awkward moment (among many)

I’m at Middlebury now where I can only speak French. This leads to many awkward moments. I often feel uncomfortable. Today at the gym while I was passing by the back entrance I noticed three girls outside about 15 yards away. I knew that when they got there, they would find that this entrance is locked. Since I’m a nice guy, I decided to stand there and wait so I could let them in, knowing that it would appear overly polite and awkward. When they came in one of them said, ‘merci,’ either because they just wanted to say thanks, or because they recognized that I was also in the French school. I saw this as an opportunity to explain that one has to enter by the front of the gym. I asked them if they were indeed in the French school, and one of them said yes. Then as I tried to explain the entrance situation to them, they just walked away…