“Maybe you can hear my accent? It’s because I come from the bush [laughs]! I came from Algeria to France when I was 12. So I have some gap in knowledge, and I have dyslexia also. I don’t easily go towards people. It’s difficult for me to speak in public. I’m scared to misspeak, to pronounce words in a wrong way. And I don’t use big words, the “real french”. I don’t feel very cultivated. It weighs on me, it slows me down. My managers come to discuss with me sometimes, but I feel blocked. I tell myself it’s not worth it because I won’t be able to speak well in front of them.

I quit school at 16 years old to work at McDonald’s. I wanted my independence, to earn more money to do my own projects, take the driver’s licence, have my own apartment. But today, the most difficult thing is I don’t have any diploma. When people ask me what I do for a living, I feel a bit bad to say that I work for McDonald’s, ou that I don’t even have my high school diploma. I’d like to change, but I don’t push myself enough, because I’m lazy [laughs]! Especially that I’m 30 years old, I’m single and I haven’t saved any money. I’m happy alone, I honestly don’t need a man, but I’d like to have my little family. Maybe I’ll meet a rich Swiss [laughs]! But I always want to keep working, I don’t want to owe anything to anyone. It’s important to be independent. I don’t know if my husband will die, divorce me or leave me for a younger girl [laughs]!

I really have to push myself now. I’m gonna do it! And that’s why I came to Switzerland, because I earn more, and so it’s easier to have a loan, to save money, and to follow a training. Actually, I’m going to have a job interview on Thursday February 25th, for a very interesting company that makes medical devices for the heart, pacemakers. I’ll maybe leave McDonald’s… I hope I’ll get the job! I was anxious about the interview, but now I’ve just practiced speaking! It’s gonna be very helpful [laughs]!”

(Plage des Eaux-Vives | translated from French)