Brittany

Seb and I spent 4 days in Brittany last week. Tuesday was a holiday so we took leave on Monday to enjoy a long weekend.

Our family has a summer house there and we tried to go to Ploumoguer at least once a year. Usually, we try to arrive before Saturday so that we can visit the saturday market in Saint Renan. It is really peaceful here and there are more farm animals than humans.

When I first stayed in the house in Ploumoguer, I did not dare to go to the toilet at night. The house faced the village church. On the first floor, we were on the same level as the cetemery. Walking to the toilet required passing through the windows looking out to these tombs. But now, I am used to the sight. The cemetery is always well kept and tidy.

Beginning from 7am in the morning, the church bells will ring. It tells the time with a 30 mins interval. That needs a bit of getting used to. In the old days, this must have been really helpful for the villagers.

During this trip, we visited Morlaix and Roscoff. They are two towns that are about 60km from Brest and we always try to visit new places when we are in Ploumoguer.

The photo on the left was taken at Morlaix.

As we were returning from Roscoff, we passed by a beach and there were a lot of activites going on. Kite surfing, kite boarding, kite landboarding , kite buggying, horse riding. This small town is pretty lively with kids.

Brittany is known for its pig farms, potatoes fields, califlower fields and artichokes fields. I love to eat artichoke. So I was really happy when I saw artichokes fields for the first time.

And this is how an artichoke looks like when it is cooked and ready to eat.

Before leaving, we dropped by Le Conquet to enjoy the view of this pretty town. We tried to spot Seb's father boat to let him know that his little boat was safe at port.

In France, there are three public holidays in May alone. The next one is on the 17 May which is on a thursday. We took leave on friday and this time we will spend 4 days in Chartres. It feels good to have such short holiday trips; especially when the weather is fine at this moment.

Please take Note

We are finally the proud owner of a new car. It is the Nissan Note. We planned to have a car around this time and had been changing our minds over which car to take. This car is our weekend car. As I wrote before in this blog, there is no point driving in Paris. Taking public transport is faster than driving provided there is no strike.

There are too many choices even in the category we wanted. Seb wanted the Roomster from Skoda but I really did not like the shape. I liked Honda Jazz but in the end, we took Note for its compact size and spacious interior.

We have an automatic gear as I am not used to driving on the right side of the road. I don't think that this car is available in Singapore.

Our real road test was last weekend when we drove all the way to Bretagny for a long weekend. That's a total of 1200++km there and back. I was glad cos' this is the first time I drove long distance in France. Seb and I shared driving.
Verdict: Stable car even at 130 km/h but the motor is a bit noisy. Loud music helps to overcome this.

Some cool features included:
- wipers start automatically when it detects rain;
- lights start automatically when the car is in a tunnel or when it is dark.

The rest of the features are pretty much the same as the others. One good thing, there is no beep while reversing. I just can't stand it in my mom's car which is a Nissan too. Each time I tried to park, I felt as though the car was going to explode with its increasing urgent 'beep' as the car neared the wall.

Le poisson bar

On Labour day, Anne-Sophie invited us for lunch. She is the queen of tarts. She makes great tarts and though I am not a tart person, I do look forward to lunch at Anne-Sophie's. I love her tarts.

The sun was shining and we had lunch in the garden. We did a lot of catching up as we had not met since a couple of months. On top of the good food and company, I had an incentive. Anne-Sophie's parents just returned from Normandy and her dad caught some fish that morning. She asked if I would like to bring one back as dinner.

So, I took one. It was a bar. I have no idea what is the name in English. Maybe someone can advise me on that. I had to remove the scales and the innards and boy was that hard work.

As I had no oven, I could only steam the fish. I had to chop off the head and the tail so that it could fit my plate and steaming pot.

I put in some slices ginger, garlic and tomatoes. Also some dried chillis and crepes. Basically, I put in anything available in my kitchen.

After 15 minutes of steaming, dinner was ready. It was tasty and thinking back, the disgusting task of cleaning the fish was worth it.

Mom, if you read this, tell me if they sell this fish in Singapore.

ps: got the name of the fish. It is a sea brass.

Headlines: They make you think what they want you to believe

Two reports with about the same information but presented in slightly different ways.
Even the headlines aim at different directions.

So I gathered that employment and unemployment rise at the same time. *scratch head* Can someone please explain to me if I understand that correctly? ;)

Singapore's Unemployment Rate Rises
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/04/29/ap3666144.html

Employment rises by 48,000 in January-March quarter: MOM
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/273326/1/.html

French presidential election

The title is a trick. French presidential election is indeed tomorrow. However, I am not writing anything about it. After my last blog, I started to search about Singapore politics. I invite you to check out two banned in Singapore movies about two people in Singapore. It is really interesting what we can find nowadays with these Google video and YouTube thingy.

Singapore Rebel (26 mins): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8057768553173785296

Zahari's 17 Years (49 mins): http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2022589417781119779&hl=en-GB

Before ending, let me test you with a simple question. Who is the longest serving political prisoner after Nelson Mandela? No idea? Click here to find out the answer.

If you give peanuts, you get monkeys.

Read that Singapore government is going to have a big pay increment.










So, do they deserve it?

Extracts from CNN http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/04/05/singapore.salaries.reut/index.html
Finland, for instance, beat Singapore in the WEF and Transparency International polls -- as second-most competitive and most corruption-free country -- but its Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen earns about a sixth of Lee's estimated salary.

But Lee Kuan Yew -- modern Singapore's first prime minister, who is still the leading voice in his son's cabinet -- will have none of it.
"The cure to all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government," Lee senior told the Straits Times on Thursday, adding that it is "absurd" for Singaporeans to quarrel about ministerial pay and warned that Singapore would suffer it the government could not pay competitive salaries.
"Your security will be at risk and our women will become maids in other people's countries," he said.

600€ cash

Let me pick up where I left off from my last entry. So while I was writing on Saturday, Seb was at the airport waiting for his flight to Boston.

At 10.30am, he left for the airport and I started to do housework. After an hour and a half, he called and said that the plane was overbooked and he and his colleagues were encouraged to fly off a day later. As compensation, they were each given two options; 600€ cash or 800€ Air France voucher valid for a year. Well, he took the first option and while waiting for his return, my mind was going through the list of things that we could buy with this windfall. In the end, we decided to replace our digital camera that recently broke down. In the afternoon, we went on a shopping spree. It was great for me as I have my husband for an extra day and got a free digital camera among other things.

What a day to end off March 2007, isn't it?

US$75 KrisShop inflight voucher

On our trip to Singapore back in Feb, we took the new plane from Boeing 777-300 ER with Singapore Airlines. Once aboard, we could see and feel that this plane was new. The carpet was shiny and the seats were inviting. Instead of the dull purple in other SQ planes, this one was in calm and cosy shades of cream and beige.

There were many enhanced features that delighted me. I will just highlight a few. The video console is located just underneath the screen instead of being by the side of the armrest. The screen is bigger and there is a reading light underneath it. The intensity of the reading light can be adjusted and it lights just enough for you to read without disturbing your neighbours. As for the foldable table, there is a slide that reveals a vanity mirror. After meal or deep sleep, just take a look at the mirror to make sure that you are presentable.

The KrisWorld entertainment was to provide the usual movie-on demand and games. There were some online learning provided as well. I usually could not sleep in planes, even for long overnight flights. I started to watch one or two movies. I watched 'Singapore Dreaming'. I love it and encourage you to watch it. As we were reaching Singapore, I played with the online learning. I tried to learn Dutch, French and Spanish. Then, I saw that there was online learning for Excel. I tried that. While loading the content, my screen went blank. It hung and stayed like this for 10 minutes. I checked around and the screens of others were functionning.

I called for help and the air steward tried to reset my machine but without avail. He explained to me that this KrisWorld entertainment system was recently upgraded and there was a technician on board the plane during this trial run period. He assured me that we were not testers as the system had been well tested. I told him that I was able to reproduce the bug (that's part of my job) and showed how I managed to do that on Seb's system. Obviously, Seb was not too happy that I blocked his screen. Fortunately, the technician managed to reset Seb's system but not mine.

