Hello Veronica! I came across your site by accident, I'm planning an affair with a Tunisian and now I decided to read about them ... I read it in complete shock, all the romance and high spirits disappeared (((There are so many similar stories.

I have read a lot of questions now and from your answers I conclude that you are very suspicious of them. So I could not resist and decided to write my story to you, it is very important to listen to your opinion, because communication with a Tunisian is, as many have already noticed, it really changes your whole life and you will have to learn to live anew and differently. I would be very grateful if you comment on my letter.

I came from Tunisia quite recently, as always, I didn’t hope for anything, didn’t count on anything, I just went to relax with my friend and her mother, my friend knows English and French perfectly, it was easier for me there. Very nice and cool guys met the animators, they are no different from ordinary guys in Russia, just the language and appearance are different.

I started an affair with one of them, he is 24 years old like me. We managed to communicate a lot only in the evening after their work, we also saw each other during the day, but it was impossible to show intimacy in front of everyone, because he was at work. On his day off, he invited me to go for a walk with him, went to the city to the water park, he paid for everything, talked in broken English on my part, but managed to understand each other.

I asked him why he does not have a girl of his nationality, he said that he does not like them, because most of their girls only demand something from them, "I want, I want, I want" as he put it. During my vacation, we had an intimacy, after which I think that I can get pregnant. Through a friend, she sent him questions, she translated, the questions were all in a comic form, for example, what should I do if I got pregnant, to which he answered seriously that this was not a problem and he would be happy to have children, then we asked again as a joke how he will be able to feed us, to which he replied that I should not worry that he has two Internet cafes, and working as an animator in the summer is for fun, dancing, singing, he likes it, such a mobile life, he said that this work is only for the summer, but he lives in a completely different city.

At what initially we did not talk about any life together and about the wedding and about great love ... these conversations began after we filled him with comic questions. Yes, he said that I would always be in his heart that he would never forget me and so that I would not forget him, we somehow both understood that this was during my vacation, although he said that if anything he was ready when I left I saw how he was worried and how bad he was, we still can’t talk normally, they spoke only with our eyes. This was seen not only by me, but also by a friend and mother of a friend who is only “for” so that we can see him again, and a friend from our eyes with him crying at each other ... I wonder if Tunisians can play like that and why is it young boyfriend....?

He conveyed to my girlfriend these words so that she would translate them to me: that he would pray to God that I be pregnant, because that way I could stay with him, and I didn’t even think about an abortion. Then, as usual, we exchanged Skype and Facebook, we communicate periodically, he asks if I went to the doctor about the child, he writes that he is bored, that this has never happened to him before, the most interesting thing is that I feel that way. There was a conversation where we discussed what to do next, he offered to come even tomorrow to him, he will be very happy.

He asked how much a ticket to Tunisia costs (maybe he wanted to pay), but I didn’t answer this question because I don’t know, I went on a tour. I told him that I couldn’t make such a decision right away, leave my hometown, family, etc., he said that I shouldn’t worry and trust him that he wouldn’t give offense, then he suggested the option that first I could come for a period of days at 10, he will rent a house, take a vacation from his job as an animator and be with me all these days! And then we will decide what to do next! Now I have a problem whether to go at all ... what awaits me there, for my peace of mind, I want to go on a tour. In our opinion, the boys are very well-mannered, modest, stylish, fashionable.

Please tell me what you think about all this, after all, this is really a very big step to change your whole life. And there is no one to tell, so I got on the Internet to look and read something about Tunisia and their customs.

I forgot to say, when I asked him questions where we would live, he answered that wherever I want, do you want in Sousse, do you want to rent a house in Monastir, or maybe I want with my parents ??? When I asked where I would work, he asked what I like and who I want, and then he said why should I work at all, the main thing is that I was with him, I conclude that he wants to take care of all financial issues .... or maybe I'm wrong.

By the way, the guide told us on the tour that women mostly do not work for them.

