When Dream Comes True

I remember a year ago, sitting in my office, counting my bank balance, checking AirAsia website for a ticket to Paris. If not mistaken, about a year ago AirAsia introduced a new route, KL - Paris. I was so excited. Counting my monthly wage and seeing if it was enough for a trip to Paris. But then I knew that it would be quite sometimes before I could set foot in this city of love again.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Paris. It seems so weird, to be only 2 hours away from Paris. After 9 years of vivid memories of Paris, I will once again explore the city.

Maybe dreams and wishes do come true, even if it takes time and in the most unexpected way.

Beauty Overcoming the Bad

As seen from my previous posts, I have been dealing with assignments, deadlines, foreign language, confusion, toothache, homesick. But come to think of it, it is the beauty of life. What is life without all these complicated "mambo jambos"?

Not the world's best photographer, neither am I a fanatic photographer, but I did some pretty good shots during the last days of Summer here. So enjoy the beauty, as sometimes, when you look closely it will somehow eliminate the bad.

Blurred (I)

A big shrug woke me up. Immediately I open my eyes, rub my cold nose and put on a puzzled look on my face.
"Yes?" I ask the kind Welsh guy sitting next to me.
"She's asking if you want chicken or beef for dinner," he explains pointing at the flight attendant.
"Umm, chicken thanks" I answer quickly without thinking.
Well I could use chicken AND beef right now.
The flight attendant nods politely and walks off as she prepares my fancy-economic-flight meal.
"Thank you for waking me up, otherwise I'll be starving to death." I say to my tatooed neighbour. He laughs.
"No problem!" he replies.

I fidget. To the left. Pull my so-called blanket. Fix my shoes. Rub my tired eyes.
The least you can do is provide me a comfy flight. After all I am doing this for the sake of the company.

I remember when the Project Director asked for a "volunteer" to be sent to France for one year.
"3 representatives are picked from each country, we will send you to our headquarter in Paris, France, give you training and you will be a part of our new system development. Of course, it will be a tough competition. First there will be a regional jury and then a national jury who will give the final decision. All section heads please send me the list of candidates by the end of the week, of course considering the competency and knowledge of each individual," explained our over-enthusiastic Project Director.
"OK Guys, I think we all know this is an exciting news for all of us! I think we should give this chance to our seniors. What do you think?" asked my all-smiley section head. Silence. "Ally, Rick and Dan. You will be my candidates, you all know the system well and you're young, this experience will be....life changing!" Dave finished his sentence dramatically.
"Umm sorry, Dave, umm I really don't think I can. I mean it's France. I don't want any life-changing experience, I have family here. No offence, it's a great offer though, thanks." stuttered Rick, facing the floor.
"That's OK Rick, besides what will we do without you here. What about you Dan?" asked Dave, looking hopeful.
"I'm definitely in Dave! This is so exciting!" Dan said excitedly. His eyes looked as if it was about to pop.
"And Ally? Al? AL?! Stop it with your twittering!" complained Dave.
I stopped immediately.
How did he know I was twittering? Pscyhic boss.
"Dave, I wasn't twittering, just answering some e-mails, work e-mails" I said making excuses.
"You don't have work e-mail installed on your Blackberry,"
Again! Supernatural power.
"I installed it this morning, anyway you were saying? Paris? Sure! I'm in." I gave him a wink and went back to my precious Blackberry on Twitter.
As if I'm going to Paris, I'm not that lucky dear boss. I tweeted.

And somehow here I am now in my economic seat, on my way to Paris. Four seats in a row. Ridiculous. I can barely fit my feet in the space in front of me.
"Where are you off dear? Paris is it? Or are you taking a connecting flight?" ask the woman on my left.
"Paris" I smile at the mid-fifty lady.
"Studying? You'll love Paris, my daughter used to live there. It's great for you young people. It's almost like Singapore, but even better she said," explain the lady while rubbing her hands for some extra warmth.
"No, it's for work." Short simple answer.
"Oh I see, well it really doesn't matter whether you work or study. Paris will love you! Can you speak Mandarin?"
"Ah well thank you. No actually I don't have the slightest clue of Mandarin," I tell her apologetically.
"You look like you can speak it. Are you mixed race love? You don't look 100% Asian to me!" Another question.
"Yes well, I'm not, it's that obvious? My dad is British, my mum is from Singapore."
"Ah well that explain. Anyway, can you see if the toilet is free? My bladder just can't take this cold, I'm not so young anymore!" the lady explain.
"It's free, you see, the green light" I tell her pointing towards the toilet behind our seat.
"Thank you love, excuse me..." she makes her way to the toilet.

Sigh. I need my twitter.
Truth be told. The only reason I gave my all to be here in my position is one reason: to get away from everything. My lousy routine every morning, my again failed relationship. The two main reasons. I needed a challenge. And here it is the challenge. I'm heading towards it.
I already miss Singapore though. It was hard saying goodbye to my family and my friends, but I assured myself that it's for my own good.

"Excuse me again love, I'm relieved now, I think dinner is ready, I saw that lovely flight attendant getting it all set and ready," say the woman, giddy and excited as if she has just told me a big secret.
"That's nice, just what I need now, my dinner."

Menangis

Nangis? Spesialisasi gw. Nonton film yang sedihnya "biasa-biasa" aja bisa nangis, apalagi nonton Hachiko yang sedih setengah mati, nangisnya ga brenti-brenti. Ya nangis, udah jadi kebiasaan gw. Saat mau brangkat ke Prancis, gw nangis. Sedih banget ninggalin temen-temen, terutama saat say goodbye ke keluarga, berasa air mata ga ada abis-abisnya *lebay* tapi entah kenapa saat masuk ruang tunggu air mata gw hilang.

