A Malaysian in France
The sweet and sweat in the romantic country
Wednesday, August 24, 2022
When you have yellow lawn
Thursday, August 12, 2021
Covid vaccination : You have a choice but not everyone does
One day a friend from Malaysia sent me the photo above, showing on her TV screen, 110000 French were on the street protesting against the indirect mandatory covid vaccination. I don't watch TV anymore, so most of the time hubby would update me some news. Apparently starting from the 21th of July, anyone who wants to go to a place that hosts more than 50 people, would need to show a health pass. It could be a pass proving that one has got the the two shots of vaccination minimum one week ago, a recent negative Covid test (under 48 hours) or a recent recovery from Covid. It would be extended to entrance to restaurants, bars, cinemas, museums, trains...in August. So for someone who is against taking the vaccinations, he or she would have to take the Covid test every two three days in order to access these places. Currently the Covid test is still free, but the government would ask the French to pay from their own pockets soon. Some French don't like to be forced to do something, thus they go on the street and protest.
Before continuing on the Covid vaccination, I thought about the parking policy in my company. When I was working in R town, we had a ground floor and outdoor parking spots. Ground floor spots were reserved for managerial employees, the majority of the employees had to park outdoor which was not enough to host everyone, so some had to park in a public parking. I thought this was reasonable, until I got transfered to N town. When we moved to a new building, there was also a ground floor and outdoor parkings. This time, the management had decided to grant everyone the equal access right. Everyone has the access card to ground floor, base on first come first serve basic. I was shocked at the decision but now I think it is quite normal.
I just want to tell those protesting on the street, that you should consider yourself lucky because you get to choose to take the vaccinations or not. In certain countries, people are living in anguish, fear and uncertainly because they don't know when it will be their turn to get the shots.
In France, we have to wait for our turn to get the vaccinations according to our age range. The priorities were given to the elderies and the first line medical workers. At the beginning, it was very hard to get an appointment. Hubby's grandma was so frustruted as she didn't know how to reserve a timeslot online. My mother in laws helped her but the spots got taken so quickly they had to keep trying. After a while the process was becoming fluid, and I patiently waited for my turn. On the 31th of May, the vaccinations were opened to everyone above 18 years old and under 50 years old. The websites got congested and I couldn't get a spot. At that time, I realized that most of my friends had already gotten their spots because before the 31th of May, when there were spots left, those under 50s could go and grab them. Anyway, several days after, many spots were added and I managed to get timeslots for both me and hubby at the vaccination center closest to our place. A few days later, I went to change my appointments to Sundays, as it suited better my needs. Imagine French working on Sundays...The government is really trying to speed up the vaccination rates.
When I thought most of the countries in the world are having the same online appointment booking process, I was suprised to learn that it was not the case. Every country is trying to buy the doses but the supply is limited. The developped countries are vaccinating their people at full speed whereas some other countries are struggling to have sufficient supplies for the whole nations. This results in unfair distribution of vaccinations.
My family lives in Malaysia so I get to have some updates regarding Covid vaccinations. They need to register in a website and wait for hospital staff to contact them. The priorities were given to the elderies so my mother was the first to get the doses. Surprisingly, my aunt who got medical history was contacted several months after my mom to a vaccination center very far from her house. Surge in Covid cases put the country in and out of confinements and I feel that people started to get panic. People started to use their own influences and contacts to get the appointments. The process is opaque so it is hard to know what criterias were used for the appointment distributions. Beside waiting for a call from the hospitals, people got the appointments through their doctors, their companies, their professional associations, and even, through paying RM200. I saw my friends posting on FB asking when will be their turn?
In terms of type of vaccines, I remember when I booked the appointment, you have a choice but it seems that one vaccination center would use only one type of vaccine. So when I booked, I chose the center instead of type of vaccine. The chart above shows the effectiveness of each type of vaccine. To my surprise, beside Pfiser and AZ, Malaysia is using Sinovac which has 50% effectiveness and a lot of Malaysians have accepted it. It makes me think, the Malaysians are accepting it because they have no choice or because they believe in the Chinese vaccine? I realised that we are getting very different information regarding Covid related topics. In Europe, the Chinese vaccines may not be accepted by the people, but they got vastly accepted in Asian, Africa and South America. The mainly China has used only their Chinese produced vaccines. Are the medias separating the world or the world is divided by the Chinese supporters vs Western supporters?
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
The Magical Moments
The other day, she got two loosening upper front teeth, and she was very anxious. Her sister claimed that she can communicate with the mouse so she has got some questions from the little one.
"Big sister, if I lose two teeth at the same times, do you think the mouse will send me two presents?"
"No, you will only get one, as it will be too heavy for the mouse to carry two presents at once. If I were you, I would just put one tooth under my pillow, and put another one the night after, so that you get one present each time."
"Ok. Can you use your brain to tell the mouse that I would like to have a Harry Porter wand?"
"Yes, sure."
I was chatting with the elder one, and we were discussing about the moment Santa Clause was dropping the present on Christmas Eve. I wonder when should we tell the truth, that Santa doesn't exist. She told me it was really a magical moments for them, and I shouldn't spoiled it. We had a neighbor dressed up as Santa for Christmas 2020. While the little one was really excited about all the presents, she suspected something as she can see that the beard on Santa was a fake one. Recently, her classmates told her that Santa was actually her parents, but her sister reassured her. I agreed that Santa, the mouse, the Easter rabbit are all helping to create magical moments for the kids. I hoped she could accept it well when she discovers the truth.
Sunday, November 01, 2020
Roller skate and and second lockdown
We started to give the girls pocket money.
Not much, 5€ a month.
We can see they treat the money differently.
One wanted to save it until a certain amount, then buy a toy that cost more.
The other wanted to buy something immediately, she doesn't have the patient to wait and save.
Sometimes, one persuaded the other to save together, and buy something together.
Sometimes, they fought as they disagreed on how to spend the money.
I told them they could increase their income by selling stuffs they no longer need or use.
We did two garage sales with a club not far from our houses, and they shared the income.
We also try to sell stuffs through the boncoin (the French's equivalent of craigslist).
Most of the time, they identify things they want to sell, and I help to put them online and deal with the buyers.
At the beginning of September, when all sportive and club activities were going to start, I quickly put the pair of roller skates to sell. We rented them brand new from the club, and bought them the second year around 100€. After three years of usage, and trips on the road outside our houses, they looked worn out. We decided to put them on sale for 40€. We only got two requests. Finally managed to sell them after agreeing to send by postal to the buyer.
They girls got 20€ each even though the skates belong to the eldest. We were going to Center Parks, and they have paid activities, so I advised them to choose an activity and pay with their money. They told me no.
With this money plus their monthly pocket income, they requested to go to the toy store as soon as we picked them up from the grandparents after school holidays. The eldest one wanted a makeup set, and the young one wanted a toy she has been eyeing on.
I'm sorry girls, we are back to lockdown. The shops beside grocery stores are closed. They will have to wait, or buy online. So eager for COVID to go away and back to normal life.
Friday, May 08, 2020
Covid 19 Lock Down : My house is my playground
All in all, they got lots of games to play so they are not bored at home. Their TV schedule is just like during the school times. The only drawback : they are invading lots of areas in the house! It just slowing me down when I have to do house cleaning.
Covid 19 Lock Down : My house is my school
Friday, January 10, 2020
Her style
At home, Awena quietly removed all the price tags and tidied up her wardrobe.
Saturday, August 10, 2019
Grandmas and blablacar
We met over Easter, she was in good health, and she agreed to come to visit us during summer.