First name : Somdet

Surname : Luachaisa

Nickname : Boom

Birthdate : 11 october 1973

Place of birth : Sakon Nakhon

Why did you choose to come to France ?
My husband was french, so when he moved from Thailand to France I came along …

How long have you been in France ?
Its been four and a half years now..

Is french a difficult language to learn ?
At the beginning yes ; its a difficult language many grammatical rules …a real headache …

Do you have some friends ? french or thais ?
Sure i have friends..hehe..more french friends than thai friends, just a few thais…

Is it easy to find Thai food or thai magazines ,videos etc….
Yes i often go to « tang freres » its an asian importer where one can find anything from thailand…but for books i prefer read in french its a good way to pick up vocabulary..

what is your favorite local food ?
I love « la raclette » its a speciality from the alps ..melted cheese with potatoes an ham and many other things and with a good white wine….i like aso any kind of cheese,saucisson (dried saussage),and good bordeaux wine.

Paris has good japanese and korean food too.

What is your favorite thai food ?
Well…. Lao food is my favorite …som tam pala, kanom jin….

What surprised you the most at first in France ?
The most surprising thing here is that in summer its still daylight at 10 pm…really stange feeling

What do you miss the most about Thailand ?
First its my family…then the real thai taste of food…here its arranged to farang taste…not spicy enough.

How often do you go back to Thailand ?
Since i’m here i went back only 3 times in Thailand

Where did you learn French ?
I learnt at the Alliance française in Paris i did two years and a half of french and touristic formation..but its too expensive.When i divorced i had to work in order to keep going but i had no more time for school.

What jobs did you have first ?
I did baby sitting ,housekeeping , then i worked as an animator for a vietnamese food catterer but it was not stable enough.

What is your job now ?
Now i work in a big french restaurant at bastille as a table hostess ,its a good job but really time taking..

its also a good opportunity to become assistant manager or even manager.

Was it difficult to find an apartment ?
Yes it was difficult because you need many garanties.

I was lucky that a friend of mine wanted to share an apartment. We have two bedrooms ,a big kitchen and a living room ,we often make parties…

Now that i have a good and stable job it would be easier to meet the requirements for the garanties.

What do you like the least about France ?
I hate the winter coz its cold…I also hate what they call Racaille (rascals) its the guys from the suburbs who think they are big gangsters from L.A. these guys are always making problems. Its the kind of guys who tell their friends that they go learn muay thai but they end up in pattaya having fights outside the discos..

What are your projects/ambitions ?
I want to win the lottery..hehehe…seriously i just want to make a good career.

What is your advice to Thais wanting to live in France ?
The most important thing is to learn French in order to find a good job..don’t think France is a paradise, life is hard here and you have to work hard.

Here I make 50,000 bath a month, it sounds great but life is much more expensive I pay almost 15,000 bath for my appartment and a restaurant is around 500 bath minimum i also have to think about the taxes which are around 20% of my income.

 Kop khun maak krup Nong Boom ! ! !