I visited Munich

Okay, to continue from my previous post, let's talk about the pilih-kasih-ing Singaporeans. :P (pilih kasih ~ favouritism) My father came to Singapore to meet me at the airport so that I wouldn't have to make the trip back to Kuantan alone. But in Singapore, I couldn't use my mobile phone to call my father, and neither could he call me. I had two phones with me, one with my French number, and the other Malaysian. Neither worked for calling or sending sms to my father's (Malaysian) number. And later he told me that he couldn't call to M'sia either.

And because of this phone problem, my father and I had difficulty finding each other at the airport. -_- We hadn't decided on a meeting place in advance, since we were counting on using our phones!

However, he could receive calls from M'sia, and Ling Sin, who has a Singaporean number, could call and sms me on my Malaysian number (and I could sms her as well). I didn't try it with my French number, but I expect it could've worked as well...

So here's the conspiracy theory :P The Singaporeans are tired of foreigners. So their phone companies have decided not to route calls from foreign mobile phones on their territory, unless if the recipient is a Singaporean. lol

And the bus ride...I just wanted to gripe about how awfully shaky it was. The bus went fast, which was probably why...it was swaying from side to side most of the time and I could feel my stomach churning like mad. Awful.

But now that that's over, let's move on to photos. At the Munich airport, I had a few hours wait so I wanted to look for a comfortable place to sit down. Upon arriving, I went up the escalator and immediately saw this:


This photo was taken later at a slightly different angle though...the escalator was on my left when I took the photo. I didn't dare to take the photo closer to the seats because it would've been too conspicuous. There were soft seats with screens facing them...with some videos playing. The videos were mainly about products by the company who put up this "resting place", I think...I didn't look at them much because I was tired and just wanted to go to sleep, actually :P

So I stayed there for a while, then left to locate the gate where I was supposed to take the next flight. After that, since it was still early, I took a walk around and found another place to rest. It wasn't very far from the first place, but I hadn't walked in that direction at the beginning.

This one was sponsored by Allianz, as you can see from the photo...it's even taken the architecture of their stadium in Munich ;) It's actually a "news centre" or something like that...there are a few big screens showing sports channels, and several computer screens where we can browse other news. But we can't use them for anything else. :/

Hey, I was in the Allianz Arena in Munich! :P

But this place was better than the first rest-wise, with small one-seat sofas and low tables to put our drinks on. There are also tables where we could read newspapers at. As I was taking the photo, on my right were racks with newspapers on them, and a machine for free coffee that also dispenses hot water for tea. There are paper cups and tea bags available beside the machine. I had already seen these near several boarding gates. So I basically stayed there till it was time to the gate.

Of travel companies working together...or so they say.

To those whom it may concern, I am back home in Kuantan. After about 36 hours of travelling. -_-

I left home early in Lyon, because I had a ticket problem to settle at the airport. My return to France was supposed to be on the 14th of September, with a flight leaving Singapore at 9pm on the 13th. However, that flight was cancelled, and the travel agency sent me an e-mail with the new flight times. This was some weeks ago, and the flight details they gave me said that I was supposed to leave Singapore at 1am on the 13th, reaching Zurich at 8am on the 14th for my connecting flight to Lyon. However, as some of you might have noticed, there is a mistake in those times: it is not possible. Leaving Singapore at 1am in the morning would mean reaching Zurich the morning of the same day, NOT the day after. So I sent an e-mail back to lastminute.com (the travel agency) asking them to confirm that my flight was actually leaving on the 14th at 1am. At that time I thought that they had simply forgotten to change the date stated previously.

First confirmation:


Second confirmation, after they modified my ticket:


See? They could have simply changed the time (and the flight number, which isn't in the screenshot), and forgotten all bout the date. So I was this trusting lamb, thinking okay, fine, they just forgot to change the 13 to a 14.

