difiiculties

Salut Mes Amis

C’est difficile pour changer de anglais et francais ,ais si j’essayer plus fort je vais souviens (remombre si tu es sam decoste)

As i said its hard to switch back and forth into french and english but not half as hard as learning these keyboards.

Its 8:00 in the evening now: I finished work two hours ago and I’m out and about looking for some dinner:

Currently I’m staying in a four star hotel in a place called hammam lif: my bed is probably no more than 500m from the ocean the meditrannian that is. My Boss monsieur ferjeni is paying for it:

Daily its 20 degrees here. In India there were dogs everywhere:e here there are cats everywhere I mean everywhere. And they always seem to be at eye level ready to attack.

Mangy looking critters too.

Today I was walking down the street talking to Jaime and there was a cows head at eye level::: that’s rightµ. Just the head.

Stuff is pretty cheap here: taxis are a dollar forty five minute trains are .580mille which is about fifty cents Canadian.

Somehow …. I’ve learned French. I don’t really know how it happened so fast but its rare that I canùt communicate what I want these days or that someone canùt talk to me. Tunisien is the first language here which is some hybrid of Arabic and French and a few other mixes. After that people start learning French and Arabic quite early. English is quite a bit later. Its good for me because it forces me to use my French.

Monday was my first day of work. I was up watching French subtitled prison break until 2 so as you can magine I was late for my first day of work.

I was delivered to work by two people in the aiesec association: we sat and waited for the boss for two hours in his office and we were killing ourselves lqughing/ probably we/ they were laughing at my French but none the less were killing ourselves laughing and shortly there after the boss walks in.. I was biting my inner lip so hard to keep from laughing I started to taste blood.

Monsieur walks in and sits across from me. Well dressed man forty five hqs a tony soprano air about him. He was talking a lot in French. The only English was at one point he looked at me and said I have a surprise for you in his pocket in perfect English and then back to French. A little bizarre but I stay away from his pockets. At one point everyone stood up so I did as well/ Still only sure what was said for 30 percent of the conversation I still I don’t know why people are standing

Apparently ,y friends are leaving me alone with this pocket monster*. He takes me around the office at one point I hear him tell a coworker that im from Canada and that im a specialist in steel construction…..oh know::::I think …..I’m in for it. Even jane thorburn canùt save me now. (steel prof at dal).

So he throws me at a computer and I draft something okay cest bien he says/

Moving on he has something about a computer and takes me into the back room he starts talking and pointing at an ancient computer I think oh zut as if French won,t hinder my performance let alone this dinasour of a computer for me. I think in the end it was just that the computer had came from Canada and he wanted to show me that. Ill let you know why when I find out

He takes me for lunch. thats cool then we go back to his apt he shows me his 4000 dollar tv. I tell him an in appropriate joke regarding a milkman he laughs his head off

This is work. so again i dont understand what the guys says i just say cest bien cest bien all the time. and when i think its something serious like hes waving a stack of cash i keep saying je ne comprends pas. if he really wants me to understand; he'll put his right hand on my left elbow and put a pressure on it and say what he wants to say at a whisper two inches from my ear and then looks me in the eye and says tu sais quoi j'ai dire ( do you know what i said)

anyway after the first drafting he wants me to do 3d drafting. we communicate that i dont know how. we go into the back room and he gives me two french auto cad books .

Thats fine i sit dowen with them and figure that i can just look at the photos and get by on what french i do know. so i see that the book reccommends to type in pointvue for a code into the program so i try and type that in ::::: of zut. this is an english version of the program . so i start guessing the translation for the codes like point vue.... pointview.... viewpoint ::::wwhere is george smith when you need him eh ?

so thats fine... so i fake it i go into help in autocad and manage to get a few 3d shapes on the screen.

He comes in andc says tresx bien.

phew i think thats over.

then he brings in a problem something suitable for someone who specialiwes in steel.

I ask him for a book with the equations for moment of inertia etc..

great two more french books of little use to me. so here i am with a french excel french books and a subject that is way over my head. he wants me to design him a poulant. i have sole questions and he points to the book and reads the subject headings and then i hear him say (facile)

okay back to the drawing board i go

i nearly started hyperventilating at this point. not only all that but the book is ridden with errors.

you think thats not too bad okay well lets throw in a medical condition. iùll not elaborate too much but it involves frequent trips to the salle du bain. whatever you say ? okay rmember that there is little to no toilet paper here and theres no toilet seat on the toilet either. try and relax aill you

but its getting better donùt get me wrong i understand him a little more and im learning what the books says.

excuse teh whining otherwise i love the plqce

i got to go now thought someone is saying fini fini and pointing at his watch at the internet cafe

qu revoir

Luke