New Stove Friday, 30 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in people, places, prance.5 comments
Because I’m most excited about this, there’s a new stove in the house! Hip hip hurray! The old one was shitty- there was gunk left over from goodness knows when and two of the four tops were not working. This new one’s a beauty! And it was on this new beauty that I prepared a sumptuous dinner of Singapore curry chicken (had with a fresh baguette from the bakery near the train station), fried sotong and fish balls and fried beehoon and the yummiest cheng1 teng1. Celine came over, see. We were all very happy stuffing our faces… except for the beehoon which turned into this odd consistency and we had to throw it away. Blessing in disguise, really. (Won’t I just say anything to comfort myself?) Why a blessing, you ask? Because Celine is very funny. Huh what has that got to do with anything? Because we were so FULL and Celine kept making us laugh and our stomachs were literally in pain from moving about so much while holding such an enormous capacity of food.
Anyway. I’m good. Everything’s good. My shit week is over, which is cause for celebration. The test yesterday morning, which I spent two whole days cramming for went well, I think. It was a commentaire de texte, and I was surprised that I knew enough about the EU UE- union européene to write a proper Introduction-Three big points each with three sub-points-Conclusion commentaire.
Friday morning it is. I’m itching to go out, so I will. Will remember to go to the pharmacy to to buy something for my cough. I have had the scariest-sounding cough for the past few days and now that work stuff is out of the way and I refuse to start on my other work stuff for the time being, I am going to take drastic (snort) measures to kill my cough. Aiyai… my priorities.
Bloop Bloop Tuesday, 27 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in people, places.6 comments
On Friday, I had lunch at Japorama, a restaurant near school, with a couple of new British friends. I say yum to hot soup, grilled chicken, rice and sake. Yum. It’s amazing how so many people I’ve met over the past year have travelled so much. Makes me want to travel more! Roar. Headed back for a spot of work before heading out again to Celine’s for a delicious tapas dinner. Brought champagne! Met a few new Singaporeans and we had a good time eating and talking the evening away.
Saturday was a bad bad day weather-wise, but I put on my armour i.e. my 50% down + 50% feather superpower supercomfy superchic (I like to think so) United Colors of Benetton windbreaker to go to the library. I first went to the National Library, Bibliothèque François Mittérand. The room I wanted to go into for my research was full, and so I left. Trudging through strong winds and fine rain, I made my way to the Sorbonne Bibliothèque, where I got what I wanted.
Sunday was spent polishing up my Faulkner presentation and writing my Savoir-vivre paper. And so, understandably, it passed by in a blur.
Which brings us to today, Monday. I gave my presentation which went excellently. I also handed in my Savoir-vivre paper with a sigh of relief at having completed it. Work aside, a few interesting notes of the day to share with y’all:
1) I saw a female platform inspector (is there such a job?) put saliva on her finger to rub against the graffiti on the vending machine on the platform of the train station in my town, presumably to see if it was easily erasable. Nevertheless, gross.
2) There was a mini-exhibition of the harmful effects of smoking in a corridor in the Sorbonne. I laugh. The day the Parisians give up their favourite activity… … haha.
3) I entered a room by the designated exit and the woman in charge in the room insisted that I leave the room by the same exit and enter from the designated entrance. Like, seriously. I’m already in the room and I’ve said I’m sorry, for crying out loud.
4) I filled up a form incorrectly in the above-mentioned room and I apologized to the woman by saying j’ai trompé, when it should have been je me suis trompé… along the lines of I made a mistake. She promptly explained to me the difference and gave the example of J’ai trompé mon mari, which translates into I cheated on my husband, to which I replied in mock horror, ce n’est pas vrai ça… mais c’est une phrase utile, this is not true… but it is a useful phrase and then we laughed and she said something else and I said something else and so on. It was all quite entertaining. The Parisians can be so funny when they want to be.
5) There was a rather big hullabaloo of a strike on the wide road along my campus today. The third strike I’ve seen in a week there… what with the presidential elections and all. This was quite an important strike though, I think. There were reporters who arrived in vans that sported the names of their respective TV stations… and the people were quite loud. I looked, I was amused, I left.
6) There was a row of inspectors waiting at the exit of my town’s train station waiting to sieze upon the dishonest people who did not pay for their rides. There are always inspectors on the RER and someone always gets caught, but I’m inevitably tickled when they stand in a imposing row anywhere (like near any pair of escalators in the vast central station that is St. Michel Notre-Dame) to check a horde of passengers, trying to catch us by surprise. I’m safe! I have a year-long card that covers Zones 1 to 4.
