It was another exciting morning as I would be meeting Ana again. She was already waiting outside her building for me. I told her my latest problem with the experiment and she said she would ask her friends and see if they can help. We chatted a lot as the bus ride to the prefecture was very long; 40min. I asked if she is going anywhere this weekend and she said she would most probably be working in the lab. Well I guess she isn’t interested to go on a trip with me after all. Maybe she thinks we have some “generation gap”. From the conversation, she talked about her experience in conferences and the countries she had been to; particularly Rome. To her, maybe I am just a little boy who is lost in this foreign country and needed her help. Anyway, I can forget about going out with her again. I thought perhaps she would ask me to come along with her friends. But apparently, she has just one friend here who is from Uruguay. And I think she is more comfortable with him because she said she can speak Portuguese with him, although people in Uruguay speak Spanish. I also found out that all the countries in South America speak Spanish except Brazil and another small unheard country.
Then we began talking about stereotypes of nationality. I told her Brazilian always give people the impression of happy, sunny, party, warmth, samba, etc. She said that is true but it is just an image. Most Brazilians are very poor. Then I told her some people think SG people are dull, boring, unfriendly. When we wanted to talk about the French, we lowered our voices but in the end still dropped the idea because there were too many French on the bus. She said before she came, she was advised by her friend that if she can’t speak French in France, at least speak some Portuguese. Don’t ever try speaking English. I can understand why. Because some French still thinks that the official language of the world should be French and not English. Just because they lost the war. And on her passport, she had her nationality written in Portuguese, followed by French and last is English. And when she was in the French Consulate in Brazil, the personnel there told her to get her birth cert translated to French. That explains why the first time the lady asked for a French version of my birth cert.
Inside the prefecture, we didn’t get a ticket number and went straight to the counter. There was a woman in her 50s at the counter and she spoke very good English. This is surprising in France. Moreover so in the prefecture. She attended to Ana first and pasted the resident card sticker on her passport. When it was my turn, I gave her my letter and she said this is not to get the resident card. It is to ask them to retrieve my file. So she went and search for my file. That time my heart was racing. Oh god. Why is there so much trouble? I already followed everything, all the procedures and yet things are still not running smoothly. Ana said she should have looked at my letter but we all thought it should be the same. The old lady returned and she said there is no need for me to have that resident card as my VISA is valid. What? Ok then I asked her do I need the card to return to France from London. She said nope because my VISA allows that too as it serves as the carte de sejour. Just that I have to check if I can go into England with my passport or do I need to get a new British VISA. But that is no prob for SG passport.
The good news is that everything is clear now. It is not necessary to have a carte de sejour to return to France. But I have paid 55 euros! I told her that and said it wasn’t my fault. I was told that I needed to do the card by one of her colleagues (in fact she was just somewhere near serving other people). The old lady felt sorry for me and said I can take the little stamp back which I bought for 55 euros. Freak! What the hell do I need that stamp for? I told her this is a very expensive souvenir for me. She felt really sorry for me and told me to follow her. We went to this department called REGIE where I paid the 55 euros. She then asked the people there if it is possible to get a refund for me. They say it is not easy because I have already done the medical checkup and everything. But they said maybe they would sell that stamp to someone else and I can come back on Monday. But still the logic is not there. I mean their govt would still lose 55 euros no matter how many times they resell that stamp. But of course I wouldn’t care at all. I want my money back. The old lady told me to come down again next week and asked a French speaking person to come with me. Because this is quite complicated. I left my name with that department and we left. Before leaving, Ana asked that old lady some questions but she answered her in English. Although I was enraged by this big cock up, I was really grateful for the old lady’s action. She left her counter, brought me to another department, and pushed for me the refund.
On the way back, Ana was sorry for me. And she was really good in comforting people because she said this isn’t your fault, you are in a foreign country, of course you would follow what the admin told you to do. She is really very mature. And thoughtful. She said she was disappointed that the old lady spoke English to her because that meant her French is really poor. I comforted her and said the lady was just trying to show off her English. You were of great help to me for all this prefecture issue. We went back to office together and chatted all the way; on the bus, and while walking back. But soon it was time to part and I don’t think I would see her anymore. Although she is quite old, her maturity and thoughtfulness really attracted me.
Back in office, before I entered my room, I heard some baby voices. Franck Multon brought his toddler girl to the lab. She was damn cute and kept counting 1 2 3 4 in French. She had curly golden hair and talked non stop. It brightened up my mood a little after the unhappy incident at the prefecture. First thing I did was to ask Laurent if it is possible for him to go with me to the prefecture on Monday. He said there is a presentation on Monday and Tuesday but Wednesday he is possible. Great. He drives so it would be very easy. I then sent an email to hui and updated him on my mishap. A while later we chatted online and I was damn pissed when he “hahaha” at my misfortune. This was the 3rd time I tried to find comfort from him when I am down but felt worse after that. I thought being also in France, he would be the best person to understand my situation. For the previous two occasions, I didn’t bring up this matter to him because I said never mind, don’t want to make a fuss out of nothing. But this time I did tell him that I didn’t like to be laughed at when I am feeling down. I wanted comforting words.
