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Hi… Many of my « regular readers » asked me why I haven’t updated the blog since the 20th of June. I don’t have the answer myself. It’s not that I’m not interested anymore in writing on this website, it’s just that I can’t find much time for myself. There are moments when I’m at work, at the office, preparing some courses, at some other moments i’m teaching, and once I completed those 2 things, I try to rest a little... which means that I merely want to do nothing special. My “biological rythm” is being changed, I didn’t feel it much at the beginning of my staying here, but it’s true that when the sun rises at 4.30AM in the morning and sets at 6.30PM, your behaviour is a little bit modified. I don’t have enough distance to know “how” this behaviour changes, as far as I’m concerned, but it influences much the way i’m scheduling each day.

First, I have to say that my attitude about the country is changing, as well. First, I had the impression to be in the middle of nowhere. Amelie Nothomb – who is not my favourite writer, but still, I remembered how she called China in “Biographie de la Faim” – called those strange places “nowhere” and “never”. A strange calling that simultaneously involves the idea of space, and the one of time. About space, and particularly because of the climate, I was wondering what I was doing there. The temperature outside, that reaches an average of 45 – 47 °C in the afternoon, is quite difficult to stand. However, I will not complain : at the office we have a very efficient air cooling system, the “A.C.”. So, inside, it’s constantly 22°C. Mild, isn’t it? And for those who will tell me that my skin is still very clear, I just remind them that I haven’t come there to sell donuts on the beach! :D
As far as the topic of Time is concerned, let’s say that I have the impression to find objects as they were in France 6 or 7 years ago. About “junk food”, for example : I remember when SEVEN UP had still a “not too much acid” taste, it was some years ago in France, before they change the recipe... that I’ve liked much less since then. Here, I find again this sweet taste of sevenup. There are such examples with many other products, it wouldn’t be interesting to list them individually. It’s not a bad critique, to say that I’m feeling as if it was 6 years before. In reality, according to “Egire” calendar, the current century is the 15th. This explains that.

Let’s talk about the job itself, now... It’s getting very interesting now, because my group of beginners become more and more able to produce a “correct” french. By evaluating them, I actually evaluate myself. Many of them come to see me after class, to ask me some more vocabulary about very common things, “everyday expressions” for which they’d like to know the translation.

It was days ago that I realized how much English is useful in teaching. Knowing very few things about Arabic (definitely not enough to use this language in a teaching context). It gives a very special dimension to the language you teach. Not only do you analyse your mother language by teaching (and by answering the students’ questions) but you also examine the language that serves you for the teaching, which is not the “target” language but the “instrument” language. It requires – and provokes, in the same time – a double metalinguistical analysis, and I think this is an aspect that I wouldn’t have discovered if I had remained in France for my internship, in a company or association. Here, I am certainly the teacher, but first and foremost a learner because the person who faces a situation of immersion in a “foreign context” is not any of my student but myself. Peculiar situation, to be both a teacher and a foreigner. I know the topic that I have to teach, to transmit, but it’s connected to a knowledge that is geographically speaking far from there. And that’s the difficult point : to make that knowledge closer, as much as possible. Before leaving – and wholly speaking “in my curriculum of a language learner” – I realized very rapidly that the one who teaches learns a lot, and the one who learns indirectly teaches, through his positive and negative reactions during the process of receiving Linguistical data and general knowledge.

Last day, I helped one of my students, Hamed (36 y.o, surgeon) in enriching his application for Schengen VISA, as he considers going to France from the 31st of July. At the Embassy of S.A. in Paris, they advised him to attend a FR school in Toulouse, as he will be studying surgery (for specialization) in Paris. I advised him to get closer to Paris, and finally they found a school for him in Tours. He will spend 3 years there, for his specialization. I’m very glad that he is going to fulfill one of his dreams, which is to get an higher education in medical sciences, in France.