No, I was wrong. And I was feeling so confident that everything was all right (sooo trusting) that it wasn't till the day before my departure that I realised that I still hadn't received a reply from lastminute.com. Then I suddenly thought of checkmytrip.com, a site that is linked from some online travel agencies' confirmation page (though this was not the case with lastminute) So I went to that site and typed in my reservation number...and got a scare when I saw that I was supposed to reach Zurich at 8am on the 13th, and that my connecting flight was on the 14th. -_-

So I called lastminute on their Paris local number (I say Paris, but it's just because the number starts with 01) Which, since my modem isn't working and I still haven't received a new one, I had to call using my mobile phone credit instead of my home phone's free calls, but that is another gripe. And that guy told me - after a lot of dilly-dallying that there was no error - that I had to confirm with the Swiss airline company myself, because the information I received was exactly what the airline had given to lastminute. He gave me a number to call, which was a 0897 number, which costs 1 euro per minute to call on my mobile phone. And since I had only about 10 euros left on it, I wasn't going to call and spend my 10 euros on listening to an automated voice telling me that "my call was very important to them". So after debating whether I should call someone to ask whether they were in Lyon and if I could use their home phone (that wouldn't have been a free call either, I bet, but it would've been cheaper and I could pay them back later), I finally decided to just go to the airport and look for the Swiss airline counter (which I kinda believed I'd seen before...the benefit of being a frequent traveller?)

So that's why I went to the airport early. After checking in (may I remind you that my problem was with the return flight, the one to Singapore was fine), I went to the Swiss counter and told them about my problem.

But you know? Those travel agency/airline workers are all very pandai (clever) one. This one, just like the one I spoke to on the phone with lastminute, explained to me patiently, "that is the local time, madame". Oh for goodness sake I know it's the local time! And I know the local times in both countries, thank you very much. Unlike you, obviously!

Okay, but that is a slight gripe, just about them thinking they're know-it-alls and thinking that I'm an ignorant first-time traveller who doesn't know how to think. The guy at the counter was very helpful, once he understood the problem, he called the office in Zurich to ask them whether he could change my connecting flight to the 13th, so that I wouldn't have to wait 24 hours at the Zurich airport. There he was speaking in English, and was I glad I understood, 'cos I do not want to take the flights on the 13th! I was scheduled to arrive in Lyon on the 14th, but I didn't want to arrive a day earlier! (what's more, I already have a flight to Singapore on the 13th...but no more details there, I'd mess up your brain (or is it messed up already? :P ) )

So I stopped him and told him to change the first flight instead, so that I would leave Singapore on the 14th at 1am. So that's what he did. But...then there was a problem with the computer system, he had a problem modifying the ticket I had bought since I had bought it with Lufthansa, bla bla bla. He made another call (or was it few others?) and finally managed to get it done, but he had to issue me a new ticket, because somehow the old one couldn't be modified. Okay, I don't mind, as long as I have a correct ticket.


So I have my ticket. That's why I was really glad I went to the airport early...that way I wasn't panicking while he was having all those problems.

Though, that wasn't exactly the end of the adventure. Upon arrival at the Singapore airport, I went to the Singapore airlines office to confirm my return ticket. The guy at the Swiss counter in Lyon had told me that I could confirm the ticket either at the Swiss counter, or at the Singapore airlines counter, because the flight was operated by Singapore airlines. But...the Singapore airlines people told me they couldn't confirm the ticket, because they had not issued it. Whatever. So I went to the Lufthansa counter (there was no Swiss counter, it seems) and there I got another scare, when the person there told me that my flight was still on the 13th. Another round of phone calls, and finally she told me that it was okay, the flight had been changed with Swiss, but hadn't been modified with Lufthansa. And the ticket is confirmed now.

And there are lots more I want to say, like the pilih-kasih-ing of Singapore mobile operators and the bus ride home, but it's getting late so I'll probably write that tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the next...we shall see :P

And by the way I'm having to get used to not using my external keyboard...which means that I just keep missing keys, for some reason. I will type something and then realise that a few keys were not pressed down properly. Argh.