Before landing, the air steward came to me and offered me a US$75 KrisShop inflight voucher. He apologised for the inconvenience caused. I was surprised as I did not expect this kind gesture. Of course, I happily accepted it. As I did not have enough time to decide on what to buy, I used it on my return trip from Brisbane to Singapore. I must say, US$75 can't buy much for the things they sell at KrisShop.

I did not want to put this up earlier as I wanted to be fair to the system. To give it time to be fixed so that readers will not be able to profit the situation upon reading this.

While I was writing this, Seb was on his way to the airport to catch the flight to Boston for a week's training. He just called me from CDG airport. He is heading home now. I will write this later as to why he is not taking his flight today. So come back soon to read.

Soups

Big vegetables roasted meat soup. Yummy! I made a big pot for the second time on saturday. And I managed to finish all of it by sunday night.

Lotus root soup. Yummy! I made a pot for the first time on monday. And I managed to finish it as tuesday dinner.

I am sure most of singaporeans know about lotus root soup. In a pot of water, put in pork ribs, sliced cleaned lotus roots and dry red dates. After 30 mins of cooking, the soup is ready.

As for big vegetable (translation from Hokkien) also known as bitter vegetable, it goes so well with roasted meat, tamarind juice, sliced ginger, whole garlics, dried chillis and tomatoes. All in a pot of water and the soup will be ready in 30 mins time.

The last strain of winter is still here and it is really cold this week. So soups really warm me up.

MAO The Unknown Story

A few months ago, I read Jung Chang's book, the Wild Swans and was aroused by China's history during the reign of Mao Tse-tung. Recently, when I was in Singapore, I came across another book written by Jung Chang. It is titled MAO The Unknown Story. I had only reach one tenth of the book and am totally disgusted by Mao. I had seen documentary about chinese praising him as a great leader. But this is really not true at all.

I could not continue reading. I think I need a few days to cool myself down before I pick up this book again. It was reported that he caused the death of 70 million people in his 27 years of ruling China. I shall stop here. :(

Moreton Island

During our time in Australia, we went for the rustic, good old camping at Moreton Island. We joined the Blue Planet Tour for a two days one night Moreton Action Safari.

As Moreton Island has no concrete road, only 4WD cars are allowed on this island. At 7am, we waited at the Brisbane City train station to be picked up by the four wheel drive. Each 4WD could take up to 8 passengers.

We headed for the ferry terminal and took the miCat for the one hour ride to Moreton Island. Upon reaching the island, the ferry embarked directly on the beach. We sat in our 4WD and began our fun; being transported from the ferry directly onto the beach.

The beach on this part of the island was calm.

Our first stop was our camp site. As Blue Planet Tour organised regular trips, it had its own permanent camp site where tents were already set up. We chose the cleanest and driest tent and after that headed to the beer shop to get our drinks for the evening.

Right after our cold chicken sandwich lunch, we went to the only resort on the island for a snokelling trip. Wet suits, masks, snokels and fins were provided and we snokelled around the wrecks. We spotted some colorful fishes and lovely corals though I must admit that this was no Great Barrier Reef.

We drove around the island and as it had rained the day before, Melissa, our guide, could not stop commenting that the drive was smooth as the sand was compact and the 4WD did not bump too much.

We reached our next destination. The sand desert. Moreton Island is the third largest sand island. Her eldest sisters are Fraser Island and Stradbroke Island who are just nearby.

We tried out sand tobogganing and it was really not as easy as it looked. I tried once and ate sand. For the next 3 days, when I scratched my head, I found sand particles between my finger nails.

We used a plank and we rubbed wax from candle on one side to make it smoother and faster. After that we lied flat on the plank and held up the front of the plank with our hands. We had to lift up our elbows as high as possible in order to protect our face from the sand.

Tim and Seb tried out a few times. And once Tim even went really really far. Do you see the tiny speck in the left image? That was our Singapore Rocket Tim.

When we went down, we obviously had to come up. The climbing up part deterred most of us from going down.

It was really tiring to walk up the sand hill. Still, we had much fun at this desert.















For the rest of the evening, we went for a swim in the sea, tried to watch the sunset (but there were too many flies at the beach), had a good BBQ dinner and drank and chatted around the campfire.

The oldest couple was from England. The man was a retired fireman and it was cool to have them with us. There were many young people. A few from Germany, a few from Korea and the others from the rest of the world.

The next day, we visited the other side of the island where the waves were big and strong. We visited the oldest lighthouse in Queensland. We had lunch along the 33km long beach. We swam in the sea. We watched surfers surfing in the waves. We went inland and swam in the Blue Lagoon where the fresh water was supposed to be 7 times purer than Brisbane water.

Soon, it was time to leave this natural, undistubed island. Moreton Island, you will be missed.

Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge

We spent a night at the Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge and boy, were we excited to share about this little piece of heaven to everyone.

I found this place by internet and as part of our Sunshine Coast trip, I planned to spend a night at the Glasshouse Mountains and another night at Noosa Heads.

The Glasshouse Mountains Eco-Lodge is located at Barrs Road right beside Mt. Tibrogargan. Living up to its name, everything here is eco-friendly. The water here is collected from rain water and is fit for drinking. There is a coffee plantation (left photo shows some coffee beans) and fruit trees grow in the orchard in front of our room. Everything is recycled as mush as possible, even food scraps.

Once we had checked in, we started to explore the region of Glasshouse Mountains. We drove up to Montville, the Baroon Lake and also Mary Cairncross park where we had a magificent view of the glasshouse mountains.

Before heading back, we went to an alcohol drive-thru' shop and got a bottle of white wine. There were two lanes. A browse lane and an express lane. It was funny to us.

Over our glass of chilled wine and with the view of Mt. Tibrogargan, we chatted with Paul. He showed us his perserved chillies which were harvested from his chilli plants and even offered us some chilli sauce to go with dinner. Tim and I agreed that it tasted like chicken rice chilli.

Paul also showed us how to play with the aborignal instrument, the didjeridu. It looked easy but it was really difficult even to make an audible sound. It is amazing how one can make music with it. All of us had a go with it.

That's Seb concentrating hard to make a sound.

For dinner, we cooked in the train wagon that was converted to be a kitchen and dinning area. It was really a great concept and we appreciated the cleaniness of this place and the various recycle bins available.

After a good night rest, we walked along the 3.3 km trail starting from the foot of Mt. Tibrogargan. There were a few lookout points where we could see the other nearby Glasshouse Mountains.

We even spotted a big spider web with the owner at home. The only peace disturbance were the mosquitoes. Apply insect repellants and wear light color clothes. That helps to reduce the bites.

After our morning walk, we packed up and had to sadly leave this green place. Our next stop was the beach. We promised to stay longer here the next time we visit Brisbane. Also, we will definately promote this place to friends who will be visiting Brisbane.

This place is calm and tranquille and so relaxing. There are several relaxing corners and each of us found our niche. It is really a great corner to forget about all the stress of city living.

Brisbane

Seb and I are in Brisbane visiting Tim. It is hot and dry here. We had spent two days in Gold Coast, two days in Brisbane city and tomorrow, we will spent two days in Sunshine Coast.

Yesterday, on our way back from O'Reilly's, I drove to Sunnybank Hills, Grandchester Street. This is the place where I stayed when I was staying at Queensland University of Technology nine years ago. The estate looked the same. The trees were taller. As I was just walking outside the gate, I saw the old lady of house unit 23. She recongised me and opened the gate for me. She was Jo's neighbour as Jo stayed at unit 24. She invited us for tea and we had a good chat. We looked at old photos and chatted about old times while eating the home made cookies. Visiting Brisbane did not bring me much memory until I came to Sunnybank Hills. I stayed in a big estate where there are over 90 houses. I was at unit 2, Jo was at unit 24, Claire was at unit 27 and Moohan and Rachel were at unit 30+. Thinking back to my life nine years ago, I did spent such a great time here in Brisbane. These people that I met then are still the most cherished friends.