Now, it’s the weekend, I’ll try to rest a little bit. My next projects are to get my Iqama (residence permit), my Passport (with the Multi-entry mention) and my Saudi driver licence, which was just converted at the Embassy. With those documents, I’ll be able to purchase a car... and travel around when I got spare time. Raed was very nice to drive me back home everyday after work, now it’s time to get some more independence and show some gratefulness.
And some other project.. to decide about my holidays of September which include some days in Orleans, some other days at home and, I hope so, a week with Aurelija in Vilnius. Days are passing quite fastly here, I hope it will be the same for the whole summer... and rapidly we should reach September. Until this date, I will have to write my 25-paged report for University, and another one for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I’ll try to give some news quite soon! See you, take care.

After 6 days of silence, here I am :)

Hi... It's been almost one week since I last posted a message on the blog. It's true that I've been very busy in the last period. I started working at the center last Wednesday and tried to find some basis for my project. As I wrote in the last messages, I need to find a "direction" for the Franco-Saudi Center and to think of a new way of communicating outside. To rely on a "self-made" reputation is definitely not enough. What is required is to give a new, fresh skin to our image. And it's not easy at all, you can believe me. I admit that sometimes, I've been too lazy to face the problems directly : I did face them, but I took my time to do that, postponing always postponing the tasks to the next day, until the deadline. Now I have to reconsider my way of regarding things. Efficient reactivity is needed, and once again, I have to admit that I am not that good for this. I'm not used to making decisions that are both "fast" and reasonable. When I hurry up to make a decision, it's sometimes very imperfect, and when it's reasonable, it means that it needed time. Now, I have to make those two qualities match : that's my personal purpose.
For example, let's talk about courses for Women. As you might guess, in Saudi Arabia it's not possible to have men and women in the same class. If it was the only "problem", still it would be ok... but I was told that it's not even possible for men and women to be in the center at the same time. I thought about having Men courses in one room, and Women courses in another room, independently. Unfortunately, this is not something we are allowed to do here. This would have been more practical, but it doesn't fit with Saudian traditions and moral rules. It would be very risky for me to show any sign of anger about this. It would cost much... I would lose my job, if not worse.. Today women called me to discuss this. Actually, for the reasons I've just given, they have to go somewhere else to attend the lectures. And this 'somewhere' is inside a compound (A secured residence), whose director lends us a classroom for free...provided that the French-Saudi center is in charge of the cleaning. It had been 3 months since the last teaching session, which means that the room hadn't been cleaned since then. One student woman called me to complain, because the place was dirty and too small to welcome 10 students. As I was new, as I didn't know about this before, how could I react? Actually I felt ashamed. I was ashamed, because if it had happened to me, I would have called the director to complain and I wouldn't have been very nice on the phone, thinking that I would be "right" to do this. When you pay for a service, particularly language lectures, the minimum is that you attend them in acceptable conditions. Dust, Dirt is not what I call an acceptable condition for studying. She was right to complain, and I didn't have the good role. I understood that the responsibility of a captain (it's not very humble of me to use such a metaphor...) is not just to lead his ship towards the direction he wishes. Sometimes, there are contrary streams, storms. He can do nothing about it, but try to find solutions to keep it over the surface. That is my role : to react rapidly and efficiently. Today, I hired a cleaner to tidy up the woman classroom. Otherwise, I would prefer to give their money back, rather than provide them a service in such conditions. The center needs a new image : image is strengthened by credibility, and if you provide a service in bad conditions, you're going backwards. I don't want to harm our image. Men and women attend the class separately, all right : but in the same conditions, that's my word.
The positive aspect is that despite the world cup (that explains some kind of absenteism), registrations for the classes are going quite well, particularly registrations for women. We are going to hire a new teacher (not to replace the previous one) because the classroom is too small to welcome more than 10 people... And we have 14 registrations. Today I received a c.V. and a letter of motivation from a french-speaking woman from Canada. She speaks Arabic, English and according to the secretary, has a very good level in French : besides, she has already taught this language and already knows our teaching method. (Méthode Panorama 1 and 2). The funny thing is that she doesn't have any literary carrier, she's rather a scientist (She has a PhD in physics). What matters is that she speaks well and teaches well. I will receive her soon at the office, probably next week. That is another part of my job, to be responsible of human resources. The center is not that big but still, if people keep on talking about the center to their relatives, we should gain some importance and consider hiring new teachers. I like this "coordinating" aspect.

