I know I have to get something done for the exp this week or else… I don’t think I would be in deep shit but it would not leave a good impression to my sup. There was one participant this morning but he was a “useless” one because he had done previous exp before. I wanted naïve people. I had already scheduled him to come before Anatole changed his mind last Thursday and hence I think I should carry on the exp. Can’t possibly tell him he is not needed anymore. Anyway, it is not as if I am very busy. At lunch, Nico said that this week’s soccer is brought forward to tomorrow as Thursday will be a public holiday. Everyone at lunch was wearing t shirts. I was the only one still in my sweater.
After lunch, I sent an email to my Chinese friend Xianyang and asked if he could help me ask some people for the exp. Maybe his Chinese friends, classmates in his French course or his colleagues. But I think it is quite hard to get people through him because he is more an introvert type. A bit shy, not very open that kind. But still I am a desperate man. Then I asked Ravi again and he said he had spoken to 2 people and will let me know tomorrow. He told me before that he could get 2 from his work place, some from his residence. And in his office there are 10 people working together so he said he would try to get all of them. Potentially it would be 10 from him. But this potentially is no longer reliable. Franck used to promise me a potential of 10 participants from Rennes 2. Then I went to find Julien and asked if he could get his neighbours. He said he could ask 3 people. Ok, another potential 3.
After the 2nd participant passed the exp (another experienced participant), I received an email about tomorrow’s soccer. It mentioned that there will be a long weekend coming because Thur is a PH and IRISA normally has Fri declared as an off day. Hui told me this before and I thought I would rot in my room in these 4 days. He suggested that I could plan for a tour to Loire Valley. I thought that is impossible because there is too little time to do the planning. And I didn’t want to go alone. He said he could join me and I thought he was joking. I went on to check if I can go to the Island because it would be perfect timing. However, the only youth hostel on that island was fully booked. Then I had a second thought about the Loire Valley. Maybe it isn’t that hard to plan afterall. I quickly sent an email to hui asking if he is willing to meet me in the middle of France for the tour. After that I went back to INSA to pay my rent.
On the way I could really feel the heat from the blazing sun although it was just 22 degrees. Everyone was wearing sleeveless and lying around on the grass. Back in INSA, I took my check book and went to the admin office to pay my rent. To my disappointment, the only English speaking lady was not there. Another old lady was there attending the counter. I paid the rent easily because all I had to do was to sign the check. But I wanted to ask some questions. In the end, I decided to try in French. “J’ai un question mai je ne parl pas Francais. Est-ce que je peu ecrire?” (I have a question but I can’t speak French. Can I write?) This lady knew I can’t speak French from day one and hence didn’t mind my broken French. I wanted to ask her how will I get back my deposit. I told her my bank account would be closed in June and if they were to return me by check on my last rental payment, the bank would have no time to process. She went to ask the accountant to come out but she couldn’t speak English as well. She just kept speaking French. It seemed like she was advising me to close my account 3 months after I leave. Then came another lady who spoke a little English.
She said they would not return me by check. Instead they would credit straight into the bank. And she said since I was leaving on the 30th June as stated on my particular, I should close the account on 1st Oct. I told her in that case I would be paying 4.2 euros every month for nothing. I am returning to SG and wouldn’t be in France after June. The account has no use at all. Then I told her that I am leaving on 17th June not 30th. She said then it is even better because I can close the account earlier. She said I could close in mid July. Wah. Da Jie, just now I thought you said it is advisable to close 3 months after. Now becomes 1 month? Anyway, I think I would come back again and ask when the English speaking lady is around. But closing the account in August isn’t too bad because I need not withdraw all my money and travel with them. I can come back to SG and withdraw from the ATM using my VISA.
Back in the office, hui replied and said he wouldn’t mind touring Loire. Just that he dared not ask his sup whether Fri is an official off or not. I pushed him to go and ask because it is quite urgent. The sooner we get an answer, the sooner I can do the planning. I can’t wait till Wednesday. It would be too late. I didn’t want to push him that hard because he thinks that he is not producing enough work and his sup might be unhappy. But I have to get an answer preferably today. Unless he isn’t very enthusiastic to go. But I am and hence I thought if we really want to go, we should act fast. But really I am not sure how bad his situation is in his work. I think it isn’t as bad as he thinks knowing him to be very pessimistic at times. In the end he did ask but still we have to wait for the official email from INRIA to declare that day as an off day. Hope it would arrive tomorrow. For me, I checked with my colleagues and they said there will be an off definitely. Anyway, off or no off it isn’t much problem for me because my sup isn’t around.
Near the end of the day, a participant named Carole replied my email. She is a student from Rennes 2 and I had seen her before when she came with Franck one day. She asked me to call her to arrange the time. I did and first thing I asked her was how to pronounce her name. She said I can just pronounce it as Carole. Because for French, the ‘r’ is very tricky. Since she said it is alright to pronounce the English way, I am more than glad to do that. She said she could come tomorrow morning and wait for me at the main entrance of IRISA. I have to go out and bring her in. Getting people outside the lab makes me paiseh because they have to take the trouble to come down and I had nothing to offer them. I will treat her a coffee at the cafeteria tomorrow. This benefit is only for chio bu, haha.
