For 2 days now, the eye bag of my left eye has been twitching and it is still doing so as I typed. Maybe I had been working quite hard for the past 2 days test running my program. But I guess it should be because I didn’t have a good night rest. For 2 consecutive nights, I have been waking up in the middle of the night shivering in cold. I had my sweater on, socks on, blanket on, heater full blast but still no use. I guess I am becoming weaker now. When I get back to Singapore, I think Weishen and Hoe would laugh at my small biceps and flat chest when we go gym. I was also afraid that the twitching of the eye was a bad omen. Quite worried that something has gone wrong back at home but is relieved to see my brother on msn. While here, I once dreamt that something bad happened at home and I had to rush back immediately. It was very difficult and troublesome because I had to pack my stuff, close my bank account, terminate my rent, etc. I was just being paranoid.
The office seemed to be empty today, just a couple of souls around. Even the corridor lights were off and it was kind of creepy. As planned, I went to find Sebestian and asked him to run through the experiment. After 20 min or so, he finished and I asked him to give me some feedbacks. He too said that the simulation was realistic and I felt really happy hearing that. But still I have to come up with new ideas to enhance the technique and asked him to give me some advice. He was very helpful and gave me some tips and ideas to work on. I guessed I could probably finish all the tasks set out for this week and have a good answer to Anatole when he returned next week. I asked if he was eating lunch later but he said he would go back home and eat. This is the advantage of a small city and furthermore, everyone has a car here. At lunch time, Jeremy went with his gang, so it was just me and Mathieu. I asked Mathieu where are the rest of the guys and he said Mr. Giant is moving house today so everyone went to help. The flexibility of the working hours here.
Mathieu is a quiet and pleasant guy, a gentleman in fact. He apologized for the cancellation of the basketball game because of the rain. I asked if they are planning one again this Saturday and he said he couldn’t because his girlfriend is coming to Rennes from their hometown (which I forgot the name). But they are going to have an indoor soccer soon. I also asked him besides St Malo and Mont St Michel, are there any places which I could visit in Bretagne. He said there is a place (forgot the name again) with stones artifacts, much like the Stonehenge but smaller. I read about that somewhere before and maybe I would visit that. He said Brest is also a nice city by the sea (extreme west of France, next to Atlantic Ocean) so maybe I could go there also. It would take me about 2 hrs train ride. We reached the restaurant that I went to yesterday and even Mathieu find it troublesome and confusing to queue up for the food. I took the maximum amount of food that I can take out of revenge because I didn’t do that yesterday. I had the main dish, an appetizer, yogurt, bread and butter and a banana. When I reached the counter, the lady asked for 3 food tickets! I was very embarrassed and told her I had only 2. She explained to me why it is 3 tickets but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. In the end, she said never mind and just took 1 ticket from me. I wasn’t being greedy at all because back in the old restaurant, I could take as much as I want for just one ticket. But tomorrow I would not do so again.
Mathieu was also surprised that she asked for 3 tickets and guessed perhaps I took both yogurt and banana but in fact I can only choose one. But that shouldn’t cost me 3 tickets which is 6 euros. Throughout lunch we chatted a lot and he asked me how I find the cleanliness of the city because he heard that Singapore is a very clean country. I said it is also quite clean here except for the cigarette butts on the ground. I also asked him about the education system in France and this is what he told me:
- 5 years of primary school
- 4 years of secondary school
- 3 years of college
- 4 years for Engineering degree
- OR 5 years for Masters
- And PhD, I forgot it is 2 or 3 years.
When he finished his dessert, I was still eating my main dish and had to abandon some of the rice and move on to my bread. He said he ate too fast because it was a habit cultivated during his time as a PhD student. He said Jean-Marie eats very slowly. I had observed that and Mathieu is right. But still Jean-Marie eats 5, 6 fries at one go so that’s twice as fast as me. On the way back, he asked what I did for my NS and I said I had some adventures disposing ammunitions and handling the fireworks. But in fact, most of my army times are really boring and whenever I am outside with friends, I seldom talk about it.