P.S. When my friend talked with them (boys animators), they told her this: You all think that we are sleeping with everyone here and that we all have 10 pieces here, but you don’t think that we are also people and also become attached to a person , then you leave and forget about us and go about your usual business, and we stay here and feel used like toys! I'll be looking forward to your feedback, thank you very much!

Upon arrival, watching a completely different world from the bus windows, my consciousness changed dramatically. On the streets, in the shade of palm trees with wide leaves, elderly men rested, inhaling clouds of smoke from a hookah, and drinking black strong coffee. Before telling what funny events happened to me literally for the first time of my stay, everyone should understand that this is a country where Muslim Arabs live. Accordingly, before going out even in a tourist town, you should think about what to wear. After all, if we come to a foreign territory, then we must respect other people's laws and traditions, and avoiding unnecessary gossip is also not bad. As for the resort areas, here you can meet a large number of tourists from different countries. As in every Arab country, the center of the city is the end where the medina is located. This is a market where you can truly find anything: spices, carpets, hookahs, national souvenirs. The order of pricing here is chaotic, so bargaining with local sellers is a must. As a rule, you can bring down the price of the product you like by at least 50%. It is worth noting that the tradition of haggling is present anywhere except for cafes, restaurants and shopping centers. Where there are fixed prices, it means that "how much is written, so much you will pay." Therefore, you should not try to prove your case in this case.

Sousse and the nearby port of El Kantaoui, the island of Djerba and Hammamet have become one of the most popular resort areas in this place. These places are perfect for family pastime, and for youth recreation.

For those who are going to dedicate their free time, holidays or holidays, they will absolutely not be disappointed if they go here. After all, here you can actually do both active recreation and visit a large number of interesting places, or just give yourself freedom and enjoy the warm Mediterranean Sea and white sand. As for the climate, this information should be taken into account before choosing this country to visit. The climate here is hot and dry, so it is perfect for people suffering from high blood pressure and heart disease. Even at a temperature of 40 degrees, it will not feel so heavy.

Since lying and basking in the sun or swimming all day seemed rather boring for my mother and me, then we decided to make a whole excursion program that could help us get an impression of Tunisia. After all, according to the stories of the hotel guide, there are so many interesting things here that we will simply lose a lot if we don’t look. In fact, for all 10 days of our stay, we managed to see a huge number of places, and each had its own charming charm. However, I will remember one trip for the rest of my life not only with incidental situations, but also with funny incidents. The time of the next trip was approaching, which, for some reason, I was waiting for the most. The journey took us to the very heart of Tunisia, the Sahara desert, where we must travel for two days. The exciting program began from the very early morning and was so dense that not every person who has poor health can overcome such a distance. Attention! Each person who goes on such a trip should prepare with them toiletries, sun protection cream and be sure to have a clean set of clothes just in case! If I had known that day that I would need clothes, I would have taken a whole wardrobe with me.

The whole journey starts early in the morning, when the sun is just beginning to be seen over the Mediterranean Sea. As a rule, the first stop is a visit to the ancient city of Carthage, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here it is worth listening to the story of the guide, as well as taking wonderful photos against the backdrop of the remains of the ancient kingdom. However, this is not the most exciting part of the tour, which can really bring a lot of surprises. By lunchtime, the entire tour group is brought to a village called "Matmata", where the Berbers live, who in the past roamed the desert. But time does not stand still, so now they have all the benefits of civilization, and even satellite TV. All the beauty in their home lies in the architecture. The houses look like small, elevated mud bungalows that keep you cool even on the hottest days.

It is worth noting that the Sahara has a harsh climate, during the day the temperature can reach about 60 degrees, and at night in some places there are even frosts down to -1 or -2. Therefore, it is really cold here at night. It is this coolness that is kept at home. After visiting such a place, a large number of impressions remain, as the villagers are happy to show and talk about their activities, how their life works. After the village, the bus goes to the next event, where all the fun begins. The whole group goes to a small building, which is located a few meters from the beginning of the desert. Here, professional guides are already waiting for guests and give out special Berber clothes, which must be worn by all arrivals. It consists of a long, to the heel shirt in white and blue stripes. A turban was wound around the head of the same blue fabric so that a person would in no case get a heat stroke. The most interesting thing is that such a robe is made of woolen fabric, which works like a natural air conditioner. Here you can get acquainted with such an interesting animal as the fennec fox. It is very similar to a small fox with large ears. This is a nocturnal inhabitant of the Sahara, which feeds on scorpions. It is absolutely harmless to humans when handled with care.

