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? ;)

The things we leave behind~

Skiing on the slopes of La Norma was simply....magical. The snow covered trees, the fresh untouched snow, the tranquility, the bear paw prints. It is by far the best skiing experience so far, not to mention the good company to ski with. I finally mastered parallel turns on my skis at the blue slope. The feeling was exhilarating. It was special. At the end of the day when I took out my ski boots and put the boots and skis in the bus, I wonder to myself when will I have the opportunity to experience something magical again. The last time it took 3 years. I can only cherish the moment while it last, and while your heart yearns for more, you can only await the moment to come. 

Its difficult to turn people down, to tell them that you can't because you have something else, that the something else might seem so much more important than them, although its not true. It aches to see the expression on the faces, and the tone of the voices, which do not match the consolating and accomodating response that follows. After a while, it won't be me who would be turning them down, it would be them who would be turning me down. Sometimes I wish I could be less preoccupied with things I have to do, have lesser things I want to do, and just be there for someone, be there when I'm called, to be able to spend time with them, and not turn them down, for the things and people you leave behind, at the end, they will not be the ones who are left behind. You will be. They will have moved on, while you can only hope that they'll still be there for you, waiting. 

Funny French~

1) When you walk into a French kebab restaurant, and u see the menu saying "Nos kebabs", don't tell the guy you want Nos kebabs..cos Nos kebabs means Our Kebabs. During the 1st week of our stay in France..this was how a dialogue with the kebab store guy went.

Us : " Je veux un nos kebab" (I want an our kebab)

Kebab guy: "Tu sais dire kebab? (You mean kebab?)

Us: "Non non...je veux NOS kebab.." (Nono..I want OUR kebab)

Kebab guy looking pretty pissed: " C'est kebab...." (it is kebab)

Us looking quite lost: "!?!?@?..ce n'est pas nos kebab? " (!@#!!# it i not our kebab?)

Kebab guy walks away...... 

2) When the time is 930 in the morning or evening..and someone asks you for the time....

French guy(or chick) :"Excusez-moi, Quelle heure est il? " (Excuse me what time issit?)

You : "AMERICAN!!" (neuf-heure et quart in french for 930)

3) When someone tells you something and u understand and want to acknowledge it....

French chick: "blah blah blah blah....." (Its the same thing in english duh)

You: " Teh Koh...." (D'accord in french for understood, underwear in hokkien....)

Of things to come~

Photo courtesy of soccernet.com