At 930am, I was trying to call Thai Airways to ask about my return flight. However, all I could hear from the other line was the machine telling me that the lines are busy. I was calling from a payphone and had only 34 units left. I went back to my room, played minesweeper until it was 10am and went to try again. This time the machine told me to wait. So I waited and waited until the number of credits left on my card was 15. I hung up and was furious with Thai Airways for wasting my money. I decided to go to the office and trouble one of my colleagues to lend me his office phone because mine can’t dial to external line. In the office, my friend replied my email and said that she would be in Paris for holiday with 3 other friends. She said that since I am so near, she would want to meet me if I am going Paris too. I then asked her whether her friends would mind me joining them and hope she will reply soon as I needed to plan for the trip. Personally, I felt that 5 people in a group is a lot. So if I were one of her friends, I don’t really like the idea of another stranger joining. But that is just me because I am a bit attitude. Hope her friends aren’t like me.
Later I went to Mathieu’s room and used his phone. Again it was the machine so I decided to call after lunch. I tried coding on one of the techniques that I am supposed to do but find that the results were unrealistic. Perhaps by adding color shading and gradient to the cursor it would look more real. But that is something quite beyond my knowledge of computer graphics. Everyone had left for lunch and so I went to ask Jaroslav who was at the other end of the corridor. When we reached the restaurant, there was a notice saying that it was closed due to a major electricity failure. That explained why the rest of the guys went early for lunch as they were going to the cafeteria and hence didn’t pass by my room. But we were surprised that they knew of this before hand. Jaro and I went to the cafeteria outside IRISA as it has better sandwiches. However, there was a long queue and so we went back to the one inside IRISA. The lady at the counter said that sandwiches are only meant for staffs, PhDs, and researchers, not for trainees like me. WTF. What I can have is just coffee and drinks. Stupid rule. Even when Jaro said he would like to buy 2 sandwiches, the lady said no. So in the end, we went back to the cafeteria and there was a longer queue.
I wanted to have a beef sandwich but was out of stock so I took a pork one. And selected a pastry. Jaro didn’t bring his wallet so I paid for him. Then we took the sandwich and went back to our own cafeteria because the coffee there is cheaper, just 25 cents for a small cup. I had just put 5 euros into my access card this morning. Jaro told me about the nice places to go in Brittany but all of them were at the coast. What he said was exactly the same as that recommended in the guidebook. I think because I live in a country surrounded by sea and hence I find the beach not so fascinating. Still I would visit some of these cliffs he mentioned. He also mentioned about the Oceanopolis in Brest. He said that it would be easier if I rent a car with a few friends so that I can save time on traveling and is cheaper. First I don’t have friends here who would share car with me. Second, I don’t think I would dare drive here, esp. it is left-hand drive. So I will stick to train and coach.
Jaro agreed that it was hard to live in INSA, in a single room as you wouldn’t make any friends like that. He stayed there for 3 weeks when he first came and felt that it was horrible and hence went around finding an apartment. He found one, which was owned by IRISA actually, and has gas, water, electricity, everything. There are 3 bedrooms and he is sharing it with another French guy. There is one empty room and he said if I want to move in, I can approach Marie-Claude to make arrangement, although he guessed that the apartment is for PhD and researchers only. Trainees who normally would stay only for a few months are not allowed to rent such apartments under IRISA. He also mentioned that the rent is 360 euros which is 130 euros more than what I am paying now. And with only 858 euros per month, he said it isn’t worth it. But still I can try if I want. It isn’t worth to move over for a few reasons. First was the price. Secondly, I had to take my own transport to work. For now, I am walking to and from IRISA. Thirdly, Jaro would be returning to Czech in 2 weeks time to do some part of his PhD, which was a joint program between IRISA and some Czech uni or research centre. He would only return to do his defence a few months later. So it is pointless for me to move over. Lastly, I have just 3 more months to go and really don’t want to take to trouble to pack everything and move. We always have good conversation together because he speaks very good English. Also, he said that although he speaks French well, it is still not good enough to understand completely the conversations of others, esp. those that he wasn’t involved initially. In the midst of a conversation, he normally couldn’t understand what the guys are talking about. That explains why every lunchtime, both of us were so quiet.