When the whole group is equipped, we are escorted to a huge caravan of camels, which are already prepared for a long journey. A camel ride in time lasts about two hours under the hot sun, at which time you really begin to appreciate these clothes. No one will select a camel individually, which I already understood when I saw my powerful, wide male. Since I have never been distinguished by slender forms and tall stature, climbing it turned out to be a whole quest. When the conductor of our column nevertheless helped me to mount the camel, under the dress I heard a rather loud crunch! Without betraying any significance, we moved through the desert. I have never seen anything more exciting in my life. However, after about half an hour of the road, I began to feel some discomfort, which consisted in the fact that one leg significantly began to outweigh the body. Since I was sitting unevenly, I began to be overwhelmed by the fear that I would fall off pretty quickly, so I called the conductor. Without checking my saddle, he assured me that almost every traveler who is not in the habit of riding a camel feels similar discomfort, so I can calm down and enjoy the views. Since my mother was sitting behind me on her camel, I decided to address her, turning my head. At this moment, without having time to say anything, the saddle abruptly flips down to the camel's belly. From fright, my leg muscles squeezed the saddle so much that I began to feel like a baby monkey. The camel stopped abruptly, thereby slowing down the rest of the animals, but my embarrassment was absolutely not in that. While I was waiting for the column escort to run up to my camel, fate played a really cruel joke with me. At the time when the saddle turned over to the camel's belly, it miraculously turned over to face his household, which was clearly not in a calm state. In order not to provoke him to an unwanted reaction, I had to hang and throw my head back for several minutes in order to be as far as possible from the dignity of my male. But my journey was not without adventure. When we reached the oasis on camels, it was time to take off our equipment and give it back. After I took off my dress, there was a loud laugh from my mother, who pointed to my pants. Blushing, I lowered my eyes to my knees, and realized that the very crunch that was heard during my landing on the camel was my ill-fated pants, which were literally torn from one knee to the other. But my concern was completely different. We had another day and a half to travel, and I had no replacement clothes. In the hope that we would have more stops, I cherished hope in order to buy at least something so as not to be the subject of laughter. Unfortunately, for the whole trip, we never stopped at a single place where clothes could be sold, which turned out to be somewhat strange for me. By the way, during the entire excursion I held my knees so that the hole was not visible, and so I moved along the entire route. According to my mother, it looked like I urgently needed to go to the toilet. I will remember this incident for the rest of my life. A few days later it was time to fly back to Moscow, at that time, I could not even imagine that I would return to this country, and that this would be the reason for such a trip.

Three years have passed since my mother and I had an exciting journey. I graduated from high school and entered the institute at the faculty of ethnopsychology. As in any higher institution, no one canceled the practice, so I and several other girls, including my friends, were sent to an international university. The purpose of the internship was that we could help newly arrived students from different countries to adapt to our country, cultural specific differences and other points that could cause difficulties. During the planning of the first entertainment - cultural program, I began to have conflict situations with one student who arrived from Tunisia. It's hard not to say that he was extremely pleasant-looking, tall and somehow still liked, but our characters were so similar that the war between us came pretty quickly. All our meetings were reduced to "dry" and formal communication, while on one of the birthdays, we decided to restore peace, as our disputes disrupted the entire process of practice and caused problems for both parties. Over time, I realized that I was hopelessly in love, and I was ready to run after him to the ends of the world, if necessary. Too late, I learned that he was here only for a year to complete his studies and then had to return to his homeland. The whole year passed like a fairy tale, but when it came time to decide something, he offered to go to Tunisia with him. Not expecting such a reaction from myself, I quickly agreed. But what about my studies and parents, who definitely will not be happy with my decision. Surprisingly, at the institute, I quickly agreed that I would fly only for sessions, and I could hand over all the work by e-mail. Therefore, one problem has sharply become less. I decided to inform my parents about my decision to move immediately, mitigating the blow by the fact that every six months, in any case, I will come to the sessions. After a month of persuasion, they realized that I was serious, and nothing would stop me. It was from that moment that my fascinating journey to Tunisia and life in this extraordinary state began.

