At past 11am, Laurent was busy waking everyone up. As usual, it was the 3 guys preparing breakfast while Alice came a bit late. It was already close to 12 noon and they still insisted on having breakfast. Back in SG, it wouldn’t be the case. I am one of the rare ones who must have breakfast everyday in the morning. Here, people rather skip anything else than breakfast. Laurent and Nico were doing some catching up. Both of them hadn’t seen each other for a long time. They were from the university a few years ago and over the table, they were chatting on some past memories. Like: you know so and so? He has gone to where and where. And that so and so. What is he doing now? And stuffs like that. Laurent took out a pack of cards and did some amazing magic tricks. He is really good in socialising. Can tell jokes, play cards. But back in IRISA, he is rather quiet over lunch. I think he is like me, a typical Gemini who has 2 very distinctive personalities. His birthday is on 11th June.
Our first stop of the day was a souvenir shop. Laurent wanted to buy some caramel candies for his Hungarian dream girl. He will be going to Hungary (not Poland, I made a mistake) next Thurs to see the girl of his life whom he met on an exchange in Sweden last year. However, she can’t speak French and they have to communicate using English. Hungarian is too difficult a language to learn. When I did my GE on Human Origin, I think I studied something about history of languages and found out something strange about Hungarian language. Hungary being in the middle of Europe, doesn’t have a language that is similar to the rest of the European countries. No Latin, Germanic or Celtic origins. This, if I hadn’t remember wrongly, is because Hungary was invaded and ruled by the Mongols few hundreds of years ago. Anyway, wish him luck in Hungary.
In the souvenir shop, I bought some souvenirs and also caramel candies. I bought extra candies because if I am really going Munich, I should bring something for xiaopei also. The caramel candies was really quite expensive. But the package is very exquisite and furthermore, it is a specialty of Brittany also. After getting what we wanted, we left for Laurent’s grandparents’ house. His grandparents lived in another neighbourhood, also in a large bungalow. There, I saw two very friendly old folks by the window waving at us as we drove into the front porch. His grandma kept petting my shoulder when welcoming me. After some intro, his grandma put a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe a guy like me from such a faraway land like SG has come to her house. To some parts of Brittany, esp. these kind of traditional places, Singapore is a place synonymous to Fiji Island. We sat at the living room and I tried to catch the conversation and was able to follow quite well. The grandma offered us some fruit candies, also traditional food of Brittany. After 3pm, we decided to leave as we had other places to go to. I can tell that the 2 old folks were extremely delighted by our visit. They apologised to me for not speaking English which really made me “shou chong ruo jing”. The grandpa thought me how to say “au revoir” in old tongue of Breton language. But I had forgotten it.
We drove out of Perros Guirec and went to another town which has a tourist resort called Pink Beach. Although it was still on the same coastline, the scenery was quite different. We can see the elbow (breakwater) jutting out from the coast. There is an island called Rabbit Island and we can actually drive there when it is low tide. We lingered around the beach for a while and drove on to another coastline. Here, the weather was obviously turning bad. Wind was so strong that I had some difficulties standing still. And then, we saw people windsurfing at the sea. You must think that it is no big deal. But the windsurfs were zooming around on the water like jet skis. Yes, it is that fast. The wind was really very strong. And there was another more amazing thing. Kite surf. What the hell was that!? People with parachute and surfing board on their feet. And they can “fly” in the air momentarily. As the storm approaches, the people continued with their dangerous sport while we headed back home.
Back in the house, we gathered at the living room and had some light food again. Laurent said it is common for the French to eat something light before the main meal. Yesterday we had some sausage, cheese, and fruits. Today, we had boucher (don’t know how to spell. Means meat in sticks), and tuna. The tuna is ordinary tuna but Laurent said we must eat it with peach. His friend’s mother taught him this method. Indeed the taste was very special. Again the 2 guys were playing guitar and I am really inspired to be like then. Another thing added to my to-do list back in SG. I would buy a classical guitar and put in more effort in playing. Currently, my folk guitar is too bulky and the metal strings are too painful and hard to press. I should try and practise more on classical guitar. After a glass of rum, I knocked out again.
