The animals go in two by two.......Horray hooray

Summer is gone and Autumn hit us strong. In the south west of France, it is snowing at 1300m altitude. Yesterday, the central heater in our building had been activated. I am glad cos' now, the apartment will be constantly warm.

Over the weekend, we went over to Chartres. My mother-in-law just adopted a kitten. With Bao Bei previous experience with cats, we were aprehensive about meeting this kitten. The family lunch was on Saturday so we arrived in the morning instead of Friday night just in case, we could not stay over the night due to Bao Bei. Bao Bei's reaction was the same as the last time. She was hostile to Caramel though Caramel was curious and keen to make friend with Bao Bei. Fortunately, the house with the garden was big enough for the two cats. When the two cats bumped into each other, Bao Bei snarled but there was no cat fights. Phew!

To add on, we had a guest dog, Réglis. Her master was out of town so we had her for the weekend. Réglis was a really gentle dog. She was 7 years old and just recovered from cancer recently. Coco, my granny-in-law's poodle was really interested in Réglis as she was on heat. It was comical seeing these animals. They made us laugh with their silliness. Now, I just could not get the nursery song out of my head "The animals went in two by two. Horray, horray. ......."

Blackwater

Saw the news on TV that some Blackwater soldiers fired at Iraqis while escorting a diplomat on sunday. 11 Iraqies were dead and investigation was ongoing to find out the reason for the shoot out.

Who were these Blackwater soldiers? They were mercenaries hired to provide security to ang mohs in Iraq. It was estimated that the lifespan of a white man/woman in the street of Baghad was 6 minutes. Companies in Iraq doing business or TV crew members had to hire these private soldiers for protection. A simple escort journey from/to the airport that took 20 minutes would cost 2000€. These soldiers were very visible as they drove big cars, carried big guns and made their presence heavily felt. The reporter in the field commented that these "Rambos" caused unease to the ordinary Iraqis.

The American government relied on these private soldiers for several reasons. The government needed to justify with its people and senates for sending more of its soldiers to Iraq. Since Blackwater was a private company, the government just needed the budget to be approved for hiring security. Less deaths in the Ministry of Defense would prevent public outcry on the war in Iraq.

The images of burnt cars and angry iraqis .... An eyewitness said that such shootouts happened often. He added that if Bush had not begin the war, these Blackwater guys would not be there. It would be very long before this country could be rebuilt with peace; where water would be clear and not black.

Chocolate chilli

I am sure that this bar of chocolate will be a hit if it is available in Singapore. My colleague got some from Luxembourg and passed one to me. It was dark chocolate with mexician chilli. Isn't that a genius idea?

The chocolate tasted good. After the chocolate had gone down came the after taste of chilli. It was indeed spicy. One of my colleagues rushed to put a cube of sugar in his mouth to overcome the hot flavour. I like this chocolate. The sweet and spicy taste was indeed 'shiok'.

Food glorious food

I was at the market on Saturday and at the vegetables stall, I saw these green tomatoes. They were meant to be this color. The seller explained to me that these tomatoes were of a variety cultivated in the ancient days and they tasted good. I bought some since Seb loves tomatoes. However, he told me that the taste was no different from ordinary ones.













The season for melons is nearing the end. Over in France, a common way of eating rock melon is with salad and salted ham. In most resturants, this is the starter. It may sound weird to eat fruit as entrée but the sweetness of the melon goes very well with the salted ham.

This is really easy to prepare and very presentable.












Another really french dish is the jarret de porc avec ses lentilles. I had this in Dordogne and when we were served, the waitress thought that this was for Seb and Seb's salade was for me.
-No, no, madame. Seb does not eat meat. It was me, the asian girl who wanted to try this hearty meal. It was indeed too much for me. I love lentilles. It would be better if there was chilli sauce to go it.

Luxembourg

I was at Luxembourg for work last week. During the three days I was there, I passed by this giant plastic bag every lunch time. It just reminded me of those china bags that we used for our purchases when travelling in Bangkok or Hong Kong. I could not describe more about this tiny european country as I did not do any visit. It looked to me like any city in France. I did noticed a lot of banks.

The planes we took were really small. On the way there, we took the new Q400 from Bombardier. It was supposed to be a silent plane. But as with any small plane, it was not silent at all. It claimed to be less polluting. For that, I won't mind the other inconvenience.

