I went to the admin office in the morning to ask about the 130 euros deposit. When I asked the lady whether that deposit applies to people working in IRISA, she was slowly processing my English in her head. An Indian standing near the counter said that he doesn’t think the deposit applies. The lady asked for my name and while she was searching for my particulars, that Indian guy asked if I was the guy who emailed him. Great. So this is Arvind. But clearly we had put that unhappy issue past us and after speaking to him for awhile, I found that he was actually quite a nice person. It was all a misunderstanding.
That lady said that indeed people from IRISA need not pay the deposit. Clearly she had made a mistake when Anatole and I came to check in on the first day. She said she can’t do anything now because the money is already in INSA. I told her I have yet to check with my bank on how to close my account and told her I will get back to her once I have done that. She was quite worried and said the matter is very complicated and she asked if I understand French because she wanted to explain to me in French. Don’t bother. It will only confuse me more. She then said she will call Anatole and explain. I told her he wouldn’t be around until next Tues. There was another accountant at the counter but she was completely useless. She just kept telling me to close the account in July. Kept telling really. Close July, close July, close July. Ok I know, close in July. But I have to check with the bank first right? If I am not allowed to do that, INSA MUST return my 130 euros by any means.
Back in IRISA, I saw Laurent was already in the office. He asked how was I and I asked him back, “you tell me how are you?” raising my eyebrow. He showed me the T shirt he was wearing with words printed: “I am Happy in Hungary”. Red T shirt. I asked if anything special happened, and he said no but it was fantastic. Of course. I have heard Budapest is really beautiful. He said the culture is so different because Hungary has been invaded not only by the Mongols but also the Turkish and other countries from the East. Although it was hot, at 35 degrees, he said he enjoyed it very much. In a month’s time, he would be going to Prague with some friends including that Hungarian girl. Wah. Seriously I don’t envy him much about going with the girl of his life. But I would really like to go East Europe someday. Then I told Laurent about my deposit problem and he had paid the deposit too. But for him it was ok because he will get back his money easily. I asked when will he be going down to pay his rent so that I can go with him to clarify things. He said tomorrow. Great. Once again I needed him to get money back for me.
On the way to the restaurant for lunch, I saw Arvind walking alone and pathetically lonely. It reminded me of myself when I first came, eating lunch alone. Really felt ashamed to have rebutted his email. I had quiche again, the tart with cheese and bacon. Nico said this must be my favourite food because everytime there is quiche, I would say, “Keeesh!” and look really happy. True enough, the quiche is really tasty. While typing, I realised that quiche is in fact an English word also, meaning pie or pastry. And definitely can be found in SG I supposed. Maybe it is super common. But I am really a mountain tortoise and so that is why I have chosen to come down from the mountain and take a look at the outside world. During lunch, I asked about the outcome of the Constitution and as expected, the French voted NO. However, there is still no conclusion as yet to pass or not to pass the Constitution although majority of the 25 EU countries voted YES.
Back in the office, hui told me that France is changing her PM today and I asked Laurent about it. Initially I thought Jacque Chirac is the PM but he told me Chirac is the President. The PM is some Jean don’t know what. Why I thought Chirac was the PM is because I always see this fellow’s name appearing in the media and assume that he must be very powerful and so is the PM. Laurent said the politics of France is a bit strange. Both President and PM are equally powerful and both are not voted at the same time. Sometimes, the President could be a leftist while the PM the rightist and vice versa. And it is true that the PM will be changed because Chirac mentioned that if the outcome of the voting is a NO, he would change the PM. This means the President is still more powerful. It was interesting to know but not essential for me at all. I have the least interest in politics anyway; along with other things like econ, electronic gadgets, computers, etc.
I worked diligently on my paper for the entire day as Anatole really wrote down a lot of amendments he would like me to make. And he wanted me to read up more scientific papers to be included as references so as to beef up the paper. This would show that a lot of research has been done. He told me once that it is only when writing the paper then you will realise a lot of things are missing or out of order. Sometimes, it is a practice to start writing the paper while conducting the research and not leave it at the end. Near the end of the day, Ravi came to my office and I was really afraid he will ask me to help him. He saw me working hard on my paper and so just came by to say goodbye. I think he was hoping I would ask him about his program but of course I didn’t. I am not exactly very free at this moment actually. I will try to make all the amendments by tomorrow so that I can email Anatole. He told me he will have access to internet on Thurs and hence can comm. with me via email then.