Of pre-travel jitters and this lifelong wish for a pintu suka hati

I am being struck by a case of pre-travel jitters. Like always, when there is a long journey ahead of me. Even more so today because I am alone, and my flight is still hours away and I have no need to rush. Which means that I'm not occupied enough.

So now I have this sick feeling in my stomach. Like when I was small, and we were taking the car to Penang (my grandparents' place) Once in the car, I'd notice that smell, that "different" smell prior to making a long drive. The smell that's never there when we drive out into town. And it's the exact same car, I tell you. Just the thought of the pending journey is enough to make me sick.

*sigh* When are they going to invent that pintu suka hati?

Taylor Swift

Okay, I guess everyone (almost) knows Taylor Swift's Love Story and Teardrops on my Guitar. So I won't post those...instead I'll post two other songs I discovered through Youtube.

There is Our Song, a really catchy song (embedding disabled...so you'll have to click on the link)

And here's You belong with me:



This video is just so sweet (they act so well!), even though the the storyline is so typical. I think they put every single American teenage stereotype in there.

The sweet girl next door? Check.
The jock with the cheerleader girlfriend? Check.
The cheerleader's evil look? Check.
The cheerleader's flirting ways? Check.
The (nice guy) jock coming to his senses and noticing the girl next door? Check.
The plain girl next door looking absolutely gorgeous at the dance? Check.

And you get your happy ending.

By the way, Taylor Swift put on glasses to appear plain...but hey, you know what? That's not working. :P

And oh that guy is cute! I like when he peeks out from behind the curtain. ♥ Here's a line from the lyrics: ♫ you've got a smile that could light up this whole town ♪ Agreed! :)

When you are trying to use up everything in your fridge

You come up with weird recipes.

In this case, it was chicken dim sum, as I call it.

Behold:


Dun pway pway, it was pretty good, I tell ya! ;) Though I could have done better with the seasoning...it was a bit bland, especially the stuffed mushroom because I didn't do anything to the mushroom at all.

Lesson learned: Chicken meat on its own is a little too much...that's why my "secret ingredient" (you might be able to spot it) in the seaweed rolls helped a lot! I made a few rolls without it when I ran out in the end...those were definitely inferior! If I want to make this for real (I mean not just to finish up what I have) I'll make sure I chop some prawns in.

Of optimising resources

Just wanted to talk about this...just because.

Early in the week Reen came back to Lyon...and she stayed at my place. As it was quite hot (summer ma...) we had the fan on almost all the time...and as we went out of the room she switched off the fan with her foot. (my fan is a table fan, but I put it on the floor, so the switches are at floor level)

And I was like...











What?!

You do that too!!

:P Bet you thought I was gonna get mad at her. Haha, she said she was thinking, "oops, what's WP going to think?"

I never thought I would find someone else who does that. I usually switch the fan on with my hand, 'cos the buttons are close together, but to switch it off, it's the sidemost button, so a foot would work just as well! Even better (that's where you optimise :P), you don't have to bend down, saving yourself energy (lol let's not calculate how much) and saving yourself a bad back! (hmm...now that sounds better :P )

Just another post to make me look weirder in your eyes. Oh whatever :P

Conneries en stage

D'abord j'appelle mon tuteur pour lui dire que j'arrive pas à compiler un progamme alors qu'il y avait une accolade manquante. (ok mais j'avais pas fait de programmation pendant tellement longtemps...j'avais oublié cette source d'erreur!)

Et après j'appelle Etienne deux fois (au moins) pour lui demander pourquoi ça marchait pas...alors que j'avais tout simplement oublié une connection. Une fois c'était la masse, et l'autre c'était le connecteur de la poignée.

Bêtise incroyable.

Et parlons pas des conneries que j'ai découvertes par moi-même...au moins j'ai embêté personne avec.

Auld lang syne

Bertemu dan berpisah adat manusia biasa
Hilang di mata tapi di hati tidak lupa
Berdoalah kita agar aman dan sentosa
Semoga kita berjumpa lagi di lain masa.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne ?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Trente, trente et un, vingt-deux, vingt-trois

And since I have the time, I might as well write about what happened yesterday. I wanted to write about it last night, but I got occupied with other stuff.