On the way back, we took a different plane. This one had a single seat on the left side and two seats on the right. It reminded me of a coach. The overhead compartment was so small that we had to leave our hand carry luggages at the foot of the plane. They were slotted away under the belly of the plane.

Upon take off, the flight journey was 35 minutes. It was really a rush affair to serve us light snack and just as we finished our meal, we were starting our descend.

My colleagues explained to me that Lux Air used to use Boeing for its Paris route. However, since TGV (speed train) started operating to Luxembourg this year, the air business was affected. There were less demand by air travel. For us, we preferred planes to train as the last plane left later than the train. On the way back, I counted 40 passangers and almost all were in suits. Only 10% were ladies. Luxembourg really looks to me like a business center and not a place for passing a vacation.

Movies and more movies

Recently, Seb and I each signed up for the ultimate movie card, UGC Illimité. We can watch any movie at any slot anywhere. There are about 500 cinemas available and soon we can watch movies for “free” in other European countries too. I pay 18€ monthly and Seb is paying 19.80€ as he subscribed just after the price increased. In Paris, movie tickets cost 9.50€ on average. If we watched two or three movies a month, that would easily amortise the fees.

I hope that I will blog more about the movies I watched. Yesterday, we went to catch the latest Harry Potter. I am no big Harry Potter fan thus, I am not commenting much here. The plot is not well developed as the book thus I find it a bit disorganised.

Since we are on the subject about movies, I will just develop further on the cinemas here. In Singapore, seat numbers are printed on the tickets. In France, just like in Australia and US, it goes by free seating. So people have to queue up outside the movie hall early in order to get good seats. As some cinemas are really small, sometimes the queue forms all the way outside the cinema. When it is raining, people will be holding their umbrellas waiting to watch a movie.

Now if we have free seating in Singapore, all Singaporeans will be rushing for the best central seats. However in France, I have noticed that there are all sorts of individuals. Even when the movie hall is not crowded, there are people who choose to sit right at the corner of the room. Some would choose the first row which all Singaporeans will avoid. It just amuses me to see “different” people. Seb prefers the corner seat as he does not want to be disturbed by the audiences in the congested centre. But with me, he does not have much choice. After all, I am a true Singaporean. I prefer to be at the middle of the big screen to get a balanced view of the action.

Tel Aviv, Israel

Yesterday, I took a day off from work and went to the airport to fetch Seb. He was away on a short work trip in Tel Aviv, Israel. The minute he saw me, he complained about the treatment he received at the airport. At the Israel airport, at the queue to check in, his passport was checked. As his passport had many Malaysia and Indonesia stamps, he was questioned of his visits in Malaysia and Indonesia and also what he was up to in Israel. He was led to a cabin where they searched him from head to toe with those metal detectors. The authorities asked if he was the person in his passport photo. What a silly question! He had to switch on his laptop and showed his powerpoint slides. His suitcase was checked thoroughly. After 40 mins of serious interrogations (yeah, they spoke harshly), they released him and he was led to an express counter to check-in avoiding the queue. The weird thing was that this check was done when he was leaving the country and not when he was entering. I remembered that when my mom visited Israel and Egypt 8 years ago, she had to make a new passport just for Israel. Since Seb has to return to Tel Aviv again and his passport is not expiring any time soon, there would be another unpleasant ordeal for him. :(

Fortunately, my company does not have any client in Israel at the moment. There are many tell tales of Malaysia and Indonesia in my passport too.

Piano lesson

I had been diligently practising on my electronic keyboard since I took up piano lessons a month ago.If my passion persists, I will most probably get a real piano. When I told my friends that I was learning piano, three of them told me that they would like to learn it too. However, they thought it was either too late or they could not find time to commit. I felt that if one was really interested in something, one would find the resource to accomodate the activity. I had been procastinating since many years. I can say that I am now very happy and look forward to my piano lessons. I am able to play some easy music scores. Free music scores can be found in the internet. It may help that I could read music notes as I had played organ for a few years when I was very young. I just had to learn on the piano techniques. Still, it is never too late to learn a musical instrument. You need only passion and patience.

Ever wonder these questions?

How to get rid of mold smell in front loader washing machine? Answer

How to prevent and clean mold on plastic shower curtains? Answer

How to clean parquet floors? Answer

Okay. My target audiences are obviously the ladies. I found this site that shares information and you too can put in an advise or tip regarding anything. I do not agree that all tips work but some are interesting.

For the male readers, I have not forgotten you. I leave you with this. The secret of folding a suit coat.

