Lux comme il faut (pas)

Yes, despite all the excitement there are many things that should be improved here. I have already mentioned the traffic, which still is one of the main culprits for my daily (well, now they are becoming weekly) rants. I just cannot understand why I would need to spend 3h per day in a car.

I also mentioned nice people. T. is one of them. This girl from the Croatian translation unit is amazing: full of energy, funny, smart...She is also blind and here lies the problem. People from her unit knew she was coming at least two months before her arrival. They knew she was blind and they knew she would need a special programme to be able to work. What have they done? Nothing. Absolutely nothing! Now, a month after we got here, she is still struggling and is not able to translate at all (apparently the voices reading the texts mix so an English text is being read out half with a Croatian and half with a French pronounciation). She's been in contact with developers, IT geniuses, blind people's associations...Instead of working, learing and honing her skills, she has to deal with practical stuff she shouldn't even have to think about. And what do people from her unit say? "Have you considered becoming an interpreter?" "£$%&/($%&?!?!!!!?!

Stairlifts and sleepy lazy people. Every morning I have to send someone to the reception to tell the people there that I need help with the stair lift. Mind you, I get to work and leave work every day at the same time. Yet, they are never there and when they finally realise that I am waiting outside, it takes them ages to figure out what key they need to use for the lift. It then takes them another 5 minutes to figure out how the machine works and another five minutes to get me up the stairs. I have told them that I always need help around the same time and asked them if they could please get organised.

Answer 1: Oui Madame, mais pourquoi vous ne rentrez pas par derrière? ça serait plus simple pour vous."

Answer 2 (after I have explained to them that it wouldn't be plus simple pour moi at all): "Oui, mais on  n'est pas tojours les memes personnes ici."

Answer 3 (after I have asked them to leave a note to the colleagues, telling them what key to use and when to use it) "C'est la première fois que j'utilise cette machine et je ne sais pas trop bien comment ça marche".

As a result, I now have a sore throat and a sore head. I think I'd better make myself a cuppa before it's too late. Things will work out eventually (hopefully before the end of my traineeship here).

Potrpežljivost je božja mast./La pazienza è la virtù dei forti./What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, as they say.