Say no to stereotypes!

Stereotypes are a rather harmful and undesirable aspect that exists in the definition of any culture. For example, if the country is Muslim, then all women must wear only a veil, or at least wear a headscarf, according to the laws of faith. I will hasten to refute such an opinion, since in this case the Muslim faith does not prescribe the obligatory use of the hijab, or niqab. This choice must be made by the woman herself, which is what Allah says in the holy book for Muslims. A woman can show her hair, but her shoulders and knees should not be shown, because, according to the Arabs, these parts of the body are the sexiest. But I can’t say that upon arrival in Tunisia, my peers followed this rule 100%. On the contrary, sometimes I felt more modest than them, because I did not want to look vulgar and violate the rules of a foreign country. As friends who came here over time explained to me later, much depends on the history of the state. Tunisia received the status of an independent state in the 60s, and before that it was an officially recognized French colony. Therefore, fashion and the ability to dress, some features of the French mentality still managed to remain in the modern generation. Therefore, the morals and philosophy of life here are not as severe as in other Muslim countries. I tested this theory a little later.

Every person who decides to change their own place of residence, no matter what the reason was, must understand that the true “face” of the country shows absolutely not in the resort areas that were created artificially. Since I left for Tunisia a few months before I turned 19, it took me a long time to understand this truth. More specifically, a year and a half.

Native Gafsa.

I had to live in the distant city of Gafsa, 450 km south of the city of Sousse. It is worth noting that Gafsa is considered a large city, where in 2009 about 400,000 people lived.

In addition, there is an industrial zone there, and not far from the city you can see whole date plantations, as a result of which the crop meets the needs of the population, and is also exported to other countries. My journey to the new house, where the family of my beloved was waiting, began in the evening, as it was necessary to travel about 7 hours by train. Since it was summer, the weather was comfortable in the evening, so there were no thoughts in my head other than how to behave with people who should like me anyway. After all, I have to live in their family, at least for the first time. Although my fiancé tried to assure me that everything would be all right, I still felt uneasy.

When we got on the train, I saw an interesting picture. Each carriage seemed to be divided into sectors, in each there were people, but they traveled in different positions. For example, people who managed to occupy the most comfortable area slept in cozy and folding seats, like beds. This was followed by several rows with wooden benches, shaped like native commuter trains. And then followed the usual space, where people sat on the floor with luggage, animals. Seeing a free wall, I hurried to take a seat while my companion was smoking in the vestibule, and laid down the packages that ended up in my bag. Satisfied with myself, I plopped down on the bag and stared at the passers-by. After a few minutes, I realized that others were looking at me rather suspiciously. Returning from the vestibule, my boyfriend hastened to pick me up and leave this place, since it was intended exclusively for transporting animals. That is, in the end, I took the place of someone's goat. I was extremely uncomfortable, but I understood that I would have to memorize every little thing and word in order to make the minimum number of punctures in the future.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by a very friendly family, which consisted of mom, dad, two sisters and a brother. I was treated with great warmth, and despite all the differences in faith, lifestyle and the fact that I am a smoker, I really fell in love.

Another distinguishing feature that requires a lot of compromise for Arab families is to allow them to sleep in the same bedroom before the wedding. In my case, this issue was not even discussed, since the eldest boy in the family is allowed absolutely everything. His decision is never contested or negotiated.

