Ceci n'est pas une endive - Tag - understanding people - Comments

My Very First Culture Shock - witty lama

witty lama — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:12:42 +0200

I remember the first time I met the other students in my class when I went to a french high school. I knew about the "bise" and was prepared for that, but I didn't know that in the area that I was (northern Ardeche) people cheek-kiss three times, not two. Furthermore, I didn't know which direction to start with.

In the end I looked very foolish doing a sort of stop-go-stop dance with the other students. They were standing in a circle and I was on the inside working my way around one person at a time. A very threatening position to be in in a new school and culture when you're in "Troiseme" (junior high)!

When it comes to roots - Anirudh Bhati

Anirudh Bhati — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:43:30 +0200

Lovely post. If you liked Egypt, you will love India. Come, my friend, Taj Mahal awaits... :)

Truly multilingual - PrincessH

PrincessH — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:37:43 +0200

Maybe she won't think anything of it before your asking, because
till that point, it's just her normal way to be.

(Princess who needs to study some grammar and tenses !)

The language before the language - princessH

princessH — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:16:58 +0200

Commentaire hors -sujet mais pas totalement :
Diiiis, je peux avoir ton adresse postale, hein dis hein ?.... Parce que j'en ai une partie, mais pas tout.

The Credit Card Hell - soylentyellow

soylentyellow — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:39:27 +0100

Each McDonald's franchise decides independently wether it will accept plastic money or not. Usually they do, but some don't.

However, if you want to fill up your car on a French self service petrol station (without an attendant, there are lots of those especially after hours) and you happen to have a non-French credit card you are out of luck because you won't get a single drop of petrol. You either drive on and look for a staffed petrol station or pay a French person cash so they use their card to fill up your car.

Same with the machine in the ski resort that sells ski passes - if your credit card is not from France it won't sell you a ski pass - you have to use a staffed window.

The Credit Card Hell - Hégésippe Cormier

Hégésippe Cormier — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:54:20 +0100

J'adore l'image de la personne voyageant en Allemagne et éprouvant le ***besoin urgent d'acheter le dernier iPod aussitôt après sa sortie*** et se retrouvant grosjean comme devant parce que le Mediamarkt n'accepte pas les cartes de crédit.

Put your money where your mind is, not where we tell you to - mike

mike — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 18:50:47 +0100

Hi,

I just came across this via the wikipedia fundraising site. I think its really interesting and worthwhile as a blog post, and certainly changed my perceptions about wikipedia.

However, I think I should correct, some uses of grammer, and I know you aren't a native english speaker, so please don't be offended. Anyway, here are the corrections:

"make light on" should be "make light of"

"Trick is" should be "Problem is" in the context you use it.

"some kind of a guilt feeling about it" should be "some kind of guilt about it" or "some kind of guilty feeling about it".

"I am one of the strongest advocates that the Wikimedia organisations worldwide need to focus on education" should be "I am one of the strongest advocates of the idea that the Wikimedia organisations worldwide need to focus on education".