Singapore~ The way it is

Villeurbanne Badminton Club~

So yesterday, I played my last badminton game at the Iris gym, the usual place where Villeurbanne badminton club holds its weekly Monday and Wednesday’s badminton sessions. The funny thing is that I did not even know that yesterday was the last badminton session till after the session itself, and till people were wishing me good luck and asking me whether I’ll be coming back to Lyon in the future. Felt like an idiot lah. I didn’t even get any decent pictures of the gymnasium and some of the people in the club. It is a special place where I’ve made special friends: Ex national badminton players of France, the current European junior champion, a German leftie and a very nice couple. These people made my stay in Lyon more special than it already is. So to Benoit Azzopard : Thanks for being my doubles partner at Oullins, really enjoyed that. To Sylvain: All the best..train hard and see you at the internationl badminto circuit in the future.To Jana: It was nice to meet another exchange student who shared the same experience at the club. More importantly, it was awesome playing mixed doubles with you, don’t know when will we have the chance to play together again my fellow leftie. To Mehdi and Helen, thanks for being so nice, organizing tournament trips, dinner gatherings and making sure I fit in. It was definitely an honour and a pleasure..It was…….

Daring Yet Confident~

Make The Girl Dance "Baby Baby Baby" ( official video )
envoyé par placeblancherec. - Regardez la dernière sélection musicale.

We see the Nice things, but do we see the Ugly things?

Do you agree with this?

http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/09/alternative-investment-marrying-a-millionaire/

"The tennis gods brewed up a storm around Roland Garros on Sunday afternoon as they prepared to welcome a new member into their midst. Roger Federer repelled the rain, thunder, and a certain Robin Soderling to take his rightful place among the immortals of the game."

Paris~

Despite all the hype about Paris being the most romantic city in the world, I don’t find it particularly romantic. With all masses of tourists, swindlers, touters, and pee smelling like subways, I wonder after what the definition of being romantic is. If being romantic is defined as kissing under the Eiffel Tower, or walking into the Louis Vuitton boutique store with your boyfriend and coming out making him a poorer man, or burying oneself in all the art by Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Monet, and Rubin just to mention a few, then I have no argument here. However if being romantic is defined as enjoying quality time, whispering sweet nothings with your significant other in a place and environment that encourages the pair to do so, then Paris is probably NOT the most romantic city in the world. Do not jump to conclusions, what I’m going to say next did not conjure up this negative opinion about Paris, but it is a true and clear headed opinion on the romanticism of Paris.

Our Paris trip was a disaster right from the start. We booked only a room for 4 when we had 6 persons. Apparently I remembered we booked 2 room for 6 but everyone else thought otherwise. So, we managed to check in and everyone’s bags found their way to the room. We watched Moulin Rouge at night and surprisingly, all the guys couldn’t appreciate the cabaret show despite hot half naked ladies dancing in front of us. The show ended at 1am and despite efforts to catch the last train, we missed it by a whisker. Thus, we took the long road back from Pigalle, Paris’ red light district to Chinatown on foot. It was a 2 hour long walk in our best attire in the wee hours of the morning. When we got back at 4am, the hotel reception noticed we had 6 and didn’t allow 2 of us to go up to the hotel rooms. Kartik and Elvin ended up spending the rest of the morning outside. The following day, we went to Versailles, only to realize it was closed on all Mondays. No credit to us for not checking, but we only managed to walk around the gardens and not in the castle which in Yok Hian’s words was the example of Rococo architecture. So after roaming around Versailles, we wanted to go to the catacombs which was also closed. Luckily we checked beforehand due to our developed paranoia. On the same day, we also found out that Nadal and Ivanovic got knocked out in the 4th round of the Roland Garros. What’s the French open without Nadal? The next day at Roland Garros, we witnessed Soderling thrash Devydenko and Cubilkova thrash Sharapokva in two highly unexciting matches which summed up our Paris trip.

