Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Dream of home

Yesterday I dreamt of being in Malaysia with my husband and his family. It's understandable because they are actually coming in Feb 07 for our wedding. It was funny, in the dream, they arrived in my house and none of my family member were at home. It was in the morning, so I brought them to breakfast. Then, one scene that disturbs me: the weather is too hot for my FIL so he looks displease with my country. I hope this situation won't come true.

The weird thing is, I always dream of my old house, the place where I grew up. My family has moved to a new house, and I have never dreamt of being in this new house. All my dreams refered to my house as the old house. I think this house is not replaceable, it has too much childhood memories.

Would my country to unreplaceable as well?

Friday, November 24, 2006

Why are they here?

I have started my French class in a learning center, and therefore met some new students. Most of the students have the same background: married to a French and therefore live in France.

Some of them have arrived long time ago, like 5 years; and some just arrived. You can see people from age range from 20-55 years old.

We have another common point: we are all unemployed. So, sometimes we bitch about the situation, and how we could have found a job quickly in our own countries.

There are two Brazilians, guys, that caught my attention. When they talk about their country, their eyes shine like moonlight, their face light up, their body move happily, their hands wave in the air. They miss their country miserablely. They miss their family, their warm culture, their dance...Today, one of the guy was singing in Brazilian to his friend during the break, at least 15 minutes non stop...

and I wonder: Why are they here? It is really worth it, to give up such happiness?

These two mens met their wives while their wives were having vacation in a small village in Brazil. These French women brought them to France, and from what I observe, this country would not be able to give them the same happiness, at least in a short time. One of the guy is more than 30 years old, and he is giving up everything to restart a life in France. He sure has more courage than me.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Nice civil servant in France: It exist!

A lot of foreigners complaint about the bureaucracy in France. For me, I don't have much bad experience, since the government services in Malaysia can be a lot worst than here.

Anyway, I went to Nantes Townhall to help my husband register to be a voter for the next presidential election. I was received by a very nice woman. She patiently explained to me the documents I need to submit and even wrote down on a piece of paper to me. She then asked me to write it to see whether I understand her handwriting.

Then, I asked her how to apply a job in the region, as my MIL told me that I can get the info from the Town Hall. Even though it wasn't her job to answer me, she looked up in the internet and print out a page for me, where I can post my CV. She then gave me the address of the mayor so that I can send to the Town Hall as well. She was very polite throughout the process with a charming smile.

Conclusion: There exist nice civil servant, it really depends where you are located in France.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

On strike not on strike

I read in the 20 minutes that la poste (the postal services) is on strike, for unlimited period in my area. However we received some letters today. Guess they are providing minimum services?

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Kill Crabs



We killed two crabs today!

I love crab, but had never prepared it before.

In Malaysia, my brother is the one responsible to cut the crabs.

In France, my father in laws would prepare. He knows I love crab and most of the time when we go their house, crabs will be on the menu.

Today, we saw a promotion, 3.82 euros for 2 crabs. Bon marché. I asked an old man to choose for me. People are very friendly here and they are willing to help and share with you.

I put the crabs in the fridge. It doesn't work bcos every time we open the fridge, we saw something moving and that disturbed us.

No choice. We called the in-laws, and was told to boil them immediately during 20 minutes. Ah, my boyfriend/husband wanted me to be the murder, how mean he is! I dropped the crabs in the boiling water and that broke my heart. I keep praying for the crabs, hopefully they will reborn to be a human in their future life. :-)

Thursday, November 16, 2006

6 years anniversary

6 years ago, I packed my bag and went to USA. I didn't know that I will end up living overseas. My objective was to improve my English and get some working experience overseas. The ideal thing was that the company sends me back to Malaysia. They did, but I had to reject.

Life is so unpredictable.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

My lovely family

I have always have soft sports for the grandmothers from my husband's site.

My paternal and maternal grandparents passed away before I was borned. So, I have never experienced the love coming from grandparents. I was jealous when my childhood friends got pocket money from their grandmothers, or always get new toys, foods...from them.

Yesterday, the two grandmothers came to visit us. We had a lovely time together. They treat me like their own grand daughter. One of them sew me a pullover.

The second morning I had to go to school so they left after me. I was so sad to have gone back to an empty apartment without them in the afternoon.