French fries machine

Seb spotted this french fries vending machine while we made a stop at the gas station along the autoroute. We were really tempted to see how "just made" were the fries. But no one was using it since there was a canteen just behind this thing.

And no, we were not desperate enough to try it and wasted our money in case . . . . . we did not like it. So, it is still a mystery to me whether the fries were pre-fried and heated by mircowave upon purchase; or were they really fried in oil in this machine. Is this hygienics?

Someone, just someone, go try it and let me know. Okay?

Dordogne, South west of France

As wednesday was 15 August and a holiday in France, Seb and I took a long weekend and spent four days in Dordogne. This little get-away was centred around the theme "nature and pre-historic".

We drove for about 6 hours from Paris to reach Dordogne. We lodged at a lovely bed-and-breakfast with friendly hosts.

Seb and I canoed 14 km where the river Dordogne winded through a few of the most beautiful villages. The picture on the left is Beynac.


We visited Lascaux 2 at Montignac. This was the famous site of pre-historic art. The original one was discovered in 1940. In order to conserve it against deterioration and pollution; carbon dixoide exhaled from humans, fungis growth from humidity, Lascaux 2 was created about 200m away. Using the latest techonology, 90% the cave drawings were recreated. It was really amazing to see how our ancestors could already draw so well around 17000 years ago.

In the town Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, we visited La grotte du Grand Roc. There were two parties in this area. In the cliffs of Laugerie-Basse, our guide explained to us how ancient men around 17000 years ago lived. They were know as the Cro-Magnon men. They did not live as cave men but used the cliffs as shelters for their tents. He also explained the use of these cliffs during the medieval times. There were other interesting explainations but you had to be there to understand them better.


A little uphill of the cliff was Grand Roc cave. In here, we could see all kinds of crystallizations. It was amazing. With the guide, we understood how these stalagtites, stalagmites, eccentrics etc... were formed. It was really beautiful. Notice the picture where there were a few darken lumps. These stalagmites had been touched by humans thus they were polluted and died (no more growing). We were forbidded to touch them.

This was really a lovely lovely place. Showing us what nature could do.



And I kept the best for last. We droved through small roads, past many beautiful villages and castles all the way to the next department, Lot. Here was the really famous Gouffre de Padirac. It was a big hole leading to the centre of the earth. (Yeah, I was living my childhood fantasy with Jules Verne's Journey to the center of the earth.) Thanks to advance technology, there were three elevators available for the lazy tourists. Still, this place was not wheelchairs or baby-prams friendly as there was still quite a lot of walking and climbing in the abyss.

At the bottom of the abyss, I felt so small looking up. The most amazing thing was hidden from here. We had to walked down a long tunnel and we could see a stream along our path. At the end of this underground tunnel was a long queue of people waiting to embark on a boat. We travelled by small boats along 500m of the underground river to reach the treasure.


As no photo taking was allowed, I invite you to view this God's creation from the 360° virtual tour. It was breath taking. No one could imagine of this great beauty underground.

The cave of Grand Roc was amazing enough but the Gouffe de Padirac, I can't find the right words to describe it.

The region of Dordogne is Périgord and it is the land of foie gras and ducks gastronomy. As I do not like foie gras, I tried duck dishes. After having 4 days of rich food, I am going on light chinese meals for this weekend.

This short getaway definately refreshs my mind on my long forgotten geography lessons. All the visits are guided and most are in french. However, there are printed explanations in other languages. I hope you will enjoy the links I provided.

Post National Day

It's post national day. As a singaporean, I would like to wish my nation a happy birthday.

When I first came to France, this day was important. I did not do special celebrations but I proudly mentionned my country's birthday to everyone. Now, the feeling had waned. I am a Singaporean but I do not feel so Singaporean. This does not mean that I will not be loyal to my country. 4 years in my host country, I am more interested in the happenings here since it affects me directly. I do still keep myself updated with the on-goings in Singapore. I speak with my mom for at least an hour weekly. I read alternative voices concerning Singapore online. Sometimes, it just saddens me to know the truth. Will you choose the blue pill or the red pill? The choice is difficult if you are in the Matrix Island.

Do you think these articles will be highlighted in the mainstream media?
Pity the heliconias

Nation Builders - A new video by Martyn See

$2,500 to rent a 3-room flat?