PS: according to hui’s blog, there was a festival in Nantes with giant size puppets some days ago. Too bad I didn’t know about that beforehand or else I would go definitely even though I have been to Nantes before.
That lady said that indeed people from IRISA need not pay the deposit. Clearly she had made a mistake when Anatole and I came to check in on the first day. She said she can’t do anything now because the money is already in INSA. I told her I have yet to check with my bank on how to close my account and told her I will get back to her once I have done that. She was quite worried and said the matter is very complicated and she asked if I understand French because she wanted to explain to me in French. Don’t bother. It will only confuse me more. She then said she will call Anatole and explain. I told her he wouldn’t be around until next Tues. There was another accountant at the counter but she was completely useless. She just kept telling me to close the account in July. Kept telling really. Close July, close July, close July. Ok I know, close in July. But I have to check with the bank first right? If I am not allowed to do that, INSA MUST return my 130 euros by any means.
Back in IRISA, I saw Laurent was already in the office. He asked how was I and I asked him back, “you tell me how are you?” raising my eyebrow. He showed me the T shirt he was wearing with words printed: “I am Happy in Hungary”. Red T shirt. I asked if anything special happened, and he said no but it was fantastic. Of course. I have heard Budapest is really beautiful. He said the culture is so different because Hungary has been invaded not only by the Mongols but also the Turkish and other countries from the East. Although it was hot, at 35 degrees, he said he enjoyed it very much. In a month’s time, he would be going to Prague with some friends including that Hungarian girl. Wah. Seriously I don’t envy him much about going with the girl of his life. But I would really like to go East Europe someday. Then I told Laurent about my deposit problem and he had paid the deposit too. But for him it was ok because he will get back his money easily. I asked when will he be going down to pay his rent so that I can go with him to clarify things. He said tomorrow. Great. Once again I needed him to get money back for me.
On the way to the restaurant for lunch, I saw Arvind walking alone and pathetically lonely. It reminded me of myself when I first came, eating lunch alone. Really felt ashamed to have rebutted his email. I had quiche again, the tart with cheese and bacon. Nico said this must be my favourite food because everytime there is quiche, I would say, “Keeesh!” and look really happy. True enough, the quiche is really tasty. While typing, I realised that quiche is in fact an English word also, meaning pie or pastry. And definitely can be found in SG I supposed. Maybe it is super common. But I am really a mountain tortoise and so that is why I have chosen to come down from the mountain and take a look at the outside world. During lunch, I asked about the outcome of the Constitution and as expected, the French voted NO. However, there is still no conclusion as yet to pass or not to pass the Constitution although majority of the 25 EU countries voted YES.
Back in the office, hui told me that France is changing her PM today and I asked Laurent about it. Initially I thought Jacque Chirac is the PM but he told me Chirac is the President. The PM is some Jean don’t know what. Why I thought Chirac was the PM is because I always see this fellow’s name appearing in the media and assume that he must be very powerful and so is the PM. Laurent said the politics of France is a bit strange. Both President and PM are equally powerful and both are not voted at the same time. Sometimes, the President could be a leftist while the PM the rightist and vice versa. And it is true that the PM will be changed because Chirac mentioned that if the outcome of the voting is a NO, he would change the PM. This means the President is still more powerful. It was interesting to know but not essential for me at all. I have the least interest in politics anyway; along with other things like econ, electronic gadgets, computers, etc.
I worked diligently on my paper for the entire day as Anatole really wrote down a lot of amendments he would like me to make. And he wanted me to read up more scientific papers to be included as references so as to beef up the paper. This would show that a lot of research has been done. He told me once that it is only when writing the paper then you will realise a lot of things are missing or out of order. Sometimes, it is a practice to start writing the paper while conducting the research and not leave it at the end. Near the end of the day, Ravi came to my office and I was really afraid he will ask me to help him. He saw me working hard on my paper and so just came by to say goodbye. I think he was hoping I would ask him about his program but of course I didn’t. I am not exactly very free at this moment actually. I will try to make all the amendments by tomorrow so that I can email Anatole. He told me he will have access to internet on Thurs and hence can comm. with me via email then.
PS: according to hui’s blog, there was a festival in Nantes with giant size puppets some days ago. Too bad I didn’t know about that beforehand or else I would go definitely even though I have been to Nantes before.
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