Gafsa was significantly different from the resort area, as there were more stringent laws. Girls and girls dressed in a more strict manner, although there were those who did not wear a scarf on their heads, showing their independence and desire to follow European traditions. Yet, in this city, the rule of wearing modest and closed clothes was able to bear fruit. I was able to win the goodwill of the neighbors, who began to often invite me to visit, and the holidays in our house were quite frequent events. But still, I couldn’t live without incidents. For example, the father of my chosen one began to teach me Arabic, so I spent a lot of time with the head of the family. Therefore, once in the store, choosing meat for dinner, I saw a flying fly. Wanting to show off my skills and learned vocabulary, I spoke to the salesperson. Seeing his shocked face, I apologized, thanked for the meat and hurried home to explain the situation and get an answer to the most important question: “what did I do wrong?”. The family laughed at me for a long time, because in the Tunisian dialect, the fly is pronounced as the English combination of the sound “the”, but if you change the sound to “ZE”, then this combination will contain an obscene expression meaning “go to ....”. The next day I returned to apologize, but the salesperson just laughed and praised me for my efforts. However, for half a year I tried to avoid those expressions that I doubted, so as not to expose myself to ridicule, although it is worth noting that for those people who come to an unfamiliar country, incidental situations are simply inevitable. After all, it is thanks to them that we begin to learn and get used to the new conditions of life.

Undertook to tell the whole truth about the animators. Who are they - sad clowns or tireless lovers? Why do they need moderately heavy drugs? When do they even sleep? Do they really enjoy dancing the macarena with you, or are they imagining you being skinned alive? Why can they do things that other hotel workers can’t, for example, seduce a mother and daughter of the same family on a bet, and then not fly out of work? Psychologist, artist, best friend and a pain in the ass - that's all he is, a great and terrible animator.

As experience shows, almost the most important requests when choosing the perfect hotel for a vacation are the presence or absence of compatriots and animation. Potential vacationers are divided in advance into two camps - lovers and haters - and ask for any hotel, as long as there is "it" or "in no case was there", and then they start listing other selection criteria - a pebble or sandy beach, the Red Sea or the Mediterranean, and so on.

The figure of the animator over the years has acquired legends and myths. In the tale of summer holidays, this is the most famous and many-sided character: he is both a jester, and an insidious Casanova, and the best friend of children, and an unrecognized genius, and a pain in the ass who insists on going to play beach volleyball with him or to dance a group dance when you want to read a book alone on a lounger by the sea. Neutrality is rarely adhered to: animators are either very loved or fiercely hated. I belong more to the second category and, as a tourist, I have never been to hotels with animation, but as a hotel employee, watching clients from the side, I begin to think that some people need such a vacation with mass entertainers, like therapy or even like air.

Animation is different. In more impressive hotels, such fun is designed only for children: while parents are basking on the beach, the kids build sand castles or draw the sun and a pine tree under the watchful supervision of a pair of nannies, then they have dinner with them, play and return to mom and dad in the evening. Sometimes nannies are hotel workers, then they deal with clients of various nationalities, and their task is to entertain children who can be naughty and naughty in any language they do not know. Sometimes these are guys hired by some particular tour operator, and then they work only with kids from a certain country. Once I worked side by side with such an animator from a Slovak company. His summer was wonderful - all the tourists came in couples, without children, and he slept all day until dinner, then lay on the beach, drank Sicilian wine in incredible quantities and blessed the magical country of Italy.

In simpler hotels, especially those located dozens of kilometers from any city and entertainment, there is usually a whole team of animators - for children and adults: babysitters, fitness trainers, dancers, actors, singers, DJ, costume designer and others, on who lack the imagination and improvisation of the hotel administrators. In my practice, one such company even found its own magician, who in the evenings showed tourists tricks from the category “Remember the map! Oh, where did she go? Hurray, the card was found in the pina colade of a German client. True, he did not work for long, very soon he was fired for alcoholism and “sawing” a tourist in the back room for mops at the reception desk.