To end off on a lighter note, have fun reading this from talking cock.
NATIONAL DAY SPECIAL: 60 SIGNS YOU’RE A TRUE SINGAPOREAN

One red chilli

I wrote earlier about my chilli plant. There are plenty of green chillis and I had already used a few to go with my dinner. I was just giving up hope that I will have red chilli when I finally saw one today.

I am delighted. Here's the photo of the single red chick among the other green eye monsters. I hope the others will turn red soon. The green chillis tasted a bit too raw.

Vous or Tu?

In France, there are two ways in addressing peope. 'Vous' is the formal way to address someone whom you do not know or to an elder whom you respect. We 'vouvoyer' the waiter, a stranger, our neighbour, our teacher and often our boss. 'Tu' is the familiar way to address someone whom we know well and is close to us. We 'tutoyer' our friends, little kids and our parents (unless you are an aristocrat, you might have to 'vouvoyer' your parents).

In the beginning, I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out who to 'vouvoyer' and who to 'tutoyer'. It was not a difference of just two words. Different set of grammars and rules applied with regards to 'Vous' or 'Tu'. Take the example of just a simple "How are you?". "Comment allez vous?" when we "vouvoyer" and "Comment vas-tu?" when we "tutoyer". See, it is two different phrases. Out of three words, two are different.

Today, during my second piano lesson, my teacher asked if we can 'tutoyer'. I was relieved as I am more familiar with the 'tu' grammar. Also it brings our teacher-student relationship to a more intimate level.

I hate this uncertanity of how to address a person. It is like a game and it is so french. Since I am not a french, I am in the least position to suggest to someone to 'vouvoyer' or 'tutoyer'. So, I usually wait until the person suggest us to 'tutoie' each other. And I have to remember whom I 'vouvoyer' and 'tutoyer'.

In my previous company, everyone 'tutoyer'. In my present company, I tutoie everyone including the directors. Then just yesterday, I overheard two colleagues 'vouvoyer' with one of the directors. I felt uneasy. I have no idea if I should switch back to 'vouvouyer' him. It is so awkward. What a stupid system! The french language is difficult enough without this. Can't the french make life easier?

Helsinki, Finland

I was in Helsinki last week. As it was a short work trip, I visited the uptown of Helsinki only on one evening. It was summer time and even at 8pm, the sky was still bright.

Helsinki is not big and tourists who visit Finland usually only stay a day in Helsinki. It is the scenary up north that attracts visiters.

I was given a short introduction by David, my colleague who had been to Helsinki many times. In the old days, Finland had been part of Sweden. In 1809, Russia conquered Finland. We could see two types of distinct architectures in this city. The image below is a typical Swedish building. The Russian buildings are flat and not stylish.

Finland has a population of about 5 millions and about a million live in the Helsinki region. 86% people speaks Finnish and about 6% speaks Swedish. Thankfully, most people can understand English.

There are two outstanding cathedrals in Helsinki. One is the white Helsinki Cathedral. The other is the red Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral which is the largest orthodox church in Western Europe.

In 1917, Finland became independant. It is really a cold country with -5 degrees during winter. We were fortunate to have 21 degrees throughout our stay. I had the occasion to try reindeer soup during lunch. As it was in small bits, it tasted like bacon to me. David took a moose burger during dinner and it did not seem so nice.

I am not sure when I will get to visit Helsinki again. I hope that I won't be there during the cold months. Overall, this trip was pleasant as our clients were pleased with our presence. That's what it counts.

My anti-social cat

It is confirmed that we cannot have a second cat. Past experiences of Bao Bei seeing another cat were usually nasty. Bao Bei had seen stray cats at Chartres and she puffed up and snarled like a crazy animal. We thought that this was because she was not at the comforts of her home.

One of my colleagues is going on three weeks of work trip and I volunteered to take care of her cat. We decided to do a trial on last sat where her cat would stay with us for a night. The moment Bao Bei saw Miya, she went crazy. She was snarling and rushed off to the balcony. Miya was a sweetie. She tried to approach Bao Bei and meowed at her in such a gentle manner. It was like 'Hey, let's be friends and play.' Bao Bei replied back growling, 'Go away'. I could not recongise that this was my cat. Throughout the whole night, Seb and I could not sleep as Miya tried to communicate with Bao Bei and we were scared that Bao Bei would hurt her. Miya was really a sweetie coming to play with us and sleeping with us. Bao Bei was really stress and afraid as she did not come into the house at all. We put her food and water outside but she hardly touched them. We could not approach her as she was too aggressive.

