ABSTRACT
Paris, Gare du Nord, Saturday afternoon. SamaJ:t is leaning against the fotomat. SamaJ:t speaks French with difficulty. He is 32 and comes from Algiers. He works in a car factory and lives in a hostel for men in a working class district north of Paris. His daily routine is travelling to the factory, working, eating in a hurry, sleeping a bit. And the weekend? Loneliness. Sometimes a meeting of chaps around a couscous [the 'national' dish of Northwest Africa]. No French friend. Saturday he comes to [the oriental quarter of] Barbes and the Gare du Nord. Married? Divorced. His wife in Algeria kept nagging him to take her with him to Paris. He likes "men as much as women. There is no difference."
