Once motorists get over their amazement that I would be in the lane at all, they are amazingly quick to understand exactly what I'm doing.
I find I get the strangest looks from motorists who are coming towards me while I'm waiting to turn left. They look at me like I'm an alien of some kind. Of course, in winter I do have a bit of an alien appearance. I want to snap a picture of some of these people.
Anyway, I try to use the left lane in most situations. I don't have the patience to go any other way though motorists who forget about green arrows drive me nuts and I don't have a decent horn to wake them up with.