I guess, that their genuine love towards me win over my heart. They are my lovely grandmothers.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Unfair

I met an Indonesia who got married in August, but managed to get his recipicee (receipt) the same day he applied for a carte de sejour, which means that as soon as he got married to a French, he has the right to work. He then got his one year carte de sejour in October. As for me, I got married in July, and I was only given my recipicee in October, and the real carte de sejour will only come in end of November. And, we went to the same prefecture.

So, who said the French don't work in August? They were so efficient that they gave him the recipicee on the same day he applied. It's not a big deal actually, but just that I was so unlucky to have the only job briefing session on the same day same time I needed to collect my recipicee. Since I wasn't able to attend that briefing session, the agency never called me again. That's the price I paid for. If I got the recipicee on the same day I applied, which is in July, I could have gotten the job.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

The appointment with the ANPE

ANPE is the national employment agency who try to help the unemploy go back to the job market. I had an appointment with them, and it was totally useless. The woman doesn't know my field, doesn't know how to handle a foreigner, doesn't know how to help. Eventually she directed me to ANPE Cadres, a branch handle people with higher education. I went to ANPE Cadres and they were closed at 3pm on Friday, an hour earlier bcos Sat is public holiday.

What I found absurb is her ignorance to my problem. I requested to join the free French in which I mentioned in my earlier post, and she said that it's totally impossible. Eh voila, I'm starting the class tomorrow! What she said impossible turned out to be possible, just bcos I knew people who already attending the class. Nobody in the center said I'm not qualified to join the class.

Lesson learnt: Don't trust people when they say impossible to what you want. Confirm it directly with the people is in the right position to give you advise.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

The French is not so happy



France is the 62th happiest country on a map of "world happiness" showing the degree of well-being of the population of 178 countries, according to researcher Adrian White of the University of Leicester in England.

Denmark came top, followed closely by Switzerland and Austria. The UK ranked 41st. Zimbabwe and Burundi came bottom.

A nation's level of happiness was most closely associated with health levels. Prosperity and education were the next strongest determinants of national happiness.

The 20 happiest nations in the World are:

1. Denmark
2. Switzerland
3. Austria
4. Iceland
5. The Bahamas
6. Finland
7. Sweden
8. Bhutan
9. Brunei
10. Canada
11. Ireland
12. Luxembourg
13. Costa Rica
14. Malta
15. The Netherlands
16. Antigua and Barbuda
17. Malaysia
18. New Zealand
19. Norway
20. The Seychelles

Other notable results include:

23. USA
35. Germany
41. UK
62. France
82. China
90. Japan
125. India
167. Russia

The three least happy countries were:

176. Democratic Republic of the Congo
177. Zimbabwe
178. Burundi

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-07/uol-uol072706.php

Wah, Malaysia is doing not bad ha, ranked 17 out of 178 countries. Whereas France, has good access to education and healthcare, and the nation is pretty wealthy, ranked 62. Why? That's because they are French, they will never be satisfied. haha

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Intensive French Class

Every since I stop following the French classes in the University, I feel that my French, especially the writing part, has gone backward.

So, I tried to look for chance to have some classes, for free since I now have the residency. I contacted a center who asked me to wait for a letter, but I haven't received it after 3 weeks.

I thought I stuck in the well known French red tape, but to my surprise, thing just worked out.

One of my friend received her letter to the evaluation session, a process one needs to take to be able to follow the class. I went with her, hoping to be able to get into the class as soon as possible.

It must be a miracle, bcos not only they accepted me even though my session should be in 2 weeks (I saw it in their computer schedule), the allowed me to pass the session today, let me choose the center I want, the hour of French class I prefer, and offer many good advises to find a job.

The young woman who interviewed me is simply wonderful and helpful. I can say that I'm very lucky with the administrative in Nantes so far, no scary story to tell like the others I read.

Gone the day of 8 hours of French classes a week. Entering the era of 30 hours a week of French.

Monday, November 06, 2006

New era transportation: BusWay



The BusWay: a combination of bus and tramway, is started last weekend in Nantes, the first one in France. Unlike the normal bus, BusWay has it's own road, just like the tramway has it's own tramline. Other transports are not allowed to run on this road. BusWay is also more comfortable compare to tramway.