You belong to me :)~

Malta~

Went with Jasmine and Terry who flew in from London while I took a straight flight from Lyon. Malta had much to offer in terms of historical monuments, musuems and great sights to see. I would say that we didn't cover all that we could have covered due to the more relaxed mood we were in, but still the holiday was thoroughly enjoyable due to the great company I had. I am quite getting used to the chionging trips I have had for the past few weeks, waking up early to beat the morning crowds at attractions, and making full use of time by having quick meals and chionging to the next attractions, and at the end of the day returning to the room late because we have fully maximised our day. Malta was quite the opposite as in although we did wake up pretty early (to catch the sunrise), we took our time having meals, talking and enjoying one another's company at a land in the middle of the mediterranean sea and took things in our stride and didn't rush to see things. It really taught me how to slow down and just relax in a holiday, and perhaps should not rush to see things, even though we may only be there once and never come back. Because ultimately, when we go for a holiday in this context, it is not the things we see which are important, but the little time we spent with each other, the enjoyment of great company and the fun we had together that are :)

The Last Letter~

Dear Mum, Pop,

By the time you receive this letter, you will be aware that my postal address wil change such that instead of writing “England” after my date, I will be writing “France”. The papers should have…..the invasion news about, and I can visualize your feelings when you read that an Airborne Invasion has taken place. We just have been given the liberty of divulging the fact that for the past 2 weeks, we have been in a transit camp, awaiting our plane ride to meet the “Foe”. I have no doubt, that by now, I should have met him, and more of his kind. What a feeling – it is strange, that here in the actual it is only 24 hours away from you (This should all occur tomorrow night) and yet still seems far away. I hadn’t intended writing anything, except vague hints, which I hope you would be able to read in between the lines of my preceding letters. I dare say, you have , ----but tonight, the entire camp has been told that we were at liberty to say all, except the objective we were to take (if we do).

Please don’t picture me in the vain-glorious role of a hero. Many’s the time, these past days, fitting chutes, priming grenades, cleaning weapons, that I felt the qualms associated with an invasion. I have no doubts, that tomorrow I will reap the full rewards of all this.

I usually give way to my sentiment, but I think I will keep my decorum this time. I don’t want this news to affect you—after all. I am one of the possibily 3 million others. You should look at it in this light.

My mind has been buzzing with all kinds of thoughts since we have been first briefed. Telling us what our jobs were, and how much it would affect the course of the beachhead. You don’t help but feel these little pangs of pride in you, and when as now, this letter is being typed to the ribald singing of some night club canary, who is screeching her lungs out to provide entertainment at large, you can only feel the calmness that all this is being carried out to. Millions of people know that tomorrow’s great events will take place,and yet, it is only in our hearts, that we know it will happen. This letter is being repeated countless of times throughout the entire country, millions of soldiers, no doubt, feel as I do, and are writing as I am. Whatever they are thinking, I am sure, is also no different from what their neighbor is.

We all want this war to end – no one more than the other, and whatever qualms, we will naturally feel, will be quite orderly, and to be expected. The news from Italy is encouraging, very much so, why can we not expect the same from Fortress Europe. I am sure it will be. All I will ask of you, is to take this letter as it is being written. I am looking at things level-headedly, and am certain that nothing has been left to chance. We are a healthy fighting body of men, and have no doubts that we will take good care of ourselves, and give any hun a fight for his money. Your continued, steady writing, is all I ask for. It is the best medicine any person craves for, especially those with invasion nerves.

I don’t feel that there is much more to write at present – rest assured that I will give a good account of myself.

5^th June, 1944, England

Nostalgia is setting in already~

With only about 2 more months before my attachment finishes, nostalgia is already setting in. Lunch and dinner conversations are about how we are spending too little time in Lyon, and too much time elsewhere, and how perhaps in our last week here, we would not go anywhere but just soak in the last moments of being in Lyon, walking around aimlessly and just watching time and people pass by. 

