If the titles of my journals are getting more and more meaningless, that is because I am running out of titles. Except for weekend I can have a place of interest as the title. Last night I had a bad stomach upset. In fact for the entire day I had been to the toilet 6 times, with one at midnight. It was really cold to do business in the wee hours. I don’t know what was wrong with my stomach, maybe because of the snow. Or maybe because of the slimy vege which I had for the past 2 consecutive days. I suspect that was the reason because my shit had the same color as the vege; dark green. Anyway, after a night rest I was back to normal again this morning. I had no mood at all to do my work for the entire morning because I was planning the trip for tomorrow. The weather now is so cold that it would definitely spoil my St Malo trip, I decided to drop the idea entirely. The first place I checked was Carnac where the stone megalith is. The more I find out about it, the more I felt unsure I would want to go. Not because it is uninteresting, but because it takes quite some trouble to go there.
From the SNCF train website, it seemed like I have to take a train to a town Aurray and then board a coach to reach Carnac. And in order to enjoy the discount, I have to reserve online. Normally for TGV train (the express high-class train), it is necessary to reserve in advance so as to use the 12-25 card. For the slower but cheaper train (TER), no reservation is required. But some places are only accessible by TGV. So I was very doubtful about going to Carnac now since I am still not very sure of the train system. I decided to look at other places and that’s when I found that it was 11am and I had done nothing on my work. The guys here are very hardworking in fact. They had a soccer game last night until 12mn, and they arrived in office even before me this morning. All except my supervisor who only came after 12 noon. Feeling quite guilty and worried that I can’t finish my work, I stop surfing the net.
But I can’t really concentrate with the weekend so near and decided to go and ask Mathieu. I only asked him how to get to Carnac and he started searching for the route on the map. Then he went to the train website and check for me all the possible good timings for the to and fro trip. He assured me that when I am at Aurray, I do not have to buy another ticket for the coach. The coach is under the same company as the train and hence is already covered by the price. He had never been to Carnac but he thinks the coaches should be parked near the train station in Aurray. Then he checked the return trip for me and gosh, it takes more than 3 hrs to come back! After I took the coach from Carnac to Aurray on the way back, I had to stay there for 1.5 hrs to wait for the train back to Rennes. He then tried to find other ways and timings for my return trip but it seemed like I didn’t have much choice. Well I guess I can spend some time exploring Aurray which is also introduced in one of the tourism sites that I visited. Mathieu then checked for me the timing to go to St Malo and Le Mont St Michel and explained to me a few stuffs regarding the trips. I only asked for one small favour and he returned me with so much info. It was really nice of him. He also asked if I have a camera and I said yes and told him I would send him some pics. I asked if they were having lunch today and he said they were going to take sandwiches. No way for me. I need proper lunch especially after last night’s stomach trouble.
At the restaurant, I saw the 2 Americans who were also working along the same corridor as me back in IRISA. They have been here for a longer time than me but I never seen any of the French guys eating with them or talking to them. I wanted to go up and introduced myself but they were already done with their food and I was just halfway through. Well, guess I could do that next time and maybe I would have 2 new buddies to go sightseeing with me. But would that make the other French guys ostracize me? Back in the office I replied to Jean-Marie that I would join them for soccer next week since it is not too late, 21h15. But the following week would be at 22h15 so I said no. I think playing soccer once every 2 weeks should be quite ok, not physically but financially I mean. A while later I went to see Anatole and he came to view my work. He asked me to make some amendments and gave me quite a tricky task. I had to write some codes for the experiment and he said it would not be that easy now as new elements are involved. He was hoping that I do that now and continue with it on Monday when he is not around. He would return on Tuesday to view the results.
Having confirmed that I would be going to Carnac this weekend, I went straight into my work. I had already booked the return tickets online but would only be required to pay on the spot tomorrow 30min before the train departs. This time it is much more expensive (26.50 euros 2 ways) as the train is not TER but TGV and the distance much longer. Carnac is at the extreme south of Bretagne, along the coast. Wow, soon I would be able to see the sea tomorrow. I worked diligently and at 5pm, I had 80% of it done. Knowing that Anatole is leaving around 530pm, I wanted to clear all doubts before that so that on Monday I would not be so lost if I were to be stuck. He explained briefly some of my doubts and gave me new tasks to do on Monday. He could come out with more problems for me to solve just as fast as I can finish his tasks. Before I left, he said “bon weekend” to me and reminded me to take some pictures at Carnac. He said he has never been there but he feels that the mystical power of the stones megalith would be sensational.
Feeling that I had done a lot for the day, I began to chat with people online. Although I wasn’t sure if I can finish the new tasks that Anatole set out for me by Monday, I didn’t want to start working on them now. Anyway, he never expected me to finish the previous task so fast. On msn, I chatted a lot with ZW (name kept anonymous). Back in Singapore, he would always talk to me his “xin shi” even though I always “gan” him. He seemed to be facing some problems in GIP in China. To me those problems are really minute and so as usual I told him not to brood over it. He said he doesn’t know how I survive on my own completely in isolation. Everyday it would be just me and myself. He said that how he wishes he can be as strong as me. Haha. Then I told him that now that he is overseas and had seen more of the outside world, shouldn’t he be thinking of bigger and more meaningful things besides the tiny problem that he is facing now? This is actually what I feel for myself since I came here. Then I said something really deep and serious. It really sound “chim”. Here how it goes: “You have to dig out the strong side in you. It is hidden behind all those tears. For me, it was ripped apart instantly during the first few days when I got here. Painful but beneficial.” As I was typing this line to him on msn, I was laughing at myself for sounding so philosophical. This is one of the rare moments in which I am actually consoling a friend. Even to a girl, I was seldom so caring. Haha. All those words really sounded so unlike me. But when I get back to Singapore, I would still “gan” ZW because he is really “kian gan” type, hahaha!
