listening comprehension

you always complain about how fast people talk when you're doing listening comprehension under an exam condition.

well, in real life, it gets even worse.

i just had a stressful man-to-machine fight on the phone, it's for setting up my voicemail.

i got a text message saying that i shall call this number cos i had a new voice message.

then only god knows what i got myself into...

bonjour, __________________, tapez 1 pour_______, tapez 2 pour_________.

that's exactly what the message sounded like.

okay, 1.

___________, _____.

oh! what the heck?

silence.

___________, _____.

okay, calm down, think about how it should sound like in english.

she'll just ask you to do something and press #.

so i pressed #.

si vous etes satisfie, tapez 1. si vous voulez _____, tapez 2, _________________.

bingo! i knew it was asking me to press #!

then i went back and recorded my greetings to ask people leave me a message so that i could call back.

now come to think about it, i might have just talked too fast while leaving that message.

meaning: i might've just given people the wrong idea of being super fluent in french.

mince!

oh, we shall see.

what's the worst? i shall just keep asking the machine to repeat until i got the phone number.

anyway, after finishing that, it went on to tell me that i have this secret code that i need to note down.

wtf? seriously, a secret code for what?

it was just like those 8000 phone numbers you'd heard on the cd while doing listening comprehension exercises before.

and you know the speed they tell you those super annoying numbers.

i didn't even catch the first 2 digits.

so i had to repeat the message, this time i got them, and correctly (youpi~).

how do i know it's correct?

well, after i hung up, i got a text which had my secret code written in it.

it then went on by telling me some other information i might not even need to know...

so after a stressful 5 minutes, i just hung up on it.

it was very stressful, and it's only just the beginning.

bring it on, i say.

bring it on!

le chat noir

this is the first time i've seen a cat so far.

s/he just was walking along the street in the middle of the day.

like s/he has the whole street to herself/himself.

super cool.

patisserie

does it get better than that?

i think not.

cuteness @ the city hall

worry not, i'm not insane.

well, not yet, not before i encounter the OFII and/or the CAF people.

that's some serious bureaucracy there.

if i haven't gone through those processes, i can't say that i've been living in france.

honestly, why are you laughing?

anyway, on our way to town today, we saw something on the noticeboard outside the town hall.

there was this one piece of paper hanging up there.

just being the usual nosy me, i walked up close, it read:

mr xxx, shop keeper, born xxx, in xxx,

and

miss yyy, hairdresser, born yyy, in xxx,

are getting married on ___.

this is to notify that they are tying the knot.

and will be living xxx after they get married.

according to the authority, this public notice will be up there for 10 days and one is not supposed to celebrate till the 11th day!

i don't really know the protocol (why should i anyway), but i thought this is really cute.

french supermarkets

being chinese has certain advantages - one of them being, you'll totally keep a straight face when you see what some people call "odd" at supermarkets.

my american colleagues have arrived in town.

to get myself some fresh air, i went to the supermarket with them.

to be precise, this is what they call an "intermarché ", i guess it's smaller than an hypermarché?

coming from sheepland, this intermarché is actually quite a decent size compared to the ones in our neighbourhood.

if you're (un)lucky enough to have seen the size of the new world on willis st in wellington, you'd think that this intermarché is what should be referred to as an hypermarché.

well, things are different on the other side of the world in america.

they aren't impressed by the lack of choices, for sure.

plus it's only 1/7th big as a wal-mart.

then they saw pig ears, trotters, things that they'll never see at supermarkets back home.

next, in the fridge, a WHOLE fridge filled with duck hearts!

they kinda freaked out a bit.

i didn't want to scare them, so instead of picking up a pack and put it in the trolley, i just stared and walked away.

i can't decide if it's me or people from the english-speaking world just don't eat certain things.

i still remember how in french classes, we'll always be talking about eating escargots and frogs.

and they'll just frown and say, "no i don't like escargots, they taste like rubber."

this actually brings me to another question, have ALL of them who claim this actually eaten their erasers in primary school during classes?

the good thing is that there're no frogs in sheepland, so most people who don't like the idea of eating frogs can't give nasty comments about the taste of these heavenly frogs.

little do they know that our french prof, catherine's favourite food is tête de veau.

you know what's funny.

you know how when you first picked up a foreign language, so much time was spent on "now let's pretend that you are in that country and you want to get a train ticket"?

and then you rolled eyes and thought to yourself, "like, i'm ever gonna use them... "

well, that day DID come.

it felt really funny and almost surreal (due to sleep deprivation) when i was queuing to get my tgv ticket down south.

i automatically switched to "dialogue/role-playing" mode, and searched for all the keywords.

okay, first, be polite, use "vous".

then, okay, one way ticket, which class, window or aisle seat, non-smoking...

well, at least i didn't have to use the "non-fumeur" cos it seems like all of them are non-smoking these days.

it's also funny how in real life, there are almost always extra questions that will come up.