Saat sampe di Lyon hari pertama, langsung online di Skype ama bonyok. Air mata gw ngalir, berasa banget uda sendirian di negeri orang. Saat itu puncak kelebay-an gw lagi tinggi dan kangen semua hal yang berbau indo. Liat bonyok ama adik di Skype langsung nangis tersedu-sedu. Tapi cuma hari pertama doank. Hmm..lumayan kalo dibandingin saat pindah ke Jakarta, nangisnya ga abis-abis tiap malem.

Di Nantes, baru sekali nangis, tapi ga heboh-heboh amat. Cuma tersedu sesaat *halah* trus langsung bisa berhenti. Jadi total di Prancis baru nangis dua kali, bangga banget yah gw ama diri sendiri :P hebat kan!

Tapi...saat ini gw lagi pingin banget pulang. Kalo lagi pusing gini, biasanya mama gw selalu punya cara menenangkan gw. Sekarang harus nunggu jam yang tepat untuk bisa ngobrol ke mama lewat Skype. Mau ngobrol sama siapa pun di belahan dunia yang berbeda musti nunggu waktu yang pas. Pas online udah keburu ilang rasa pusingnya, adanya cuma rasa menggebu-gebu pingin nyeritain pengalaman hari ini.

Hmm..pantes aja yah gw lagi sedih dan galau ga bisa menitikkan air mata. Aneh banget buat gw, soalnya gw cengeng banget. Tapi kali ini gw ga nangis, bahkan mau dinangis-nangisin juga ga bisa kluar air matanya. Is this a sign of maturity? Or merely a sign of loneliness?

What to do

What to do when all things seem to go wrong. Yesterday, I was telling you about my Toothache and Homesick, well today was supposed to be that relaxing day of me laying in Pornic beach. I was looking forward to it. So that's what my friends and I did this morning, we took a tram to the bus station and was ecstatic to see the bus. And to our disappointment, there was a long queue and the bus could not take more than 45 people, that's what I understood anyway (I've a lame French). And yes, we didn't get inside the bus. So we thought "hey, let's go to the train station for some cheap tickets", and well 42euro for 4 people was not exactly the cheap that I had in mind. We decided to ditch this beach trip.

We took our "beach picnic" food to a park near our residence. I feel very annoyed and missing home terribly. Well, at least it was a good view from the park. Some people doing some rowing, which looks fun.

...and we enjoyed the salad made by my friend Dominik, he calls it his Polish-African salad.
And by the way I'm sick and tired of this sun, it is constantly reminding me of Indonesia. Just be cold already!

Toothache and Homesick

Almost a month that I have been here in France. I am starting to feel really really homesick, especially when I go shopping. In Jakarta I always had my best mates with me choosing this and that at the shopping centre, asking them which one suits me better or them begging me to buy a new jacket. And eating out together, buying my "Quickly" drink or simply sit at a coffee shop and talk for hours. Then we would wait another hour for a taxi and another hour for the traffic jam while we take Christa to her house and then back to the flat. Oh! How I miss those days!


Then back at home I would always have my mum and my sister with me...I miss them both as they're always fighting about my "taste" lol. They're always cooking me all this delicious stuff and I can't have that here, the kitchen is miles away from my room and it's always bread for everything. Excuse my complaints.

And well, homesick is not the only thing I'm dealing. Apart from the "interesting" courses, I have this stupid toothache at the back of my mouth, which I should've done the operation while I was still in Jakarta. I hate going to the dentist.

Oh, sorry for this batch of post, I really don't usually do this kind of post :S I'm trying to figure out a way to bring a bit of the atmosphere back home into my 9 squared metre room (in a very noisy building where people like to skype with their dog while shouting and singing loudly in the middle of the night.....just saying)

But on the other hand, Nantes has been very good to me, not adding my pain of homesick and toothache. It has been sunny for the past 2 weeks, a trip to the sea this weekend (hopefully) will cure everything.

Drizzle in Nantes

Nantes is what they say a town of drizzle. No it's not rain, it's drizzle. In Nantes, it's a speciality apparently. We will get this drizzle from time to time and we'll just have to get used to it. And well, what they say is right as I was welcomed with the famous Nantes drizzle as I dragged my suprisingly not-so-heavy luggage trying to find my way to my 9 squared metres residence.

And as I entered my building, I found my room was isolated from the others. Next to an exit (which has been proved noisy at night), in the corner (far from the kitchen which is in the other corner) and no neighbour. The room is small, well that's what you get for 9 squared metres I guess, and cold, my theory is because of its position. Brr...and it's still summer, which means the heater is off. Pfft! Boo to me coming from a tropical country.

Started my course this week and I was shocked. Lots of mathematics which means I need to dig deep and remember my maths courses from what it seems forever ago. This going back to school thing is definitely harder than I thought. Who knew the transformation from an employee to a student could be this complicated.

Though it seems I'm complaining (which I'm not btw *rolls eyes*), I am enjoying this moment. New friends and new country, a very tasty (tasty?! I must be hungry!) experience. And my life right now, wouldn't want to change it!

And let me introduce you to the famous elephant of Nantes:

...aaaanndd did you know that crepes were originally from Nantes? We have the best ones in France! I love this fact! :)