While I was waiting for the bus at Charpennes (to go home), a little boy came along with his mother. (I'm really bad at guessing ages…he was at kindergarden age, I think) But there he was, a restless little boy climbing all over the place (his mother kept telling him to sit still but he wouldn't) At first he climbed onto the seat of the bus stop, right in front of another lady (a slightly aged one) who was about to sit down. His mother then told him to give up the seat to the lady, telling him "c'est pas gentil" (that's not nice). He gave up the seat and his mother told him to sit somewhere else (it was probably a small ledge just big enough to be a seat for a child), he sat down for a bit and then got up and started to go in circles around his mother…then he started counting.

He counted from 1, while going round and round his mother (he wasn't counting the rounds, though, just counting up). Then he sat down and continued counting…up till thirty, where he continued "trente, trente et un, vingt-deux, vingt-trois" :P ("thirty, thirty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three") Hehe, he was so cute! And by that time, another lady sitting next to him was talking to him (she corrected him when he missed a number in the twenties…before reaching thirty) Then when the bus arrived and he was going to take it, he saw that the lady wasn't getting up, and even asked her "you're not taking the bus?" (or something like that)

Hehe, he brightened up my wait…I had to wait almost 10 minutes for the bus yesterday.

Of the wind being an alarm clock (or maybe not)

It has been windy in Lyon these last few days. Sometimes I can hear the wind whistling…you know, like the "ghosts" in story books :P. (more like "howling"…if we want to talk about ghosts ;) )

I have these plastic blinds outside my window where they can be folded up (like a "Chinese screen", though I'm not sure how Chinese those screens really are :P ) on either side of the window when they're open, so that the wind won't blow them closed. And when the wind is strong, you can hear them rattling…pretty loudly sometimes! So it can get rather noisy…and that was what woke me up this morning. (or at least that's what I think…)

I guess we could say that it was lucky, 'cos it turned out that I had forgotten to set my alarm. As it was, I awoke at about 6am, to the banging of my blinds (that was the first thing I heard, which is why I think that is what woke me up…but I can't be sure, as I'm gonna explain later) My alarm's usually set to 6:15am, so that I can have about 15 minutes extra guilt-free sleep after it rings :P But as it was, I tried to go back to sleep (or at least get some shut-eye), thinking the alarm would let me know when to get up. But after some time the alarm still hadn't gone off, and I was thinking, "hey, surely 15 minutes have passed?" So I looked at the time…and it was already 6:30am. I checked my phone, and yeah, well, the alarm wasn't set.

I can't believe I forgot it…I don't usually forget these kind of things! I usually set my alarm before going to bed, just before placing my phone at my bedside. But yesterday I was charging my phone…which was why it was already by my bed when I went to sleep…and I guess that's why I forgot. -_- It just threw off my routine…

But lately sometimes I've been able to wake up a few minutes before my alarm was due to go off…even though it doesn't happen every day. So that's why I'm not sure whether it was the wind that woke me up, or whether I would have woken up all by myself. Oh well, either way, I guess it's still a stroke of luck.

He's second, in a way

I think it's been some time since I last shared a riddle. I just got this one, which isn't that hard, but I like it ^_^

Three brothers share a family sport:
A non-stop marathon
The oldest one is fat and short
And trudges slowly on
The middle brother’s tall and slim
And keeps a steady pace
The youngest runs just like the wind,
A-speeding through the race
“He’s young in years, we let him run,”
The other brothers say
“‘Cause though he’s surely number one,
He’s second, in a way.”

I already found the answer, but I'll wait till it's confirmed before posting it. I just hope I won't forget! :P

Edit: Answer below.















Answer: The hands on a clock (hour, minute, second).

Promoting Lenka

I already liked her song The show. It's not really really good...but it just sticks in your mind, kinda like a background music. And I just discovered another song, Trouble is a friend. The music videos are rather...peculiar :P But kinda nice! (unfortunately I can't embed either of them)

I like the lyrics of Trouble is a friend:

Trouble he will find you no matter where you go, oh oh.
No matter if you're fast no matter if you're slow, oh oh.
The eye of the storm and the cry in the morn, oh oh.
You're fine for a while but you start to lose control.