But soon I thought perhaps I am demanding too much. Because firstly, I might not have been a great friend to him in the first place. I might have unconsciously gloated at him before. Second, msn is really a lousy communication tool so there is always this prob of miscom. And lastly, which is my greatest fault is that I don’t let people know how I feel. To him I might be the hardman, an iron heart. But actually I have a glass heart. Haha. Not so jialat lah. But I definitely am an emotional guy. But people don’t know me well. My toiletmate commented that he knows me more through my blog over these 3 months than the 2.5 years we spent together in Hall 2. I was a bit surprised because we had been staying together for 2.5 yrs and he always talked to me about his “xin shi”. He said that is true but the prob is I never talked about mine. So in the end I felt it was unfair to blame hui for being insensitive. Anyway, come to think of it, I actually have the possibility of getting back that 55 euros. But it still can’t deny the fact that it makes me look like an idiot to have gone to the prefecture 5 times. 5 fucking times. No foreigner, not even the locals have done such feat. I am the first.
Before lunch, Laurent was chatting with a SG guy he met in Sweden last year while he was doing exchange. He told that SG guy about me and when I went over and typed my name, that guy knew who I was instantly. Haha. Very qiao. We were from RVHS. The guy is Samson, or Guanglin. He said we were in the same Econ S Papers class in HJC too. Seriously I don’t remember that because I only went for half of the tutorials. I had more memories of the RV days. Though we weren’t close (just hi bye) but our classes were quite near. Anyway, it really is very coincidental. After chatting with Samson for awhile, Laurent and I went for lunch. Over lunch, I asked him what does he normally do at night. He said he would play the guitar or watch movies. Sometimes he would go to an Irish pub in the evening and said I could go with him. Great. It would be a good exp.
After lunch it was a bit of work and then Ravi that Indian friend asked if I could help him with Java programming. I said sure and asked him to come in the evening. He came at around 7pm to my room and we discussed a bit. He then asked if I could go to the lab with him tomorrow. Wah working over the weekends. But really I don’t mind because I had nothing to do also. The only concern is my Java is not powerful. In fact I am always afraid when people ask me to help in programming because I am really very lousy. I said can we go now to the lab? I really prefer to do it at night then spend the weekend afternoon there. Anyway, he said he needed to clear this over the weekend and I thought the faster we start, the more time we will have.
I spent 3 hours in the lab with him. But half of the time I was talking to Xianyang his Chinese colleague. I told him about my tour and said I have 50 days left before I go touring. He said how do I plan my tour. I told him about the flights, the hostels and trains. He then asked if he could come along. Wah lau. Uncle, bu hui bah. Join us for the tour? But I told him my friend and I have already booked everything. Lucky got some excuse to reject him. After he had left, I then seriously looked at the problem. The worst part is it is not normal Java programming. It is GUI using Swing library. Although I have done some Java programming, I am totally new to GUI. Ravi asked me for help because he said I am a computer science student (but I am not, I am comp eng) and will know about object-oriented. Wah bro, you dunno object-oriented meh? But the main prob was it is GUI stuffs. We tried a lot of methods in order to display some data on the panel that we created but failed. In the end, he turned on another PC to search for tutorials on Java Swing. I took over the program and worked alone. In the end, I solved the problem, and displayed the data. I must say I was damn happy because for once I felt I am more qiang than an Indian. In NTU, we SG always gana qie by them. But this Indian really has not much idea of Java. And he is talking about being offered PhD in other countries. I mean even if he doesn’t know Java, as an IT person he should know about C++ which is also object-oriented. But maybe he is not a programmer after all. Ana isn’t. She uses mainly C because she does a lot of mathematics. She said she hates programming. But C is also programming still. Anyway, I solved his prob, it was past 10pm and he was very grateful to me. Well as I said before, I help, I want something back in return. He said he can get people to do exp for me, both from his lab as well as residents.