It is 8 pm and I am starting to feel sleepy. Due to the 9 hours difference with Paris, we really had a problem trying to sleep. On the first night, we slept at 9pm and Seb woke up at midnight. As the days went by, we adjusted better. We will be here for another week of sun, beach and fun. It is great to have a tan while back home in France, it is winter time and we can show off our tan. ;)

Thank God

At times when I was down and felt discouraged, it was so difficult to find words to thank God. As the new year starts, I reflected on my stay these three and a half years in France. Then I realised how much God has blessed me. I could never imagine my current situation three years back.

In the first few months, love sustained me and kept me in hope. Yet somehow, there were periods of real low as I was not working, not speaking french, not belonging to any social circle. Now, love still sustains me. Seb and I are very much in love. We even agreed that we love each other more than when we just got married. I work, integrate well into the French society, speak french and enjoy the leisure lifestyle in France.

My close friends will know the struggles I faced during the periods of uncertainity. Seb and I arrived in France both looking for a job. I took 6 months to find one and Seb much later. Being without a job means that we cannot have big projects planned. It was agonising for me. But God is good.

I thank God that Seb and I love each other and support each other during tough times.
I thank God for providing both of us good health.
I thank God for giving us stable jobs.
I thank God that economy is picking up.
I thank God that we have the means to go on vacations.
I thank God for our appartment which will be ready in June.
I thank God that I have a pet cat, Bao Bei (I always wanted a cat but my mom did not allow).
I thank God that I join a badminton club.
I thank God that we have enough friends to spend time with.
I thank God for my in-laws who treat me really well.
I thank God that I appreciate the french cuisine.
I thank God that I pick up knitting.
There are many other things to thank God for. I have learnt to set my priorities right.
Learning to live at peace with oneself and being contented with whatever God provides at this moment.
Amen.

Circus time

Seb and I received tickets to go to the circus. My friend went to watch it, loved it so much that she bought the tickets as Christmas presents for us.

Phenix circus presented the Jublié by the stars of the Moscou circus.

It was the first time in my living memory to go watch a circus. We arrived early in Parc Boulogne and there was an enormous top set up. We went into the reception area and there were vendors selling souvenirs of Russian masks, Russian dolls, Russian paintings, Russian brooches etc. There was a stall selling popcorns and candies for kids and a stall selling coffee and hot chocolate. When the time was near, we went to our seats and waited for the start of the show. The inside of the top was bigger than I thought and was surprising warm for a make shift tent considering that it was winter.

A Russian music started to play and at first I thought it was playing from a recorder. As I followed the eyes of the rest of the audiences, I saw that there was a stage set up just above the entrance of the ring and there were live musicians playing. A violinist was playing on her electric violin in the crowd. She was full of energy and walked and ran and shaked while playing music at the same time. She brought up a warm rapport as everyone clapped and our eyes followed her around the whole place. When the Russian music ended, the first performance began. It was a muscled man doing balancing acts mid-air with a metal globe. At one point, he was hanging in a contorted position with just his wrist holding his whole weight. The wrist was inverted in such a position that it was amazing how much strength and control he had. He had a V shaped body and Seb was totally in awe of this performance.

We continued to watch performances by clowns, jugglers, dangerous act on a solo trapeze etc. Each time, the music was played live and the co-ordination of the music and the act was perfect. Throughout the show, a man dressed in elastics frog costume showed up with silly acts. At the end of the show, he appeared this time with his female frog partner. He was a contortionist. He sat on a big turntable (rotating platform, such as a lazy Susan) and put his hands on a stand attached to the ground. As the music built up the suspense, his partner started to slowly rotate the turntable. Slowly, his lower body turned 15 degrees perpendicular to his upper body, then 45 degrees, then 60 degrees, then 90 degrees and she continued to turn the turntable until the contortionist could see his own butt when he looked down. That was a 180 degrees twist. It was scary to watch. How was it possible for anyone to be so flexible? He was really amazing.

But the highlight for me was the horse performance. The horses were just running round the ring and it was the riders who did the tricks. I find the horses magnificent and the co-ordination of animal and man impressive. At the end of the show, there were vendors selling balloons of horses. We did thoroughly enjoy ourselves. Thank you Anca for the tickets.

Happy New Year 2007

Year 2007 is finally here. It will be a better year for us this year. Each year is getting better and better. This year, we will be visiting my brother in Brisbane. We will be buying a kitchen and flooring for our new apartment which is due in June.

Resolutions? I do not usually make them. If I did, I forgot about them in no time. But while I was in the train last year, I had a relevation. I gave up my seat to a lady. I did a good deed. She thanked me. I felt good.

I made a resolution to do a good deed each day. It can be any small gesture. The deed is counted when the stranger says "Merci"; even if it is "Non, merci". The fact is that the person acknowledges that a deed is offered/done and he appreciates it. It can be the simple geste of giving up my seat to someone in need. This is rare as I often stand in crowded trains. It can be giving spare change or saying "Bonjour" to the one legged old man along the street whom I passed almost every morning to work. It can be helping out with Salvation Army in giving food to the needy. It can be serving in church as an usher. In this world of misery, I feel a need to justify my existance to myself. I justify to families and friends by being kind to them. I would like to warm up this cold society by being nicer to any random person. Is this resolution too noble to be true? I have no idea if I can really do it each day. I will try my best. I know that I need this to clear up my trouble thoughts each time I see people in need in the news.

To change to a lighter tone, I promised to write about the gifts I received for christmas.
1. Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I read his other two books all in french and each book brought tears
2. A beautiful vase
3. A white blouse with a knitted black veste to match
4. 4 Cd Simply Français on french music
5. Badminton racket
6. A beautiful framed up of A to Z cross-sitched by my sister-in-law

Well, well, we are done with 2006 now. I hope 2007 will be a better year for everyone.

Grey Paris

The sky is grey and not a single sun ray manages to peep through the thick cloud. It is like the sun is turning its face away from this place and we are enveloped in a blanket of marshmallow. The whole Paris is grey. Without looking at the clock on the computer, I have no sense of time. From the moment I woke up until now in office and I’m knocking off in an hour's time, the sky remains unchanged. It is as though everything is in a standstill. Other than 4 of us in the office and some slow traffic along the road just outside the window, I can imagine myself in the plot of Stephen King’s The Langoliers. It is kinda eerie.

I can hardly wait to leave office and be at home to light up my Christmas tree. That will make my day a little brighter and warmer.

Year end festive season

We wish you a merry christmas,
We wish you a merry christmas,
We wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year.

Seb and I are in Chartres to spend our Christmas with our family. The images on the left are what I took today in the uptown of Chartres and in my parents-in-law's place. It is colder here than in Paris and there is a constant fire dancing in the fireplace. The big pumpkin on the garden table is still shining orange since October. There were birds feeding from the bird seeds that we supplied.
In the streets, vendors were selling their fresh oysters from number 0 to number 5 (size of oysters), smoked salmons and foie gras; the essential food for christmas. People were doing their last min shopping for gifts. The most crowded shops were perfume shops and bookstores. I was glad that we had already done our shopping so it was a stroll in the uptown for me today while Seb went swimming. The festive atmosphere was high and bright. There was even a mini carnival with marching band, clowns and pretty little girls on ponies. Everybody was in high spirits.

Tomorrow is christmas eve. We will roast some chestnuts over the fireplace after dinner like what we did today. Life is so peaceful here. It is so pleasant. We are away from the stress of Paris. Je vais profiter de mes journées ici.

I will write again after I receive my christmas gifts. Do click on the image to enlarge it for a better viewing.

Winter 2006

Winter is here. Technically speaking, winter starts on 21 December but it has been rainy and cold in Paris.

In my balcony, I replaced my summer flowers with winter ones (left and right). I have no idea what is their name. I am a novice in gardening and I do not bother to get to know the names of my plants. I do know that the one in the middle is a bruyère and it flowers in winter as you can see. Still, I must say that the greens are growing well under my loving care.