Chorus 1:
He's there in the dark,
he's there in my heart,
he waits in the wings
he's gotta play a part.
Trouble is a friend,
yeah trouble is a friend of mine. oh oh!

Trouble is a friend but trouble is a foe, oh oh.
And no matter what I feed him he always seems to grow, oh oh.
He sees what I see and he knows what I know, oh oh.
So don't forget as you ease on down the road.

Chorus 1

Chorus 2:
So don't be alarmed if he takes you by the arm.
I won't let him win, but i'm a sucker for his charm.
Trouble is a friend,
yeah trouble is a friend of mine. Oh oh!

Oh how I hate the way he makes me feel.
And how I try to make him leave; I try.
Oh Oh I try!

Chorus 1

Chorus 2

Oh, Oh.

Then there is this video that I can embed, but I don't think it's the official video...just a fan-made one. But the song is really nice ^_^ It's Don't let me fall.



Edit: I found another one :P Dangerous and sweet. From the movie Pride and Prejudice.



Lyrics:

It's difficult to see
From the surface
But everything goes in
And it stings like a spider
Hits you deep inside and
I know that you are just like me
Oversensitive
We're an ordinary breed
Taking everything for much more than it means
Well it's dangerous and it's sweet
Cut us and we bleed...
All these words we speak casually
Oh maybe I'm just weak but it hurts me
Everything you said
Everything you said
Everything you said
well it cuts like a knife
it hurts me deep inside and
...I should put on my armor
The next time I see you so I wont be harmed
But I know I can shoot my own arrows
I'm sorry I hurt you
I know that like me you can be
Oversensitive...

A Haribo procession

It's about time I wrote about this, I think.

Two weeks ago (the 2nd of July, to be precise) I was approaching the company when I saw a procession of Haribo cars. They were going in the same direction I was, so when the first one overtook me, I was like "Wow! I should take a photo!" But taking out my phone required too much time, it was already too far away. But then came the others...so finally I did manage to get a few pics. Only two were actually "successful", though...and here they are:

Some of the cars had to stop at the traffic light. (actually, on the right, just outside the photo, is where I work)

The Haribo cars made a U-turn at the traffic light...I managed to snap this pic before I reached close enough to the traffic light to snap the one above.

I wonder what that was all about. Some publicity stunt, surely...but where? I'm guessing they were just leaving their factory or wherever it was that those cars were parked...

(For those who don't know, Haribo is a brand of gummy sweets)

Of people acting out of the ordinary

This morning I was approaching the bus stop when some guy on a motorcycle zoomed past me. And I was on the sidewalk! (he was probably going quicker than people on the road!)

 

Then in the metro there was this lady who was chatting up a few guys sitting opposite her. I think she already chatted up the two girls beside her, because when one of them left she was saying something to her (I can't remember what, but it was a comment on her day) like an old friend, although the other girl didn't even reply, just smiled a bit. She was speaking quite loudly too…I think almost everyone in the metro (it wasn't very full today) was within earshot.

 

Of being a nagging old lady

Oh yeah. About Malaysians not making the effort in learning grammar. The thing is, they just don't find it important enough. The other day someone showed me a letter he was going to send to apply for a job. I saw a mistake and pointed it out to him. And he went like "sorry, sorry". But why on earth are you saying sorry?! Your mistakes don't concern me, I was only pointing it out in case you didn't notice it. Correct it or not, as you wish, not that I care anyway.

Which is why most of the time I don't even bother correcting people any more. They just don't care whether they get it right, and if I do correct them, they think I'm just a nag.

Edit:
Oh yeah, I do nag people about spelling and grammar sometimes, like (especially :P) in last year's project group. But that's because the work was going to have my name on it. If I'm not responsible for a piece of work, you can mangle it as you wish, I don't care. (If I'm the one reading it I'd probably give up halfway through, that's all...)

