10 February - Greek mythology (Day 23)

I spent the entire morning implementing the algorithm that Anatole suggested yesterday. Before that, after taking a morning bath, I went back to my room and one of my neighbours just came out from her room. She was wearing a black slinky nightgown and had a good figure. She said Bonjour to me sleepily and went to the toilet. WOW! She sure was sexy but too tall and big size for me. But it was really a good treat to my eyes especially early in the morning. So back in the office, I worked hard with new enthusiasm and a happier mood. Near lunch, I went to find Anatole but he was not around. So I went around “jioing” people for lunch. And the same group (with an addition of Sebestian and a different Nicholas in replacement of yesterday’s Nicholas) of us went for lunch again.

Matthieu and I chatted a bit about Mont St Michel because I told him when I was checking the internet on how to get there, there seemed to be 2 destinations that I could alight. One was Pontorson Mont St Michel and another was just Mont St Michel. He said the latter one should be correct. The guys said that Saturday’s game would have to change to basketball because one of the stars could not play on that day. (Jean-Marie it seemed, but not sure which one because there are 2 Jean-Marie here) Basketball! These guys are all so tall! Despite the great disadvantage, I accepted the invitation of course. So it is set. Saturday 1030am at the basketball court nearby, unless it rains.

So we had lunch together and although I didn’t talk much, it was an enjoyable meal. Except that I had to rush my food again! These guys talked a lot, took more food than me, and yet finish faster than me. And I had to stuff the fries into my mouth. I really don’t like to have my food swallowed down my throat before chewing them. Well, this is the sacrifice that I have to make if I want company during lunch. Adjacent to my table, I saw an Asian woman (guess she is a Viet), eating about 20 prawns! We had prawns as one of the side dish selections today; those cold small prawns and we could take as many as we wanted. I chose cauliflowers instead. I thought she just took more than normal because of “kiasu” and would rather throw them away if she couldn’t finish. In the end, she had a plate full of prawn shells. Really “Jia Ga Lao Sai”! But she looked damn satisfied after the meal.

On our way back, Vincent asked about my work here and my studies in Singapore. Hope it is not always just him or Matthieu who talks to me. I wish to know everyone in IRISA. And come to think of it, I never see Mathilde in the restaurant before. She either comes to work after lunch, or she already left before 12 noon. Wouldn’t it be nice to eat with her one day. Haha. In the afternoon, Anatole was still not around and I really need to tell him the problem. So instead I asked Sebestian who had a part to play also in the program that I was working on. I briefly told him the problem and even though he wasn’t very sure of the details of my work, he was able to come up with 1 or 2 solutions to the problem. I really think the guys here are very smart. And he said if I got any more questions, I could come back to him, anytime. But I would still have to wait for Anatole. I dropped him and email hoping that he would be free to discuss with me tomorrow. So the whole afternoon, I was surfing the net and reading Greek myths.

I read about the gods like Zeus, Aphrodite, Hermes, and tales of heroes like Heracles, Perseus, etc. And I found something interesting. There is a Greek goddess called Nike who is the personification of victory. She has wings on her back and can run and fly at great speed. Also there is a spirit called Echo. Zeus had lots of love affairs with both immortals and mortals and his wife Hera was very jealous about it. So in order to prevent her from spoiling his plans, he summoned Echo to keep talking to Hera so as to distract her. When she found out about that, she cast some spells and made Echo repeat after the voice of others. And as I read, I had an idea as to where I would go for my graduation tour (although still got a year more). Greece! I would visit Athen, the patronage city of Athena, goddess of war. Jon said his grad tour (which is this coming June) might be Europe and he could visit hua in Italy, me in France and Han in Sweden. We discussed about this during one supper before I came to France. I think it was at a coffeeshop along Bt Timah Road. CY was thinking about New Zealand and Kenneth who had already toured Europe last June was thinking of Nepal. Wow, Nepal isn’t a bad idea too. CY said it is not too early to start thinking about this because we have to decide on a destination so that it is easier to find parties.

I told hui about this and he said he would go Batam. Hope he is joking. I know it would cost a lot to go on such tour but it really is once in a life time. After graduation, we might not have time to do so when we go out to work. I also told him to take the opportunity here in France to visit the places near his city. Glad that he found some interesting places to go from his colleagues. He is actually very near Lyon so that is really benefiting because it is a large city which many tourists go to. For me, I would probably travel within Bretagne which is my province. I definitely wouldn’t want to just restrict myself to Rennes. But of course I wouldn’t want to go too far either. One-day tour would be ideal. Those that needed lodging would be too troublesome because I am only going during the weekends. Soon it would be weekend again and I am happy that there are programs going on. I would check out the train station on Sunday too (to see where and how to buy the train ticket) after I visited Jardins du TharBor (it is B not D as I wrote in previous entries). Maybe next Sunday I would go St Malo instead of waiting till March. Wow, I have written 56 pages of journals already! Let me do a word count… 35,794 words, not bad. Carry On!