Mathieu said that he escaped his NS while doing his PhD because that was when the government decided to reduce it from a year to 1 day orientation. But his cousin had to serve and was posted to Japan and worked in the French Consulate giving out visa to people. And the funniest part is his cousin now works in Japan; as an actor for Japan drama series!!! Imagine an “ang moh” in Ri Ju! But Mathieu said his cousin only acts as supporting cast but was quite well paid. I told him I watch quite a lot of Ri Ju and asked him to give me some titles that his cousin has acted in before. Mathieu said he had been to Japan himself for work for 2 months and could speak some Japanese like “Hajimemashite”, “Dozo yoroshiku” and knows about Kanji, hiragana, etc. And he got a Japanese friend who is a lead actor in Japanese movies. He acted in a movie called “H Story” which stands for “Hiroshima Story” and is based on a French book called “Hiroshima, Moi amour” (Hiroshima, my love). There is also a French actress in the movie.
Back in the office, heard from hui that he got his “Tian Long Ba Bu” and was really envious of him. Ever since I came here, I have completely lost touch with Chinese stuffs, except for my “San Guo Yan Yi” which I read every night. And I only speak Chinese for 10 min once a week when calling home. I really want to watch some Chinese shows and listen to some Chinese songs. I was so desperate that I used my Pentax and recorded my own singings of Aaron Kwok’s songs. Hahaha! I find that when loaded into Media Player, my voice actually sounds like him! But too bad I don’t look like him. In the afternoon, I began to work on my new idea for the program and had a bit of progress. Mathilde came in and said hi but she was looking for Jeremy in fact. Basket, he really is my Qing Di because I overheard him talking with his friends and heard Mathilde’s name occasionally. And every time she walked past or the clicking sound of her heels was near, Jeremy that Lao Di Go would turn his head.
Again I worked until 6pm today and went to mart. Before that, I checked my letterbox and there were 3 letters. One was from EGIDE, the France social assurance organization and they sent me a booklet on places to visit in France. And then there was a letter from the bank giving me a card which its purpose I wasn’t quite sure. Some discount card I guess. Both letters are in French so I would have to get them translated asap. The last letter was a greeting card and there are just 4 friends that would send me cards. But when I looked at the return address, it was unfamiliar and I really couldn’t guess it was from whom. When I opened it, it was from Carol!!! Wow! I was so touched. I wrote my address in my blog but wasn’t very hopeful that someone would send me a card but she did. And I remember we were not very close back in secondary school days and yet she made the effort to send me some words of encouragement. From now on, you would get a card from me every year Carol and we would remain in touch. Perhaps we could organize a 4C outing together. I have always been “bochap” about organizing gatherings (don’t think I have done one so far) but I think this attitude has to change.
The office seemed to be empty today, just a couple of souls around. Even the corridor lights were off and it was kind of creepy. As planned, I went to find Sebestian and asked him to run through the experiment. After 20 min or so, he finished and I asked him to give me some feedbacks. He too said that the simulation was realistic and I felt really happy hearing that. But still I have to come up with new ideas to enhance the technique and asked him to give me some advice. He was very helpful and gave me some tips and ideas to work on. I guessed I could probably finish all the tasks set out for this week and have a good answer to Anatole when he returned next week. I asked if he was eating lunch later but he said he would go back home and eat. This is the advantage of a small city and furthermore, everyone has a car here. At lunch time, Jeremy went with his gang, so it was just me and Mathieu. I asked Mathieu where are the rest of the guys and he said Mr. Giant is moving house today so everyone went to help. The flexibility of the working hours here.
Mathieu is a quiet and pleasant guy, a gentleman in fact. He apologized for the cancellation of the basketball game because of the rain. I asked if they are planning one again this Saturday and he said he couldn’t because his girlfriend is coming to Rennes from their hometown (which I forgot the name). But they are going to have an indoor soccer soon. I also asked him besides St Malo and Mont St Michel, are there any places which I could visit in Bretagne. He said there is a place (forgot the name again) with stones artifacts, much like the Stonehenge but smaller. I read about that somewhere before and maybe I would visit that. He said Brest is also a nice city by the sea (extreme west of France, next to Atlantic Ocean) so maybe I could go there also. It would take me about 2 hrs train ride. We reached the restaurant that I went to yesterday and even Mathieu find it troublesome and confusing to queue up for the food. I took the maximum amount of food that I can take out of revenge because I didn’t do that yesterday. I had the main dish, an appetizer, yogurt, bread and butter and a banana. When I reached the counter, the lady asked for 3 food tickets! I was very embarrassed and told her I had only 2. She explained to me why it is 3 tickets but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. In the end, she said never mind and just took 1 ticket from me. I wasn’t being greedy at all because back in the old restaurant, I could take as much as I want for just one ticket. But tomorrow I would not do so again.