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

I went to Carrefour today and there was hardly anyone. (by comparison to "normal" times, I mean) Just another sign that everyone has left on holiday.

Everyone's leaving for Malaysia or has left. I will be leaving in about two weeks too. In the meantime I have my internship.

Which is actually not too bad, really. Now that I am working on something else. And also...now that I have started to warm up to the others. Like I mentioned I-don't-know-where before, I need time. But now that I am finally settling down, it is almost time to leave.

So it's like, in two weeks I shall be leaving the company, which is kinda a downer. (I'm the first of the interns to leave, by the way) But three days later I shall be leaving for Malaysia, which is great :D So hey, I am happy. But...I don't really want to start class again in September :|

By the way I think I should clarify about saying that "Now that I am working on something else" earlier. It's not that I didn't like what I did at the beginning. It's just that there were too many idle moments when I didn't quite know what to do. There was no exact result to reach, making me unsure of whether I had actually finished or not.

The first half of my internship was mostly sifting through documents, which was not very stimulating for my brain, either. There were some interesting stuff...but mostly repetitive so that in the end my brain just got numb from it all. Then when I got the microcontroller I was simply happy (I would like to say ecstatic because it's so much more poetic but then that would be exaggerating it) that I could start programming on it, which was a change.

And now that that is done, for this final month I am working with another intern, doing some programming. And the best thing is that this programming is about what I have been looking at since the beginning of my internship.

Another good thing, I guess, is that I am working with someone. Unlike before when I was working alone, with no one else doing anything close to what I was. It was what my tutor mentioned as well, that it might be a nice change to work with someone, and really, I couldn't agree more. (not that I told him that...lol) I might not be very social, but being completely solitary isn't too much my style either. At least, not all the time. And maybe that did help in my "warming up to the others", as I said earlier. I mean, it's hard to say anything to someone when you have nothing in common. Or at least it is for me...I know that some people have no problem talking to others! (like my father...heh heh heh :P) And when I have nothing to say, I just clam up. I must have spoken more to Etienne (the guy I'm working with now) in the last two weeks than in the preceding 4 and a half months o_O

Oh yeah, and it has been two weeks since I saw one of my girl friends. Last weekend, after coming back from my weekend with the guys (more about that another time...I will post photos but most probably after my modem starts working again, or after I get back to M'sia :P), I suddenly realized that the last girl I had seen was Liu Qiong, right after the INSA holidays started. (Sunday, I believe) That was the weekend before. So now that another week has passed, it has been two weeks. (at the company there are only guys in the lab...and the girls I see but don't know don't count!)

As I wrote in my private blog at that time:

Ratio of time spent with guys vs time spent with girls:
Before stage (1st sem): ~ 1:1
After starting stage: > 99:1
In the last week (Mon-Sun): X:0

(stage = internship)

Oh well, I'll see the girls in M'sia ^_^

It all comes down to will.

So Maths and Science are going to be taught in BM again.

I must be one of the few who are actually glad to hear that.

It is not that I do not want Malaysians to progress in English. I just don't think that teaching Maths and Science (M&S) in English is going to solve the problem.

All M&S in English will do is to let the students have more vocabulary. And that is all. A wide vocabulary does not guarantee high proficiency. It is even worse when someone uses "big" words but is unable to string together a correct sentence, making the sentence incomprehensible.

And I do believe that teaching M&S in BM will not bring any disadvantages. The English equivalents of the scientific terms can be learned through many ways (like when you hear the explanation of a word, you can then think of its equivalent in BM) However, learning M&S in English will lead to never using the BM scientific words (where some are - surprise, surprise! - not borrowed from English!). Like...tuas or takal, anyone? If Malaysians don't learn this, no one else will. Whereas if Malaysians do learn this, nothing is stopping them from learning the English equivalents (lever and pulley, in this case... See? I did not learn them in school...)

The problem is that Malaysians don't make an effort to learn grammar. And M&S in English will not teach them grammar, especially if the teachers themselves are not proficient enough. Worse, the students might learn wrong sentence constructions.