From the SNCF train website, it seemed like I have to take a train to a town Aurray and then board a coach to reach Carnac. And in order to enjoy the discount, I have to reserve online. Normally for TGV train (the express high-class train), it is necessary to reserve in advance so as to use the 12-25 card. For the slower but cheaper train (TER), no reservation is required. But some places are only accessible by TGV. So I was very doubtful about going to Carnac now since I am still not very sure of the train system. I decided to look at other places and that’s when I found that it was 11am and I had done nothing on my work. The guys here are very hardworking in fact. They had a soccer game last night until 12mn, and they arrived in office even before me this morning. All except my supervisor who only came after 12 noon. Feeling quite guilty and worried that I can’t finish my work, I stop surfing the net.
But I can’t really concentrate with the weekend so near and decided to go and ask Mathieu. I only asked him how to get to Carnac and he started searching for the route on the map. Then he went to the train website and check for me all the possible good timings for the to and fro trip. He assured me that when I am at Aurray, I do not have to buy another ticket for the coach. The coach is under the same company as the train and hence is already covered by the price. He had never been to Carnac but he thinks the coaches should be parked near the train station in Aurray. Then he checked the return trip for me and gosh, it takes more than 3 hrs to come back! After I took the coach from Carnac to Aurray on the way back, I had to stay there for 1.5 hrs to wait for the train back to Rennes. He then tried to find other ways and timings for my return trip but it seemed like I didn’t have much choice. Well I guess I can spend some time exploring Aurray which is also introduced in one of the tourism sites that I visited. Mathieu then checked for me the timing to go to St Malo and Le Mont St Michel and explained to me a few stuffs regarding the trips. I only asked for one small favour and he returned me with so much info. It was really nice of him. He also asked if I have a camera and I said yes and told him I would send him some pics. I asked if they were having lunch today and he said they were going to take sandwiches. No way for me. I need proper lunch especially after last night’s stomach trouble.
At the restaurant, I saw the 2 Americans who were also working along the same corridor as me back in IRISA. They have been here for a longer time than me but I never seen any of the French guys eating with them or talking to them. I wanted to go up and introduced myself but they were already done with their food and I was just halfway through. Well, guess I could do that next time and maybe I would have 2 new buddies to go sightseeing with me. But would that make the other French guys ostracize me? Back in the office I replied to Jean-Marie that I would join them for soccer next week since it is not too late, 21h15. But the following week would be at 22h15 so I said no. I think playing soccer once every 2 weeks should be quite ok, not physically but financially I mean. A while later I went to see Anatole and he came to view my work. He asked me to make some amendments and gave me quite a tricky task. I had to write some codes for the experiment and he said it would not be that easy now as new elements are involved. He was hoping that I do that now and continue with it on Monday when he is not around. He would return on Tuesday to view the results.
Having confirmed that I would be going to Carnac this weekend, I went straight into my work. I had already booked the return tickets online but would only be required to pay on the spot tomorrow 30min before the train departs. This time it is much more expensive (26.50 euros 2 ways) as the train is not TER but TGV and the distance much longer. Carnac is at the extreme south of Bretagne, along the coast. Wow, soon I would be able to see the sea tomorrow. I worked diligently and at 5pm, I had 80% of it done. Knowing that Anatole is leaving around 530pm, I wanted to clear all doubts before that so that on Monday I would not be so lost if I were to be stuck. He explained briefly some of my doubts and gave me new tasks to do on Monday. He could come out with more problems for me to solve just as fast as I can finish his tasks. Before I left, he said “bon weekend” to me and reminded me to take some pictures at Carnac. He said he has never been there but he feels that the mystical power of the stones megalith would be sensational.
Feeling that I had done a lot for the day, I began to chat with people online. Although I wasn’t sure if I can finish the new tasks that Anatole set out for me by Monday, I didn’t want to start working on them now. Anyway, he never expected me to finish the previous task so fast. On msn, I chatted a lot with ZW (name kept anonymous). Back in Singapore, he would always talk to me his “xin shi” even though I always “gan” him. He seemed to be facing some problems in GIP in China. To me those problems are really minute and so as usual I told him not to brood over it. He said he doesn’t know how I survive on my own completely in isolation. Everyday it would be just me and myself. He said that how he wishes he can be as strong as me. Haha. Then I told him that now that he is overseas and had seen more of the outside world, shouldn’t he be thinking of bigger and more meaningful things besides the tiny problem that he is facing now? This is actually what I feel for myself since I came here. Then I said something really deep and serious. It really sound “chim”. Here how it goes: “You have to dig out the strong side in you. It is hidden behind all those tears. For me, it was ripped apart instantly during the first few days when I got here. Painful but beneficial.” As I was typing this line to him on msn, I was laughing at myself for sounding so philosophical. This is one of the rare moments in which I am actually consoling a friend. Even to a girl, I was seldom so caring. Haha. All those words really sounded so unlike me. But when I get back to Singapore, I would still “gan” ZW because he is really “kian gan” type, hahaha!
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