As Christmas is around the corner, we spent last Saturday and today looking for gifts. It was really easy for the kids as a quick stop at Toys 'R Us completed their wishes. For the other half of the family, we went to FNAC to get books and BD (french comic books).

There were so many people at Opera area that while crossing the road from Galleries Lafayette Maison to Printemps, Seb commented that it was like at Orchard Road. That was so true. I was not even able to appreciate the windows displays that Galleries Lafayette and Printemps put up each year for children with toys animations.

I have forgotten how winter is like. This is my fourth winter in France and yet each time, I have to relearn about the cold and get use to it. And with the train strike still going on, we have to walk 15 minutes in the cold to reach the nearest Metro station. I hope that the strike ends soon. I am glad that there is Christmas to warm up winter.

Afternote: the flowers are cyclamen.

Strike strike strike

Yesterday, SNCF went on strike. I depend on SNCF train to bring me from Becon to Saint Lazare. From Saint Lazare, I will take the Metro train to my work place. As notice was given a day in advance, I made arrangement with my manager to come pick me up. All was beautiful. The return home trip was a little bit unpleasant as I had to take the Metro line 3 until the end and walked 15 mins in the cold back to Becon. Still it was not as bad as 3 weeks ago when there was a similar strike and I had to walk in the rain and cold. With strong wind, umbrellas are not of much use here.

This morning, the radio announced that things were more or less back in normal. 3 out of 4 trains were in operations. My foot! I reached Becon train station at 8.15am. There was a train at Quai A at 8.18am. Following that, two trains were cancelled. And the next one would be at 8.53am. At Becon, I had a choice of taking the direct train that stopped at Saint Lazare or a train that stopped at 3 stations before reaching Saint Lazare. For the direct train at Quai C, two trains were cancelled and things were no better than at Quai A. I managed to squeeze my way up on the train of 8.18am. We were really packed sardines. Once reaching Saint Lazare, there were a lot of people. Just imagine the narrow streets in Chinatown on the eve of Chinese New Year. You really had to be patient and take one step forward at a time. But in this case, everyone was just in a hurry to get to their offices.

I would say that SNCF strike is not as bad as a Metro strike. If the Metro goes on strike, it would be impossible for me to reach office. We little people depend on the public transport. Buy a car and drive to work? With traffic jams everywhere, this is not a good solution as well. Car is meant for weekend getaways. Not for driving in Paris.

I can only hope that tomorrow, everything will be beautiful. Smooth journey, I pray.

Anime craze

I may have never mentionned this in my blog but Seb and I are consistent anime viewers. Seb follows more anime than me. For me, I am just following on Naruto and Rurouni Kenshin.

Naruto was a ninja boy in training. In the beginning, the story line was more interesting as one of Naruto's classmate, Sasuke, had been abducted by the bad guys to be trained to be evil. But now, the story is slower and we are at episode 211. Each episode now is on Naruto's training in the ninja school and the assignments he has to do with his teammates. I am just waiting for the final showdown when Sasuke will return to face Naruto.

As for Kenshin, he was a super swordman turned vagabond. He got to know some friends along the way and some times, his past came back and haunt him. It is interesting as the story line followed the period of the Meiji era in Japan.

Of the few anime I had completed, the most impressive one is Elfen Lied with beautiful music. It is short, bloody and full of body pieces. I also liked Fullmetal Alchemist. The Japanese have such great talent and imagination in coming up with the scenarios and story lines. And at the end of each story, there is always something to reflect on and to learn. It is always simple, humane and meaningful.

Visitors from India

Vincent and Lobke came and visited us for 5 days. Vincent was in Paris to apply for his India visa. We enjoyed their presence at home.

I did a steamboat for them on Tuesday night and they totally adored the idea of cooking vegetables in a pot of soup while dining. They told us about their stay in India and their activites. Laurent came and joined us for the first night on Monday and he showed us photos of India which he took when he was there in July. We really would like to visit it one day since we will have great local guides.

Vincent is french and Lobke is belgian. They met in India. They love India so much that they make it their home. Like Seb, they are vegetarians. Lobke loved my green beans soup. I made it once in 2003 and she still remembered that. I tried to make red beans soup this time as the weather is cooler and red beans are more heaty than green beans. However, I was not able to find pandan leaves this time. It is not always available in Chinatown. I guess this time it was not as good. Pandan leaves do make the difference.

Now, they are back in Belgium. In a week's time, they will be flying back to India. It may be another year before we will meet them again.

Wrapping for X'mas

Each year near the Christmas period, charities will organise gift wrapping services outside boutiques. I signed up to help out Salvation Army to offer my service with the boutique "Modern Man" at Saint Lazare.

Yesterday, I was alone at the counter from 10 am to 1pm. There were a lot of shoppers and they bought things from the shop. However, these people were shopping for themselves. In the end, I only wrapped about seven gifts. As Christmas is still a month away, people usually start shopping next month. I did enjoyed myself as the gifts were easy to wrap. They came in rectangluar boxes. I remembered that last year, I was helping out Red Cross with the similar service at a computer shop. It was really difficult to wrap up a big printer box or those irregular packages like MP3 player.

There is always a money box at the counter. People will give coins for the gift wrapping service. I had seen men donating as much as 10€. I had also seen women who did not buy anything from the shop asking for the wrappers and ribbons; without donating.

Next Saturday, I will be at Saint Lazare again from 10 am to 1 pm. I hope that there will be more shoppers. Wrapping 3 gifts per hour is kinda boring.

Metro line 13 and knitting

I often had so much thoughts on my mind in the morning rush hour. Walking from the train station at St Lazare to Metro line 13. Walking from Metro line 13 to my office in the cold.

Yet when I am sitting in front of the computer, my mind is a blank. What should I write? The trivials in my mind?

So what's up in my head? Well that depends on the surroundings that distract me.
Well, for one, I hate line 13. It is the worst line in Paris. Every morning, lots and lots of people use this line and often there are problems with the metro trains. They are often late and too crowded. Line 13 runs from the south of Paris to the north. In the north, there are more poor neighbourhoods and a few office areas. This means that a lot of the people have no private transport and the only way to get into Paris is by line 13. In the morning, we are packed like sardines in the old trains which have poor ventilation and no automatic door. People are short-tempered and agressive. Each one pushing to get up the train.

The transport minister mentioned that all Metro lines are running well. But obviously, he has a chauffeur-driven car. Metro line 1 was given a big budget to upgrade the lines. Line 1 runs through the central of Paris. The trains are new with automatic doors. The stations are generally clean and the trains are efficient. Any tourist visting Paris will most likely have taken line 1.

For me, I take line 13 almost every day to go to work and it is really stressful at times. Reaching office late with half my energy gone in getting my way into the train, it is really not pleasant.

That is just part of my life in Paris. I hate the underground.

On the brighter side, I took up knitting. I have never done that before. I always like to do jig-saw puzzles. However, Seb is not keen to frame up my puzzles so I usually left my completed puzzles on the coffee table until Bao Bei destroyed them accidentally. She usually lied on the coffee table and sometimes while playing, slipped off from the table bringing part of the puzzle down with her.

In order to do something more productive, I decided to try knitting. I went to Printemps and took up a lesson with the boutique Phildar. After 2 lessons, I am starting on a scarf. It is really easy. I just need to keep repeating the same gesture until I get a really long scarf enough to roll around my neck twice. As usual, I have to watch out for Bao Bei. She loves to play with the thread.

It is weekend soon. And november is here. I realised that I wrote so little these days. I will try to write more. Even trivials. It was really pleasant to hear friends commenting that they regularly read my blog when I was in Singapore.

September vacation

Seb and I went visiting Nicole in Munich in Septembre. We took the night train at Gare de l'Est and the journey took us more than 10hours. This was not the first time that I took an overnight train but it was the first time in a sleeper train. It was of course not easy to sleep as the beds were small and the train was moving and sometimes stopping abruptly at small train stations.