The work of an animator is that from early morning until late at night they have to eat with tourists, swim with them, play ball, arrange “fun starts”, dance competitions, joke, flirt, play performances in the evenings, then dance in a disco , then help the bartenders clean up, and after that trudge to the nightly rehearsals of tomorrow's performance. And so all summer without days off, sixteen hours a day.

Many of the animators I knew were on moderately heavy drugs, and only a heartless person could condemn them for this.

The task of the animators is to become for you what you miss so much in everyday life: your best friend, a nanny for children, a psychologist or a lover. An experienced barker can immediately determine whether you want to dance the "dance of the little ducklings", or do not want to, or you want to, but do not remember the movements, or you want and remember all the movements, but you are waiting to be pulled out by the hand, because you are afraid to look like an idiot, and it was like you had nowhere to go. Many tourists come and immediately declare that they cannot stand these stupid mass entertainments, flatly refuse to participate in them, and generally got here by accident, but then they see that the vast majority are having fun, and no one will blame them if they bawl in karaoke “Nose-nose” and play mind games like “burst a balloon tied to the butt of a Norwegian tourist with your body” (yes, they do this not only at Russian weddings), and they relax, only asking them not to mark them in photos on social networks.
Most people are really lonely, and many lack just a group of friends with whom they could do all sorts of fun nonsense, without being distracted by tedious conversations about work, children, a wife and politics that have set the teeth on edge. And so that no one in ten years could tell your colleagues or your new girlfriend how you were once drunk in Turkey dressed up in a hijab and forced to perform a belly dance. No need to try to look for an approach to someone, put up with someone's difficult character, persuade them to play basketball or worry, suddenly your new friend will take your girlfriend away from you - the animator is always cheerful, easy-going, easy to communicate, does not joke offensively, and even if she retires with a young lady who has liked you, she will try so that neither you nor anyone else in the hotel finds out about it.

The task of the animator is to respect your boundaries, be delicate and not bother you when you do not want to communicate, and also be ready to listen to you, entertain and console you when, on the contrary, you want to. But these are precisely the qualities that we so lack in any of our neighbors. And very often - in the very neighbor with whom we came to the resort, hoping to spend the whole vacation, for example, at sea, playing beach ball games and dancing in discos, and not at all in front of the TV watching football matches. Or not in front of the pool with a book. One of my acquaintances, a director of horror films, came to the sea with his wife and materials for a new film, and left with a broken heart - during the vacation, his wife realized that she could no longer endure his creative searches and snobbery, she wants simple human joys and uncomplicated entertainment, and left him for an animator.

A vacation is a great opportunity to try on some new social mask and another model of behavior that is scary to try on at home, among old acquaintances and colleagues: a shy young lady can finally muster up the courage and play vamp lady, a modest young man - try to become a shirt -guy and soul of the company. Even if the reincarnation performance ends unsuccessfully, you will most likely never meet with witnesses to your fiasco. This is somewhat similar to a protracted corporate party, only after a morning hangover you will not find that you do not remember how the lezginka danced on the table and then vomited into the curtain of the restaurant, and your boss remembers perfectly.

Often vacationers come to hotels with animation in hater masks and pretend that they were here by chance, then they find an outlet in the animation and try with might and main to do during a two-week vacation everything that they do not have time to do at home in a year, without fear of consequences: to dance in a disco , get drunk in the trash, tell a bawdy joke into a microphone or establish a sex life. The animator, by the way, is an ideal candidate for a summer affair: unlike other vacationers, he does not have stress accumulated during the cold office season, he is always cheerful, active and should cheer you up and pay compliments. Most animators are twenty-year-old students who are healthy and enthusiastic enough to work fourteen to sixteen hours a day as mass entertainers, and then indulge in hot passion with another tourist before dawn.