Just came back from the sunny island of Corsica, well theoretically not just but I was just too tired to write a post. Beaches were great, scenery great, vintage cars great, citidels of cities great, lush blue mediterranean sea great, company great, sunsets great, boat rides great, hikes great, suntanning on the beach great,.The only thing that may not be too great were probably the ever windy coastal roads that kept me shifting between 2nd and 3rd gear, keeping my eyes constantly on the road when everyone else was wowing at the awesome scenery. And not to mention the slight racism I felt from the stares and poor service at the restaurant at Bastia. 

Well..Here's the shot of the trip. (Agreed by everyone) And no there wasn't any editing with photoshop whatsoever.OLIGINAL LEH ;)

Do materialists really think that language just “evolved”, like finches’ beaks, or have they simply never thought about the matter rationally? Where’s the evidence? How could it come about that human beings all agreed that particular grunts carried particular connotations? How could it have come about that groups of anthropoid apes developed the amazing morphological complexity of a single sentence, let alone the whole grammatical mystery which has engaged Chomsky and others in our lifetime and linguists for time out of mind? No, the existence of language is one of the many phenomena – of which love and music are the two strongest – which suggest that human beings are very much more than collections of meat. They convince me that we are spiritual beings, and that the religion of the incarnation, asserting that God made humanity in His image, and continually restores humanity in His image, is simply true. As a working blueprint for life, as a template against which to measure experience, it fits.

But religion, once the glow of conversion had worn off, was not a matter of argument alone. It involves the whole person. Therefore I was drawn, over and over again, to the disconcerting recognition that so very many of the people I had most admired and loved, either in life or in books, had been believers. Reading Louis Fischer’s Life of Mahatma Gandhi, and following it up with Gandhi’s own autobiography, The Story of My Experiments With Truth, I found it impossible not to realise that all life, all being, derives from God, as Gandhi gave his life to demonstrate. Of course, there are arguments that might make you doubt the love of God. But a life like Gandhi’s, which was focused on God so deeply, reminded me of all the human qualities that have to be denied if you embrace the bleak, muddled creed of a materialist atheist. It is a bit like trying to assert that music is an aberration, and that although Bach and Beethoven are very impressive, one is better off without a musical sense…..

-A N Wilson

Far Away~

The Slowness of Work

Work is getting rather slow these days. I’m not getting fast enough responses from Gwenaelle, the person from EADS Astrium so that I can do some experimenting and get some results on the model that we have worked on. Hence, work has been largely reading of articles and journals, improving on the Matlab code, writing some reports and doing up PowerPoint presentation slides. Not forgetting to mention msning, reading aldaily, facebooking, checking out travel stuff and listening to music ;)

It just gets on my nerve that I can’t do anything but wait, because I feel that I have a chance to come up with some good results and recommendations by the end of my Research attachment here, and hope that I won’t have to end the 22 weeks of internship leaving everything hanging in the air due to the lack of time. Professor Dufour, my supervisor has told me in the beginning that he doesn’t know if I can finish the project within the time that I am here because the project is new and there isn’t any ground when I came here. I want to try but at this working rate I’m really not sure.

It’s a relief that I won’t be going anywhere this weekend because I think I need a well deserved rest after 5 consecutive weekends of activities with the trip to London, the tournament at Oullins, the parents visit, castle hopping at the Loire Valley and the tournament at Montpellier respectively before another 6 weeks of activities which include the chillax trip to Corsica, Normandy and D day beaches, Malta with Jasmine and Terence, Marseille Nice Cannes Monaco with Melvin and co, Paris and Roland Garros, and finally Toulouse before I get another rare weekend free.

I’m stretching myself to the limits. But when there is something worth stretching to the limits for, when there’s someone worth stretching to the limits for, you will do it nonetheless, and feel good doing it. Want to thank God for restoring my strength, for rediscovering my youth within as without his grace and mercy, there won’t be anything at all:)

“You, by attempting to understand my ideals, have already saved me in a way”

