Report continued - Everybody’s English teacher

third morning, fresh produce arrives.
Meat, vegetables, cream, fruit and fish
are a few of the items. Fresh bread and
croissants are delivered at 6:00 every
morning. The fish are so fresh that
sometimes they flop about in the pan while
being cooked! The kitchen chef is an
important man. Every day he puts his
reputation on the line. He likes to check
most things that leave the kitchen. His
nose knows what it's doing. Smelling the
food to see if it is okay is very
important.

Elsewhere in the hotel, quality control is
also of the utmost concern. Everything has
to be clean and in perfect running order—

“| felt pleased with myself many
times after a job was finished - be it
the food | prepared, the setting up
of the restaurant, compliments from
the bosses...”

there is no second best. All glasses for
the restaurant and bar have to be spotless.
I know this because sometimes I got dirty
looks from the staff when the glasses
weren't clean. The priority is for
everything in view of the clients to be
perfect. Behind the scenes it is a
different matter. Kitchens, for example,
were not meant to be spotlessly clean;
what. the customer doesn't see won't bother
him: @.g. garbage, the kitchen during its
operation, piles of dirty dishes, etc.
Overall quality in France is high.

The handling of money is similar in most
respects. One French franc is worth 20
cents Canadian. It took me some time to
differentiate between 100 francs and 100
dollars. At the hotel everything is paid
for by credit card, bank cheque or cash.
For the restaurant one can use meal
vouchers—something that doesn't exist in
Canada. These vouchers are taken on par as
cash and are used throughout France.

During my time at the PLM hotel, I noticed
a definite pride in the work done. I felt
pleased with myself many times after a job

was finished—be it the food I prepared,

the setting up of the restaurant,
compliments from the bosses or speaking
with customers in French. I pride myself
when a job is well done. I was very
dedicated in my work because I enjoy it;
if I didn't enjoy it, the dedication
wouldn't be nearly so strong.

Before I went to France to work at the
PLM hotel, I had done approximately four
years of high school French and one year

of college French. In other words, I
didn't know a whole lot. Before starting
my job I attended a three-week course of
intensive French at Amboise in Touraine.

It's a small but quaint little town
situated on the Loire between Tours and
Blois. The Loire countryside is fantastic,
but the people and the wine are the
definite attractions. Amboise was a great
introduction to French culture and the
course was also marvellous; twenty-five
hours of classes each week. I also lived
with a French family which was very
beneficial indeed.

The French spoken in Amboise is much purer
and easier to understand than that spoken
in Strasbourg. I detected many variations.
For example, there was a man at the hotel
who was Tunisian and who mixed French with
Arabic. Trying to understand him was like
trying to speak Russian after drinking a
bottle of vodka! One of the bartenders
spoke French one minute and Alsatian (a
French-German mixture) the next, which was
worse. I could understand most of the

“The Loire countryside is fantastic,
but the people and the wine are the
definite attractions.”

French but when the Alsatian took over, I
was lost! Young adults also use a lot of
slang. Certain words such as ‘ciao' or
"see ya later' translate into 'Salut!"
Handshakes are a language in themselves.
They are especially important with bosses
because they show respect, but they are
‘used even more frequently among friends.

There is a custom that when you meet a.

girl, you kiss her four times on the
cheek—twice on each side. -In Strasbourg
it's only twice—once on each cheek, but