Rio animator from Tunisia in contact. Work and available vacancies in Tunisia. Why didn't anyone sound the alarm?

So, we worked/studyed all year - and now we’ve got it! We came to relax! And the first thing we will encounter on the seashore is a handsome, tanned animator who will begin to ask us questions, amuse us and generally “make life brighter.” So here it is. Few people know the reason for such hospitality. Of course, this is their job. But there is also a reverse side to this “work”. I received the information used in the article while working as an animator in several hotels, and from friends who were animators.

Firstly, affairs with tourists are not at all uncommon for the “ringleaders” at the hotel. But, as a rule, every animator tells his “lover” that their romance should be kept secret, because this is fraught with dangerous consequences - he could be fired. They meet with you only outside the hotel premises. Only after the end of the working day. And in the hotel itself they coo gently with other tourists, in the evening telling you tales about the “duty of work” - to be polite and sociable with everyone. This is complete nonsense. Remember once and for all: it is not the animator’s responsibility to “glue” girls. Dancing with them at a disco, treating them to cocktails, chatting over dinner - all this is “amateur activity”. It’s very easy to find an explanation for your “secret” meetings: see that brunette in red at the bar with whom he was chatting 5 minutes ago? and this blonde who doesn’t take her eyes off you while he’s next to you?....get to know them - you have a man in common!)))

Secondly, when contacting an animator, be prepared for cheap attention. That is, you have left the territory. Do you know where he will take you? do not know? Read reviews about the hotel on the Internet - you will probably find a lot of interesting things. As a rule, the animators of a particular hotel have their own “place”. At the hotel where I worked, the guys took tourists to the beach, which was 1 km from the hotel. there the waves are quietly splashing, the moon is shining brightly, dogs are running and you can cut yourself on glass in the sand - but this is all nonsense, because he will take you to a pre-arranged place - some quiet corner that you will stumble upon “completely by accident”!. ..but there is another option, which is used by the most impudent guys - they stupidly rent a room in another hotel. And a hot night awaits you with this "ringleader"

Thirdly, the sweetest thing... Girls, I recognized this kitchen from the inside and I just started to pound with anger and resentment for our girls! So here it is. The traditional game of animators from Turkey, Bulgaria, Egypt, Malta, etc., which is in EVERY hotel!... Everything is simple to the point of banality: we are filmed on a bet. The rules are as follows: as soon as new tourists arrive, all the animators take turns communicating with them. Then they decide among themselves who gets which girl. And the game begins. Cat and mouse resort scenario. Here, anyone has enough imagination, but at one point, usually at an evening disco, he comes up to you and says that his working day will soon end and he wants to continue communicating with you further outside the hotel. You agree - that's all. the mousetrap slammed shut. Then I’ll tell you in a nutshell: if he cheats you out of the hotel, he won the argument. The subject of the dispute is whether he will be able to sleep with you. BUT!!!...It is presumed that if you left the hotel grounds with him, you slept with him. And you can’t prove the opposite to anyone.

After the "magic night" there are two options. The first is “continuation of the banquet” the next day, but this option still flows into the second - total ignore. These are the rules of the game. No one cares about the achieved goal.

And then he starts over with a new victim. And he might tell you during the last slow dance that he was caught by the head of their animation team when he returned home late after your date. And now they are threatening to fire him... Oh God, what a horror...! Yes, perhaps he caught him... but most likely he did not threaten him with dismissal, but gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, whispering something like: “well done, man.” !".

Recently, not only animators, but also animators have begun to be divorced. The Pinki-Girl movement was born in Europe, which grew from simple fun into an unspoken community of girls who know their worth and do not allow themselves to be cheated. Nowadays this is a very common type of recreation for girls. That is, they do everything so that the animators film them. They arrange a meeting outside the hotel...and don’t show up. Trite - you say? You need to know the animators' rules of the game very well - for them, this kind of joke is a personal insult. It's a lost argument, coupled with a "loser" label that won't go away until the girl leaves the hotel. The main rule of Pinki-girl is not to leave tails. That is, do not say unambiguously that you will come to the meeting, respond to signs of attention in such a way that you can always step back. ... "Me??? Yes, I never did!!!"...