Once we reached Munich, Nicole was there welcoming us. It was so good to meet her after so many months. We took the metro to her place. And interesting in Munich, there was no barrier or gate for entering the metro station. It was based on a trust system. There was a machine for validating the tickets but just no gate.

Our tireness was pushed away after a good coffee at her place. After a quick shower, we started our Munich walk. As she lived near the English Garden, we started with it. The park was really big. There was a big lake and home to different species of ducks. There was a beer garden and we drank beer and ate roasted chicken while listening to the Bavarian brass band playing in the chinese pagoda nearby. The atmosphere was really festive. And it was a working day. People were really cool and you could see families and friends chatting over beer. As we walked around the English Garden, Nicole pointed out to us the nudist lawn. Here, there were naked bodies suntanning. The nudist lawn was separated by just a small stream. There were however one or two naked people lying in the non-nudist lawn just along the path we walked.

We continued our walk in the heart of Munich. We visited the Theatinerkirche church, Viktualienmark; where there was a brass band playing, Hofbräuhaus brasserie; where there was another brass band playing and the City Hall (see pic on left). We also visited the various monuments and historic buildings in Munich like the Olympiapark constructed for the 1972 Olympics, the site for the coming Oktoberfest. It was a pleasant city with colorful buildings. The interior of the churches were white and clean and well maintained. A big contrast to the cathedrales of France.

I drank beer at almost all meals. One breakfast I took weisswurst (the white sausage) that should be eaten with Suesser Senf (a sweet, grainy mustard) and brezel with a beer. That was impressive.

After spending two days in Munich, we took the train to Salzburg which was about 2 hours from Munich. We crossed the border and arrived in Austria. Salzburg, birthplace of Wolfgang Mozart. There was Mozart written everywhere in this little town. We spent our day walking along the small streets with their famous metal shop signs hanging outside shops.

For lunch, we tried the famous apple strudels as dessert. After that, we walked up to the fortess Honensalzburg. It was big and like a mini-village. The view from the fortess was beautiful with the surrounding Alps.

At the end of the day, we took the train and stopped mid-way of Munich at Lake Chiemsee. We stayed at Nicole's summer apartment for the night.


Lake Chiemsee was huge and had 2 islands on it. We took the boat for visiting the 2 islands. The first island called Herrenchiemsee had a castle modelled after Versailles built by King Luwig II. He revered the French Sun-King and created with this castle, a monument to absolute monarchy.

The second island Frauenchiemsee housed some beautiful houses and a convert. There were plentiful of blooming gardens. We had a fish sandwich there. The fish was caught from the lake.

In the evening, we continued our journey back to Munich. On the last day of our stay in Munich, we walked along the river Isar and visited the outskirt of Munich the baroque palace Nymphenburg SchloB. We spent a great 5 days of vacation and it was really kind of Nicole to be our guide. Munich is really a nice city to live in. The people are sociable and the life style is cool. The streets are well planned and big with large pavements for walkers. It is not at all a boring city. We will definately be back there to visit the Bavarian region one day.

You are mighty

Want to make yourself feel good today?
Try this website. http://sohcool.youaremighty.com/
Replace sohcool with your name and check it out.

Thanks to Tim for this wonderful, uplifting self-motivational site.
I hope you guys out there won't get too self-centered after viewing it.
As my colleague puts it rightly, he will view it every morning to make his day.

It was fun

The BBQ was a success. Thank you for coming.
It was a great way for me to catch up though I must apologise for not spending more time than I should with each of you.

As usual, food was excessive and we had to ta-bao (bring back) them. People have not changed much though their kids have grown up a lot.

This trip in Singapore is really a relaxing time for me. It is a pity that the sun is hiding behind the haze.

I received positive feedback about my blog. A few people were telling me that I stopped writing from 18 August. :) I will try to write more often even on trivals. At the moment, I will continue to 'rot' in Singapore and write more when I am back in France.

Next up, watch out for my Munich's trip entry.

This annoucement is for friends in Singapore

Back in Singapore for a limited period
Hi friends,
I arrived in Singapore on 26 Sept at 7am and I am leaving in 11 days time.

I would like to get some news from you. So, I am organising a BBQ at the park in front of my block this Sunday the 1 Oct starting from 7pm. If you know me, you know how to contact me. Let me know if you are coming. Don't be pai-seh, ok?

Best regards,
Ash

Auvergne

15 August is a public holiday here in France. This year it fell on a tuesday. As everyone in the office except two of us were on holiday, my boss decided to close the office on monday. This means that I had four days to go for a short trip.

Anca would like to go to the beach. Seb would prefer to go to the mountains. I just would like to get away. As it was such a last min planning, we could only get accomodation in the mountains and not near the sea.

So, we set off for the town Clermont Ferrand which is about 400km away from Paris. The region is Auvergne . It is a beautiful region with old volcanos, lakes in craters and valleys.

Once we reached there, we left Bao Bei in the hotel room and set off for the nearest peak. Yeah, it was so last min that we could not find a cat-sitter for Bao Bei. Hotels here usually accept animals for a small fee but do not provide any food or bed. Still, we think this moving caused stress to Bao Bei. It is really not a good idea.

We visited the town Clermont Ferrand. It was not very colorful and in no time at all, we had finished visiting the up town. We headed to the nearest peak, Puy de Drôme. As we were there late in the afternoon, we decided to take the bus to the peak. Trekking up the mountain will take about 1h 45mins. It was really windy up there but the view was fanastic.

Below is the Lac Pavin. We took an hour to walk round the lake. It was crystal green and calm.

We visited villages in Auvergne. In the village Saint Nectaire, we bought cheese Saint Nectaire which is produced there.

One of the last place we visited in our stay in Auvergne was Mont Doré. We trekked along Puy de Sancy. During winter, there is a small ski station beside. There were cows grazing along the fields. I saw this lovely mountain flower and could not resist to take a photo.

Singapore's National Day

I am a Singaporean.
When I was in Singapore, I called myself a chinese.
When I was in Australia, I had an identity crisis.
-"Are you a chinese?"
-"Yes."
-"So you are from china!"
-"No, I'm a singaporean."

When I was in US, the same situation occurred.
-"You are a chinese."
-"Yes, I am."
-"You are from china."
-"No, I'm from singapore."
-"Oh, yes. Singapore. It is the island that was colonised by the British ....."
-"Yes..."
-"... and was returned to China..."
-"No. That was Hong Kong."

Now in France, I simply said that I am a Singaporean. Still, the story reminds much the same on my identity....
-"Are you a chinese then?"
-"Yes."
-"Your ancestors were from China?"
-"I never thought about it but I think so. I have no family in China."
-"How many chinese are there in Singapore?"
-"Almost 75% of the population."

I am proud to be a singaporean. There are only 3 million unique pure singaporeans in this world. How rare that is. The foreigners I came across either had personal experiences with Singapore like having visited it, read a special article about its cleaniness etc; or had never heard of it and do not know where on earth it is.

Today is 9 August. Singapore's birthday.

For non-Singaporeans who do not know about Singapore, I hope this blog will make you go search a little more about this sunny island.

For fellow Singaporeans, I hope that you enjoyed the National Day Parade. I will try to catch it online.

Ardèche

Each year, my company organises a company weekend. This year, we passed a weekend in Ardèche which is about 600 km away from Paris.

At Ardèche, we did a full day of kayaking down the gorge of Ardèche. I was glad that my partner, Mehdi, and I had good coordination and had no problem paddling down this 25 km journey. The mountains are impressive though I would prefer the scenery of the Delaware River in United States where I did 9 days of canoeing few years ago. Still, the lavender fields are impressive. There are fields of violets. Pretty!

I would definately visit this area again. It is very picturesque and there are many ruins to discover. Little towns and nature as well.

A hot saturday

France is hot this summer. Even with our fan at the highest speed, there is no cool air but only warm air circulation. But compared to Singapore, this is nothing. However, the french are not used to the heat and a dozen lives had already been claimed by this heat.