7) Daylight savings ended yesterday and so again, Paris is no longer behind Singapore by 7 hours, but by 6. It turned dark only towards 9pm today. What a long day of sunshine! Loved it.
Raining Ice Thursday, 22 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in people, poo poo.1 comment so far
It’s been an odd couple of days of weather. It will rain ice, then be super sunny, then super cloudy, then it will pour proper water rain, then be sunny again. A constant: chilly wind. In one of those spurts of sunniness yesterday, I took myself out for a run. The park was so gorgeous after the rain! Everything was glistening, ducks were taking a walk on the grass, a few trees were in full bloom (come Spring come!) and the big lake was very calm. I finished the run satisfied, but unbecomingly red as well- mainly from the assault of the cold wind.
Gave another presentation today. On an excerpt from W.E. Adams’ Memoirs of a Social Atom. I talked about the balance of work and play in Victorian Britain through an excerpt from the autobiography. It went very well(: As it should! Put in quite a bit of effort for this one… as I always do. I can’t get it in my head that I only need to pass to obtain the credits for credit transfer. No! Cannot! Just need to do my best. (Grind teeth at this need.) Must say I really really like this class- the history of this period is so fun! Helps too that the two professors teaching it are very capable- organized, prepared, interesting.
Work aside, I need to tell you that there’s been an explosion of English-speakers in Paris! Many exchange students from English-speaking countries in the city… more than during the first semester, that’s for sure. There are also these hordes (no better collective name to call them) of loud American high-school kids (or if you understand Hokkien: ghee2 na2 gia4)- just walking about and being loud. English-speaking tourists too. Not exaggerating when I say that 50% of conversations heard out and about are in English. Strange indeed.
Coming back to work (isn’t that always the case?), now I have to write a paper in french on les élites et le savoir-faire, which I have to hand in on Monday. I’ve come up with une grande question that I will answer in a three-part analysis (the Sorbonne people answer everything in three parts each with three sub-parts- I swear) and give a good conclusion that will allow the reader to aller plus loin (go further i.e. think more/ know more than what has been covered in la dissertation). Also have a presentation on Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying to give on Monday. On top of these, I have to study for the scariest of all things to do for the coming week. I basically have to read about the EU in french and take a devoir-sur-table (test) in the same language next Thursday on it. I know next to nought about it à ce moment, so gulp. 50% of the grade! Alright staying calm amidst the panic. I am doing fun stuff here and there in the next few days herher. You’ll read about them as they happen.
Hole in Pants Tuesday, 20 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in people, ponder.3 comments
I was having one of those round-table classes today and the teacher conducting it had a hole in her pants. It was along the right pant leg and exposed a pancake-sized portion of her old splotchy thigh. Granted she was wearing a coat-like thing that covered it… sort of. I only saw it because I was sitting right next to the pancake hole, so when she sat down, pop! It exposed itself. Also, we had a guest speaker today and while he was speaking, I swear I saw her reach into her pink turtleneck (from underneath… if you want to visualize it properly) to adjust her left breast in her bra. Or she may have just wanted to hold it. Um I don’t know. I prefer thinking the former. Disturbing either way.
Anyhow, I don’t like her very much because she is bloody arbitrary in the way she conducts her class. For example, we have presentations… but she will decide suddenly to not let someone present when he or she should, because she goes on to talk about something else. She then demands someone else to prepare a presentation for the following week (even though there’s now a backlog of two) and then when the following week comes around, the person who was supposed to present two weeks before will finally be allowed to do his or her thing, and the aforementioned someone else who had slaved over the presentation for said week will be left hanging, along with the someone presenting for the previous week. She’s always late to class too! Fifteen to twenty minutes. On top of that, there’s no work schedule, she has no notes etc etc. Disorganization at its most annoying. And don’t get me started on how screwed up it is that I’m analyzing (in a seemingly slipshod way) English literature en français for nearly two and a half hours (minus the time she’s not there) each week.
Sigh maybe I’m just grumpy because I have one presentation to give this Wednesday, a paper to hand in and another presentation (the one my disorganized holey-pants teacher demanded today that I do… even though I was supposed to give the presentation only the week after, which would so totally be better because I’d planned it that way GRR) to give next Monday, and a very important test (for which I’m totally unprepared for at the moment- bloody scary) next Thursday morning. The only thing I’m almost prepared for is the presentation on Wednesday. Not good not good- will buck up.
