Well, virtually everywhere in the civilized world the right brake lever operates the front brake. That's how it is supposed to be. In USA they do it in reverse, purely out of the bitter desire to be contradictory (i.e. it is seen as some off-shoot of the dreaded metric system). This is the reason why every time a knowledgeable cyclist buys an assembled bike in USA one of the first things they do is switch over the brake linkages. And this is one of the major reason many people in USA prefer to assemble their bikes by themselves. Basically, the front brake on the right-hand side is one of those hard-to-notice, yet extremely reliable signs that tell a skilled cyclist from a newbie.

As for the learning curve... I observed lots of people who did the switch and nobody had any problems with that. I'd say that the issue has as much merit as the fear that a car driver used to drive a manual transmission will have trouble driving automatic. At first sight it appears to make sense, but in reality it simply does not happen. The same is with brakes on the bike: even if you get confused at fist, the confusion will disappear for good in 2-5 minutes of riding.

Basically, the general principle of the front brake being on the right-hand side is not debatable. What is causing some debate is whether the lefties should use the reverse cabling (i.e. stick with US-standard linkage). It is not clear whether the fact that lefties have stronger and better trained hand on the left side is a reason enough to switch the front brake to the left side. Well-adjusted brakes usually provide sufficient braking power even when applied by a weaker hand.

Returning to your original issue, if you don't want to engage into the [relatively involving] process of recabling your brake linkages, you should be able to solve the problem by adjusting your brakes.