Wait...I speak French?

So, opposed to Beijing, everyone here speaks English. Including my homestay hosts (parents?) I have no clue what to call them. Anyway:

My French is mainly practiced around the dinner table. Which is both good and bad. Good, because that's the one part of the day where it is required for me to think quick on my feet. Bad, because it makes me think quickly on my feet.

Tonight, during dinner, there was talk about family relations (Madame's niece is here for 10 days?). I think, and I mean I think, that Monsieur and Madame are 4th cousins or something. I mean, my French is pretty good, but I'm really hoping I missed something in the convo whilst trying to avoid the pellets that were in the pheasant.

(Madame's brother killed a whole bunch of them 2 weekends ago? That was a fun conversation...me getting all confused about pheasants in Paris and thinking they were pigeons. Right.)

But whilst sitting around the dinner table, I realized how much I understand, but how much more I want to be able to respond. Dinner table conversation is very much dependent on quick wit. And while I can understand the conversation in real-time French (that is to say, I don't need to translate their French into English), my first responses are always in English. And by the time I can answer in French, I am already 30 seconds late.

Bummer.

Anyway, it will only get better (it better only get better) and at least I haven't done anything really socially unacceptable. Yet.