Volant d'Oc Montpellier~

This was the fate of my tournament at Montpellier.  Getting faulted for service and losing 6 points in a match is not very funny. Oh well, I guess Jana and I made our point. We came with a bang and left with a bang in the elite category of French badminton where the top 50 players play. I probably witnessed my first discrimination against other races in France.  Helen, Mehdi’s girlfriend who is of Korean descent, argued passionately with the official that the act of having an extra service judge in the finals (not usually seen in a tournament in France)  was a discrimination against non French like me just because our opponents who are established French players, some of whom are ex champions and played for the national team of France are losing against us. She also argued passionately that some French players have high services and all but they are not getting penalized for it and penalizing me because of a complaint is just discrimination. Oh well, Jana and I lost in the finals for mixed doubles but both of us were happy with the result still. For me, it is really a privilege to be able to partner someone like her who I have so much court chemistry with. And I probably have to work on my mixed doubles service for future tournaments.

Nevertheless, Montpellier was as beautiful a town as much as I managed to see it. Was kinda disappointed I didn’t have the chance to see the beach though. The south of Lyon is so distinct from the north in that the architecture is of the later 18th-19th century, as compared to Lyon’s 14th-15th century renaissance buildings. The trees are also more tropical, bringing a more relaxed mood compared to the cold and serious north. Arh…I can so imagine myself suntanning on the beaches of France..which I will in 2 weeks times as the guys are heading to Corsica over the Mayday weekend, an island south of France in the Mediterranean.

"Do it not because you have to, but because you want to "

"You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; in just the same way, you learn to love by loving."

- Anatole France

Châteaux de la Loire

It was a great trip. We spent 4 days in the Loire Valley and managed to visit 5 castles. There were many castles in the region, but due to the time constraint we chose the best 4 based on the perhaps biased opinion on wikipedia and wikitravel: Château d'Amboise, Château de Chambord, Château de Chenonceau and Château d'Azay le Rideau. Château de Villandry was supposed to be a hit too, but due to certain circumstances such as the non operational public transport and shops around the area on public holidays, we didn't manage to visit that.

It is a place where french culture and history come alive and you can witness first hand the vast heritage of the country. Not knowing any or very little history about France prior to coming here it was an eye opener for me. Plus the company of the guys made the trip really fun, with sooooo soooo much nonsense.

"If one hasn't visited the Loire Valley, one has not visited France. "

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” - Leornado DaVinci

Marriage and Funeral~

The Hitchhiker~

It was in Annecy, the nice little town that is known as "the Venice of France" east of Lyon near the Switzerland France border where I first hitchhiked. The feeling of someone actually stopping for you when he sees you sticking your thumbs up on the road is kinda exciting. It is a special feeling that perhaps only those who tried it will understand especially on the long cruel road that looks seemingly endless. The thing I like about hitchhiking is that it is based purely on goodwill and trust, two values that are fundamental yet important in our relationship with others.

Meet the parents

So my parents came over to visit me in Lyon over the weekend, one part of their holiday which includes Paris and Hong Kong as other destinations. Well for me the most important thing was to make sure my parents were able to see that I could take care of myself while I am all alone overseas, so that they won't get worried and not to mention nag. Mum brought her famous Ngo Hiang all the way from home, and rendang and cooked on numerous meals while they were here. The picture above depicts the "Kampung style" meal we had with limited resources available at our disposal. Cosy and nice :) I brought them around the attractions in Lyon like Fourviere Hill, the Roman Amphitheatre, Place des Terreaux, Vieux Lyon, Croix Rousse and Park de la Tete d'Or. I think overall they love the city, as it has a charm that lingers in your heart. They especially loved the bicycle trip I took them to the Park and along the river. And thank god that the hotel I put them up in, Hotel du Theatre, turned out to be very nice.Overall I think I managed to pull it all off, and make an impression by the time they left for Paris. Hopefully I scored an A on the report card..haha.

You never know how much you miss home till home comes to you. The comfort of having home cooked food isn't appreciated until it isn't there. The love is not felt until you are all alone.

I am not a Malay..