On the way back, we chatted about our experience in France and really my French is better than his. Then he said I can ask him to go on a trip if I want. Yah. Maybe. He is actually quite funny to be with but of course I would prefer Ana. I am not really very chee hong lah. I wouldn’t mind going on a trip with any colleagues in the lab but of course I would prefer people whom I can click with. So not necessarily must be a girl. Like Julien Perret, the English-speaking French in my team, I would love to go out with him because he is so cool. And Jaro that Czech too. But Jaro is too adventurous. He is the type who would jump off the cliff into the sea. Ravi asked what are my plans over the weekend and I said I would go to the supermart to buy some chips and coke. He said we could go together tomorrow morning. And he would keep bugging me on Java. I don’t mind that much because I have always been programming with C++ and had somewhat neglected my Java. Just don’t do it on a weekend.
Then we began talking about stereotypes of nationality. I told her Brazilian always give people the impression of happy, sunny, party, warmth, samba, etc. She said that is true but it is just an image. Most Brazilians are very poor. Then I told her some people think SG people are dull, boring, unfriendly. When we wanted to talk about the French, we lowered our voices but in the end still dropped the idea because there were too many French on the bus. She said before she came, she was advised by her friend that if she can’t speak French in France, at least speak some Portuguese. Don’t ever try speaking English. I can understand why. Because some French still thinks that the official language of the world should be French and not English. Just because they lost the war. And on her passport, she had her nationality written in Portuguese, followed by French and last is English. And when she was in the French Consulate in Brazil, the personnel there told her to get her birth cert translated to French. That explains why the first time the lady asked for a French version of my birth cert.
Inside the prefecture, we didn’t get a ticket number and went straight to the counter. There was a woman in her 50s at the counter and she spoke very good English. This is surprising in France. Moreover so in the prefecture. She attended to Ana first and pasted the resident card sticker on her passport. When it was my turn, I gave her my letter and she said this is not to get the resident card. It is to ask them to retrieve my file. So she went and search for my file. That time my heart was racing. Oh god. Why is there so much trouble? I already followed everything, all the procedures and yet things are still not running smoothly. Ana said she should have looked at my letter but we all thought it should be the same. The old lady returned and she said there is no need for me to have that resident card as my VISA is valid. What? Ok then I asked her do I need the card to return to France from London. She said nope because my VISA allows that too as it serves as the carte de sejour. Just that I have to check if I can go into England with my passport or do I need to get a new British VISA. But that is no prob for SG passport.
The good news is that everything is clear now. It is not necessary to have a carte de sejour to return to France. But I have paid 55 euros! I told her that and said it wasn’t my fault. I was told that I needed to do the card by one of her colleagues (in fact she was just somewhere near serving other people). The old lady felt sorry for me and said I can take the little stamp back which I bought for 55 euros. Freak! What the hell do I need that stamp for? I told her this is a very expensive souvenir for me. She felt really sorry for me and told me to follow her. We went to this department called REGIE where I paid the 55 euros. She then asked the people there if it is possible to get a refund for me. They say it is not easy because I have already done the medical checkup and everything. But they said maybe they would sell that stamp to someone else and I can come back on Monday. But still the logic is not there. I mean their govt would still lose 55 euros no matter how many times they resell that stamp. But of course I wouldn’t care at all. I want my money back. The old lady told me to come down again next week and asked a French speaking person to come with me. Because this is quite complicated. I left my name with that department and we left. Before leaving, Ana asked that old lady some questions but she answered her in English. Although I was enraged by this big cock up, I was really grateful for the old lady’s action. She left her counter, brought me to another department, and pushed for me the refund.
On the way back, Ana was sorry for me. And she was really good in comforting people because she said this isn’t your fault, you are in a foreign country, of course you would follow what the admin told you to do. She is really very mature. And thoughtful. She said she was disappointed that the old lady spoke English to her because that meant her French is really poor. I comforted her and said the lady was just trying to show off her English. You were of great help to me for all this prefecture issue. We went back to office together and chatted all the way; on the bus, and while walking back. But soon it was time to part and I don’t think I would see her anymore. Although she is quite old, her maturity and thoughtfulness really attracted me.
Back in office, before I entered my room, I heard some baby voices. Franck Multon brought his toddler girl to the lab. She was damn cute and kept counting 1 2 3 4 in French. She had curly golden hair and talked non stop. It brightened up my mood a little after the unhappy incident at the prefecture. First thing I did was to ask Laurent if it is possible for him to go with me to the prefecture on Monday. He said there is a presentation on Monday and Tuesday but Wednesday he is possible. Great. He drives so it would be very easy. I then sent an email to hui and updated him on my mishap. A while later we chatted online and I was damn pissed when he “hahaha” at my misfortune. This was the 3rd time I tried to find comfort from him when I am down but felt worse after that. I thought being also in France, he would be the best person to understand my situation. For the previous two occasions, I didn’t bring up this matter to him because I said never mind, don’t want to make a fuss out of nothing. But this time I did tell him that I didn’t like to be laughed at when I am feeling down. I wanted comforting words.
