Again there was someone Bonjour me when I was bathing this morning. Again I did not reply as I wasn’t sure if she was saying to me or not. When I left the cubicle, I saw the fat cleaning lady outside the bathing area and greeted her. So it was her just now. I thought was some “chiobu”. Normally I would be the only one around bathing because either the residents woke up very early and left before 8am or they slept till lunch. I use the bathroom at 9am so usually there was nobody. In the office, Jeremy was there earlier than me again and he really was a hardworking young man. I spent the entire morning uploading my journals and pictures to the internet.
I received an email from Xiaohui and she said that she got 2 friends coming to France in May or June and asked me what they need to prepare, things to avoid, etc. Well I don’t really think there is anything that needed preparation specially. Just make sure that you have a map of the place that you are visiting and some brochures on the places of interest. Check out the location of the office of tourism first before coming. If you really want, you can check out the train system but that is quite useless because I did that and I was still lost in Paris. Not to mention if there were any strikes. So if you are coming as tourist, there isn’t really much things to prepare but if you are here to stay (like me), please find out every details and small things that might seemed trivial to you, and this I didn’t do before coming. I told her if they want they could link up with me because I would still be in France then. But I don’t think they would want to come to Rennes because of all my friends who knew I was here they never heard of this city even though it is the capital of Bretagne. Except for Chongyuan because there is a football club here. It seemed like a lot of people are coming to France in June! Before that there is Carol, then Jon said he might come and look for me and Hua, and later in the afternoon, my brother said he might also come. Imagine different groups of people touring France together!
So the entire morning was dedicated to personal stuffs and soon it was lunch. Jeremy was still engrossed in his work so I decided to go for lunch myself but out of courtesy I said a few words to him first. He said he would be meeting Selina again for lunch but not now, around 1245pm and asked if I would like to wait. Great! I thought he was a heartless fellow but he was really nice. He doesn’t talk much and is quite cool with his curly long blonde hair. So I waited when he was ready and we left together. Just then Ahad came in. I haven’t seen him for quite some time. On the way I asked Jeremy how his work was and he said he had to rush to complete it by today; no wonder he was so biah. I asked him where do he stay and he said he lived in the extreme west of the city. And yet this guy always comes earlier than me. But he said he drove and it only took 15 min. Same amount of time that took me to walk to office everyday.
We were outside the restaurant and Jeremy saw 3 other friends. I couldn’t remember their names really but think one of them was called Arnaut or something. I almost wanted to use a French name similar to that because I find that “chee hian” is not a name that is easy to remember. I wanted to use Arnou, which meant half-eagle, half-wolf. This is a name given by my godmother, a gym instructress of Clementi Sports Hall. Weishen and Hoe would know who she is. Anyway, luckily I didn’t adopt that name because I can’t even speak French and still want to have a French name. The 3 guys were quite friendly and one of them was funny. I told him I couldn’t speak French and he said that is not a problem because they all speak English all the time. His 2 other friends stared at him in disbelief. I knew he was joking too the moment he spoke English to me. Anyway, it was nice knowing them.
We went in and found Selina waiting and as usual she greeted Jeremy with kisses. When I stretched out my hand for a handshake, she was surprised by the gesture and step forward to exchange kisses on my cheeks! I was tremendously embarrassed. Not because I was being kissed but because I wasn’t being gentleman enough. A lady greets you with kisses not handshake. You only shake hand with guys which I do all the time now in office. But how the hell would I supposed to know? This is only the 2nd time I met her and the first time we shook hands. I see Mathilde everyday but we never kissed? And my “gugu” (aunt) told me before I came not to go around kissing people but observe their culture first. Don’t “geh kiang” and made some foolish mistakes. So of course I have my reservations. Anyway, I told her I was sorry for not knowing the culture and she laughed and said it was alright.
During lunch, as usual I would be eating and the 2 do the talking in French. Selina did try to ask me about my work but sometimes I just couldn’t understand her English and needed the help of Jeremy. But for most of the times, I would be poking my fries and cutting my breaded fish fillet (super nice!). Selina pointed my food and said “Bon Appetite” (pronounced as Bonapeti) and I asked her what it meant because whenever I took the food from the lady serving me, she would say that. And I couldn’t figure what she was saying and just said merci. I thought she was saying about something small because I thought I heard “petit”. Both Jeremy and Selina laughed at me and said that it meant “Good meal”. When Jeremy was slicing his bread and Selina was eating her dessert, I began to panic because I was still poking my fries! Damn these guys really eat very fast despite the fact that they were constantly talking while I was just eating my food.
