back frm paris, spain next week

yay-ness i finally got to visit paris... woo hooo pretty pretty quaint place with cobbled walkways, small crazy cars that dont stop at the traffic lights or zebra crossings, expensive eateries that open late into the night, a whole stretch (as long as orchard road if not longer) of sex shops. we saw dildos n strap-ons! hahaha.. damn shud haf taken a photo.. but cannot publish cos this blog is rated children friendly.. my lil cousin reads this blog ok... haha

so photos photos galore.. everyone shud visit paris someday.. the romantic city of love.. n ducks n pigeons n statues... hardly any cats or rats... dogs can take the metro too.. i bet if i brought my pet parrot to take the metro.. no one would say anything.. hahaha... shall post big big photos cos i haf damn alot of bandwidth left over from january! muahahaha...

Happily at beauvois airport waiting for our flight to spain.. unaware that it was going to be cancelled in the next 15 mins...

Ended up at Paris Hotel Des Olympaides aka budget to the max hotel.. haha.. we shared a toilet with the whole floor... but at least we had our own shower.. n in the end for 2 nights stay we paid 27.50 euros per person which i thought was pretty decent.. we just didn't have tv or hot water... but we're good cos we're out most of the day anyway!

Climbing the long ardous stairs to Sacre-Coeur (direct translation : Sacred Love -i think..).. a catholic basilica.. walked into one of their congregations.. the singing was heavenly.. the voices angelic... the whole feeling of serenity jus floods u when ur in the church.. it was so nice.. i wanna go back there again.. haha..Sacre-Coeur!! pretty rite! its jus so stunning from the outside like a castle!

The view from outside Sacre-Coeur is absolutely stunning... we stayed till the sun set n the lights of paris came on... breath-taking...

This very loving couple is jus one of the many dotting the staircase where several people were busking and singing nice songs like John Lennon's "Let it Be"... sometimes life should be like that.. just let things be... why try to force things to be what they are not or cannot be?

We chanced upon this collage outside a shop.. guessing they do makeovers or smth... i love the photos... captured moments in time.. how nice.. i wish i could capture the good moments in my life too like that.. it'd b nice...

This is a gas station... think if i drove ard paris i probably would never have spotted it... so small so insignificant hahaah... they don't have things like Esso or Shell there... so strange hor big city like paris...

The cars here are not only small, the drivers r crazy.. they park so near to each other i sometimes wonder how they come out.. it seems the norm to bang the car infront and behind you just to get out of the lot.. don't they realise that life is a whole lot easier if they leave a larger amt of space between cars?

The entrance to one of the Metro stations... looks so gothic.. paris actually have gargoyles.. i haven seen them yet.. shall go n find the next time i am there! haha..

Arc Du Triumph.. yes it was a triumphant moment cos we bloody walked there! all the way from our hotel.. which is damn bloody far... we walked the entire porn district, past the length of a park to reach it.. n it was... well... jus a column... hahaha...

Moulin Rouge!!!! the real thing right smack in the porn district!! hahaha...i wanna go in i wanna go in.. but no money.. its kinda like we wanted to go watch a movie for the feel of it but the tickets are so costly... 9 euros (numerical figure is like singapore price but recall... its in EUROS hor...) so we forgo the experience..

This is a blur photo of a cafe called hippopotamus.. its got a really nice ambience from the outside we were so tempted to go in and have a meal but we saw the price of the food n decided to go somewhere else cheaper to satisfy our cravings hahaha... poor students on a tight budget wad to do.. we ate bread with jam for breakfast n lunch n only willing to spend on eating dinner outside cos its jus too depressing liao to have to eat bread for all 3 meals...

On the second day of being in Paris, we went to the Lourve Museum!! super nice.. they had in total 4 stories of sculptures, paintings and artifacts... we only had time for 2 floors... n that took 5 hours hor... prob going back again when i get the chance.. hee... on fridays after 6pm cos its free for etudiantes!

let this be a representative of the various items i saw in the lourve.. too many to upload liao.. will do the full set if possible, after i visit the remaining 2 floors...