BusWay is runned on natural gas so it's more environmentally friendly.

Science Fiction Festival

Last Sat we went to a science fiction festival organised by the Nantes Townhall in the Congress building. We saw a lot of family with young kids. I guess this is a good way to show them stuffs related to science. We watched series of short movies from around the world about science fiction. I loved one of them: A guy received a weird machine. Basically whatever he put inside the machine will appear from the sky in a gigiantic size, and he can take the stuff outside of his house from the machine and the stuff will be in smaller size. He got inspired, and took the whole polluting industry lot from the machine, which transform into a toy size lot. He then put his flower plant into the machine. Eh voila, he saw a big plant outside his house!


The organiser invited several people from different countries to discuss about democracy. Weird ah, democracy in a science fiction festival? Some of the panels were speaking in French with very strong anglo-saxon accent and some French were laughing at then. I wonder whether I had been made fun of my French when I speak? With Malaysian accent?


There are a lot of games prepared for the public, especially the young. I found it to be a very healthy culture, where people with different age ranges just sit down and play a game that will make you use your mind. It's better for them to go drink and get drunk all the times.


This is a game called Loups-Garous (wildwolves). We played it several times at home.




There are science fiction books for sale and some of the authors are present. We bought a book and the author signed for us.


Comic is very popular among the young French. There are several authors present and there are long queue to wait for their signatures. It's not only a signature, they will draw something on the book you buy and personalize it for you.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Free Hugs

Free hugs is started by an Australian who went on the street, holding a sightboard, asking people to give him a hug. It's now spread in the world, including China. The news in China said that the campaigns in China was failed, as the volunteer who gived hugs was taken away by a police. A lot of the Chinese can't accept this concept as they think that hugging openly is in western culture. Netherless, I saw the free hugs campaigns video taken in ChangSha, I would say that it was a success. I saw the young man hugged many women, that's already a big achievement considering that most of the Chinese don't even hug their own parents when they grow up.

Notice this map. The white flags refer to where the FreeHugs campaigns presented. See it's absent in South East Asia, and most importantly, the Middle East. Will Muslim accept hugging openly, between man and woman? This operation is aimed to bring peace to the world, but this western public embracing action might not be accepted to certain countries who see the contact between man and women openly as some kind of taboo. They have campagnes in Israel too, but Israel is heavily influenced (or controlled) by the American that I won't consider them as one part of Middle Eastern culture.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

All Saints Day and All Souls Day



1 November is All Saints Day and 2 November is All Souls Day. However, only 1 November is public holiday.

In Nantes, I didn't see any festivals organised for the Halloween, so I think it's really something American. In France, people go to the cemetery to offer flowers to their deceased relatives. They usually offer chrysanthemums. This kind of flowers were originated from China, and it's offer to the dead during Qing Ming festival, when the Chinese go to the cemetery to pray their ancestors.



It's it a coincidence that in the French and Chinese cultures (I'm not sure about other cultures), chrysanthemums are offered to the dead? I remembered watching a movie, in which an American was trying to impress his Asian girlfriend, by offering her chrysanthemums during her birthday. Big mistake!





Why is there no photo on the grave? So one day when the grand grand children come visit their grand grand mother, they won't even know how she looked like. Chinese graves always have a photo about who is buried there. Also, in this cemetery, every small place is for a family, not only one person. While in Malaysia, for the Chinese, I usually see only husband and wife share the same grave, but not the whole family.



My professor told me that not everybody in France goes to the cemetery in all souls day. It depends on the family culture. It's true, my boyfriend has never been to his grandfather's grave even since his grandpa was dead 2 years ago.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne)

Tell No One is a book written by Harlan Coben. It's now out in the cinema in France. Weirdly, they made it in France and the people speak in French. Harlan Coben even appear in one of the scene.

It's a story about a couple who knew each other since childhood. Each year they go to a lake to celebrate their "kissing"anniversary. One year, they went again to the lake, but the wife was killed. The husband was basically destroyed from then on.

8 years later, the husband received an email, where it provided a link. He opened it and saw his wife! He started looking in the possibility that his wife is still alive. That's where the story started to get very exciting.

I wonder whether this movie will be shown in US.