Again I apologized for eating slowly but Selina said it’s alright; we have all the time. But I didn’t want to delay Jeremy because I knew he had to finish his work by today. So I started gobbling 3 or 4 fries at one go. When Selina saw that my side dish was untouched, she thought I don’t like carrots. But I told her I would eat that later. She laughed out loud and said I was supposed to eat that first before the main course. Gosh what a “sua gu giah”. Jeremy just smiled. And when I told her that I was using the spoon to eat the rice on the first day, she said she can’t imagine me doing that because it looked very funny. Jeremy smiled and wanted to use the spoon to knock her head because I think he felt it was rude. He was a sensitive fellow, I feel, and Selina was very unpretentious and jovial. I didn’t feel hurt of course, to me it was nothing embarrassing. Now I don’t use the spoon to eat rice anymore and tomorrow I would eat the side dish first.
Before we parted, we exchanged kisses again and this time I was ready. I thanked Jeremy for eating lunch with me because in this way, I would learn how to adapt to the life and culture here. Back in the office, I continued working on my codes and at the same time chatted with some friends on msn. Anatole sent an email saying that he would be back only on Wed and not tomorrow. One more day to slack I thought. Fan msn me and asked if there is anything I needed here so that he, zipin and loi can send over to me. Thanks pals, I appreciated that, but I am quite sufficient here. Then brother came online finally as he did not have msn previously. He showed my pictures to my parents and indeed felt that my room was too small. He also asked about my life and work here and said maybe he would come here in June. Then Xuefen from Hall 2 said hi to me and mentioned that she actually wanted to send me a CNY card but guessed it wouldn’t reach here on time and so just gave me her well wishes online. She said that from my journals it seemed like I am really very miserable here. Fan said the same thing. It feels good when friends come online and give you a word of concern or encouragement. I remembered I and xuefen always bicker a lot in hall but now she said I could chat with her if I am bored. I am really grateful for that although she didn’t forget to “suan” me about “the calculator” incident before logging off. Well to all my friends who had given me love and encouragement for the past 3 weeks in one way or another, I want to say “Xie Xie Ni Men De Zhi Chi!!!” (thanks for all your support!) Like “kai” concert like that, haha! And if you think I am very “jialat” here, I was but am getting much better now so please don’t worry.
After work I went to the mart which I planned to go tomorrow in fact. But I thought perhaps I should just try my luck in town tomorrow to see if there are any events. If there aren’t, I would turn back to hostel because I do not want to wander around on the streets alone on CNY eve. I would be even sadder. I am really envious when I read those nicks of my friends on MSN. Like zhiwei who is under GIP and in Shanghai now. His nick was “There will be a massive fireworks tonight. GIP friends, get ready your ammunition!” Must be lots of fun there. And some had their nicks saying well wishes, a one week holiday is coming, and things like that. Well, since I chose this attachment myself, I should bear the consequences, and the benefits of course. Okok, stop thinking about CNY!
Back in the mart, I only wanted to buy 3 items. A loaf of bread (going to buy a thick and good one. Because those that I am eating now although are cheap are very thin). Some biscuits and cup noodles. But I spent almost an hour there because I can’t find my cup noodles! And my packets of instant noodles were missing too!!! I was beginning to panic because these are my luxury food and if I can’t have them, I… I don’t know what to do. In the end I found the instant noodles which the price had tripled suddenly. It was the same brand but on another shelf and was more expensive. I realized the previous shelf that I got the cheap noodles from was gone. I guessed it was a temporary shelf for promotion items. And there were no cup noodles. In the end I bought packet soup as replacement. I tried out one of them just now and it was not bad. I thought it would be as salty as the Campbell soup which would make me very thirsty after drinking it. But it was quite tasty and had cubes of carrots (I would say minced carrots) and vege inside. But this would not be my long term plan of course. But the bread was super good because it was thick and looks tough. Definitely would be very filling.