And the plan to teach more literature...I am not sure that it will work either. The thing is, a lot of Malaysians speak only to be understood. Once they are understood, they do not bother with the intricacies of the language. I have seen this during my first years in France with other Malaysian students. When I pointed out a grammar mistake in a work for a scientific lesson, it was pooh-poohed away as "irrelevant". And this was with the "crème de la crème" of Malaysian students, those JPA scholars. What do you think the other students will do when confronted with learning M&S in English? Sure, they will learn the vocabulary because that's what it takes to pass. But the grammar will be left aside, and much as I would like it to be the case, you simply cannot fail someone in a science subject because they made grammar mistakes. It just wouldn't be fair...

You see, to me, vocabulary is like building blocks and grammar like tools. Take lots of building blocks and without the right tools, you will still be able to build nothing. Take the best tools and with minimal building blocks, you might just manage to build something spectacular.

So unless Malaysians actually make the effort to learn proper English, the level of English in Malaysia will remain the same, however many lessons are taught.

(For some time I was unsure of whether I preferred M&S in English or BM, since both has its advantages. But I think I've made up my mind this time...)

Microwave disaster

Okay, it wasn't really a disaster, but it sure looked like one. I'll let you judge for yourself:


You might recognize the mug cake from a previous post. Actually I had a craving for a snack, so I made a chocolate walnut mug cake.

I can't believe that it rose this much again this time...I already put a spoonful less of everything. It must be the walnuts that added to the volume... And this time I think it was more liquid, so it overflowed more. Next time I'm halving the recipe...except for the egg, which is kinda impossible :P

Am I silly?

Oh yes. Like, definitely.

So I said in my last post that I have no access to the Internet from home. Which is totally not true. I have been using high speed Internet for the past six months, and that has kinda made me forget that I have a backup connection. The connection I used before switching to better Internet, actually. The already-paid-for Internet in my residence. It is still there, I just have to reconnect it.

And what's more, now that everyone has left for the holidays, the connection isn't that slow...

I'm glad I thought of this connection, 'cos otherwise I wouldn't have Internet until the 15th July, at least! I called the technical assistance of my service provider, and they asked me to reinitialize my modem, which didn't work (actually my computer couldn't even detect the modem to reinitialize it). So they are sending a technician over to look at the problem...except that the earliest unbooked period is on the 15th. So I shall be without a modem for more than a week...and that also means that I am without my home phone! That's the worst of it...for Internet I could have used a friend's connection for important stuff, but now I can't call home! Argh...

Limited connectivity

My modem stopped working sometime between Sunday night and Monday night. On Sunday I had just got back from my weekend trip (more on this later) and everything worked fine, but on Monday when I got back from work, nothing worked. So I have no Internet and no house phone. That means I have no access to my personal e-mails, even at work, because even though I have access to the Internet, they block all social sites. So the only way I can get a message online is through my  office e-mail.

 

Tonight I'm going to Parvan's place to use his phone to call the technical assistance. Hopefully it will work and I shall be connected again...

 

Testing e-mail posting

This morning when I arrived at work, I found the others mopping the floor. It seems that it rained rather heavily in Lyon during the weekend, and somehow water seeped into the office. All the cardboard boxes on the floor were soaked through, so we had to throw them away, and their contents are now on the window sill, drying in the sun.

 

Among the boxes, there are several shoe boxes (containing security shoes…you know, the kind for protection). So with the shoes and shoe boxes drying on the sill, it must look kinda like a shoe shop from outside…lol

 

Mission murs peints - part 1

Last Sunday I went out in search of the murs peints (painted walls) in Lyon. They're not just "painted", they are actually optical illusions. I have already posted photos of one of them, Théâtre des Charpennes, the one closest to where I live. Here are some more photos, this time taken with a real camera :P

from afar, coming from the Charpennes metro station

close up

The window beside the man is painted, but the orange "chocolatier" sign is real...there is really a shop there, and you could be fooled into thinking that there was really a shop window on the side.