A count of potential participants. I have that 2 Africans, Laurent said can get 1 from his residence. Ana another 1. Ravi maybe 4. Julien maybe 3. And Carole said she has spoken with her friends in Rennes 2 and they are also interested. But she was stammering over the phone and so I couldn’t be sure. Maybe 2. 13 potential participants. Hope Laurent can get more as he is really very helpful. But he isn’t here today. He has to come tomorrow because I need to remind him to go with me to the prefecture on Wed. I want my 55 euros back!
After lunch, I sent an email to my Chinese friend Xianyang and asked if he could help me ask some people for the exp. Maybe his Chinese friends, classmates in his French course or his colleagues. But I think it is quite hard to get people through him because he is more an introvert type. A bit shy, not very open that kind. But still I am a desperate man. Then I asked Ravi again and he said he had spoken to 2 people and will let me know tomorrow. He told me before that he could get 2 from his work place, some from his residence. And in his office there are 10 people working together so he said he would try to get all of them. Potentially it would be 10 from him. But this potentially is no longer reliable. Franck used to promise me a potential of 10 participants from Rennes 2. Then I went to find Julien and asked if he could get his neighbours. He said he could ask 3 people. Ok, another potential 3.
After the 2nd participant passed the exp (another experienced participant), I received an email about tomorrow’s soccer. It mentioned that there will be a long weekend coming because Thur is a PH and IRISA normally has Fri declared as an off day. Hui told me this before and I thought I would rot in my room in these 4 days. He suggested that I could plan for a tour to Loire Valley. I thought that is impossible because there is too little time to do the planning. And I didn’t want to go alone. He said he could join me and I thought he was joking. I went on to check if I can go to the Island because it would be perfect timing. However, the only youth hostel on that island was fully booked. Then I had a second thought about the Loire Valley. Maybe it isn’t that hard to plan afterall. I quickly sent an email to hui asking if he is willing to meet me in the middle of France for the tour. After that I went back to INSA to pay my rent.
On the way I could really feel the heat from the blazing sun although it was just 22 degrees. Everyone was wearing sleeveless and lying around on the grass. Back in INSA, I took my check book and went to the admin office to pay my rent. To my disappointment, the only English speaking lady was not there. Another old lady was there attending the counter. I paid the rent easily because all I had to do was to sign the check. But I wanted to ask some questions. In the end, I decided to try in French. “J’ai un question mai je ne parl pas Francais. Est-ce que je peu ecrire?” (I have a question but I can’t speak French. Can I write?) This lady knew I can’t speak French from day one and hence didn’t mind my broken French. I wanted to ask her how will I get back my deposit. I told her my bank account would be closed in June and if they were to return me by check on my last rental payment, the bank would have no time to process. She went to ask the accountant to come out but she couldn’t speak English as well. She just kept speaking French. It seemed like she was advising me to close my account 3 months after I leave. Then came another lady who spoke a little English.
She said they would not return me by check. Instead they would credit straight into the bank. And she said since I was leaving on the 30th June as stated on my particular, I should close the account on 1st Oct. I told her in that case I would be paying 4.2 euros every month for nothing. I am returning to SG and wouldn’t be in France after June. The account has no use at all. Then I told her that I am leaving on 17th June not 30th. She said then it is even better because I can close the account earlier. She said I could close in mid July. Wah. Da Jie, just now I thought you said it is advisable to close 3 months after. Now becomes 1 month? Anyway, I think I would come back again and ask when the English speaking lady is around. But closing the account in August isn’t too bad because I need not withdraw all my money and travel with them. I can come back to SG and withdraw from the ATM using my VISA.
Back in the office, hui replied and said he wouldn’t mind touring Loire. Just that he dared not ask his sup whether Fri is an official off or not. I pushed him to go and ask because it is quite urgent. The sooner we get an answer, the sooner I can do the planning. I can’t wait till Wednesday. It would be too late. I didn’t want to push him that hard because he thinks that he is not producing enough work and his sup might be unhappy. But I have to get an answer preferably today. Unless he isn’t very enthusiastic to go. But I am and hence I thought if we really want to go, we should act fast. But really I am not sure how bad his situation is in his work. I think it isn’t as bad as he thinks knowing him to be very pessimistic at times. In the end he did ask but still we have to wait for the official email from INRIA to declare that day as an off day. Hope it would arrive tomorrow. For me, I checked with my colleagues and they said there will be an off definitely. Anyway, off or no off it isn’t much problem for me because my sup isn’t around.
Near the end of the day, a participant named Carole replied my email. She is a student from Rennes 2 and I had seen her before when she came with Franck one day. She asked me to call her to arrange the time. I did and first thing I asked her was how to pronounce her name. She said I can just pronounce it as Carole. Because for French, the ‘r’ is very tricky. Since she said it is alright to pronounce the English way, I am more than glad to do that. She said she could come tomorrow morning and wait for me at the main entrance of IRISA. I have to go out and bring her in. Getting people outside the lab makes me paiseh because they have to take the trouble to come down and I had nothing to offer them. I will treat her a coffee at the cafeteria tomorrow. This benefit is only for chio bu, haha.
A count of potential participants. I have that 2 Africans, Laurent said can get 1 from his residence. Ana another 1. Ravi maybe 4. Julien maybe 3. And Carole said she has spoken with her friends in Rennes 2 and they are also interested. But she was stammering over the phone and so I couldn’t be sure. Maybe 2. 13 potential participants. Hope Laurent can get more as he is really very helpful. But he isn’t here today. He has to come tomorrow because I need to remind him to go with me to the prefecture on Wed. I want my 55 euros back!
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