I really hope there would be something going on tomorrow. Sometimes I would fantasize and thought wouldn’t it be wonderful that suddenly a Singaporean moved in as my neighbour? Fantasy is the best medicine for loneliness. Wow, I just invented a not bad saying! Ok, hope my fantasy doesn’t drive me nuts.
I received an email from Xiaohui and she said that she got 2 friends coming to France in May or June and asked me what they need to prepare, things to avoid, etc. Well I don’t really think there is anything that needed preparation specially. Just make sure that you have a map of the place that you are visiting and some brochures on the places of interest. Check out the location of the office of tourism first before coming. If you really want, you can check out the train system but that is quite useless because I did that and I was still lost in Paris. Not to mention if there were any strikes. So if you are coming as tourist, there isn’t really much things to prepare but if you are here to stay (like me), please find out every details and small things that might seemed trivial to you, and this I didn’t do before coming. I told her if they want they could link up with me because I would still be in France then. But I don’t think they would want to come to Rennes because of all my friends who knew I was here they never heard of this city even though it is the capital of Bretagne. Except for Chongyuan because there is a football club here. It seemed like a lot of people are coming to France in June! Before that there is Carol, then Jon said he might come and look for me and Hua, and later in the afternoon, my brother said he might also come. Imagine different groups of people touring France together!
So the entire morning was dedicated to personal stuffs and soon it was lunch. Jeremy was still engrossed in his work so I decided to go for lunch myself but out of courtesy I said a few words to him first. He said he would be meeting Selina again for lunch but not now, around 1245pm and asked if I would like to wait. Great! I thought he was a heartless fellow but he was really nice. He doesn’t talk much and is quite cool with his curly long blonde hair. So I waited when he was ready and we left together. Just then Ahad came in. I haven’t seen him for quite some time. On the way I asked Jeremy how his work was and he said he had to rush to complete it by today; no wonder he was so biah. I asked him where do he stay and he said he lived in the extreme west of the city. And yet this guy always comes earlier than me. But he said he drove and it only took 15 min. Same amount of time that took me to walk to office everyday.
We were outside the restaurant and Jeremy saw 3 other friends. I couldn’t remember their names really but think one of them was called Arnaut or something. I almost wanted to use a French name similar to that because I find that “chee hian” is not a name that is easy to remember. I wanted to use Arnou, which meant half-eagle, half-wolf. This is a name given by my godmother, a gym instructress of Clementi Sports Hall. Weishen and Hoe would know who she is. Anyway, luckily I didn’t adopt that name because I can’t even speak French and still want to have a French name. The 3 guys were quite friendly and one of them was funny. I told him I couldn’t speak French and he said that is not a problem because they all speak English all the time. His 2 other friends stared at him in disbelief. I knew he was joking too the moment he spoke English to me. Anyway, it was nice knowing them.
We went in and found Selina waiting and as usual she greeted Jeremy with kisses. When I stretched out my hand for a handshake, she was surprised by the gesture and step forward to exchange kisses on my cheeks! I was tremendously embarrassed. Not because I was being kissed but because I wasn’t being gentleman enough. A lady greets you with kisses not handshake. You only shake hand with guys which I do all the time now in office. But how the hell would I supposed to know? This is only the 2nd time I met her and the first time we shook hands. I see Mathilde everyday but we never kissed? And my “gugu” (aunt) told me before I came not to go around kissing people but observe their culture first. Don’t “geh kiang” and made some foolish mistakes. So of course I have my reservations. Anyway, I told her I was sorry for not knowing the culture and she laughed and said it was alright.
During lunch, as usual I would be eating and the 2 do the talking in French. Selina did try to ask me about my work but sometimes I just couldn’t understand her English and needed the help of Jeremy. But for most of the times, I would be poking my fries and cutting my breaded fish fillet (super nice!). Selina pointed my food and said “Bon Appetite” (pronounced as Bonapeti) and I asked her what it meant because whenever I took the food from the lady serving me, she would say that. And I couldn’t figure what she was saying and just said merci. I thought she was saying about something small because I thought I heard “petit”. Both Jeremy and Selina laughed at me and said that it meant “Good meal”. When Jeremy was slicing his bread and Selina was eating her dessert, I began to panic because I was still poking my fries! Damn these guys really eat very fast despite the fact that they were constantly talking while I was just eating my food.
