4th C1 writing - Answers ex.2 unit 2 Opinions

When were you last on a steep learning curve? What was the most difficult thing to learn?

When I started my last job I was really interested in doing things as well as I could, because I was making a substitution for a worker that was ill. He had announced to the company his pretensions of moving to his hometown, Lyon, when he would recover from his illness. So, my contract could be indefinite depending on my results during a short period of probation. The most difficult thing to learn was the specific transport vocabulary in French. Then, I was pretty fluent in this language, but I had not any clue of the nouns of materials used in transport issues, the types of loads, and all the stuff like that, totally necessaries to make me understandable by clients and suppliers. Had I not had the help of my department’s mates, I would not achieve the goal of learning all that I needed.

In what situations do you always trust your instincts?

I always trust my instincts when it comes to meet new people in personal or job relationships. I am not prone to classifying people for the first sight; I prefer taking it easy and get into discovering them, their attitudes, feelings, etc… through time. I regret having done this classification once; I made myself a very bad first opinion of a particular person, who finally became a good friend of mine. But for improving my decisions, I would like follow my first sensations, my instincts, which nearly ever I fail in making confidence in the correct person, and I do not anticipate the decision until I arrive to know this person well.

Have you ever told yourself “never give up”? What was the situation?

I told myself never give up when it comes to learning languages. I loved studying these subjects since I was young. When I finished secondary school I was really interested in continue studying French, but out of necessity I started to work with my family in a restaurant, and I could not continue, as I wanted to do. Finally I found time to do it; then I was studying 3th of French al the Liceu Français and I had the chance to become official student at EOI Drassanes doing 1st course of English and German, all at the same time. The same year, 1986, in June, I changed my work situation, and my boss did not allow me to change my shift to attend classes on September, so I lost my official status as a EOI student and could not continue the 2nd course. This turned into a challenge for me. I am talking around 26 years ago, and when I had the opportunity, I returned to this subject. It was possible during a summer course in 2009; I got into English. Probably if I had known my present situation when I started to work for this company in 1986, I would have been more insistent with my boss, because it has been too hard for me studying at my age, combining that with my family, my work, and all that stuff.

Can you thing of a great event or person that had a profound effect on you?

Without any kind of doubt my mother had a profound effect on me. She was a very strong woman, probably because of her experiences in life. She always said to me her point of view about the necessity of learning, the value of the effort for every thing that you want to do in your life. Her values and bravery gave me a way of facing my life that has helped me to enhance my character after her death, when I was only 26. But for my trust in her, I would never have found the strength for taking care of the rest of my family, my father and my brother, my husband and the daughter that I was pregnant only one month before her death. I only regret not being as brave as she was.

Has anyone ever told you to “believe in yourself”? Who? When? Why?

It was my husband who told me to believe in myself when, in 1999, I was proposed to be included in a political candidature, in a place suitable to be elected as a town councilor for the first time. I was really scared. I had not any experience at this field, I felt unable to take that responsibility. He made me think about my strong character, my perseverance, and my willpower during all my adult life. He was totally sure that I was able to do it and now, nearly 13 years later, I could say that probably without his support and confidence on me, I would not never have taken this decision.