I guess this heat was announced as an international news in Singapore because my mom advised me to drink more water, stay indoors and blah blah blah. Mom! I lived in sunny Singapore almost all my life. I am more heat resistant than the french here. And I am a grown up. I know how to prevent myself from dehydration.

I am kinda glad of the weather cos I get to wear my summer clothes more often than I did last year. I remembered that I only wore my sleeveless blouses for two weeks back then.

I just went to Chinatown to buy some essentials like mee hoon, green chinese vegetables etc. And guess what I saw there. Durians!! It is the season again. Whole durians are selling at 6.50 euro per kilo. I have no experience in opening durian so that is not an option. Durians fruits are selling at 18.50 euro per kilo. This is too expensive. I started to think about my coming trip to Singapore and resisted from buying the durian. I promise to eat all I can in Singapore. Finally, in order to calm my taste buds, I ended up with a durian ice cream. Price: 0.85 euro.

When I reached home, I cooked mee siam with the pre-mixed paste from Prima Taste. It was really simple to make. It reminded me of my primary school canteen's mee siam. 50 cents for a plate of mee siam. Just mee hoon and gravy. Just yummy.

Baghdad Burning

It has been months since I started to read this blog regularly. There is even a book published. Please do give it a read. When will Baghad stop burning?
I sincerely hope that one day, she can bring a close to this blog. In order to achieve it, we need to create awareness about the situation in Iraq. It is beyond me. But if you can do something about it, please do.

France in semi-final and the french went crazy

When France beat Spain to go into the quarter-finals of the World Cup, cars on the street started honking and waved the french flags. People were heading down to Champs Elysees to celebrate.

When France beat Brazil to go into the semi-finals of the World Cup, cars on the street started honking and waved the french flags. People were heading down to Champs Elysees to celebrate.

The difference was, there were more people this time round for the semi-finals celebration. This time, Seb and I were at Anca's place watching the game together. As the game ended at 11pm, Anca offered to send us home. We drove along the périphérique of Paris to get to my place as she lives in the south of paris and we in the north.

There were cars and cars heading down the same direction as us. The exit to Champs Elysees is one exit after ours. The traffic was slow. Everyone was honking for joy, even Anca. People were waving french flag, algerian flag (Zidane's origin is algerian as his parents came from there), and portugal flag. France versus Portugal in the semi-finals.

That's not all, people went crazy. They sticked out half their bodies out of the car windows and sat on the window ledge. There was even extreme cases when people sat on the roof of the car. One must not forget that these were moving cars and though traffic was slow, if the driver jammed on his brake, these people could easily get thrown off and be hurt seriously. There were even cars driving recklessly cutting on the shoulder of the highway to over take other cars. Motorbikers without helmets, a driver on a convertible standing and waving while driving with one leg on the steering wheel. Boys running on the highway and at one point, pulling down their jeans to show off their boxers.

These people were drunk in excitement by the fact that france is going into the semi-finals. They totally went out of control and they were heading into Champs Elysees to party and get drunk further.

When we reached home, it was very late. Traffic was never so bad on a saturday night on the périphérique. France semi-final will be on this wednesday. Seb and I had decided that we will avoid going out this wednesday and this weekend nights. I am sure you can understand why.

Irene came and went

Irene and Mag came to Paris during the week of Roland Garros. They are such big tennis fans that they travelled all the way from Singapore to France just for 2 days of "live" Roland Garros. Of course, they stayed for a week to profit on sight-seeings and shopping.

Well, I am glad that they came. Firstly, Irene acted as my "DHL". I am stocked again with some singapore local delights. Cool. Secondly, they brought along with them big sunshine. Just a week before they came, it was grey and cold in Paris. I was still in long sleeves. The day they arrived, it was so hot. Amazing. The ladies were even complaining that it was too hot for them.

I took leave and visited Musée d'Orsay with them on Friday. I had always wanted to visit it but the last time I was there with Nicole, it was so crowded that we decided not to waste our time queueing. This time round, we did not have to queue long. It was so interesting to see the impressionist paintings. Earlier on in Delft, I watched a documentary about the lives of the impressionists. The founders of this type of painting. People like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Paul Cézanne who started their first exhibition had critics saying that these artists should wear glasses as the images were all blurry. I will write another blog about these artists when I have the inspiration.

On Sunday, we visited Mont Saint-Michel and on the way back, we made a short visit to the Americian Cemetery in Normandy. It was really impressive as rows and rows of white crosses greeted us on green american lawn. These are the americans who sacrificed their lives during WWII to liberate Europe from the NAZIS.

A week came and went. Very soon, it was the end of the vacation for Irene and Mag. Now, I am waiting for the photos from Irene . . . . .

Amsterdam and Den Haag

During the first weekend of my training in Delft, Seb and I spent a day at Amsterdam and the next at Den Haag. Den Haag is the local name. In English, it is known as the Hague.

Amsterdam
After a good lunch in a chinese street, we made our way to House of Anne Frank. Along the way, we passed by Dam Square which is really crowded with people, a row of windows with bikini girls exhibiting their wares and lots of bridges crossing the canals.

The house of Anne was not big and the visit did not last more than an hour. The atmosphere was solemn with people whispering in respect of the event that had taken place here during the holocaust. However, this is worth a visit lest we forget how humans can be so inhuman and treat other humans inhumanly. I really could not imagine how all these people allowed themselves to be loaded up into trains leading to the deathcamps. How their neighbours can turn against them. How their neighbours can turn their backs on them. It is just so sad.....

We walked around Amsterdam and eventually took a guided boat ride along the canals. It was interesting as there were explanations on the artitecture and other trifles about this city.



For dinner, we stopped by a street full of little resturants and settled for Tibetian food. It tasted like Indian anyway.

Overall, we did enjoy Amsterdam. The center was a bit small so it was really crowded. There were less bicycles than in Delft but more coffee shops.

Den Haag
We met up with Elisabeth and her friend Evelyn at Den Haag train station on sunday afternoon. In the morning, Seb and I passed a peaceful time having breakfast in the center of Delft.

The first place we visited in Den Haag is Madurodam, the miniature Holland. With Evelyn as our guide since she had visited it at least 6 times, we had a better understanding and view of Holland. All famous landmarks and buildings in Holland are there. Acurate to the finest details.



Next, we visited the art museum that is next to the Parliment House in Den Haag. We viewed paintings by Dutch painters who made their way to Italy during the 18 century before the impressionists made Paris the center of art. As it was a small museum, it was very enjoyable. I remembered more of what I saw here than I did with le Louvre.

For the rest of the day, we had an afternoon tea and lazed around Den Haag until Seb left for Paris on Thalys and I headed back to Delft. It was a pleasant weekend.

I'm in Delft

I'm in Delft, The Netherlands. I will be here for 2 weeks of training. The last time I came here was more than 2 years ago during winter. So it really surprises me that this week, the weather is warmer than in Paris.

Delft is the second most popular destination in The Netherlands after Amsterdam. It is really a student town as there is a university. The famous painter Johannes Vermeer lived here and painted here. There is also the House of Orange museum telling the stories of some royal family history. The last time I was here, we had a pleasant visit there. Also, it is important to know that Delft is famous for its ceramics. The Delft Blue .

There are good food in Delft as well. I met up with Dick yesterday and we ate good ribs at Billy Beer. (Beer is bear in Dutch) It is really nice to catch up in person as we had not met since our last training and had only commuicated by Skype and emails.

For next week, I will be looking for the good indonesian resturant that Seb and I had once 2 years ago in Delft. I cannot really remember where it is now. The indonesian food here is really good compared with Paris. Indonesia used to be a colony of Holland so they is a high population of indonesians here.

Class is over and we are all heading to the nearest beach. We have to enjoy this great weather while it lasts. I will update on my coming weekend at Amsterdam. So come back again next week.

Singapore Election

This saturday will be election day in Singapore. It will be the first time in my life where I will be able to vote. Not that I just turned 21 but because in Singapore, there are not many candidates up against the PAP government so usually it is a walk over. Meaning no election.

