The chinese boy in France!: My First Job!

Can you imagine that I have just had my first job done here, in France? On 8-9th November 2008, I worked as a representative of the Tourism Office of Malaysia. It was actually a stall in the Parc des Expositons in Colmar during the SITV (Salon International du Tourisme et des Voyages) which is something like MATTA Fair in PWTC. By the way, before I go on with the story, I would like to thank several people who have given me this opportunity to help out during this event. First of all, my friend, Akmali, who received a call from the embassy and who called me to help out. Next, we have Mr. Abdel, who has taught me a lot during the whole process. And last but not least, Miss Elodie, my colleague during the exhibition.

This was the booth where I worked.

On Saturday morning, Akmali and I took bus number 2 and we arrived at the Parc des Expostions at 9.24am. We waited at the entry for Mr. Abdel who is a french. Frankly, for that first day, I had no idea who was this guy and I didn't even know what I need to do, neither did Akmali. The arrival of Mr. Abdel was a bit late. He reached there at about 10am. After that we were being brought to the booth. At the same time, he explained to us our tasks and before that, he introduced himself, of course. He can speak French, English and Spanish. But I was really astonished when I found out that he knows Malaysia better than a Malaysian who has been living there for 18 years. A little dumbfounded and embarassed at the same time, the first second of my first job took place.

Generally, my task was to give out as many brochures as I can and talk to the visitors about Malaysia, which obviously obliged me to speak french. But I have to admit that I have just been in France for 5 months, so this job was really a challenge as well as a good training for me to improve myself especially in the language. As nervous as I was, I approached te first visitor that I encountered. It was a couple, I greeted them, and they replied my greet. And then, there was a moment of silence, during that moment, I was assuring myself that I could do a perfect job. So, I started to accumulate all the information that I have about Malaysia, and transforming them from ideas to a speech. Opps! What do you think? Did I succeed? Well, not really, I was just 65% succeeded. Nevermind, but I had a lot of fun. That was my first experience in promoting.

The booth from another perspective.

When it came to the 3rd visitor, it was a mister who seemed to be very interested in my speech. And the conversation broke down my nervousness, I felt very comfortable talking to him. And when my chief, Mr. Abdel asked him whether have I done a good job. I received a compliment, this mister said to Mr Abdel, "Il parle très bien français!" (He speaks very well french). "Il n'y a que 5 mois qu'il l'a appris!" (He has only learned it for 5 months.)replied Mr. Abdel. I was standing there, smiling and relief...

Mr. Abdel (at the left), Me (centre) and Miss Elodie (at the right).

Elodie, me and Akmali

Everything was going well, and when there wasn't any customer, I spoke to Elodie. She has just finished her studies in Food Science and she is currently looking for a job. And according to her, "it's very hard to find a stable job right now, especially for the fresh graduate. We can find a job like this (as what I did) easily but not a stable one." That made me think of the economy crisis that we are having, it's really scary, in my opinion. By the way, did I tell you that she is very tall? For quite a while we exchanged our backgroud and our education culture, and from the conversation, I know more about the education system of France. Thanks Elodie.

Elodie, my colleague.

That evening, I met a lady who has been to Malaysia quite a few times and she fell in love with the seenty and the cultureas well as the beautiful panorama of our country. She was actually an exhibitor. He had a son, his name is Victor, and he brought me a cup of Tibetian tea, I didn't really ask for it, but he was to generous. I played with him during my lunch break. And he was so polite, he kept calling me Monsieur although I am just 18.

At the end of the day, I was so interested in speaking French, maybe it's because of the confidence that I gained during my presentation. And it was a coincidence when I met a young lady from Hong Kong who is now based in Freiburg, Germany. She came to the booth with her german husband. In a matter of fact that she doesn't speak french, I spoke cantonese with her. And we talked for half an hour, and from my point of view, she was persuaded to visit Malaysia next year. Interesting, isn't it?

The next day, Sunday, a day where people don't work but not in the sector of transportation. However, there was fewer buses compared to the other days. Actually, we were supposed to reach that exhibition hall by 10am, since the bus service would only commence at 1:20pm, so we were left with no choice but to take the earliest bus of the day. So, we started working at 2:00pm, at that time, it was seriously the peak hour. As soon as I reached there, I had to occupy our customers-to-be.

Look at the mob of Sunday.

A performance during the exhibition (but I can only get the back)

Again, today, I met another young french lady who stayed in Mulhouse, she is a vietnamese cantonese, so I got another chance to speak cantonese, which I didn't expect at all. But, we talked more about the life here in Colmar instead of Malaysia because Akmali has already explained everything to her.

The interesting things kept coming, and if I really want to describe them all, it would take a long time. But, I will try my best to make this story as lively as possible. So, my fluency in introducing in french of my country has improved, I always used three points to attract my interlocutor: The Rafflesia, KLCC, the french village (Colmar) at Bukit Tinggi (Do you know that I stay in the real Colmar?) and sometimes, Gua Niah and Pulau Tioman where diving is so famous. Apart from that, I explained to them our uniqueness which is our multiraces. And they were like trapped in the black hole after hearing all this.

At 7pm, the visitors left, we startd to pack. It's sad that it was over. But it left me a sweet memory which I can recall anytime that I want. And here, I would love to make a remark: Mr. Abdel has been very nice to us, he took good care of us and I'm happy to get to know a person like him.

Abdel, Akmali and Me behind a stack of brochures

So, I would rather conclude that this was a really good experience to me, I got to know many people, I learned a lot from my co-workers, it was marvelous! I really enjoyed talking to the french. And at the same time, I got to realise that Malaysia is a wonderful country.

If you are reading this, you really need to pay a visit to Malaysia (leave me a contact if you want to know more about Malaysia, ex: the guide book, the descriptions of each state...). I AM PROUD TO BE A MALAYSIAN!