*
I need to just say again how heartbroken I am that I could not attend Rachael Yamagata’s concert when she was in Singapore over the weekend. I hear it was fabulous. I also hear that she wants to go back, so I’m hoping hoping that it won’t be too long before she does.
Cold Again Monday, 19 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in places.3 comments
The weather has taken a turn for the worse. Why! To taunt us with many days of good weather only to take it away again. Apparently, there’s going to be strong winds, rain and possibly snow in the days to come. Again- why! Okay will just bundle up and trudge through the dreary cold to and from classes. I wanted to run today but it was so chilly that I couldn’t bring myself to head out. I couldn’t even leave the windows opened for fresh air because my insides were quivering involuntarily from the chill.
At this point in time, I don’t know how I can ever complain about the weather in Singapore… but I guess we always want what we can’t have and immediately too. Human beings- complainers. What about moderation, eh? Moderate yourself, weather!
I don’t like that there’s so much work to do at the moment.
Up, Down, All Around Sunday, 18 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in people, places, ponder.6 comments
Up, down and all around- my past week and a half in a nutshell. Maple came to visit during her Spring Break, which was real nice. I went to pick her up Wednesday afternoon and then we were off!
Wednesday: Lunch of crêpes at Crêperie des Arts, in the Latin Quarter. Very near my school. Met Hui at Shakespeare and Co.. I went off to class and Maple and Hui went off together. Dinner at Higuma with one of my classmates and Maple- excellent Japanese food, excellent company.
Thursday: Early morning class. Met Maple after some research in library for a presentation. ZY joined us at Rose Bakery for lunch. It was a sunny day. On to Pierre Hermé where we bought superb macaroons. Like the vanilla-olive one. YUM. On to Galeries Lafayette for a spot of shopping. Then we had dinner at the Eiffel Tower on a bench. Disappointed that the lawn in front of the Eiffel is now cordoned off. Open it up for picnics again, please!
Friday: Maple went off to the museums on her own. I stayed in to plan my April trip (I have a fortnight’s worth of vacation then, see.) The most difficult trip planned to date. Man. It’ll be totally cool, though! Though I must do a shitload of work before leaving. Went to the supermarket. Went for a run in the park. Cooked a yumyum Chinese dinner for me and Maple and ZY.
Saturday: Wonderful day. Boulangepicier for brunch- the most marvellous sandwiches and desserts. Denise Acabo for the famous Bernachon chocolates and some bergamottes from Nancy. To Montmartre, where I read my EU book in a cafe while Maple climbed up to Sacre-Coeur. On then to Berthillon on the little island on the Seine River. Saw my dream home on said little island. Berthillon is where the best ice-creams and sorbets can be had. We really enjoyed our choices. On to Les Passages Couverts, this 19th century shopping arcade covered by a glass ceiling- very cute. Dinner at Leon de Bruxelles- pots of mussels and some fries. Slurp, smack lips, lick fingers.
Sunday: Market at La Rue Mouffetard. Brunch at Le Pain Quotidien. A walkabout in the market, where we bought roasted potatoes to eat there and then. Also bought seafood for making dinner that evening. I went home to get some work done while Maple went off for some more exploring. A gorgeous gorgeous day. We had a sumptuous dinner that Maple cooked. Looked at Maple’s photos from her trips this year. Tried to get some more work done while Maple flipped through magazines.
Monday: I went off to school and Maple went off to the airport. (It was lovely to have you here, dear! The best of luck for the rest of your last semester.)
*
It’s been quite an up-and-down week since then. I don’t know what it is. A mixture of things, surely. Post-menstrual syndrome, a lot of work, the thought of leaving soon, amongst many many others. What do I do when I feel down? I go running. And dancing. Running to clear my head, dancing to let go. Running I’ve been doing on a regular basis for the past few weeks, which is very good, because I hadn’t done so for months and I really do enjoy it. Now that the weather is more forgiving, it’s nice to go out and move to Skyrock fm music (they are now overplaying Beyonce’s Irreplaceable, Vitaa’s A Fleur de Toi, Fergie’s Fergalicious, Faf Larage’s Ta Meuf… … but I like them all, so I’m happy with the station) from my handphone. Dancing I did last night. Cafe Oz! This place gives you a natural high. Might also be the alcohol and the second-hand smoke, but it’s really the atmosphere that does it, I say. Went with Celine and Hui and ZY- we had a grand time. Took the first train back and crashed from 7 to 4 after nearly falling asleep showering- 9 hours of sleep is excellent, don’t you think? My legs are aching from shaking my booty (hahaha) in high high heels. Oh I forgot to include one more remedy to feeling down. Shopping! Saint-Germain-des-Prés is a shopping haven. Even the Monoprix supermarket there is nicer than the others around the city. Will so miss it when I leave my lover city.