When I woke up, it was past 8pm, but it was still bright and shiny of course. We decided to end the trip and go back to Rennes. I took some pictures with Nico and Alice individually for memory. It was another 2.5 hrs of long driving and Nico was really strong. I felt asleep again but he just kept driving on and on. From Rennes to Paris, it would be another 2hrs of driving. We reached Rennes at around 1030pm and Laurent and I showed them around the city centre. Then we went to this Irish bar called O Connell. When I stepped in, immediately I could hear some Irish music from the back of the bar. We walked in and came to this little section where there was a live 4-men band playing Irish music. 2 guitarists, 1 banjo and a girl playing the violin. Best of all, there were people dancing traditional Irish dance! That kind of tap dancing. It seemed like there was a class on Irish dance but too bad it ended shortly when we arrived. Luckily the music was still there. We ordered our drinks and Nico and I, the useless 2 guys ordered coca again. Nico can’t take a single bit of alcohol. Not even rum.
Laurent said it was a pity that there were just 4 people playing today. Last week, there were a few more with flutes and hand organ. Wah! Super power that will be. Laurent asked me to take a look at a blond girl with curly hair. He said she was here last week also for the dance. Indeed she was very beautiful. Not stunningly beautiful but that kind of plain beauty. With her black blouse and long skirt. When she danced and turned, her skirt would turn in circles also. As she was leaving, Laurent said she would come and kiss him goodbye. So it was quite funny. We were all secretly watching her as she moved closer and closer to the exit where we were sitting. In the end, she didn’t even look at Laurent a single bit. Haha. Very embarrassing. The music just went on and on and as the musicians got more and more high, they played faster and faster. It was a tremendous atmosphere and after every song, we would applaud and cheer “bravo”. Apparently, not many people were there listening. Just the 4 of us and another 3 more at another table. The rest of the patrons were outside that section.
It was impossible to leave that place and I just wanted to stay there. But it was already past midnight and Nico and Alice still had a long way back. So we decided to leave. In the car, everyone was singing “we will, we will rock you!” and at last we reached the carpark at INSA where we had to bid one another goodbye. I kissed Alice goodbye and told her I had a wonder time. She said I can only go to bed 2 hrs later, after they have reached Paris. Then I did those buddy handshake with Nico and thanked him for everything. He said it was a pleasure. Finally it was time for them to leave. I thanked Laurent too of course. He had been a fantastic host. This weekend trip was the best I had ever since I came to France. It would definitely remain one of the best weekends I have in my life. I will try to get the contact of that 2 friends from Laurent so that maybe I can pay them a visit when I am in Paris in July.
Our first stop of the day was a souvenir shop. Laurent wanted to buy some caramel candies for his Hungarian dream girl. He will be going to Hungary (not Poland, I made a mistake) next Thurs to see the girl of his life whom he met on an exchange in Sweden last year. However, she can’t speak French and they have to communicate using English. Hungarian is too difficult a language to learn. When I did my GE on Human Origin, I think I studied something about history of languages and found out something strange about Hungarian language. Hungary being in the middle of Europe, doesn’t have a language that is similar to the rest of the European countries. No Latin, Germanic or Celtic origins. This, if I hadn’t remember wrongly, is because Hungary was invaded and ruled by the Mongols few hundreds of years ago. Anyway, wish him luck in Hungary.In the souvenir shop, I bought some souvenirs and also caramel candies. I bought extra candies because if I am really going Munich, I should bring something for xiaopei also. The caramel candies was really quite expensive. But the package is very exquisite and furthermore, it is a specialty of Brittany also. After getting what we wanted, we left for Laurent’s grandparents’ house. His grandparents lived in another neighbourhood, also in a large bungalow. There, I saw two very friendly old folks by the window waving at us as we drove into the front porch. His grandma kept petting my shoulder when welcoming me. After some intro, his grandma put a hand on her forehead and closed her eyes. She couldn’t believe a guy like me from such a faraway land like SG has come to her house. To some parts of Brittany, esp. these kind of traditional places, Singapore is a place synonymous to Fiji Island. We sat at the living room and I tried to catch the conversation and was able to follow quite well. The grandma offered us some fruit candies, also traditional food of Brittany. After 3pm, we decided to leave as we had other places to go to. I can tell that the 2 old folks were extremely delighted by our visit. They apologised to me for not speaking English which really made me “shou chong ruo jing”. The grandpa thought me how to say “au revoir” in old tongue of Breton language. But I had forgotten it.