The next day, we returned Miya to her owner and were sorry that we could not keep her lovely cat for three weeks. Bao Bei is slowly getting back to normal life. More than 48 hours after the affair, she still stays in our room and would not want to venture into the living room. I guess Miya's scent is still around. I could not understand how she could be so anti-social. Is this the general character of black cats?

Good lunch

I have been reading food blogs and one of my regular read is The Travelling Hungryboy. Since I was recently at one the best restaurants in Chartres, I would like to share with you some delightable dishes.

Seb and I were in Chartres over the weekend to do grocery shopping with Seb's grandma as Seb's parents were on vacation. Mamie, grandma in french, decided to treat us to lunch. She joked that she had been eating lousy food for a week thus, she deserved a good meal.

We headed to Saint Hilaire in the uptown of Chartres. This was not the first time we were there and by now, we knew quiet well the owner Sébastien. He was a young chap who was passionate about wine and good food. While waiting for our food, we were served with 'amuse-bouche' (amusing the mouth).
For entrée, mamie and I had lobster and scallops in fresh cream sauce. I was not used to creamy food and after this dish, I was almost full.

For the main dish, we had braised duck in between layers of mashed potatoes topped with foie gras.

After the main dish, a basket of cheese from this region, Loir, was presented to us. Seb was tempted to try ten different kinds but out of politeness, he tried three. There were more than twenty different ones. I did not like the cheese texture made in le Loir so I just tried one.

To finish our meal, for dessert, we had a raspberry ice cream on top of freshly picked fraises du bois (wild berries) and right at the bottom were shredded mint ice. This was the perfect dessert as it was cooling for the weather and light weight for ending this hearty meal.

If you ever do visit Chartres for its famous Cathedrale, do check out this little charming restaurant. We had a good chat with Sébastien as he was telling us where and when to pick mushrooms and how best to cook them. Only mamie and him were exchanging ideas. Seb and I were just listening and had no idea at all what most of the mushrooms looked like.

Afternote: I wished I would describe more about the food but I am just a starter in this area. I hope the photos showed how tasty the food were.

Travels travels

This month, Seb is travelling alot more than usual. He usually goes Belgium for a day by speed train. Last week, he was in Luxembourg for a day. Yesterday, he was in Belgium and today, he had left for Turkey for three days. Next week, he is going to London for three days and I will be heading to Finland for three days too for my first work trip.

Some couples do not mind being away from each other for a short period of time. But Seb and I really enjoy each other's company in the evening watching TV, being in the same room doing our own reading, eating dinner etc. Basically, we need to see each other and hear each other's voice daily. Being on business trip does make us miss each other dearly. But I can do without it. Still, I am excited for my coming trip as I have never been to Finland. And being able to travel for my new job so soon is a positive thing.

Now, we need to organise the care of Bao Bei. She would be alone for two days. I do hope my kind boss will be able to pass by our place to feed her and check that she is well.

For this weekend, we will head to Chartres for a good rest. I will go pick up Seb at the airport on Friday night on the way to Chartres. He had been waking up at 5 am for his travels and I would want to nurse my cold before attacking the next week.

Weather update

These two weeks, it had been rainy in Paris and the temperature had dropped drastically.
In this summer season, the rightful temperature should be 10 degrees more.
Due to this unexpected cold season, most of my colleagues were down with cold and flu.
I was not spared too. Yesterday, I was having a cold and had to search for my winter pull and pyjamas.
In our apartement,we had central heating and it had been switched off for summer.
Thankfully, from this friday onwards, the weather seems to be better.
Today, it was 19 degrees. By this saturday, we should be enjoying 29 degrees.
I can't wait for this weekend.

The other side of the Causeway

I read this article this morning and this is not the first time I read on such cases. In Malaysia, once you are born to Muslim parents, you are forever a Muslim and you cannot marry a non-Muslim.

Last year, I read about this Chinese man who was brought up by muslim parents. When he was born, the hospital made a mistake and two babies were swapped. His real Chinese parents had the baby of the muslim couple. Now, the two men were staying with their real parents. However, the chinese man had difficulty in coverting his religion.

Same case for a muslim woman who was converted christian. She could not change her religion on her identity card.

Makes one think that depending on which side of the causeway you are born, religion freedom can have a great impact (positive, negative) in your life.


PS: For non-Singporeans and non-Malaysians, the causeway is a bridge that joins Singapore and Malaysia.