If you are not ready to play by the rules, then here are some tips to avoid rumors and gossip regarding you and the animator.

1 - if you flirt with him, know that the bartenders are talking about it. Because of my work, I learned Turkish and was horrified when I listened to the conversations of the bartenders. A girl comes up and orders a cocktail. While they are preparing it for her, two bartenders are having a dialogue: “isn’t this the whore that Niko fucked yesterday?” - “yes, it’s her, those tits are cool”...Are you ready for this? If not, no small smiles or shooting eyes at the animators.

2 - if it does happen that you are called to leave the territory. hotel - make it clear that you are not one of those. To do this, it is enough to answer sharply “No”. And you can not explain anything, turn away and leave. Otherwise, your refusal will be interpreted as an attempt to increase your worth. Remember, animators are not used to rejection.

3 - if you nevertheless fall head over heels in love - which happens with Russian tourists very often - and go out of the territory with him, think carefully about whether it is worth sleeping with him. He will tell everyone early on that there was sex, so should you take such a desperate step? After all, you will leave and never see him again. NEVER, and you shouldn’t get your hopes up. And people who love you are probably waiting for you at home. You shouldn’t betray them for the sake of a ghostly short-term romance with an a priori bad outcome.

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

Animation Team

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

Basically, everyone is 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 would like to note that in addition to good physical and dance skills, to work as an animator you must knowledge of at least English, and ideally French, Russian and Arabic. An 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 approximately the same, with the exception of weekends. So, the working day schedule:

7:00 - 9:00

Breakfast in the hotel restaurant;

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

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

10:00-12:00

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

The whole team reconvenes at the pool for an afternoon game and a group dance with the 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

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

17:00-19:00

The free time that we girls spent on showering, makeup and other preparations;

An animation meeting in the main hotel restaurant to greet guests and wish them bon appetit 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 hosts a children's disco;

Group dances with all guests;

The beginning of the show is different every day, the program is repeated every two weeks. At the end, the animators invite guests to join in dancing together;

Inviting and accompanying tourists to the disco, which is located inside the hotel, further stay there at will.

Underwater rocks

Let me start with the fact that all the animators, at first glance, are very positive, energetic and active young people. But it is impossible to always be 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 goodwill is a fake 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, which are easier to remember.

Thus, for the entire season there can be 100 “crazygirls” and “mothers”, the first being used for young girls, and the second for ladies of Balzac age.

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

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 smooth, and there is a salary that they never dreamed of.

For the sake of their dubious dream, they are ready to please and woo ladies of any age and appearance, sparing no 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 begin suddenly and often end just as quickly. Particularly persistent ladies return to their oriental machos dozens of times, spending the money they earn on tours and gifts for their lover, and also, no matter how regrettable it may be, abandoning their families.

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

In parallel with this, we observed thousands of broken hearts and tears from the girls. Any help or attempt to open their eyes provoked complaints 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 so professionally fool the brains of women of all categories and nationalities.

Apparently, many years of experience in tourism 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 stronger half of humanity. True, this only caused discomfort - I had to fight back, get out of unpleasant situations, and “ignore” hints from administration representatives and chiefs of all hotel structures.

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

During my time working 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 wrapper there may be bitter candy, and behind the carefree smile of an entertainment worker there may be hidden not only fatigue, but also selfish calculation.