And the block the man is pulling is actually jutting out of the wall...see the other side of it?


Next up, Fresque des Lyonnais. It is supposedly the most famous wall painting in Lyon, but I had never seen it before. I haven't seen any of the following walls either; I just never walked those parts of Lyon!

Sorry, I can't get the whole thing in the photo, this is the best I can do!

This is on the bottom left:

Check out the window, they even have the reflection from across the road! (I didn't check whether there was really a pharmacy there...I only noticed the "reflection" at home!)
Edit: Oops, it's actually a mirror there...I saw that when I went there with a friend later on :P

A closer look:

Names of the people depicted on the wall (they're all famous people born in Lyon or the region)

And at the angle of the building:

A real door...maybe it's a real shop too, but selling what? Souvenirs, maybe? Or maybe simply nothing...

And in between those two extremities:


Another girl who was passing by found it interesting too!


Hey wait, no, she's painted! lol

When I arrived there, I was the only one looking at the wall, even though there were other people there. Then as I took photos, more and more people stopped to look :P

The next wall I went to was La Bibliothèque de la Cité (the city library). It wasn't very far from the other one...both were beside the Saône river.

Glancing at this photo, I almost got fooled again...I really wonder whether I had actually passed by this one without noticing it.


Notice the bookshelves? Here's a complete view (well, as complete as I can make it):


And parts of the side of the building, which I found very hard to take photos of, 'cos the road between the two buildings was quite narrow!

Er...I believe that the yellow postbox is real, but then again...
Can someone confirm? :P

I believe that the books aren't just any books...they must have chosen the titles carefully.

Then on the other side of the Saône, there is this:

Cour des Loges

See the shop under it? It sells ice-cream...and it was such a hot day you can see so many people queueing up for it. What's more, it's a famous traditional ice-cream shop (how exactly ice-cream can be traditional, I don't really know...)

This next wall (and the last for part 1) is supposedly the second most famous wall. It is called the mur des canuts (wall of the canuts, the canuts being silk workers in Lyon (Want more info? Go look for it yourself :P)) This one is further out of Lyon, in the Croix-Rousse district. I had never been there before, not even for touristic purposes, since it's famous for silk factories or the like, which I have no interest in seeing. Still, this wall was absolutely worth seeing :)

the whole wall

There was a bank there.



This one fooled me the worst. At first I thought it was a real bank, before seeing the painted people. Then I still refused to believe that it was fake, I thought it might be the wall of a real bank, with the real bank sign, but no, it wasn't. I had to touch the wall to convince myself that it was painted on. I guess it's because painted signs are easy to imitate! lol

Hehe, at least I didn't try to use the ATM :P

Some other parts of the wall:

A girl watching a pupper show (everything in this photo is painted, in case you're wondering...)

Another part of the wall (again, it's painted!)

The middle section of the wall

Can you spot the windows on either side of the centre panel, and some in the middle? They're darker because of the shadows...one's right on the stairs itself!

By the way, to find this wall, I took the C metro for the first time ever. And I just found out that it was a different kind of metro...hardly a metro really, more like the Fourvière cable-car. The compartments are the same as the ones for the metro, but it uses a rack railway system (that's what Wikipedia told me a train à crémaillère is) so it goes pretty slowly. I suppose it's because the path it takes is quite hilly. At one station (Croix-Paquet), the metro was tilted at a pretty large angle...I'd give it 30º! We were going uphill and I was sitting facing the back of the metro; I had the unconfortable feeling that I was going to slide off my seat!

Well, so here you go, the first part of my murs peints mission ;) With a bit of luck I might be able to post some more "parts" soon :P

It is...refreshing.

To be somewhere where people accept what they see.
To be judged not through your past.
To meet people who are unprejudiced.
To not have these brains polluted.
To not have someone tell them what to think.
To have them have an unbiased view.
To let them decide for themselves.

To be able to start on a clean slate.

But it has already happened before...and why did it break down? Probably because, one also has...

To have it that way long enough.