This past weekend I went to visit a friend who is an Au Père in Germany. To get there I had to take a combination of trains which took about 8 hours going (that included an hour and a half of layovers) and 9 hours coming back (due to a delay). According to google maps the same trip by car should have taken just under 8 hours. While on this trip I rode a high speed train in Germany which toped 100 mph and a high speed train in France which reached about 150 mph. On the return trip my second of three trains was delayed causing me to miss the third. This didn’t really matter though as I simply caught the next one which left 20 minutes after I got in.
In the US I have ridden the train multiple times from Elkhart, IN to Martinsburg, WV which ends up being often a 14+ hour ride without a train change. The distances however are about the same as those of my trip this past weekend.
About a month ago the French broke the speed record on standard train rails with a very High Speed Train. This train will start carrying passengers at speeds up to 350 mph by the end of the summer.
The Eurostar carries passengers from the heart of Paris to the heart of London in 3 and a half hours. As you don’t have to show up early for security one could leave ones house in Paris and four hours later be at a friends house in London 4 hours later.
24.4.07
Re-teaching
At work on Mondays and Tuesdays I oversee 18 workers, three at a time, as they use the internet. I've been supervising this since mid October. The evidence of the workers' mental illnesses is most evident during this time. The workers have differing levels of ability when it comes to computers. Some have access to computers at home and there is clear evidence. Others however are sitting down in front a computer for the first time.
I have shown them, many of them on multiple occasions, how to use google for searches. One of the difficult parts of this is when having shown a worker eight or nine times how to make use of a search I find that they search, look at the search results page and then proceed to search for something else without having actually looked at a web-page. It seems as though some of them will never understand how to actually get information out of a search without help. Another difficult part is that for some of them after two or three weeks of no computer use they have to relearn how to do things they previously could do.
I should make it clear that there are also others who after months away from a computer can sit down and type up the weekly menu for the cafeteria. Some of the workers are more "lightly" handicapped than other. I doubt that I would necessarily notice that some of the "lightly" handicapped were even handicapped if I didn't know otherwise.
When you interact with people that do not suffer from degenerating illnesses you assume that they will develop abilities. However in my work I have had to get used to the fact that some of the workers' abilities don't develop and in a few cases their abilities are very slowly diminishing.
I have shown them, many of them on multiple occasions, how to use google for searches. One of the difficult parts of this is when having shown a worker eight or nine times how to make use of a search I find that they search, look at the search results page and then proceed to search for something else without having actually looked at a web-page. It seems as though some of them will never understand how to actually get information out of a search without help. Another difficult part is that for some of them after two or three weeks of no computer use they have to relearn how to do things they previously could do.
I should make it clear that there are also others who after months away from a computer can sit down and type up the weekly menu for the cafeteria. Some of the workers are more "lightly" handicapped than other. I doubt that I would necessarily notice that some of the "lightly" handicapped were even handicapped if I didn't know otherwise.
When you interact with people that do not suffer from degenerating illnesses you assume that they will develop abilities. However in my work I have had to get used to the fact that some of the workers' abilities don't develop and in a few cases their abilities are very slowly diminishing.
23.4.07
The End in Stight
We are coming up on the end of April already. I've been telling people here that I am going to be leaving at the end of July. This reality that there are only three months left is beginning to scare me. I think that it is primarily because I am beginning to feel connected to this place and the people that I am hanging out with. In many ways this fear of leaving is illogical because many of the friends that I have here are seemingly as transient as I am. A friend of mine from Indiana that I try to hang out with at least once a week will be leaving at the end of May. The first CSer that I hung out with here in Paris will be leaving at the end of June and then some of the others that I know will be leaving by Aug. Pretty much everyone that I choose to hang out with is leaving. Most are enrolled in schools somewhere in the fall.
The time though is approaching when I need to quickly do all of those things on my list of things I had wanted to do while I was here. This weekend I am hoping to go and visit a friend in Germany then in three weeks go off to Ireland. I am really not seeing as much of Europe as I had wanted to but then I think that that is one of the problems of living somewhere you end up getting stuck there. I had wanted to go to italy or spain as well but now I doubt that I will make it to either. It just feels as though there won't be the time. Leaving Paris in three months I feel will be strikingly similar to leaving Abidjan five years ago. I will know the city and some of the country. I will know some of the habits and customs of the people who live here. But most importantly many of my friends will have left at about the same time that I left. The home that I feel Paris is now will never exist again.
The time though is approaching when I need to quickly do all of those things on my list of things I had wanted to do while I was here. This weekend I am hoping to go and visit a friend in Germany then in three weeks go off to Ireland. I am really not seeing as much of Europe as I had wanted to but then I think that that is one of the problems of living somewhere you end up getting stuck there. I had wanted to go to italy or spain as well but now I doubt that I will make it to either. It just feels as though there won't be the time. Leaving Paris in three months I feel will be strikingly similar to leaving Abidjan five years ago. I will know the city and some of the country. I will know some of the habits and customs of the people who live here. But most importantly many of my friends will have left at about the same time that I left. The home that I feel Paris is now will never exist again.
16.4.07
Why you can't fire people.
In many ways my work here feels like the factory that I used to work in in Northern Indiana. Really it is not remotely similar but none the less there are similarities. A big difference though has to do with the way Amis takes responsibility for its employees.
There is for example a worker who had some slight mental issues and was essentially with out a fixed domicile (SDF). Then a couple of years ago he had an accident where he fell down some stairs and his condition has worsened. I am not aware of all the issues he faces. I believe that he lives alone at the moment but apparently his living space is a mess. He has a fairly strong smell. Not a smell of sweat but generally one of not clean. He also has no family at all. The point being that he shows up late for work and then leaves at lunch though he is supposed to work till 4:15. This is not good. At the factory I worked in it would not be a problem because he would have just been fired months ago. The supervisors and organization though feels a responsibility to improve his situation. Thus they are trying to find him a living situation where he would have some supervision to make sure that his living space was in order and such. This is a many month long project. It has been determined though that to improve his work ethic his housing situation needs to be improved. We can't fire him because he will find no other work and then he will lose his living space and then he'll be on the street. Unfortunately it is also difficult to hold onto him if he shows up for 2-3 hours of work a day.
This is not the only case like this. How do you discipline workers who if they lose their jobs there is no question that they will be on the street? An organization like this can't operate without reliable workers. It is a business.
There is for example a worker who had some slight mental issues and was essentially with out a fixed domicile (SDF). Then a couple of years ago he had an accident where he fell down some stairs and his condition has worsened. I am not aware of all the issues he faces. I believe that he lives alone at the moment but apparently his living space is a mess. He has a fairly strong smell. Not a smell of sweat but generally one of not clean. He also has no family at all. The point being that he shows up late for work and then leaves at lunch though he is supposed to work till 4:15. This is not good. At the factory I worked in it would not be a problem because he would have just been fired months ago. The supervisors and organization though feels a responsibility to improve his situation. Thus they are trying to find him a living situation where he would have some supervision to make sure that his living space was in order and such. This is a many month long project. It has been determined though that to improve his work ethic his housing situation needs to be improved. We can't fire him because he will find no other work and then he will lose his living space and then he'll be on the street. Unfortunately it is also difficult to hold onto him if he shows up for 2-3 hours of work a day.
This is not the only case like this. How do you discipline workers who if they lose their jobs there is no question that they will be on the street? An organization like this can't operate without reliable workers. It is a business.
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