In every hotel there is some youngster who came to this job with the specific goal of seducing as many tourists as possible of any nationality, age and physique, and he does not wait for chance, but rushes into all serious - to the delight of single ladies. Sometimes it turns into a competition between colleagues or even a bet. One day, two of my colleagues argued that one of them could seduce both mother and daughter in turn in one family. She did not hold a candle, but the hero himself swore that he had won. By the way, about romance: I know many love stories between employees that continued after the end of the season, but not a single story about an animator with a client that would not end immediately after the return flight was announced. In some hotels, the bosses do not approve of the relationship between colleagues and scare them with layoffs, but basically they still turn a blind eye to this.

Each animator has about several thousand friends on social networks - every week a good half of those who leave home add them as friends, then mark them on a hundred photos with the caption “The best vacation! We'll see you soon, friends!" I quite often see clients who go every summer to the very hotel where a certain animator or a whole team works this year, perceiving them as their party. And for the workers themselves, very often such tourists are the only friends:

there is no sadder sight than an animator with ten years of experience.

Such people usually have no friends, no wife, no home as such. Their main talents are a supply of simple, flat jokes for all occasions, the ability to come up with a minute of movement for a group dance to any new song on the radio, and a short-term memory to remember the names and preferences of eight hundred tourists, and after a week, after a day of departures and arrivals, forget them and memorize new ones.

In any genre of art, the theme of the deep longing of the old clown is raised, which is hidden behind ridiculous makeup, a round red nose and stupid laughter, and in world cinema it is sometimes customary to add infernal flair, rivers of blood and some exquisite cruelty to this image. As for the character of the animator, he only inspires Facebook statuses, although, if you pay attention, their work is about the same. Many of the guys are young theater artists, musicians or dancers who do not manage to earn a normal living in their city, and for the summer they leave to work as buffoons in hotels, hoping to find something more decent and more serious in the fall. And, to be honest, you still won’t earn much at such a job - the salaries of workers in this position are indecently low, but they are fed for free and dressed in multi-colored T-shirts and T-shirts with the hotel logo for free. I know a couple of animators who "made it into people" and became stars in the Italian versions of the Full House and Company show, in other cases, people who have been working in such a position for more than a couple of years have an even sadder fate.

But it is very pleasant to be friends and cooperate with such colleagues: if the client is irreconcilably angry or inconsolable, you can always turn to the animator for help. In comparison with him, in the eyes of a tourist, we are a soulless office plankton, we cannot afford an extra joke to defuse the situation, and indeed, our only task is to “pump money and fool our brother”, and they, the animators, the task is to entertain . In general, I love animators. For me, the main disadvantage of working in hotels with animation is the same musical repertoire, selected from the most fashionable hits from the radio, children's songs and other hell, which is on repeat for all four to five months of work. Every time I hear some Bailando, I get a cramp, because for several summer seasons in a row I listened to it fifty times a day and, oh horror, I still remember all the movements of the group dance, although I can’t dance it never had to.

As a tourist, I myself have never gone to hotels with animation, and in general, I am not like that, no, no. Never. Haters gona hate.

On our first trip to Tunisia to work as animators, we had no idea what to expect. The desire for courage, outdoor activities and language practice was irresistible, so there was no doubt about the correctness of the decision. My friend Sasha and I arrived at the hotel at the very beginning of the season, where we were waiting for endless rehearsals of the show, of which there were so many that our head ached along with the body from how much there was to remember.

Animation Team

Upon arrival at the hotel, we met with the future animation team. It consisted of 8 Tunisian guys, including an animation chief and a DJ, as well as a local girl.

Basically, all ages 20-30 years old, cheerful and active people.

During the season, some were fired, some could not stand it and left on their own, others could not establish contact with tourists or simply did not speak foreign languages ​​well enough.

I want to note that in addition to good physical and dance data, to work as an animator you need knowledge of at least English, and ideally French, Russian and Arabic. Entertainment worker also must be a good psychologist, since the flow of tourists from different countries is very large and everyone needs to find their own approach.