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 were relaxing, inhaling clouds of smoke from a hookah, and drinking black strong coffee. Before I tell you what funny events happened to me literally the first time I was there, everyone should understand that this is a country where Arabs who profess Islam live. Accordingly, before going out into the streets of even a tourist town, you should think about what to wear. After all, if we come to someone else’s territory, we must respect other people’s laws and traditions, and it’s also a good idea to avoid unnecessary gossip. As for resort areas, here you can meet a large number of vacationers 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 procedure for setting prices here is chaotic, so bargaining with local sellers is a must. As a rule, you can reduce the price of a product you like by at least 50%. It is worth noting that the tradition of bargaining is present in any place except cafes, restaurants and shopping centers. Where there are fixed prices, it means that “what is written is what you pay.” Therefore, you should not try to prove that you are right in this case.

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

For those who are going to dedicate their free time, holidays or holidays, you will absolutely not be disappointed if you go here. After all, here you can actually do both active recreation and visit a large number of interesting places, or simply give yourself freedom and enjoy the warm Mediterranean Sea and white sand. As for the climate, this information should definitely be taken into account before choosing a given country to visit. The climate here is hot and dry, making it ideal 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 like a rather boring activity for my mother and me, then we decided to create 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, during the entire 10 days of our stay, we managed to see a huge number of places, and each had its own enchanting charm. However, I will remember one trip for the rest of my life not only for its incidental situations, but also for its funny incidents. The time for the next trip was approaching, which, for some reason, I was looking forward to most. The journey took us into the heart of Tunisia, the Sahara Desert, where we would travel for two days. The exciting program began very early in the morning and was so dense that not every person who has poor health is able to overcome such a distance. Attention! Every person who goes on such a trip should prepare with them toiletries, sunscreen and 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 begins early in the morning, when the sun is just beginning to appear over the Mediterranean Sea. Typically, 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 guide’s story, as well as taking wonderful photographs against the backdrop of the remains of the ancient kingdom. However, this is not the most exciting part of the excursion, which can really bring a lot of surprises. By lunchtime, the entire excursion group is brought to a village called “Matmata”, where 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. The beauty of their home lies in the architecture. The houses look like small above-ground 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 there are even frosts down to -1 or -2. That's why it's 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 and how their life works. After the village, the bus leaves for 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 giving out special Berber clothing that all arrivals must wear. It consists of a long, toe-length shirt with white and blue stripes. A turban was wrapped around the head from the same blue fabric so that the person would never get a heatstroke. The most interesting thing is that such a robe is made of wool fabric, which works like a natural air conditioner. Here you can meet such an interesting animal as the fennec. It is very similar to a small fox with large ears. This is a nocturnal inhabitant of the Sahara that feeds on scorpions. It is absolutely harmless to people if 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. The camel ride lasts about two hours under the hot sun, during which time you really begin to appreciate these clothes. No one will select a camel individually, which I already realized when I saw my powerful, wide male. Since I have never been slender or tall, climbing it turned out to be a whole quest. When the guide of our column finally helped me to climb onto the camel, I heard a rather loud crunch under my dress! Without betraying any significance, we moved across the desert. I had never seen anything more exciting at that time in my life. However, after about half an hour of travel, I began to feel some discomfort, which consisted in the fact that one leg began to significantly outweigh my body. Since I was sitting unevenly, I began to be overcome by the fear that I would fall quite quickly, so I called the guide. Without checking my saddle, he assured me that almost every traveler who is not accustomed to riding a camel feels similar discomfort, so I could calm down and admire the views. Since my mother was sitting behind me on her camel, I decided to turn my head to her. At this moment, before I had time to say anything, the saddle suddenly turns down towards the camel’s belly. From fear, 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 other animals, but that was absolutely not the point of my embarrassment. While I was waiting for the escort of the column to run up to my camel, fate played a really cruel joke on me. At the time when the saddle turned over towards the camel's belly, it miraculously turned over to face its 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 my male’s dignity. 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 at my pants. Blushing, I lowered my eyes to my knees and realized that the same crunch that was heard while I was boarding the camel was my ill-fated pants, which literally tore from one knee to the other. But I was worried about something completely different. We still had a day and a half to travel, and I didn’t have any replacement clothes. In the hope that we would have more stops ahead, I held out hope that I could buy at least something so as not to be the subject of ridicule. Unfortunately, during the entire trip, we did not stop at a single place where clothes could be sold, which turned out to be somewhat strange for me. By the way, throughout the excursion I pressed my knees so that the hole would not be visible, and I moved along the entire route like this. According to my mother, it looked like I urgently needed to go to the toilet. I will remember such an 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 what would be the reason for such a trip.