Hear around the 10:50 mark

Le club des sports 29 03 09 - TLM
Le club des sports 29 03 09

Mots-clés : tlm lyon sport

Video de interne3

"On a l'exchange quelque jouers international avec un malay qui fait ses etudes a Villeurbanne et de jouers Allemands qui sont aussi de region Lyonnais"

The Road Ahead or the Road Behind

Sometimes I think the fates must grin
as we denounce them and insist,
The only reason we can’t win
is the fates themselves have missed.

Yet, there lives on the ancient claim-
We win or lose within ourselves,
The shining trophies on our shelves can 
Never win tomorrow’s game.

So you and I know deeper down
There is always a chance to win the crown,
But when we fail to give our best,
We simply haven’t met the test

Of giving all and saving none

Until the game is really won.

 

Of showing what is meant by grit,

Of playing though another's quip

Of playing through not letting up,

It’s bearing down that wins the cup.

Of dreaming there’s a goal ahead,
Of hoping when our dreams are dead,
Of praying when our hopes have fled.

Yet, losing, not afraid to fall,
If bravely we have given all,
For who can ask more of a man
Than giving all within his span.

That giving all, it seems to me,
Is not so far from victory.

And so the fates are seldom wrong,
No matter how they twist and wind;
It’s you and I who make our fates,
We open up or close the gates.

On the road ahead or the road behind.

-George Moriaty

10th Grand Prix of Oullins Badminton Tournament

 

So it was tournament weekend and this time the tournament was to be held at a town called Oullins on the South West of Lyon. Learning from my US experience, I chose not to take part in all 3 events, just doubles and mixed doubles. Spread your line too thin and your defence gets broken because it becomes weak;) The tournaments in France are slightly more complex than that in Singapore in a sense that as a player, you need to be registered with the French Badminton Association and have a license to play in these tournaments just like how James bond has a licence to kill, just that he doesn't show it. After obtaining one of these licenses, you will be grouped into different levels, because the French encourages competition at all levels, which in a sense is good because it motivates people to improve and compete. 

So, this is Jana Buhl, I think I introduced her earlier in a rollerblading story earlier on. We parterned for mixed doubles in the 'A' category, which is 1 level below the elite 50 category, where the top 50 players in France competes. We eventually emerged champions of the tournament and I would say she has been one hell of a partner. A fellow leftie, which somehow makes the dynamics of the game more interesting and perhaps more complex, we sometimes have problems with each other because its kinda rare for both of us to partner a fellow leftie. Nevertheless, its an honour to play with her because she just plays kick ass mixed doubles and communication in english just makes our partnership better everytime we play(Thank god I don't have to sort things out on the court in french or german) although my lack of ability in mixed doubles sometimes disappoint. Nevertheless, learning alot of technique for mixed doubles from her :) For the next tournament in Montpellier, we will be attemping to play in the elite category, for the experience and to see how we can fair against the best in France ;)

And here, we have Benoit Azzopard. 22 years of age and was top 5 in France 2 years ago. Stopped playing in the French National team because of his pursuit in academics in the area of Kinesiology. According to Mehdi, the guy with the big eyes in the next photo, Benoit is still around the top 20 in doubles in France currently. Hence, we basically steamrolled through all the way to the title in the A category tournament. We would also hope to play in the elite category albeit not in Montpellier but somewhere else perhaps end of June, when Benoit finishes his studies and has time to play. Playing with him is also an honour because he is so fast he basically runs rings around me that in relative terms, make me look static at times. And luckily for me, my parents are coming this weekend so I can leave that huge cup with them to bring back.

And here, we have people from the badminton club of Villeurbanne, the club that I play and enjoy my badminton in France. And again from the US experience, I am happy that I managed to find a club through Lilas's help, a family friend at the beginning of my exchange here so that I will not have regrets and lose touch with badminton. I always believe that sports is not solely an activity to develop the competitive spirit, but to develop relationships, relationships that make us more comfortable in the social context, and quicken our process of integrating into local culture. For it is an activity that is continuous and everlasting, an activity that one would not need to worry about the inertia or the tiredness, because the activity has an innate ability to draw people together, and that's wherein lies the beauty of such an activity called sports ;)

Its always so easy to have the desire to win when there is something you are winning for ;)