Although today’s lunch was quite expensive, the pastry was very tasty. For the sandwich, it was ok although it was very big. It wasn’t those triangular sandwiches. It was done using a long French loaf (but the bread is called forgot liao) so it was quite filling. Back in the office, I called Thai Airways again and after holding the line for 5 min, the operator suddenly picked up my call. I was stunned as I was talking to a colleague and couldn’t switch over fast enough. I asked if I could change my departure place and he said no I cannot. Then I asked if they could increase the weight limit for my check-in luggage and again he said no. Lastly, I asked if I could change the departure date from 15th July to 11th July. He said there is no availability on 11th. What the hell!!! I told him I can’t leave on the 15th because my VISA expires on the 11th. He asked why didn’t I ask for the VISA to be made until 15th and I told him I got my flight before I got my VISA. The thing was back in Singapore, there is some big delay in our VISA and we booked our flight and applied for our VISA at the same time. However, we confirmed the flight first before we got our VISA and when we got the VISA, we realized that it expires on 11th July. We didn’t want to change anything because it was already less than a week before we fly for Paris. And we were told by the travel agency that we could change the departure date easily. But I never knew that the seats are gone as early as in March! Initially I thought of calling the airline only by May.
In the end I asked him to put our seats on holding list for 11th July and gave him my office number. I asked about availability for 9th and 10th and he said he would call me if there are seats on those days, which I guess he meant that they were unavailable too. I asked how long do I have to wait and he said that if I never hear from him by end of June, I should call again. I went back and msn hui to tell him about this. Both of us didn’t know what to do. Should we wait for the 11th or confirm our flight on the earliest possible date? What if the earliest date is in June? It was really a problematic cock-up. Hui said he wanted to try calling again and maybe another operator would pick up his call and find that there are seats available on the 11th. Just that the first guy made a mistake. He had to call from the public phone as he couldn’t find an office phone to use and like me, he wasted 8 units listening to the machine. In the end, I decided to call again and confirm our flights on the earliest date and ask to put us on waiting list for 11th. This time I went to use Mr. Giant’s office phone as I didn’t want to trouble Mathieu again. When I asked him if I could use the phone, he said NO very sternly. I was shocked and then he smiled and said of course I can, he was just joking with me. Not funny lor Mr. Giant. If you are my friend in Singapore, I sure will “gan” you for being boliao. It was the same operator again and he said that the earliest available date was on 8th. So I quickly confirmed with him this date and asked him to put us on waiting list for 11th. I also cancelled the 3 days Thailand trip (for we had to transit at Bangkok) because I felt that it would be too troublesome to visit Thailand with our big luggage. Moreover, Thailand’s traffic is notorious for being chaotic and I foresee a lot of confusion would arise with so many things to carry. Anyway, I can fly there anytime I want since it is so near, not like France.
I went back to tell hui the good news asap because he said he can’t concentrate on his work after hearing the problem. However, he didn’t sound very happy upon hearing the news but I was just relieved and glad to be able to get that vacancy on the 8th. I feel that 8th is still not too bad, just 3 days shorter. So I thought maybe he was worried that he might have to work till 30th June and 8 days of tour would be really short in this way. I assured him that he can leave on the 18th just like me but still he sounded pessimistic. I guess he must be very busy with his work then and so didn’t want to talk much with me. But I really couldn’t tell how he felt about the news because he seldom speaks his mind. So hui if you are reading this, just let me know straightforwardly, whether is it because of the date, or whether is it because I cancelled the Bangkok trip. Anyway, we are still on waiting list for the 11th. And as for the Bangkok trip, I can call again and ask that man to add it back. And lastly for your attachment, trust me, you will leave on the 18th.
