Pain au chocolat and "tu" v. "vous"

1. What makes a good "pain au chocolat"?
Fortunately for my marathon training, the daily craving for a chocolat croissant (pain au chocolat) has subsided.  However, it's still a great treat post-workout or pre- or post-library session, which is kind of like a workout.  I have tested this wonderful French treat at a number of bakeries, and I have certainly found my favorite version.  Down the street at the boulangerie Rouquette, they have the perfect pain.  Not too big, but not to small.  Slightly brown, but not trop cuit.  Light and flakey.  When it is fresh and well done, you hardly notice the butter.  Despite the fact my tastebuds and stomach usually yearn for the Rouquette pain, I did have a pretty amazing, non-RQ pain the other day.  The actual consistency wasn't even close to as good as the RQ, but when I walked out of the store with it, I realized that it was still warm!  It is virtually impossible to resist a warm baguette or croissant fresh from the boulangerie!  I had planned to hold off on indulging until I returned home (only a 5 minute walk) and could enjoy my treat seated at the table with a glass of milk.  However, having been lucky enough to have arrived at just the right moment for a fresh pain au chocolat, I couldn't wait.  The bread was soft and warm, and the chocolat inside, warm and liquid.  Oh, the indulgence!  A perfect post-tennis treat!


2. Understanding the formal and informal varities of "you"

For native English speakers, the distinction between tu and vous is largely intellectual.  As a 15-year student and a near-native speaker of French, I still have to consciously think about whether to use the formal vous or informal tu with people.  The processing time isn't more than a split second in most cases, but I still find myself in situations in which I'm really not sure.  It sort of resembles the lack of certainty of not knowing which side to start les bises (the cheek kisses of greeting and departure), which is entirely dependent on where you come from in France and sometimes is not even that logical.

However, the other day, I finally had a personal, emotional experience of what it might feel like if I were French and someone used the "wrong" pronoun.  I was writing on the board in class the other day, and it sounded like one of my students called out to me with "Gayle"!  Since they almost always call me "Madame", I quickly turned around with a look of shock on my face.  Not out of anger, but simply out of astonishment.  My students were sort of taken aback, and when I explained my reaction, one of the better students (who had also spent a fair amount of time in the US) sort of chuckled and explained to the still-puzzled student that my reaction was similar to that of someone who had been misaddressed in terms of the "you" pronoun.  It was as if one of my students had addressed me using tu, a possible sign of a lack of respect.  I was just taken aback by seemingly out-of-place nature of what I, mistakenly, thought I had heard.