Three years have passed since my mother and I had an exciting journey. I graduated from school and entered college at the Faculty of Ethnopsychology. As in any higher institution, no one canceled the practice, so me and several other girls, including my friends, were sent to an international university. The purpose of the internship was so that we could help newly arrived students from different countries adapt to our country, cultural specific differences and other issues that could cause difficulties. While planning the first entertainment and 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 him, but our characters were so similar that the war between us came quite quickly. All our meetings boiled down to “dry” and formal communication, until on one of our birthdays, we decided to restore peace, since our disputes were disrupting the entire process of practice and causing problems for both parties. Over time, I realized that I had fallen hopelessly in love, and was ready to run to the ends of the earth for him if necessary. I learned too late that he was here only for a year to complete his studies and then must return to his homeland. The whole year passed as if in a fairy tale, but when the time came to decide something, he offered to go to Tunisia with him. Not expecting such a reaction from myself, I quickly agreed. But what to do with my studies and my parents, who definitely won’t be happy with my decision. Surprisingly, at the institute I quickly agreed that I would fly in exclusively for sessions, and that I could submit all work by e-mail. Therefore, one problem has suddenly become less. I decided to inform my parents about my decision to move immediately, softening the blow by the fact that in any case I would come to the sessions every six months. After a month of persuasion, they realized that I was serious and nothing would stop me. It was from this moment that my fascinating journey to Tunisia and life in this extraordinary state began.

Let's 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 burqa, or at least wear a headscarf, according to the laws of faith. I hasten to refute such an opinion, since in this case the Muslim faith does not prescribe the mandatory use of the hijab, or niqab. This choice must be made by the woman herself, which is what Allah says in the Muslim holy book. A woman can show her hair, but she should not show her shoulders and knees, since, according to 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 break the rules of a foreign country. As friends who appeared here over time later explained to me, 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 harsh as in other Muslim countries. I tested this theory a little later.

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

Native Gafsa.

I was 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 about 400,000 people lived in 2009.

In addition, there is an industrial zone, and not far outside the city you can see entire 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 home, where my beloved’s family was waiting, began in the evening, since I had to travel about 7 hours by train. Since it was summer, the weather was comfortable in the evening, so no thoughts arose in my head other than how I should behave with people who, in any case, should like me. After all, I will have to live in their family, at least for the first time. Even though my fiancé tried to reassure me that everything would be okay, I still felt uneasy.

When we boarded the train, I saw an interesting picture. Each carriage seemed to be divided into sectors, each containing 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 of wooden benches, shaped like our own suburban trains. And then there was the usual space, where people sat on the floor with luggage and animals. Seeing a free wall, I hurried to take a seat while my companion was smoking in the vestibule, and laid down the bags that were 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 people around me were looking at me rather suspiciously. Returning from the vestibule, my boyfriend hurried to get 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 remember every little detail and word in order to make a minimum number of punctures in the future.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by a very friendly family, which consisted of a mother, father, two sisters and a brother. They treated me with great warmth, and despite all the differences in faith, lifestyle and the fact that I am a smoker, they really loved me.

Another feature that requires a lot of compromise for Arab families is allowing 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 challenged or qualified.

