In fact, when I first came to Algeria, I lived on a mountain top. It's just that it's not like a wisteria apartment, but the territory of several rich people in this city, including Kathy. The top of the mountain where I live is flat and there is no wasteland. There are a few small embassies, small, junior and high schools, and the rest are exquisite and chic villas where ordinary people live. Everything is so livable, but it belongs to me, only a small room of ten square meters.

So soon, I came to another mountain top. In addition to the wisteria apartment, it is the deep house compound. There is also an institution that looks deserted for a long time. There was a lonely old janitor and his two cats, neither domestic nor wandering.

At that time, I had no friends to talk to, just a lonely person. To what extent? Turn on the TV as soon as you get home, just to listen to the sound. Besides, there was a car that belonged to me, but I couldn't drive it then. What's more sad is that you have to drive from the apartment to anywhere at the foot of the mountain (that is, the city center).

So I made a plan for myself-quickly integrating into a strange environment. At least in other countries.

First, find someone who is willing to share useful information with you.

My breakthrough is the cleaner Sai Milla and the doorman Zaiqi (he has the same name as the landlord's second son). Fat girl Sai Milla told me how to solve the problem of eating. For example, if you go out and climb a seven-or eight-story-high step, you will reach Bashar Street, and then you will find the district government in half an hour, next to the farmer's market. "Not far, just walk." She said easily, "and you can practice your local language at the farmer's market." There's another way. Going out down the mountain, walking step by step for more than ten minutes to the foot of the mountain is another street. There is a small shop on the left, with a cheese advertisement of smiling cow painted on the door, which sells simple food and daily necessities. I think this road is easy to walk, but when I climbed the stairs with some tomatoes for half an hour before I walked back to the top of the mountain, I decided to give up.

The thin young man told me how to solve the travel problem. Drive. He also introduced the environment near the apartment. "Don't go to the wasteland behind the apartment, where no three no four people often haunt and are dangerous. Don't go to the tree-lined path in front of the apartment. It's dangerous for cars to drive by during the morning and evening rush hours. You can go uphill and downhill recommended by Sai Milla, if you are not too tired. " .

But I did filter out useful information from a lot of desperate information given by the two of them. For example, Jumia's online shopping take-out platform, such as the car-hailing platform Yessir. Moreover, as you try more and more, you will meet more enthusiastic people. For example, acuff, the driver of Air France, told me how to guide the takeaway brother to Wisteria Apartment. Although he repeated it at least five times, I remembered it. The big supermarkets outside the city, such as Carrefour and Agdis, are all told by hitchhikers. One of the oldest and most honest-looking grandpa drivers left his phone number and became my exclusive driver before I learned to drive. Of course, in order to maintain the loyalty of drivers, tips must be given.

Second, find new friends.

You can't expect to find these from your colleagues. After all, the workplace is a place where interests and rules are concerned. Let's talk about hobbies first Under the guidance of grandpa's driver, I found a women's gym near my apartment with a straight line distance of 800 meters. There is my favorite belly dance class, two beautiful and enthusiastic girls at the front desk, a strong and neurotic male teacher Shady, a student Zuzu who insists on taking classes rain or shine, and a silly Song Shiquan who is insisted on being a fierce Tibetan mastiff by his master-God knows how many times I saw him running aimlessly outside the window while dancing.

And swimming. Sonatorac, a local oil tycoon, owns his own health club. The swimming pool has the same facilities, and it is very close to the people and open to the outside world. Every day is divided into women's field, men's field, children's field and family field according to different time periods. Everything is so perfect, except that the water depth is one meter, eight meters and three meters.

I lodged an invalid protest with the staff, and the answer was "Miss, you didn't come to take a bath". Later, I saw parents queuing to send their children to the swimming pool nearly two meters deep to learn to swim. My reason told me that there was nothing to be afraid of. At least I have breaststroke beside me. As long as I insist on swimming by the pool and the female manager swims, I can do it. Thanks to these two principles, I quickly caught the attention of Sarah, the female administrator. After several brief exchanges, we confirmed that we are very speculative friends. Sarah was full of praise for my breaststroke, and once showed my breaststroke posture to the girls in the student class. As for me, I learned backstroke through the light of friendship.

In fact, these are not enough. The last hurdle is psychological defense. It often starts with an embarrassing dinner. Don't underestimate this. If you can't sit down and finish a meal in the local people's favorite street restaurant, then every day, you will repeat a sentence in your mind-"I am a foreigner, and I am different from them." What can be more frustrating for a foreigner?

So, the last and most important suggestion: go to the street cafe for dinner.

I want to give many examples, but I think the process is surprisingly similar. A person was eating in a shopping mall on the outskirts of Paris, and only when he sat down at the table did he know that it was a chain store specializing in roasting green mouths. The waitress in her forties insisted on letting me know in French which dish is worth ordering, how to eat it and how to pay for it. At noon in Morocco 12, I found that I was the only one having lunch at this time (two hours earlier than the locals! The experience in Spain is quite similar. My old cousin took me to a noisy little restaurant and suddenly left by himself. I faced the waiter with a cold expression and forced him to answer the stupid question of how to snack before ordering. As for Jaer, it happened in the street of "65438+February 1". In a crowded barbecue restaurant, I stared at a Mediterranean fish in the freezer that I didn't recognize. Uncle waiter kindly introduced me one by one, and I chose the last one. Because, I don't remember the previous ones. ......

In a word, even if the specific process is embarrassing, the result is wonderful in nine cases out of ten. From the moment you eat until your stomach wipes your mouth, such an idea will pop up in your mind-but that's all.

Yes, but that's all.