli last night on a pleasant bike ride down to Lutry (10 km ride = 6 miles). Today, I am going to be attempting laundry, although I have only been cleared to wash towels, sheets, pillow cases, and my underwear. I still haven't been forgiven for shrinking and/or changing the colors of previous loads of laundry in our first couple weeks as a married couple (which is fine if you ask me).