Daylight Savings and the iPhone~

I'm up early today for the tournament at Oullins. But 1 hour earlier than expected. There was an adjustment in time due to daylight savings and at 2 am CETS this morning, and it was supposed to jump 1 hour ahead to 3 am CETS. So, having arranged to meet Marion, a friend from Villeurbanne badminton club to pick me up at 7:50 am to go to the tournament venue, I figured that I needed to be up at 6:40 am thereabouts to prepare myself. (I like to take my time in the morning and be very chillax). And so before I slept, I adjusted the time on my iPhone, my trusty alarm clock (the tune I wake up to is really tt of an alarm) 1 hour earlier, since I would have lost 1 hour of sleep. So this morning I heard the alarm, got out of bed, stripped, and got into the shower rather routinely. While I was guggling listerine in the shower, I saw the time on my watch as 4:45 am. Now wait a minute. WHAT? After showering I verified the time on the iPhone. It was 6:55 am. Wierd. I googled "Lyon time". It said 5:55 am. OMG. So this is one more reason why you should get the iPhone.Cos it automatically changes the time with regard to daylight savings for you......

Life...

is like a plate of Oh Lua...You never know whether inside got pearl or not...

HAHA:)

This is Home~

Le Travail idéal

Le travail idéal bien que peut-être n'existe pas dans le mondiale vrai, mais c'est comme ça pour moi. Mon travail idéal est celui où je pourrai aimer tout ce que je ferai. J'aime beaucoup d'avions, science et ingénerie. Donc, je voudrais travailler la secteur aviation ou la sector aérospatial. Mon rêve est faire une nouveau découverte parce que je croirai que je pourrai faire une difference dans le mondiale. Je n'ai pas un enterprise en particulier où je voudrai le travailler. Mais il y a quelque bon enterprise d'aviation qui pourront me donner les opportunités comme Airbus, Boeing etc. Le salaire ne sera pas plus important pour moi, mais il faut que il sera suffisant pour ma vie. Le chose qui sera important est l'ambience de travail. Je devrai et éspererai avoir rapport avec mon colleauges, et éspererai aussi un lieu de travail qui sera tranquil, parce que j'aime avoir l'espace et temps où je peux réflechir et penser. Finalement, j'éspererai que mon temps de travail sera flexible. C'est mon prémiere entrée qui j'ecrire en français. Pardon si c'est pas bon!! :)

London was beautiful.....

Not because I arrived there 2.5 hours behind schedule, and forced Kiki to wait for me although she had a 9am class the next morning. Not because I visited Leceister Squre, Trafalgar Square, Westminister's Abbey, the Big Ben, Buckingham's Palace, Hyde Park and King's Cross. Not because I went ice skating in London with Eugene, not quite a usual touristy activity to do in London. Not because I watched Wicked the wicked musical which was so enjoyable with Kiki. Not because we had dinner at Belgos and ordered the beat the clock menu before the musical and ate Korean cuisine after the musical. 

Not because I went to the British Museum on the 2nd day morning with Kiki and Charles and had lunch after with Eunice and Charles at a very nice restaurant. Not because I visited Saint Paul's cathedral, walked along the Thames, glanced through Borough Market and took loads of pictures of the Tower Bridge (London bridge). Not because I decided to go to the Tower of London for just 50 minutes despite the fact that the ticketing lady told me that I needed at least 3 hours in the place. Not because i ate fish and chips on the tube. Not because I went to the Overseas Christian Fellowship Easter celebration and had dinner with the whole jean gang. Not because Melvin and I visted Jerald's place thereafter to end of the night.