Mathieu was also surprised that she asked for 3 tickets and guessed perhaps I took both yogurt and banana but in fact I can only choose one. But that shouldn’t cost me 3 tickets which is 6 euros. Throughout lunch we chatted a lot and he asked me how I find the cleanliness of the city because he heard that Singapore is a very clean country. I said it is also quite clean here except for the cigarette butts on the ground. I also asked him about the education system in France and this is what he told me:
- 5 years of primary school
- 4 years of secondary school
- 3 years of college
- 4 years for Engineering degree
- OR 5 years for Masters
- And PhD, I forgot it is 2 or 3 years.
When he finished his dessert, I was still eating my main dish and had to abandon some of the rice and move on to my bread. He said he ate too fast because it was a habit cultivated during his time as a PhD student. He said Jean-Marie eats very slowly. I had observed that and Mathieu is right. But still Jean-Marie eats 5, 6 fries at one go so that’s twice as fast as me. On the way back, he asked what I did for my NS and I said I had some adventures disposing ammunitions and handling the fireworks. But in fact, most of my army times are really boring and whenever I am outside with friends, I seldom talk about it.
Mathieu said that he escaped his NS while doing his PhD because that was when the government decided to reduce it from a year to 1 day orientation. But his cousin had to serve and was posted to Japan and worked in the French Consulate giving out visa to people. And the funniest part is his cousin now works in Japan; as an actor for Japan drama series!!! Imagine an “ang moh” in Ri Ju! But Mathieu said his cousin only acts as supporting cast but was quite well paid. I told him I watch quite a lot of Ri Ju and asked him to give me some titles that his cousin has acted in before. Mathieu said he had been to Japan himself for work for 2 months and could speak some Japanese like “Hajimemashite”, “Dozo yoroshiku” and knows about Kanji, hiragana, etc. And he got a Japanese friend who is a lead actor in Japanese movies. He acted in a movie called “H Story” which stands for “Hiroshima Story” and is based on a French book called “Hiroshima, Moi amour” (Hiroshima, my love). There is also a French actress in the movie.
Back in the office, heard from hui that he got his “Tian Long Ba Bu” and was really envious of him. Ever since I came here, I have completely lost touch with Chinese stuffs, except for my “San Guo Yan Yi” which I read every night. And I only speak Chinese for 10 min once a week when calling home. I really want to watch some Chinese shows and listen to some Chinese songs. I was so desperate that I used my Pentax and recorded my own singings of Aaron Kwok’s songs. Hahaha! I find that when loaded into Media Player, my voice actually sounds like him! But too bad I don’t look like him. In the afternoon, I began to work on my new idea for the program and had a bit of progress. Mathilde came in and said hi but she was looking for Jeremy in fact. Basket, he really is my Qing Di because I overheard him talking with his friends and heard Mathilde’s name occasionally. And every time she walked past or the clicking sound of her heels was near, Jeremy that Lao Di Go would turn his head.
Again I worked until 6pm today and went to mart. Before that, I checked my letterbox and there were 3 letters. One was from EGIDE, the France social assurance organization and they sent me a booklet on places to visit in France. And then there was a letter from the bank giving me a card which its purpose I wasn’t quite sure. Some discount card I guess. Both letters are in French so I would have to get them translated asap. The last letter was a greeting card and there are just 4 friends that would send me cards. But when I looked at the return address, it was unfamiliar and I really couldn’t guess it was from whom. When I opened it, it was from Carol!!! Wow! I was so touched. I wrote my address in my blog but wasn’t very hopeful that someone would send me a card but she did. And I remember we were not very close back in secondary school days and yet she made the effort to send me some words of encouragement. From now on, you would get a card from me every year Carol and we would remain in touch. Perhaps we could organize a 4C outing together. I have always been “bochap” about organizing gatherings (don’t think I have done one so far) but I think this attitude has to change.
So with a happy mood, I went to the mart and had 6 items on my shopping list. I bought all the items that I wanted including a sharpener. It was really expensive. It cost 1.72 euros, that’s almost S$4! But I still bought it because I needed it and it is shaped like a toy and looked pretty cool. Out of boredom, I had begun drawing the pictures of scenery and buildings that I had taken here. Really hope my drawing skills would improve as I like to draw but felt that I couldn’t draw very well. Also hope that my English would improve by writing journals. So now my pastimes are just read, write and draw.
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