About the courses I've been teaching, today was my third day. On Saturday, I started teaching 2 different levels : from 5.30 to 7.30, I have a class of beginners who are already able to introduce themselves correctly, with a good pronounciation, after 6 hours. I'm happy about it : they are very interested in their learning process, and always talk with me after the session, around a cup of coffee or tea. Then, from 7.40 to 9.40, I have a group of good speakers. I don't need to use english for the teaching, I just speak French and they understand quite correctly. However, I still need to speak slowly. Their level is "6", which corresponds to the studying of the Unit number 6 of the method that counts 12 units all in all. Their level is very good, I would say, considering that they reached the middle of the "learning process". Of course, it doesn't mean that when they pass level 12, they have the same level as native speakers, not at all. Still, they can do many things with their knowledge and competences... to ntroduce themselves, talk about many topics, construct a skilled argumentation, or even apply for a job. I didn't imagine that teaching your native language to people could be such a satisfactory experience, when you realize that they do well and that they constantly want to improve themselves. So far, I have spent 6 hours with each group, so 12 hours all in all... there are 48 hours of teaching left before I reach the minimum amount of hours for the Master thesis. I have to make a paper about this experience... Something like 20 pages. I think that it's ok : I already know what I'm going to write in this mini-thesis. I won't have to invent anything, if you know what I mean... I just have to open wide my ears and my eyes to find something interesting to write about my first official teaching experience. I didn't want to have an internship in FR, although it can be very useful for foreign people who arrive in France to know some words. I would certainly have enjoyed to committ my internship into a social and human action, but I prefer travelling. To teach French is a good pretext for travelling, and for the moment I really don't regret the choice I made. Another aspect of my mission is to go to the companies' headquarters and propose them the services of the French-Saudi center. However, it requires that I have a car, and before having a car I need to convert my FR driving licence into a Saudian one, and this process requires that I get my residence permit.... The problem is that my passport is in Paris now (again...) at the Ministry. It will come back soon, I hope so.

I'm having my last 2 days at Eric's place, the teacher of Greek and Latin at the French school, I think I won't forget the way he has welcomed me here in Saudi. He completely shared his big house with me, shared his food (delicious diet meals from Carlton hotel ;) ) and his good mood. Today I made a present for him, a pair of jeans from his favourite brand (Replay) and he looked very happy. At the moment, I'm proud of myself in the sense that the presents that I made did provoke the effect I was silently hoping for, which is pleasure... and it makes me even happier afterwards. I'm hesitating about asking Eric if he would like to rent me the same room from September on... On the one hand, this place is very pleasant to live in, but on the other hand, I don't want anything bad to happen if we become room-mates, I experienced this in DK.. I want to keep on getting along with him, meeting him some time and go to Bahrain with him, as he promised me.

As soon as possible, i'll write about my new life downtown. It's going to be very different from life in the compound... but it's another interesting step to take.

See you soon and take care..

Errrr... I don't know which title to put on my message!!!