Anyway, I was thinking I should try to write here daily. There are things (mundane and interesting alike) I do and see in Paris everyday that get lost in my sweeping posts. It would be nice to read them and remember them later on. Look out for more frequent posts, d’accord?
(How was the Rachael Yamagata concert! Tell me tell me!)
Them Chem Lab Goggles Tuesday, 13 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in people, photos, ponder.8 comments
So this has been a fond inner circle photo for a long long time. How cute were we! The second one from the left put it up on her blog after a quiz she took informed her that she was a “pure nerd”, which she proudly announced. The photographer (I do believe she was the photographer) then put it up on her blog too and asked the photographed girls not to kill her for doing so. She also asked about a certain hoidadadada picture that I don’t know if I have hidden somewhere but fervently hope I do. The one on the extreme right denied her presence in her photo and then commented that we were “so secure in our nerdiness”.
I say them chem lab goggles are cool(:
Sets Tuesday, 6 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in photos.1 comment so far
Over the weekend, I also uploaded and organized all the pictures from my travels this year. (When did it become March! Time is sly.) Here are the sets: Cambridge, Edinburgh, Barcelona and the French Riviera. Click and away you go(:
French Rivieria and After Tuesday, 6 March, 2007
Posted by paperdoll in people, places.3 comments
Because time here is going by at a supremely fast pace, I give you my week-long vacation in point form:
Night train to Nice. Sleeping on the top bunk bed on the train was most pleasant.
Arrival in Nice. Immediate notice of warmer weather, as to be expected since Nice is at the southern tip of France.
Awed by how nice the staff and the compound of Villa St. Exupery was. Hui arrived a few hours later by plane, Celine arrived the following day by plane too. We shared a three-bed room. Amazing breakfast spread that we made ourselves wake up for every morning.
Nice. Extensive construction work all over the Old Town (le Vieux Nice) spoilt it a little, but the pebble beach was still gorgeous and looking out to the water with absolutely nothing marring the view was amazing. Shopping, eating hearty good food, enjoying the warmth of the sun and each other’s company. The base from which we took brief trips to three other places on the French Riviera.
Antibes. Took a short train ride here from Nice. Walked the sea wall. Nothing much here, really. Was quite disappointed by the grey weather. View might have been impressive on a sunnier day.
Eze Village. Took a short bus ride up to Eze Village. Cool mountain medieval village. Great view of the blue blue waters below. Was supposed to just stop here for a quick bit before taking another bus to Monaco. Ended up lunching here and pottering about because it was really pretty (and because we were silly and had missed the bus we were supposed to take).
Monaco. Quiet, clean, calming… a tad artificial. Loved the walk along the beautiful waters. Entered the Monte Carlo Casino only to look around the lobby and to use the loo, since going into the game rooms required an entrance fee of 10 euros. Rather long bus ride down right along the coast back to Nice. Great view of the sunset though before I felt nauseous from the speedy driving down down down and had to close my eyes.
Returned to Paris early Thursday morning after yet another fitful night’s sleep on my night train bed. Over the weekend, I finished watching Six Feet Under! Also ran a couple of times because the weather here is finally less harsh i.e. running is no longer an awful wind-bite-my-skin ordeal. Prepared a long presentation (Women and the Family: Homosexuality and Homophobia in the United States Today). Gave the presentation this morning. It went very well indeed, so I’m very pleased.
Oh last night I went out. To a popular Chinese restaurant in the old Chinatown with Hui and Celine. Had to wait half an hour for a table, but the food was well worth the time spent standing outside looking in enviously at the diners chowing down. And last night, I met a grand total of 6 Singaporeans just out on the streets of Paris in 3 separate groups! A group of 3 (one of whom I know! You should have seen how surprised I was to have someone call out my name… (almost) never happens in Paris), 2 women (who were queuing behind us outside the restaurant) and 1 person (walking along the street of the restaurant) whom Celine knew. Odd, don’t you think? So many!