Election is mandatory in Singapore. Yet, this time round, I will not be able to vote because I am here in Paris and the nearest polling center is in London. Well, I wrote to the Election Department informing to be excused and to be included in the next election. Till now, I have yet to receive a reply from them.

At the same time, living in France had made me become more aware about politics. I started to check out on the Singapore Election Watch blog and also on a site dedicated to Yeo Cheow Tong. What a revelation! Maybe you are already awared of the happenings behind the scene concerning the Lee Dynasty. Still, check this http://www.yeocheowtong.com/Salaries.html out.

For now, I am waiting to get my hands on the banned in Singapore book, Escape from Paradise. Mean while, have fun voting in Singapore for those concerned and tell me how it went.

My saturday

Spring is finally here. And in this blog, I will take the opportunity to show you readers with visuals on what Seb and I did on this lovely saturday.

After lunch, Seb decided that he wanted to go to Saint Michel to buy a book from a bookstore that sells a wide range of technical books. In order to reach Paris, we had to take the train from Becon station to get to St Lazare Station. The journey is 7mins by direct train.


This is St Lazare station and it is always crowded at all times. From St Lazare, we walked to the bus stop of bus 81 to bring us to the Louvre. I needed to go to the central post office as it is the only post office still open after 12pm in Paris.

As you notice, in Paris, for small narrow pavement, there is hardly any space to install a bus shelter. So, we really have to look out for the bus stops at times.

Along the way to the post office, I noticed 2 smart cars will dress up advertising Nesquik. Isn't that an idea?


After buying the stamps and posting my letters, we walked towards Saint Michel. It was really a fine day to take a walk in Paris. As you can see from the first photo, spring flowers are blooming and the sky is blue. Above is a photo of le Seine. Isn't it lovely?

And finally we reached Saint Michel, one of my favourite hang out in Paris. It is a lively area with lots of foreigners. There is a bistrot which serves great onion soup. Mirama which serves the best roast duck rice in Paris is around the corner.


Walking past a cafe, I could not help myself but to take this photo as prove of the life style in Paris. Notice that the chairs are arranged in such a way that the clients are facing the streets. This is very Parisians. We like to sit and watch the world passes by in front of us. Now as the weather turns better, people are enjoying this past time to the fullest.

To sum up the day, Seb bought the book he was looking for. We both had a great day walking in Paris. It is really enjoyable and I do hope that these photos will enforce your determination to visit Paris.

CPE, the new reason for the riots here

Less than 6 months and France is in the news for the same reason. There are riots again. It started as peaceful demonstrations by students and ended up with hooligans burning cars and rioting. CNN was first at hand to show the amercians footage of burning cars. I spoke to mom and she asked if everything is fine here. Everything is fine. It's a wonder how the TV news reports out of proportion the situation. They usually make a small news spectacular with sensational headlines, music and some seconds of disturbing footage.

Once again, I had to explain. These riots had nothing in connection with last Nov's riots. There are only a few. The First Minister recently set up a new contract for the first employment. It is known as CPE (Contrat Premiere Embauche); Contract of the first employment. This is meant for young job seekers below 26 years old. With CPE, you can be sacked anytime without any reason in your first 2 years of so-called probation. What horror!

Well, you have to understand the economy in France. This is not a simple right or wrong contract. There are about 10% of unemployment in France and a high percentage of youths could not find jobs after graduation. So, the right-wing government decided to create this contract to combat this issue.

Of course, employers are very happy as France's strict labour law makes it really difficult to sack an employee. There must be valid justifications that are quantitative. Just saying that this employee is under performing and he has to go is not enough. You will have to compensate him. However, there may be a risk that large companies will employ youths and sack them before their two years contract is up.

So, on the other side of the fence are the students and labour unions. Think about it, after many years of studies, you ended up with a CPE job. You cannot commit into projects like buying a house, planning the future etc. One, you have no idea if you will still have your job after two years as your company can replace you without reason in order to employ someone younger than you. Cost saving for the company? Also, how can you borrow money from a bank if you want to buy a house? Will banks be willing to lend money to someone with a two years contract? The risk that the person cannot repay the loan if he is sack is too high.

And there you are, students protesting in the streets, at schools. Who's side are you on? I guess it depends if you are under 26 or if you are a patron of an enterprise. For me, I am neither. I prefer to sit on the fence.

For further reading, check out on BBC. But I can't say if the reporting is fair. From what I read, they seem to be interviewing more of the bosses than the under 26.

Mango

Last Sunday, I had lunch at rue Saint Anne which was nearby Opera. While walking to the train station, I saw this interesting ad at the bus stop. An idea isn't it?
It is not a poster but a hang up of real clothes. 100% 3-D and I feel it real cool.

Are you at a cross junction or T-junction?

I thought of this song today. A song that I had not heard or sung since a long time. At this precise moment, I could not get this song out of my head. I need it as I feel like I am standing at a cross junction. There are roads ahead but my engine is dead. I can't move forward. I need a start-up and a signal light. I hope this song will minister to you as much as it does for me now.

God Will Make A Way
Words and music by Don Moen
Proverbs 3:6
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. "

God will make a way,
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way, He will make a way.

By a roadway in the wilderness, He'll lead me
And rivers in the desert will I see
Heaven and earth will fade
But His Word will still remain
He will do something new today.

Marching to an Oscar

I am so delighted to annouce to those who still have no idea which film bagged an oscar for the Best Documentary Feature.
It is none other than 'March of the Penguins'. I watched it in french during my flight on Malaysia Airlines last year. It was super touching. It was simply narrated and there were many moving scenes.
It really deserves this award.
Now, this french produced film has been translated by Morgan Freeman for the US market. Friends, if this film is aired in Singapore, I strongly encourage you to watch it.
If you complain about raising your kids, wait until you see how the penguins do it.

1 Mars

1 March 2006. My first blog for this month.
Nicole came visiting last weekend and I took 2 days leave to visit Paris with her. We had fun. It is amazing the number of places we had not visited in Paris. Nicole was in Paris for a year last year and I met her through our french lessons.

We visited Basilica of Saint-Denis, the cathedral which houses the tombs of the royals. There are tombs of 46 kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princesses as well as 10 great officers of the Crown who laid there until the French Revolution. Today, we are still able to see the tombs from many hundred years ago. It is really amazing.

Catherine de Medicis was laid there with her husband. She was the one who instigated the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre on the eve of her daughter, Queen Margot's marriage to Henry IV. There are great paintings of this massacre. But we will leave the painting topic to another day.

There is also the tomb of Philip le Bel (the fair). The tomb of his son, Louis X is also there. Louis X's wife had an affair and Louis X was never sure that his daughter Jeanne was really his. However, I was surprised to find her tomb just beside his. Also, the tomb of the baby son of Louis X by his second wife is there as well. It is really interesting to have read and watch this story from 'Le Rois Maudits' and then to really see these tombs for real.

We visited St-Germain l'Auxerrois. This is the church favored by the kings who attended mass there as it is just nearby the Louvre. This is also where Queen Margot married her husband, the future king Henry IV. The St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre happened just nearby this area. To understand this day better, I would invite you to watch this film, La Reine Margot.

We visited Sainte-Chapelle. This is really the place that one should not miss. I am in Paris since two years and I never really bother to find out more about this small chapel hidden in the court of the Palace of Justice. I cannot describe more about this chapel. You have to see it to believe the beauty of the stained glasses.

Of course, we visited the streets of Paris and the places we used to hang out. Including a beer at Coolin's.

How rich are you?

Last friday, the prize money of the lottery EURO millions reached nearly 200 millions euro. There are 3 people who won. 2 in france and the other one somewhere in Europe. That is about 61 millions euro for each of them. That is mega, super lots of money.

Yesterday, the news showed some african kids who were kidnapped to be boy soldiers. Young african girls were forced to be slaves and child bearers. Some westerners volunteers were trying to save these kids out of their poor situation. A boy of 11 was asked if he had killed someone with his gun before. He shyly nodded his head.

On friday, I wish I could be just a million euro richer. Yesterday evening, I thank God that I am rich. How ironic isn't it?

