a jump in language ability?

I must say it was really nice to be in Brussels after being in Germany,
Italy and Zurich...just to be able to fake the language a bit. I'm in
the Netherlands now, and I'm really impressed by how everyone REALLY
does speak English (not so true in Germany and Italy). But still, I
feel sheepish not even knowing how to greet or thank people...it's the
least I can do...and I'm flying through countries too quickly to do it.
I'll work on the Dutch version of that stuff tonight....

Anyway, back to French...I haven't spoken French since 2003...when I was
in Paris and I would try to say something only for an impatient
Frenchperson to cut me off and tell me to "Please Speak English." Sigh.
That really was the last time I spoke French, but I've been surprised
how fast certain phrases and sentences come to me in the past few days
in French. I haven't had a major problem getting myself understood, but
of course the hardest thing I've asked for is for directions to the post
office. But still, I'm like strangely amazed with myself, with this
latent ability to put pronouns in the right place and to remember really
random verbs. Bizarre. Maybe Corinna is right. Corinna is my German
friend who I visited this weekend, who I found out was scared to speak
English only 5 years ago. She now speaks in super rapid English...so
fast that many mistake her for a native speaker. Anyway...Corinna says
that when you leave a country and return again, everyone she knows makes
a "language jump" that is, a leap in langauge ability. Maybe in my case
it's just that I don't care if I sound like an idiot anymore. Maybe
it's also a confidence thing?

Anyway, all that to say...my French is still pretty pathetic. 2 days in
Brussels...and a couple weeks in French Switz...are not going to do that
much, I do realize that. But, it's still fun.