Gafsa was significantly different from the resort area, as there were stricter laws. Girls dressed more formally, although there were those who did not wear a headscarf, showing their independence and desire to follow European traditions. Nevertheless, in this city, the rule of wearing modest and closed clothes was able to bear fruit. I was able to win the goodwill of my neighbors, who began to often invite me to visit, and 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, one day in the store, while choosing meat for dinner, I saw a flying fly. Wanting to show off my skills and the vocabulary I had learned, I spoke to the salesman. Seeing his shocked face, I apologized, thanked him for the meat and hurried home to talk about the situation and get an answer to the most important question: “what did I do wrong?” My family laughed at me for a long time because in the Tunisian dialect mukha is pronounced like the English combination of the sound “the”, but if you change the sound to “ZE”, then this combination will contain an obscene expression meaning “to go to ....”. The next day I returned to apologize, but the seller simply laughed and praised me for my efforts. However, for six months 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 new living conditions.

He undertakes to tell the whole truth about the animators. Who are they - sad clowns or tireless lovers? Why do they need moderate drugs? When do they even sleep? Do they really enjoy dancing the Macarena with you, or do they imagine skinning you alive? Why can they do something that other hotel workers cannot, for example, seduce the mother and daughter of the same family on a bet, and then not get fired from work? Psychologist, artist, best friend and pain in the ass - that's all he is, a great and terrible animator.

As experience shows, almost the most important requests when choosing an ideal 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 it “is there” or “in no case is it there”, and then they begin to list other selection criteria - pebble or sand beach, the Red Sea or Mediterranean, and so on.

Over the years, the figure of the animator has acquired legends and myths. In the tale of a summer vacation, this is the most famous and multifaceted character: he is the clown of a pea, and the treacherous Casanova, and the children’s best friend, and the unrecognized genius, and a pain in the ass who insists on going to play beach volleyball with him or dance a group dance when you want to read a book alone on a sunbed near the sea. Rarely does anyone adhere to neutrality: animators are either very loved or fiercely hated. I belong rather to the second category and as a tourist I have never been to hotels with animation, but as a hotel worker, observing clients from the outside, I begin to think that some people need such a vacation with entertainers, like therapy or even like air.

Animation can be different. In more luxurious hotels, such fun is designed only for children: while parents laze on the beach, the kids build sand castles or draw the sun and a pine tree under the watchful supervision of a couple of nannies, then they have dinner with them, play with them and return them 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 mischievous and capricious in any language unknown to them. Sometimes these are guys hired by a specific 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 lunch, then lay on the beach, drank Sicilian wine in incredible quantities and blessed the magical country of Italy.

In simpler hotels, especially those that are located tens 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 has enough imagination and improvisation of hotel administrators. In my practice, one such company even had its own magician, who in the evenings showed tourists tricks like “Remember the card! Oh, where did she go? Hurray, the card was found in a German client’s Pina Colada.” True, he did not work for long; very soon he was fired for alcoholism and “sawing” a tourist in the broom closet at the reception desk.

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

Many animators I know were on moderate drugs, and only a heartless person could condemn them for this.

The task of animators is to become for you what you miss so much in everyday life: a 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 don’t want to, or want to, but don’t remember the movements, or want and remember all the movements, but are waiting to be pulled out by the hand, because you are afraid of looking like an idiot, and it seemed like you had nowhere to go. Many tourists come and immediately declare that they hate 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 judge them if they shout at karaoke “Nose-nose” and play intellectual games like “pop a balloon tied to the bottom of a Norwegian tourist with your body” (yes, this is done not only at Russian weddings) - and relax, only asking not to tag them in photos on social networks.
Most people are actually lonely, and many simply lack a group of friends with whom they could do all sorts of fun nonsense, without being distracted by boring conversations about work, children, an annoying wife and politics. And so that no one in ten years will be able to tell your colleagues or a new girlfriend how you were once dressed drunk in Turkey in a hijab and forced to imitate a belly dance. There is no need to try to find an approach to someone, put up with someone’s difficult character, persuade them to play basketball or worry that your new friend will steal your girl away from you - the animator is always cheerful, easy-going, easy to communicate, and will not joke offensively, and if he retires with the young lady you like, he will try so that neither you nor anyone else in the hotel finds out about it.