Have you watch the movie with Nicolas Cage? The title is Lord of Wars. It shows exactly how guns were given to these poor boys in africa. This is an international conspiracy. If there are no warring countries, there will be no demand for weapons which is a powerful industry in the western countries. With the end of cold war, big countries do not need to stock up weapons for the unknown enemy. Thus, the arms were sold off to warlords for their ethnic cleansing and what not.

Africa is a rich place. It has a lot of natural resources. Yet it is a shame that its own people do not profit from it. Outsiders make sure that there are chaos in Africa so that the natural resources can be conveniently shipped off to the richer countries.

Back to the movie. In the end, Nicolas Cage who is the main supplier of arms did not gave up his professional. He justified himself by saying that if he quits, there will be someone else taking his place.

It's cold.....

aWeather report from Paris, France. These two weeks, it has been cold. In the morning, the temperature ranges from -2°C to 0°C. In the afternoon, it raises to about 5°C. The sky is mostly grey but snow does not fall often.

Frankly, I am still not used to this cold weather. Even all wrapped up from ear mufflers to gloves and boots, I can still feel the cold. For the weekend, we choose to stay at home and watch the Manga animation Naruto. Nothing better than a warm, cozy place and doing nothing in this winter time.

I do hope spring comes soon so that I can start to take walks in Paris.

Chinese New Year

Today, we had the most important dinner of the year. For all chinese, Chinese New Year's eve dinner is a time where everyone in the family eat togather. This evening, Seb and I had steamboat in keeping with our customs in Singapore. We put a pot of chicken stock on a stove and made do with our improvised steamboat. The dinner was great.

In order to get the new year mood here, we turned to CCTV to watch the variety program. It feels good to know that there are chinese all over the world and everyone keeps to this tradition of celebrating chinese new year.

In New York, Sydney, and other parts of the world, there are chinese new year celebration organised by the mayors as there is an important population of chinese.

For tomorrow, I will cook a feast for my invites. It is sure a good way to start the Dog year. To feast and drink. And I wish all chinese a prosperous and happy chinese new year.

I am bored

Recently, I received a website on how magazines retouch their photos to make their models perfect looking. Check out this site.

With that aside, what else is new? Have you heard of the game Su Doku? Okay, I think in the United States and Japan, it is not new. Even in France, you can easily find Su Doku games at all newstands. But in Singapore, not many people have heard of it yet. It is a 9 by 9 grid and there are several random numbers in the grid. The whole idea is to fill up the grid with 1 to 9 without repeating the same number for a single row and column and in the box of 3 by 3. Still not getting there, well, check out www.sudoku.com then.

For people who likes numbers and find crossword puzzle interesting, go try Su Doku.

My Singapore trip

I am in Singapore. I am delighted to see that not much have changed. I am able to eat the foods which I missed so much in France.

But the journey this time round was not easy. Seb and I left our place at 8.30am to catch the 12pm flight leaving for Singapore. We took the train from Courbevoie to St Lazare, the Metro from St Lazare to Chalete, the RER B from Chalete to CDG Airport terminal 1 RER station and finally a bus to the airport terminal. 4 different transports in order to reach our plane and that took us just an hour and 15 mins.

Still, all is not well. It was snowing in Paris and our flight was delayed by 3 hours. The runway had to be cleared of snow and our plane had to go under a 'car wash'. Yeah, we were finally on the runway and there were lorries with extenable hoses to splash hot water on the plane to warm it up and to unfroze the wings. That was impressive to see when you were inside the plane. As we took Malaysia Airline, the delay cost us to miss our transitting flight. So at KL Airport, we waited 2 hours to get our flight back to Singapore. By the time we touched down Singapore land, we were so tired. We had not really slept since the last 24 hours.

Now, all is well. As the third day of my stay started, I am starting to plan what to eat for today. I do have a choice from the 40 over items I wrote down. :) Seb thinks that I should just stay in a foodcourt. Got to go, no time to lose.

It all started at Clichy-sous-bois

Recently, there has been some social unrest here in Seine Saint-Denis. This department is right beside Paris. In fact, I work in Saint-Denis, which is one of the towns of Seine Saint-Denis.
Things got hot last week when two teenage boys were electrocuted while hiding in an electric power plant. They were trying to run away from the police. People in this poor neighbourhood, Clichy-sous-bois (a town in Seine Saint-Denis) were upset and hooligans started to go on riots at night by burning cars and destroying public properties like the bus stops, rubbish bins etc.
Now, a few other towns in Seine Saint-Denis are also having riots almost every night. The minister of interior is holding talks with the families of the two dead boys. The television is inviting educators, police and politicians for debates on how this incident escalate to such a level.
It is difficult to explain in a few words as the root of the problem goes way deep now. There are high unemployment rate, more immigrants and non-white French. The people felt that they are ignored by the society.
But the first question I asked was ‘Why were the boys running away from the police?’ Are not police there to help us, the citizens? The police in Singapore look friendly and helpful.
In one of the reportage on television, people are scared of the police. There are comments that the police harass them, check on them just because they are not white. The police use dogs to scare them and insult them during checks. The police can accuse them of anything and has the right to put them in temporary detention for any reason.
Yet, there are two side of a coin in every story so it is really difficult to say who is to blame for the two boys. But one thing for sure, the riots are definitely not for a good cause. Cars and factories were burnt. I do not understand why some people are just so ignorant and had nothing better to do in their lives than to be destroyers. I condemn the actions of destroying things.
For more information, check out BBC.

How to cure hiccups the german way

I just confirmed for the third time the most successful way to stop hiccups. Thanks to Nicole who passed me this formula. Oh how I miss her now that she is back in Germany.

Well, the next time you have hiccups, you have two options.
1. Think of what you had for lunch the day before yesterday.
2. Think of three bald men.

It is that simple and it works for me three times already.
You do not have to stop your breath or drink lots of water. Just use one of the option. I usually use the first option. It is definitely more interesting than thinking of three bald men.

Let me know if it works wonder for you.

I'm having the blues

I have finally moved to Courbevoie over the weekend. It was a painful move. Not that I am emotionally attached to the old neighbourhood but it is more of the physical pain. We were lacked in manpower in the moving and poor Seb had to labour hard. We had promised to engage the professional movers the next time round. On the positive side, we are sleeping in a really quiet neighbourhood. In our building, there are about 20 apartments and so far, I see mostly elderly neighbours.

As for having the blues, I just added in my cheese list the 'Blue cheese'. In terms of french food; I am not very adventurous in cheese. In fact, I only eat those hard yellow American cheese before coming to France. Yet at every family meals or invited dinners, the host will definitely serve us a cheese plate with the best selected cheese bought from the cheese shop. Of course, best cheese means stinky cheese to me. There are those white runny cheese or cheese with potholes of mouldy blues. There is also that innocent looking goat cheese which stinks. A durian is for Seb like a goat cheese is for me: eternal enemies. Still, I tried to try a different cheese at each occasion.

Slowly as time goes by, I started to eat feta cheese, cheddar, camemberts, brie et finally on Saturday, taste overcome looks and I took my first bite of blue cheese. It is of course not Roquefort (The smell and taste are too strong). I am delighted cos it does not taste so bad. I even had it as breakfast and supper on Sunday.

When I am back in Singapore, I will certainly make friends and family try it. So watch out for the blues!

It is a foggy day

Since yesterday, Paris is very foggy. I have not seen the sun at all. The sky is greyish white and it is weird. It feels as though I am living in a big hollow mushmallow.

As Paris is in a valley, foggy weather is not uncommon. But to have this fog for 2 days, it is rather surprising.

I hope the sun will come back soon and get me out of this grey mood.

To end this weather report, I will do an announcement. Seb, Bao Bei and I are moving out of Paris. We are moving to the suburbs just 5 mins by train from Paris. So, anyone passing by Paris are welcome to help us move on the 15 Oct 2005. If you think you might send me a nice housewarming gift, contact me so that I can give you my new address. :)