Schedule

Every day for 6 months, the daily routine was about the same, except for weekends. So here's the work schedule:

7:00 - 9:00

Breakfast in the hotel restaurant;

Meeting of the animation team led by the chef, discussing work issues and responsibilities for the coming day;

Beginning of work. Traditionally, the whole team gathers in the area around the pool, welcomes tourists and arranges morning group dances;

10:00-12:00

Everyone does their own thing: one plays darts with tourists, the other plays volleyball on the beach, the rest hold various games and establish contact with tourists;

The whole team gathers again at the pool, holds an afternoon game and arranges group dances with tourists.

12:30-14:30

Lunch and rest time for everyone except the animation team. At this time, we discussed the evening show, planned numbers, rehearsed them or prepared a new show.

14:30-17:00

The beginning of active events: aqua gymnastics, water polo, exercises, communication with tourists, etc.;

17:00-19:00

Free time that we girls spent on showers, makeup and other fees;

Animation meeting in the main restaurant of the hotel to greet guests and wish them a good appetite in all languages ​​of the world;

Dinner time for us;

Guests begin to move to the evening animation, our task is to create a friendly atmosphere through communication with tourists;

The animation team holds a disco for children;

Group dances with all guests;

The beginning of the show, and every day is different, the program is repeated every two weeks. At the end, the animators invite guests to join the joint dances;

Invitation and accompaniment of tourists to the disco, which is located inside the hotel, further stay there at will.

Underwater rocks

To begin with, all the animators at first glance are very positive, full of energy and active young people. But it is impossible to be always in a good mood, dance endlessly and smile at everyone, while communicating with hundreds of people every day.

Therefore, I want to assure you that basically benevolence is a simulated picture, which hides psychological, physical fatigue and chronic lack of sleep.

All hotel employees, including animation, will most likely forget you as soon as the transfer to the airport leaves the hotel porch. In order to avoid confusion, the names of tourists are completely replaced with different nicknames that are easier to remember.

Thus, for the whole season there can be 100 "crazygirls" and "moms", with the first used for young girls, and the second for ladies of Balzac age.

There is another case. There are quite a few exceptions when workers really want to find a wife, preferably from Europe, and move in with her there.

If you are an enviable bride, you can be sure that you will remain unforgettable. For some reason, enterprising and cunning young Tunisians believe that Europe is heaven on earth and everything is fine there, life is well-established, a salary that they never dreamed of.

For the sake of their dubious dreams, they are ready to please and court ladies of any age and external data, not sparing compliments and loud words of love. Women, in turn, under the influence of the sun, music and endless alcohol, are not at all averse to such increased attention. These holiday romances are twisted suddenly and often end just as quickly. Particularly stubborn ladies return to their eastern macho dozens of times, spending the money they earn on tours and gifts for their lover, and also, sadly, leaving their families behind.

We constantly witnessed how women brought a huge number of presents to animators, bartenders, waiters, etc., ranging from alcohol and clothes to expensive phones and money to start a business, but everything is for him, his beloved.

In parallel with this, we watched thousands of broken hearts and tears from outside and girls. Any help or attempt to open their eyes provoked claims from our colleagues, who actively defended the ignorance of their next passion.

To this day, I am haunted by the question of how these young guys managed to fool the brains of women of all categories and nationalities so professionally.

Apparently, many years of experience in the tourism business and a great desire for a good life played a role.

The female part of the animation team was also not deprived of attention from the strong half of humanity. True, this only brought discomfort - I had to fight back, get out of unpleasant situations, “not notice” hints from representatives of the administration and chiefs of all hotel structures.

Of course, we are not robots, we are very used to some people, the circle of “favorites” among tourists has been determined. Basically, they were children and those adults who returned more than once to the hotel. They also brought gifts for us, but mostly it was Russian food, which we really missed. After two years, we keep in touch with many of them, sometimes we even meet in different cities.

During my work in animation, I gained invaluable experience and excellent practice in foreign languages, improved my physical fitness, and most importantly, began to better understand people.

I would like to advise all future tourists to be more vigilant and not lose their heads, despite the fact that you are on vacation. Under a beautiful candy wrapper there may be bitter candy, and behind the carefree smile of an entertainment worker, not only fatigue, but also selfish calculation can be hidden.