The animator’s tasks include respecting your boundaries, being delicate and not pestering you when you don’t want to communicate, and also being 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 - precisely in the neighbor with whom we came to the resort, expecting to spend the entire vacation, for example, at the 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 his vacation, his wife realized that she could no longer stand his creative searches and snobbery, she wanted simple human joys and uncomplicated entertainment, and left him for the animator.

Vacation is an excellent 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 pluck up the courage and play at being a lady vamp, a modest young man can try to become a shirt - a guy and the soul of the company. Even if the transformation performance ends unsuccessfully, you will most likely never meet witnesses to your fiasco. This is somewhat similar to a prolonged corporate party, only after a morning hangover you will not discover that you do not remember how you danced the lezginka on the table and then vomited into the restaurant curtain, but your boss remembers it very well.

Vacationers often come to hotels with animation in the masks of haters and pretend that they ended up here by accident, then they find an outlet in the animation and try their best to do during a two-week vacation everything that they do not have time to do in a year at home, without fear of consequences: dance at a disco , get completely drunk, tell a dirty joke into a microphone, or improve your sex life. An animator, by the way, is an ideal candidate for a summer affair: unlike other vacationers, he does not have the stress that has accumulated during the cold office season, he is always cheerful, active and should lift your spirits and give you compliments. Most animators are twenty-year-old students whose health and enthusiasm allow them to work fourteen to sixteen hours a day as entertainers, and then indulge in passionate passion with the next tourist before dawn.

In every hotel there is some young man 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 throws himself into all troubles - 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 one family. She didn’t hold a candle, but the hero himself swore that he had won. By the way, about romances: 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 did not end immediately after the announcement of boarding for the return flight. In some hotels, bosses do not approve of relationships between colleagues and threaten them with dismissals, but mostly they still turn a blind eye to it.

Each animator has approximately several thousand friends on social networks - every week a good half of those leaving home add them as friends, then tag them in a hundred photographs with the caption “The best vacation! We will meet soon, friends! Quite often I see clients who go every summer to the very hotel where a certain animator or a whole team works that 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 no longer have friends, a wife, or a home as such. Their main talents are a stock of simple, flat jokes for all occasions, the ability to come up with moves in a minute for a group dance to any new song on the radio and short-term memory to remember the names and preferences of eight hundred tourists, and a week later, after the day of departures and arrivals, to forget them and remember new ones.

In any genre of art, they raise the theme of the deep melancholy of the old clown, which is hidden behind ridiculous makeup, a round red nose and stupid laughter, and in world cinema it is sometimes customary to add an infernal flair, rivers of blood and some exquisite cruelty to this image. As for the animator’s character, he only inspires Facebook statuses, although, if you pay attention, their work is approximately the same. Many guys are young theater artists, musicians or dancers who are unable to earn a decent living in their city, and for the summer they go 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 in such a job - the salaries of workers in this position are indecently low, but they feed them for free and dress them in colorful T-shirts and T-shirts with the hotel logo for free. I know a couple of animators who “made it big” and became stars in the Italian versions of the show “Full House and Company,” but in other cases, people who have worked in such positions for more than a couple of years have an even sadder fate.

But it is very pleasant to be friends and collaborate 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 soulless office plankton, we cannot afford an extra joke to defuse the situation, and in general, our only task is to “pump money and fool our brother,” and their task, the animators, 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 throughout the entire 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, horror of horrors, 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’m not like that, no, no. Never. Haters gona hate.

If you are going to go to Egypt to work as an animator and are pursuing goals such as earning a lot of money, having fun all day long, sunbathing and swimming in the sea, while communicating with guests, then I hasten to disappoint you! Animation is work. And any job has its pros and cons.