"en bas ou en haut?" she stared me poker-faced.

what the heck does that mean?

since i've had some great experience with doing DELF oral exams, i answered the question with another question.

"ben, quelle est la difference?"

then i kind of picked up that it was some kind of double-deck thingy.

and she obviously gave more information by telling me that it's much calmer on the lower deck.

she then went on telling me the departure time of my train.

and told me 3 times that it would depart from platform 4.

"quatre" she raised her hand, making a "4".

yeah, madame, get it, quatre.

i guess in real life, there's no platform 9 & 3/4.

library for the young

i wanna gooooo & sit by the window.

riz au lait

here is something that i've never seen in supermarkets in sheepland.

pic credit: proxi-business

settling in

after a big day of travelling which consists much of heavy duty lifting, i passed out around 9pm (GMT+1).
(i really want to ask why they have to make the steps on their trains so up high? WHY?)
my luggage was simple (2 pieces only) yet quite heavy.

since i wanted to live in a relatively small town in order to experience the "authentic french life", i was expecting all the inconvenience of living in a small town.
but hey, i was fine living in a place like wellington, i should be fine living anywhere on the planet.

day 1 & 2. arrival & settling in

flying into CDG was all sweet and smooth.
then it all started to get really confusing after landing.
first, getting over the fact that there are well over 5 different ticket-selling counters, but 8 am seems to be a bit too early for them to start working.
even the long queueueue was already starting by the escalators then through the glass doors with several turns to the counters, nobody was doing anything about it.
10 mins later, the 1 of the 3 people left, leaving only 2 working to serve.
it's not too bad, after probably 30 mins i got my ticket and the lady kindly reminded me 3 times that i should go to platform 4.
i wouldn't complain, after all, i was lucky enough to see them not on strike.

i was led into my dorm room by a person who never slowed down speaking french even though i've asked twice, nicely, in french.
it's a half-furnished studio with a tiny kitchenette and an ensuite bathroom.
nothing else.
i guess this is good cos i won't be exposed to the radiation emitted by the microwave?

so i had to start from square one, you know, the very basic stuff, like getting a jug kettle, frying pan, sauce pan, cutleries etc.
lucky that i was determined to bring my own duvet sets...
all this just reminds me of getting started in sheepland while i was a teenager.
the only difference is that now everything seems to be a bit odd cos labels aren't written in english.
and milk aren't to be found in fridges along with yoghurt and cheeses.
the french are so french, even little things like black pepper, come in at least 5 different types.
then i stood in front of the oh-so-many-kinds of pastas and got shocked and ran away empty-handed.
btw, their courgettes are so HUGE, i think in sheepland, only turnips come in this size.
and you know sheepland is famous for having giant size veges.
then tomatoes, they come in at least 5 different types as well.
i was overwhelmed by the variety and don't forget i'm living in a small town.

other than that, i've been fine.
as i've already said, i can survive living in wellington, i'd be fine anywhere else.

everything's gonna be closed tomorrow and my 24-hour wifi (wee-fee) trial finishes tonight.
i will come up with more stuff next week.

until then, bon week-end tout le monde!

early morning TGV station, voie 4, CDG.

bonjour!

i made it.
it's not like i hate flying but i do a bit.
anyways, riding on the TGV was kinda fun.
and one thing for sure: french people really DO NOT WANT or BOTHER to speak english.
"excuse me do you speak english?" an old lady asked.
"no." the lady at the bookshop shook her head.
well, even though i speak so slow like a retardo, i'm giving it a go.
i guess it doesn't really matter how grammatically correct you are.
it's the effort of trying to speak their language that counts.
fingers crossed that i'll survive all this.

if you don't hear from me again.
that's probably because i'm queuing at the banque trying to pay for my rent and internet.
or i'm just trying to drag all the necessities (like kettles, mugs, dishwashing liquid, you name it) from the supermarket in one gigantic bag back home on foot.
it's only a 20-min walk, but when you're carrying stuff like milk, water, fruits and other stuff, it's a completely different story.

behave yourselves and don't blow anything up.
x

how it started

it was all because of my kind ex-employer who made me lose my passion completely (if there was any to start with) for economics.

then i decided to quit my frigging job as a researcher and do something that i loved but couldn't do while at university.

well, that's what you get if you get your tuition fees from your parents but not the state - you just do whatever they wanted you to do.

thank god i'm not a smart kid, they didn't make me go to med school.

after i quit, i went back to doing french.

having already earned 3 degrees at different levels doesn't stop me from going back to square one, picking up from where i left it - as a 2nd year student of a bachelor degree and this time, in french.

and it was then, i decided that i want to actually live in france and speak french.

going right on an exchange programme wasn't an option.

i don't have enough credits or number of courses completed to qualify, the usual bureaucratic sh*t.

so i discovered another way, to be a language assistant in france.