So with this issue settled, I went back to my code but nothing was done and I decided to take a break at 4pm. But in the end, I ended up chatting on msn until it was time to knock off. Another slack day for me again! Really I have to produce more work now because soon my sup will be back! I must agree with hui that without a sup, there is more freedom but at the same time less motivation to work. I think I have become like the French, losing my self-motivation and being more and more relax with life. But that’s quite cool I feel. Hopefully tomorrow I can come out with more substance for my codes. Also, I am eagerly waiting the reply from my friend about the Paris trip as I desperately want to speak Singlish! Also my Spanish friend seems uncontactable too. I can call her mobile but think I will be quite pushy if I did that. Lastly, hope tomorrow the restaurant would re-open because I can’t afford to eat sandwiches everyday!
Later I went to Mathieu’s room and used his phone. Again it was the machine so I decided to call after lunch. I tried coding on one of the techniques that I am supposed to do but find that the results were unrealistic. Perhaps by adding color shading and gradient to the cursor it would look more real. But that is something quite beyond my knowledge of computer graphics. Everyone had left for lunch and so I went to ask Jaroslav who was at the other end of the corridor. When we reached the restaurant, there was a notice saying that it was closed due to a major electricity failure. That explained why the rest of the guys went early for lunch as they were going to the cafeteria and hence didn’t pass by my room. But we were surprised that they knew of this before hand. Jaro and I went to the cafeteria outside IRISA as it has better sandwiches. However, there was a long queue and so we went back to the one inside IRISA. The lady at the counter said that sandwiches are only meant for staffs, PhDs, and researchers, not for trainees like me. WTF. What I can have is just coffee and drinks. Stupid rule. Even when Jaro said he would like to buy 2 sandwiches, the lady said no. So in the end, we went back to the cafeteria and there was a longer queue.
I wanted to have a beef sandwich but was out of stock so I took a pork one. And selected a pastry. Jaro didn’t bring his wallet so I paid for him. Then we took the sandwich and went back to our own cafeteria because the coffee there is cheaper, just 25 cents for a small cup. I had just put 5 euros into my access card this morning. Jaro told me about the nice places to go in Brittany but all of them were at the coast. What he said was exactly the same as that recommended in the guidebook. I think because I live in a country surrounded by sea and hence I find the beach not so fascinating. Still I would visit some of these cliffs he mentioned. He also mentioned about the Oceanopolis in Brest. He said that it would be easier if I rent a car with a few friends so that I can save time on traveling and is cheaper. First I don’t have friends here who would share car with me. Second, I don’t think I would dare drive here, esp. it is left-hand drive. So I will stick to train and coach.
Jaro agreed that it was hard to live in INSA, in a single room as you wouldn’t make any friends like that. He stayed there for 3 weeks when he first came and felt that it was horrible and hence went around finding an apartment. He found one, which was owned by IRISA actually, and has gas, water, electricity, everything. There are 3 bedrooms and he is sharing it with another French guy. There is one empty room and he said if I want to move in, I can approach Marie-Claude to make arrangement, although he guessed that the apartment is for PhD and researchers only. Trainees who normally would stay only for a few months are not allowed to rent such apartments under IRISA. He also mentioned that the rent is 360 euros which is 130 euros more than what I am paying now. And with only 858 euros per month, he said it isn’t worth it. But still I can try if I want. It isn’t worth to move over for a few reasons. First was the price. Secondly, I had to take my own transport to work. For now, I am walking to and from IRISA. Thirdly, Jaro would be returning to Czech in 2 weeks time to do some part of his PhD, which was a joint program between IRISA and some Czech uni or research centre. He would only return to do his defence a few months later. So it is pointless for me to move over. Lastly, I have just 3 more months to go and really don’t want to take to trouble to pack everything and move. We always have good conversation together because he speaks very good English. Also, he said that although he speaks French well, it is still not good enough to understand completely the conversations of others, esp. those that he wasn’t involved initially. In the midst of a conversation, he normally couldn’t understand what the guys are talking about. That explains why every lunchtime, both of us were so quiet.