Well, after "hello", "heyhey", I think I will have used all the different manners of greeting you on this blog. I receive some comments about it sometimes, and I'm very glad about it. I know who they come from, it's better to have few messages from people you like than tons of posts from people you don't know. So, thank you very much for giving me reasons to continue... Today was a calm day, on the whole. My chief picked me up at the compound and drove me to the FR center, where I spent the whole morning. During this time, he went to the travel company to buy his ticket to go back to Riyadh. Today, French pupils who live abroad had their first exam at high school, and began with philosophy. His son is among those pupils, so it was normal that he goes back to Riyadh and encourage him. We spent 3 very interesting days, my chief and I, he gave me some instructions about how to run the center, about the objectives in terms of communication, partnerships with companies, advertisments in newspapers... There are a lot of things to do, above the mere act of "teaching" and this dimension gives a very interesting dimension to my job. I am free about taking initiatives, contacting companies, schools, educational institutions in FR.. This center will become what I want it to be, so on the one hand it raises a lot of excitment, and on the other, it supposes to develope a high sense of responsibility. It will help me to become more mature... I don't want to fail it. The responsible of Cultural office, in the FR embassy of Saudi Arabia, had been hesitating for a long time between closing the center and leaving him a last chance to survive. I think I want to take this chance and make this Center not only a language school, but a cultural center, a kind of tool for local schools and companies whose purposes are to cooperate with FR institutions. The demand for FR lectures is high, according to the phonecalls I receive, as far from the side of man as from the side of women. Saudi express a real motivation and interest for FR language and, furtherly, for higher education : it would be a shame to waste this demand... What do you think about this?
I'm very glad to talk with local people on the phone and to invite them at the office for a tea or coffee, it's the occasion to have a nice conversation about their expectations, linguistically speaking, and also culturally, by the way. In general, they are shy, they say 2 or 3 FR words, expressions in a sentence, to show you that they are interested in what you do, and that they would like to learn more. I spend nice moments at my office, sending some faxes to France, to Saudian companies to let them know about my new project. People are coming and going, I already have the impression that it's living, at least a little bit. What I would like, it is to leave a good and sincere impression to the visitors, so that they can talk around them. I would like to set a system of sponsorship, so that people thanks to whom new people come to register would be rewarded, I don't know yet the way I would do that, but not necessarily by doing a commercial special offer : rather by thinking about an intelligent way to catch their interest.. I keep this topic "under my elbow" ;) The main objective, of course, is to have as much people as possible in the courses.. But I don't want to favour the commercial aspect, i'm not interested in that. I want people to feel good by coming to the Center, both feeling at home and abroad. As the region is known for its very high production of Oil, it would be good to create some partnerships between the companies and the French Institute of Oil, for example, that proposes some very high education in this area... Everything is possible!

For the moment, I'm feeling good where I am. I visited the owners of the neighbour shops, as my office is inside a mall, and had some cool conversation with them. There are different types of shops, which is interesting : offices of educational information, restaurants, clothes shops, candy shops... They all greeted me very kindly. I admit that the position of the "white foreigner" makes me feel uneasy, although I can't get rid of it I need to show that I'm here to work "with" them, and not only "next to" them. Integration is important to me, even though I am quite realist about it, I don't have utopical expectations. At least, I have to try! The secretary who works in the office is really kind, he's going to help me to find a car. Today, I told him that I needed to leave the office because I was a bit hungry, he proposed me to call Mc Donald's... and finally went there for me, although I felt embarrassed. I don't want to command anyone, hierarchy is not something that will cross the door of "my" center.
At night, i'm living in the compound, where there are some important (quantitatively speaking) communities of people from France and Lebanon. The day before yesterday, we played Scrabble altogether and I was amazed by the deep knowledge of FR language that people from Lebanon have. To get back to my temporary living place, i'm very happy and quite sad at the same time. Eric, the Latin&greek professor who invites me, is really welcoming and helpful. I enjoy talking with him about anything, jobs, conditions of living abroad, our respective lives in FR. The sad thing is that soon, I will have to find a place to live in outside the compound.. not that I am afraid, it's true that the idea of living downtown is exciting, but still, the Fr community is nice here and I will miss the compound, for sure. I'm still thinking about a present for Eric.Tomorrow in the morning, I'll visit the French school, which has been proposed to me several times so far. This place is also a potential partner in the activity of the FR center : its director looks interested in the running of the center, we will probably soon talk about settling the female lectures inside the FR school. I'll also contact the teacher for women, we need to work together on the way we will communicate. My boss told me that she just "teaches", I think we'll reconsider her status and give her some little more tasks in terms of communication about the center.

Wow.. I thought I wouldn't have that many things to tell today, it seems that this post is longer than the previous ones. I can't promise that I will write so much everyday, but I'll do my best to update the blog as much as possible. Now i'm thinking of a picture to publish with this message. Oh, and one more thing, I admit that it's not easy to publish pictures, but anyway I managed to find a solution.. not the easiest one. Now, you can have a look at this URL, if you want to see some pictures : http://martiello.free.fr/web/index.htm I will also put this link as a permanent one, on the blog, above Google News. Try to look at them sometimes, if you wish !
Have a good night, feel free to leave messages and questions...