We drove out of Perros Guirec and went to another town which has a tourist resort called Pink Beach. Although it was still on the same coastline, the scenery was quite different. We can see the elbow (breakwater) jutting out from the coast. There is an island called Rabbit Island and we can actually drive there when it is low tide. We lingered around the beach for a while and drove on to another coastline. Here, the weather was obviously turning bad. Wind was so strong that I had some difficulties standing still. And then, we saw people windsurfing at the sea. You must think that it is no big deal. But the windsurfs were zooming around on the water like jet skis. Yes, it is that fast. The wind was really very strong. And there was another more amazing thing. Kite surf. What the hell was that!? People with parachute and surfing board on their feet. And they can “fly” in the air momentarily. As the storm approaches, the people continued with their dangerous sport while we headed back home.
Back in the house, we gathered at the living room and had some light food again. Laurent said it is common for the French to eat something light before the main meal. Yesterday we had some sausage, cheese, and fruits. Today, we had boucher (don’t know how to spell. Means meat in sticks), and tuna. The tuna is ordinary tuna but Laurent said we must eat it with peach. His friend’s mother taught him this method. Indeed the taste was very special. Again the 2 guys were playing guitar and I am really inspired to be like then. Another thing added to my to-do list back in SG. I would buy a classical guitar and put in more effort in playing. Currently, my folk guitar is too bulky and the metal strings are too painful and hard to press. I should try and practise more on classical guitar. After a glass of rum, I knocked out again.
When I woke up, it was past 8pm, but it was still bright and shiny of course. We decided to end the trip and go back to Rennes. I took some pictures with Nico and Alice individually for memory. It was another 2.5 hrs of long driving and Nico was really strong. I felt asleep again but he just kept driving on and on. From Rennes to Paris, it would be another 2hrs of driving. We reached Rennes at around 1030pm and Laurent and I showed them around the city centre. Then we went to this Irish bar called O Connell. When I stepped in, immediately I could hear some Irish music from the back of the bar. We walked in and came to this little section where there was a live 4-men band playing Irish music. 2 guitarists, 1 banjo and a girl playing the violin. Best of all, there were people dancing traditional Irish dance! That kind of tap dancing. It seemed like there was a class on Irish dance but too bad it ended shortly when we arrived. Luckily the music was still there. We ordered our drinks and Nico and I, the useless 2 guys ordered coca again. Nico can’t take a single bit of alcohol. Not even rum.
Laurent said it was a pity that there were just 4 people playing today. Last week, there were a few more with flutes and hand organ. Wah! Super power that will be. Laurent asked me to take a look at a blond girl with curly hair. He said she was here last week also for the dance. Indeed she was very beautiful. Not stunningly beautiful but that kind of plain beauty. With her black blouse and long skirt. When she danced and turned, her skirt would turn in circles also. As she was leaving, Laurent said she would come and kiss him goodbye. So it was quite funny. We were all secretly watching her as she moved closer and closer to the exit where we were sitting. In the end, she didn’t even look at Laurent a single bit. Haha. Very embarrassing. The music just went on and on and as the musicians got more and more high, they played faster and faster. It was a tremendous atmosphere and after every song, we would applaud and cheer “bravo”. Apparently, not many people were there listening. Just the 4 of us and another 3 more at another table. The rest of the patrons were outside that section.
It was impossible to leave that place and I just wanted to stay there. But it was already past midnight and Nico and Alice still had a long way back. So we decided to leave. In the car, everyone was singing “we will, we will rock you!” and at last we reached the carpark at INSA where we had to bid one another goodbye. I kissed Alice goodbye and told her I had a wonder time. She said I can only go to bed 2 hrs later, after they have reached Paris. Then I did those buddy handshake with Nico and thanked him for everything. He said it was a pleasure. Finally it was time for them to leave. I thanked Laurent too of course. He had been a fantastic host. This weekend trip was the best I had ever since I came to France. It would definitely remain one of the best weekends I have in my life. I will try to get the contact of that 2 friends from Laurent so that maybe I can pay them a visit when I am in Paris in July.
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