Not because I went to All Souls church with Jerald and Melvin on Sunday morning and attended my first 'real' church service in 3 months. Not because we had roasted duck and solid chinese cuisine at Four Seasons restaurant for lunch in Chinatown. Not because I went to O'Neils, a pub to visit my new found friend Thibaut who was working there. Not because Kiki, Melvin, Jerald, Jasmine and myself took the afternoon to visit Greenwich and see the Meridien line. Not because the weather was so good that we decided to sit down and chill at the park. Not because we went to Eugene's house to visit after though without Jerald. Not because we had dinner together with Qing Zhao and Ee Jean, Kiki's flatemates at another Chinese restaurant where we had 'carrot cake' and 'Char Kway teow'. Not because I visited Melvin's house on the last night. Not because I had to wake up at 3am and Kiki woke me up because I was so tired that I couldn't hear my own alarm. Not because I took my last morning 20 minute stroll to the Easybus pick up point at Gloucester Place to Stanstead Airport.

But because of the friends I managed to meet, catch up, talk and do things together with. And the new friends that I met. The memories that I have in London because of these friends, makes London the hardest to leave of all my destinations thus far, which also makes London a special city in my heart, a city that part of me have been left behind, a city that has some familiarity and comfort , a city that is so beautiful :)

The Journey to London~

Getting to London was as hard as it could get. On that faithful Thursday, Lyon had a strike and most of the public transportation system wasn't working. I had French class till 1800hrs and I had to be at the airport by 2015hrs. Hence, I left class early just to make sure I could get a Velo'v (public bicycle) to cycle to Part Dieu and catch the shuttle bus to the airport which thankfully was working. Everything went pretty well, until I reached the airport. 

"Sorry sir but I don't have a Singaporean passport on my list", the check in counter guy said. If you are not a European citizen or something, you'll have to fill in some security details about your travel information which I did. Hence, I waited 10 minutes standing at one corner while he was checking in other passengers and waiting for his manager to get back to him. "I'm sorry sir but my manager says you need a visa to go to London..". OMG...now I'm really pissed. All the while he and I were conversing in french, until now. "I DON'T NEED A VISA TO GO TO LONDON WITH A SINGAPOREAN PASSPORT!!", I exclaimed in english. He then called his manager and we waited again. Finally, he said I was good to go and apologized poliltely about the incident, and also mentioned that the flight would be delayed but not certain how long for. I waved goodbye and proceeded to the security screening.

I am aware that we can't bring any liquids exceeding 100ml onto the plane, so I purposely not pack my shampoo, soap, tooth paste and lens solution as Kiki said she could help me out with that. I am aware that we are able to buy wine from the duty free shop and bring onto the plane. 

What I didn't know is that wine bought from the supermarket can't be brought on. As a sign of good will I bought a bottle of french wine for Kiki and her housemates. 

"I'm sorry sir you can't bring that on the plane."

"Eh..so what do I do with it?"

"You can throw it away..."

"Throw away?! No do u want it?"

"No I can't take it from you....There's a bin over there.."

"No man..I'm not throwing away Bordeaux wine dammit!!"

"Why don't you go outside and see if anyone wants it..."

So I went back to the check in counter and offered the guy the wine.

"Why don't you check in your bag?"

"Cos I didn't wanna pay extra for my flight to check in my bag"

"Hang on sir, let me check....Ok u are allowed to check in one bag"

"?!?!...Hell yeah...I'll check it in with the wine..."

So everything seems to be going fine and I met a french guy whom I chatted with throughout the whole plane journey. The flight was supposed to take off at 2055 hrs so when we boarded the plane at exactly that time, we figured that the delay won't be very long. Once we boarded the plane, the pilot made an announcement in a distinct british accent.

"Dear passengers, due to the strike in Lyon today, no one seems to be working at the control tower and thus we cannot get clearance to take off. We don't know how long this will take but the reason why we got all of you on the plane is because once we get the clearance..we're OUTTA here."

So, we waited, waited, and waited. At 2230 hours, we took off. By the time I cleared customs, it was 2340 hrs (was supposed to reach london at 2135 hrs). Once I was out the gate, there was a guy who was sitting on the chair with an "Ask me" sign.

"Hey man, do you know where I can go to take the Easybus to central London?"

"Yeah just head down the passageway, and turn left before Marks and Spencers, there are buses outside and you just have to look for the pillar with Easybus on it."

"Thanks man..."