But soon I thought perhaps I am demanding too much. Because firstly, I might not have been a great friend to him in the first place. I might have unconsciously gloated at him before. Second, msn is really a lousy communication tool so there is always this prob of miscom. And lastly, which is my greatest fault is that I don’t let people know how I feel. To him I might be the hardman, an iron heart. But actually I have a glass heart. Haha. Not so jialat lah. But I definitely am an emotional guy. But people don’t know me well. My toiletmate commented that he knows me more through my blog over these 3 months than the 2.5 years we spent together in Hall 2. I was a bit surprised because we had been staying together for 2.5 yrs and he always talked to me about his “xin shi”. He said that is true but the prob is I never talked about mine. So in the end I felt it was unfair to blame hui for being insensitive. Anyway, come to think of it, I actually have the possibility of getting back that 55 euros. But it still can’t deny the fact that it makes me look like an idiot to have gone to the prefecture 5 times. 5 fucking times. No foreigner, not even the locals have done such feat. I am the first.
Before lunch, Laurent was chatting with a SG guy he met in Sweden last year while he was doing exchange. He told that SG guy about me and when I went over and typed my name, that guy knew who I was instantly. Haha. Very qiao. We were from RVHS. The guy is Samson, or Guanglin. He said we were in the same Econ S Papers class in HJC too. Seriously I don’t remember that because I only went for half of the tutorials. I had more memories of the RV days. Though we weren’t close (just hi bye) but our classes were quite near. Anyway, it really is very coincidental. After chatting with Samson for awhile, Laurent and I went for lunch. Over lunch, I asked him what does he normally do at night. He said he would play the guitar or watch movies. Sometimes he would go to an Irish pub in the evening and said I could go with him. Great. It would be a good exp.
After lunch it was a bit of work and then Ravi that Indian friend asked if I could help him with Java programming. I said sure and asked him to come in the evening. He came at around 7pm to my room and we discussed a bit. He then asked if I could go to the lab with him tomorrow. Wah working over the weekends. But really I don’t mind because I had nothing to do also. The only concern is my Java is not powerful. In fact I am always afraid when people ask me to help in programming because I am really very lousy. I said can we go now to the lab? I really prefer to do it at night then spend the weekend afternoon there. Anyway, he said he needed to clear this over the weekend and I thought the faster we start, the more time we will have.
I spent 3 hours in the lab with him. But half of the time I was talking to Xianyang his Chinese colleague. I told him about my tour and said I have 50 days left before I go touring. He said how do I plan my tour. I told him about the flights, the hostels and trains. He then asked if he could come along. Wah lau. Uncle, bu hui bah. Join us for the tour? But I told him my friend and I have already booked everything. Lucky got some excuse to reject him. After he had left, I then seriously looked at the problem. The worst part is it is not normal Java programming. It is GUI using Swing library. Although I have done some Java programming, I am totally new to GUI. Ravi asked me for help because he said I am a computer science student (but I am not, I am comp eng) and will know about object-oriented. Wah bro, you dunno object-oriented meh? But the main prob was it is GUI stuffs. We tried a lot of methods in order to display some data on the panel that we created but failed. In the end, he turned on another PC to search for tutorials on Java Swing. I took over the program and worked alone. In the end, I solved the problem, and displayed the data. I must say I was damn happy because for once I felt I am more qiang than an Indian. In NTU, we SG always gana qie by them. But this Indian really has not much idea of Java. And he is talking about being offered PhD in other countries. I mean even if he doesn’t know Java, as an IT person he should know about C++ which is also object-oriented. But maybe he is not a programmer after all. Ana isn’t. She uses mainly C because she does a lot of mathematics. She said she hates programming. But C is also programming still. Anyway, I solved his prob, it was past 10pm and he was very grateful to me. Well as I said before, I help, I want something back in return. He said he can get people to do exp for me, both from his lab as well as residents.
On the way back, we chatted about our experience in France and really my French is better than his. Then he said I can ask him to go on a trip if I want. Yah. Maybe. He is actually quite funny to be with but of course I would prefer Ana. I am not really very chee hong lah. I wouldn’t mind going on a trip with any colleagues in the lab but of course I would prefer people whom I can click with. So not necessarily must be a girl. Like Julien Perret, the English-speaking French in my team, I would love to go out with him because he is so cool. And Jaro that Czech too. But Jaro is too adventurous. He is the type who would jump off the cliff into the sea. Ravi asked what are my plans over the weekend and I said I would go to the supermart to buy some chips and coke. He said we could go together tomorrow morning. And he would keep bugging me on Java. I don’t mind that much because I have always been programming with C++ and had somewhat neglected my Java. Just don’t do it on a weekend.
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