When I decided to go work in animation, I actively scoured the Internet for any information on this topic. But alas. Very little has been written about the so-called “everyday” and psychological moments in Egyptian animation. By the way, I found a lot more information about Turkish animation. But this is true, by the way...

I see a lot of similar posts like “I’m active, I know English, I can dance, I’m athletic, I’m a pretty girl, I dream of trying my hand at animation... blah blah...” My dear girls! This is not enough! Or rather, you may not be athletic at all and don’t know English, but you must be able to communicate with people (that’s one!), be psychologically strong (that’s two!) and have an easy approach to life (this is also very important).

I'll explain. You will be taught how to carry out activities in the first week at the hotel, how to dance and participate in shows, too, after a month of communicating with the British you will already have a conversational level of English, but how to survive in a team with Arabs, Italians, and others and get money Among employers, only your personal willpower and endurance will help you! And further. You must be a bit of a psychologist, observant and physically strong person. I think if you have these qualities, then you can safely conquer Egypt. Well, or Turkey. Although they say in Egypt animation is easier))

Briefly about the animator's schedule. We started at 10 am. We made a circle near the pool and invited people to stratching. While one of us was conducting this activity, the rest of the animators were gathering a team for volleyball. After volleyball there was a watergym, and then we went to the first break (from 12:30 to 15:00). During the first break there were rehearsals (not always, of course; in recent months we have not rehearsed anything at all). At 15:00 we went out again, held activities in table tennis, volleyball, and also belly dancing. Those animators who did not conduct anything had to sit with the guests and talk. About what - these are already your problems. Oh yes, if you talk with one guest for more than an hour, then you will be fined or very strict chefs could deprive you of a day off. Well, or punish it somehow - it all depends on your chief animator. By the way, the most normal chefs are Italians. Well, also Russians. Arab chefs are terribly annoying, they love money and don’t like to work.

So after 17:00 we had a second break. Then, whoever was on the entrance, he stood in the restaurant and invited guests to the evening show, whoever didn’t stand, he slept off after the night discos. In the evening there was a minidisco at 21:00, and the show started at 21:30. Every day it was different - but in approximately all hotels they are the same: Miss Hotel, Mister Hotel, cabarets, playbacks, etc.

After 11 pm we took people to discos. The more disco tickets you sell, the more commission you will earn. So the number of your sales depends on your guest contacta. But guest contact largely depends on you. We had an Italian on our team, she was very nice, she was good at activities, she knew languages ​​perfectly, but her guest contact was lousy. And all because she didn’t know how to communicate with people competently! After all, the animator is required to do more than just dry remarks like “Hi, How are you” and “Where are you from?” You must be a charming conversationalist, talk to the guest ONLY about him and be polite. Because we had such incidents in our team when one of the guests ran to complain to the hotel manager because one of the animators called her a “fat ass.” The animator was forced to work seven days a week. So even when tourists are really annoying (there were some who actually offered to sleep, and not in the most beautiful form), you should never “send” anyone. Even when you really want to. Apologize and go to other guests.

Regarding the salary. The Arabs have a practice that they can “forget” about your salary and not give it to you for a couple of months. They will feed you breakfast and promise to give you everything next month. All this is bullshit. If you don’t extract money from your employers yourself, then no one will simply give it to you. Therefore, yell, call, go and complain to managers - the main thing is not to be silent! Although I sincerely hope that you will be given your salary on time))

To be honest, I had a lot of negative moments throughout my entire animation season. And if it weren’t for my innate optimism, I would probably have gone down the drain from hysterics. I will say one thing - it is difficult to work with Arabs. They have a different mentality, a different culture of communication. Be tougher - especially girls. And try to keep your distance from hotel staff. Because all Arabs are gossips and the slightest smile at someone or, God forbid, an “office” romance - the next day the whole hotel will be talking about it. I went through it, but I don’t give a damn and what was said behind my back was deeply indifferent to me. The main thing is that I did my job and was not distracted by all this tinsel. I wish the same for you))

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