Went out, looked for the sign, and saw one that says: " Easybus no longer operates from Gatwick South Terminal, please take the monorail to the North Terminal. When I reached the bus stop at the North Terminal, I noticed the last bus for Easybus to Central London was 2300 hrs. London time is 1 hour behind Lyon and because I thought I haven't adjusted the time to London time, I thought I could catch the bus having reached the bus stop at 2304 hrs. I waited for 10 minutes. Nothing. I called Kiki....

"Hey kiki, i think i JUST missed the last easybus..."

"What time's the last bus?"

"2300 hrs.."

"But its 0014hrs now?!"

"......................Ok what's the fastest way to London?"

"The Gatwick Express....."

"OH crap...that's in the South Terminal...."

So I went back to the South Terminal and managed to catch the 0035 hrs train to Victoria station in central London, and after much of Kiki's help I managed to take a bus and arrived at her place at 0215 hrs, 3 hours behind the originally planned time. 

Je peux dire quoi? C'etait un Fabuleux Week-End

It started out with the concert at the Auditorium of Lyon by the National Orchestra of Lyon on Thursday. We bought the tickets at a steal and it was kinda stumbled upon. We actually wanted to watch a soccer game of Olympic Lyon, the football team here. But there was an offer for both tickets for the soccer match and the concert for 20 euros, which makes it only 10 euros for each event. Thus, the concert was quite an interesting one with a super shen organist who stunned the audience with his highly sophisticated organ skills and played in an irregular beat and an unmelodious tone, whom according to Yok Hian explored the notes and frequencies beyond that of the convention, the rest of the concert was highly ordinary and in my opinion, not interesting probably because classical music is not my cup of tea. Bring me a rock concert anytime. 

Friday we went to the cinema to catch the movie Watchmen at UGC cinema behind Park de la Tete d'Or, the biggest park in Lyon and our favourite hang out place. It was not bad considering that I didn't exactly read the comic and would recommend the movie to anyone who wants to watch something more out of the ordinary as compared to other comic adaptations. 

Saturday morning, I went rollerblading with Jana to the Park and we rollerbladed along the river Le Rhone all the way to Bellecour. The weather was impeccable as Spring dawns upon us slowly. It was the 1st time I rollerbladed since I left for Seattle in 2007 because my blades at home are kinda past its shelf life. Time to get some new blades when I get back..and when I get the monetary resources to do so. 

Saturday evening, there was SUPPOSED to be a soccer game between Olympic Lyon and Auxerre, but there was a change in the date and all of us weren't informed. We happily took the metro all the way to the Stade de Gerland station not noticing the lack of fans travelling on the train and at the stadium while we were walking towards it. Only when the stadium gates were shut then we realised we have been fooled. In the end, we managed to confirm with the ticketing office that the match will be played on Sunday. Bought some souvenirs at the official store and thereafter because of our disappointment that we couldn't watch soccer, we played 4 on 4  soccer at the stadium carpark with the ball Pat bought from the store. It was so spontaneous and so ghetto like. haha...I like ;)

After which, I parted with the guys and headed to Medhi's and Helen's appartment where they cooked dinner and had a gathering to play Wii and Poker. The poker game was INSANELY long (from 11pm to 4am) and in the end at around 2 I just committed suicide by going all in because I didn't wanna play anymore. Because the game was social, the buy in was only 2 euros but the way everyone played was as if they were playing for their lives. They could have chosen to end the game earlier if they were more adventurous and decided to take more risks...but no...Guess people in France play Poker rather seriously even in the social context. 

Thus on Sunday, I missed Sunday morning service because I slept from 5 am all the way till lunch. And in mid afternoon, we went down to catch the soccer game which started at 5pm and on the way down we could really see the difference between match day and non match day. The area outside the stadium was packed like National day and there was sooo many poeple. Because my camera was so big and bulky as compared to the other compact cameras, I could't sneak my camera in to the stadium which has a "No camera" stupid policy because tons of people were taking photos in the stadium. Hence, no pictures of the match. Dammit. 

So...how about tt for a weekend? ;)