Again I apologized for eating slowly but Selina said it’s alright; we have all the time. But I didn’t want to delay Jeremy because I knew he had to finish his work by today. So I started gobbling 3 or 4 fries at one go. When Selina saw that my side dish was untouched, she thought I don’t like carrots. But I told her I would eat that later. She laughed out loud and said I was supposed to eat that first before the main course. Gosh what a “sua gu giah”. Jeremy just smiled. And when I told her that I was using the spoon to eat the rice on the first day, she said she can’t imagine me doing that because it looked very funny. Jeremy smiled and wanted to use the spoon to knock her head because I think he felt it was rude. He was a sensitive fellow, I feel, and Selina was very unpretentious and jovial. I didn’t feel hurt of course, to me it was nothing embarrassing. Now I don’t use the spoon to eat rice anymore and tomorrow I would eat the side dish first.
Before we parted, we exchanged kisses again and this time I was ready. I thanked Jeremy for eating lunch with me because in this way, I would learn how to adapt to the life and culture here. Back in the office, I continued working on my codes and at the same time chatted with some friends on msn. Anatole sent an email saying that he would be back only on Wed and not tomorrow. One more day to slack I thought. Fan msn me and asked if there is anything I needed here so that he, zipin and loi can send over to me. Thanks pals, I appreciated that, but I am quite sufficient here. Then brother came online finally as he did not have msn previously. He showed my pictures to my parents and indeed felt that my room was too small. He also asked about my life and work here and said maybe he would come here in June. Then Xuefen from Hall 2 said hi to me and mentioned that she actually wanted to send me a CNY card but guessed it wouldn’t reach here on time and so just gave me her well wishes online. She said that from my journals it seemed like I am really very miserable here. Fan said the same thing. It feels good when friends come online and give you a word of concern or encouragement. I remembered I and xuefen always bicker a lot in hall but now she said I could chat with her if I am bored. I am really grateful for that although she didn’t forget to “suan” me about “the calculator” incident before logging off. Well to all my friends who had given me love and encouragement for the past 3 weeks in one way or another, I want to say “Xie Xie Ni Men De Zhi Chi!!!” (thanks for all your support!) Like “kai” concert like that, haha! And if you think I am very “jialat” here, I was but am getting much better now so please don’t worry.
After work I went to the mart which I planned to go tomorrow in fact. But I thought perhaps I should just try my luck in town tomorrow to see if there are any events. If there aren’t, I would turn back to hostel because I do not want to wander around on the streets alone on CNY eve. I would be even sadder. I am really envious when I read those nicks of my friends on MSN. Like zhiwei who is under GIP and in Shanghai now. His nick was “There will be a massive fireworks tonight. GIP friends, get ready your ammunition!” Must be lots of fun there. And some had their nicks saying well wishes, a one week holiday is coming, and things like that. Well, since I chose this attachment myself, I should bear the consequences, and the benefits of course. Okok, stop thinking about CNY!
Back in the mart, I only wanted to buy 3 items. A loaf of bread (going to buy a thick and good one. Because those that I am eating now although are cheap are very thin). Some biscuits and cup noodles. But I spent almost an hour there because I can’t find my cup noodles! And my packets of instant noodles were missing too!!! I was beginning to panic because these are my luxury food and if I can’t have them, I… I don’t know what to do. In the end I found the instant noodles which the price had tripled suddenly. It was the same brand but on another shelf and was more expensive. I realized the previous shelf that I got the cheap noodles from was gone. I guessed it was a temporary shelf for promotion items. And there were no cup noodles. In the end I bought packet soup as replacement. I tried out one of them just now and it was not bad. I thought it would be as salty as the Campbell soup which would make me very thirsty after drinking it. But it was quite tasty and had cubes of carrots (I would say minced carrots) and vege inside. But this would not be my long term plan of course. But the bread was super good because it was thick and looks tough. Definitely would be very filling.
I really hope there would be something going on tomorrow. Sometimes I would fantasize and thought wouldn’t it be wonderful that suddenly a Singaporean moved in as my neighbour? Fantasy is the best medicine for loneliness. Wow, I just invented a not bad saying! Ok, hope my fantasy doesn’t drive me nuts.
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