Although today’s lunch was quite expensive, the pastry was very tasty. For the sandwich, it was ok although it was very big. It wasn’t those triangular sandwiches. It was done using a long French loaf (but the bread is called forgot liao) so it was quite filling. Back in the office, I called Thai Airways again and after holding the line for 5 min, the operator suddenly picked up my call. I was stunned as I was talking to a colleague and couldn’t switch over fast enough. I asked if I could change my departure place and he said no I cannot. Then I asked if they could increase the weight limit for my check-in luggage and again he said no. Lastly, I asked if I could change the departure date from 15th July to 11th July. He said there is no availability on 11th. What the hell!!! I told him I can’t leave on the 15th because my VISA expires on the 11th. He asked why didn’t I ask for the VISA to be made until 15th and I told him I got my flight before I got my VISA. The thing was back in Singapore, there is some big delay in our VISA and we booked our flight and applied for our VISA at the same time. However, we confirmed the flight first before we got our VISA and when we got the VISA, we realized that it expires on 11th July. We didn’t want to change anything because it was already less than a week before we fly for Paris. And we were told by the travel agency that we could change the departure date easily. But I never knew that the seats are gone as early as in March! Initially I thought of calling the airline only by May.
In the end I asked him to put our seats on holding list for 11th July and gave him my office number. I asked about availability for 9th and 10th and he said he would call me if there are seats on those days, which I guess he meant that they were unavailable too. I asked how long do I have to wait and he said that if I never hear from him by end of June, I should call again. I went back and msn hui to tell him about this. Both of us didn’t know what to do. Should we wait for the 11th or confirm our flight on the earliest possible date? What if the earliest date is in June? It was really a problematic cock-up. Hui said he wanted to try calling again and maybe another operator would pick up his call and find that there are seats available on the 11th. Just that the first guy made a mistake. He had to call from the public phone as he couldn’t find an office phone to use and like me, he wasted 8 units listening to the machine. In the end, I decided to call again and confirm our flights on the earliest date and ask to put us on waiting list for 11th. This time I went to use Mr. Giant’s office phone as I didn’t want to trouble Mathieu again. When I asked him if I could use the phone, he said NO very sternly. I was shocked and then he smiled and said of course I can, he was just joking with me. Not funny lor Mr. Giant. If you are my friend in Singapore, I sure will “gan” you for being boliao. It was the same operator again and he said that the earliest available date was on 8th. So I quickly confirmed with him this date and asked him to put us on waiting list for 11th. I also cancelled the 3 days Thailand trip (for we had to transit at Bangkok) because I felt that it would be too troublesome to visit Thailand with our big luggage. Moreover, Thailand’s traffic is notorious for being chaotic and I foresee a lot of confusion would arise with so many things to carry. Anyway, I can fly there anytime I want since it is so near, not like France.
I went back to tell hui the good news asap because he said he can’t concentrate on his work after hearing the problem. However, he didn’t sound very happy upon hearing the news but I was just relieved and glad to be able to get that vacancy on the 8th. I feel that 8th is still not too bad, just 3 days shorter. So I thought maybe he was worried that he might have to work till 30th June and 8 days of tour would be really short in this way. I assured him that he can leave on the 18th just like me but still he sounded pessimistic. I guess he must be very busy with his work then and so didn’t want to talk much with me. But I really couldn’t tell how he felt about the news because he seldom speaks his mind. So hui if you are reading this, just let me know straightforwardly, whether is it because of the date, or whether is it because I cancelled the Bangkok trip. Anyway, we are still on waiting list for the 11th. And as for the Bangkok trip, I can call again and ask that man to add it back. And lastly for your attachment, trust me, you will leave on the 18th.
So with this issue settled, I went back to my code but nothing was done and I decided to take a break at 4pm. But in the end, I ended up chatting on msn until it was time to knock off. Another slack day for me again! Really I have to produce more work now because soon my sup will be back! I must agree with hui that without a sup, there is more freedom but at the same time less motivation to work. I think I have become like the French, losing my self-motivation and being more and more relax with life. But that’s quite cool I feel. Hopefully tomorrow I can come out with more substance for my codes. Also, I am eagerly waiting the reply from my friend about the Paris trip as I desperately want to speak Singlish! Also my Spanish friend seems uncontactable too. I can call her mobile but think I will be quite pushy if I did that. Lastly, hope tomorrow the restaurant would re-open because I can’t afford to eat sandwiches everyday!
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