Clementines aka small mandarin oranges! our declared favourite fruit in France! its handy sweet and best of all CHEAP! hahaha..

And finally... the trip back from Paris... on the Corail heading back to Rouen.. we were all tired... we slept for the whole hour... shiok...

food food more food!

IT SNOWED LAST NIGHT N I MISSED IT!!! was sleeping like a pig awoke at 10am to find the cars covered with a blanket of snow!! can see can see? okok so now u can see it maybe not a BLANKET of snow as i mentioned.. but a thin film of snow? STILL IT'S SNOW!! i bet you cant find that in Singapore!! muahahaha...

Our FIRST proper meal outside....

Below are photos from what I have been up to the past few days.. On saturday after intensive French lessons, where the teacher had whet our appetites with crossiants, tartes, brioches, pain au chocolat, millefeuille and crepes... we were dying to try out this place they recommended: Le Tarte Tatin. Its a quaint little shop that specializes in crepes and galette!! ooh lalala... n most importantly, we were highly recommended by the teachers and the waiter to try the Apple Cider! The teacher said to try the "brut" but the waiter said the "doux".. thank god we listened to the waiter otherwise i'd have been drunk by the end of 2 cups! haha..

ordered our foods, and happily waiting for them to come... top right is california crepe with brownie bits, a scoop of hazelnut icecream and lots of whipped cream... we also ordered a galette that ivy is attempting to swallow down with the plate.. its with smoked salmon and avocado!! YUMMY DAMN SHIOK OK! (sidenote: we finally have fish!! smoked salmon slices so thin you can see through them... 4 slices for 2.83 euros from the supermarket.. we need to do something man.. i need fish!)


We are ready to attack! see the galette in front of wenfang? it looks plain but its super delicious! n our apple cider drink that came in a boutille but which we poured into a ceramic soup looks kinda authentic eh.. murhurhur...



All the food's gone~! see we licked the plates clean! a happy wenfang cos she still has her cider to relish on.. but look ivy's sad.. NO MORE FOOD! it was 7 euros/person for this meal so mayb that added to her gloom too hor.. hahahaa...
Sunday evening we went to Wanling's room in Pleaide for Hainanese chicken rice! Wanling cooked the chicken rice and chicken (it was fried how the hell u gonna steam it the traditional way lah)... fang n I made stir fry spinach with eggs (yes we had to finish our 2kg spinach before they start to rot.. in the process of rotting as i type damn).. rosh n ivy made cheese, mushroom, tomato omelette.. its bagus i tell u... extremely delicious meal! While waiting for the chicken rice to be done.. wanling even had appetisers.. can u believe it.. she made bruschetta! omg omg omg.. n it tasted heavenly... i only ate the bread n the mozzarella tho still have phobia of the smell and taste of tomatoes after the terrible puking last time.. but anyways that's old news liao... Now...feast your eyes on the food!

This exchange has been primarily about food so far.. however.. come this weekend, I will be in Spain!! Madrid and Barcelona here i come!! I will see alot of things and I promise to upload non-food photos for a while.. :)

a bientot!

chin chin..

im waiting for my hair to dry so jus post some stuff while i got nothing to do :)

just came back from another birthday party!! this time it was kristen's 24th birthday!! woo hoo.. kristen's a german girl who's super blonde and fair with good skin, pretty n all... with this nice little lilt in her voice.. think its the german accent.. whatever.. i can listen to her do presentations all day n not get sleepy or bored.. yes her voice is that engaging...

it was a fun party... not much booze not much food.. but we still had a ball of a time laughing... haha.. was held at wanling's room in pleiade.. damn the room is huge... quote roshni, "damnit wanling can DANCE in her toilet.." yes her toilet is way bigger than our's at ango.. haha.. however.. she has less lights than us hahaha.. yes for a 9 sq m room.. i have.. 7 lights!!! yes in the room n toilets... can u believe it... wanling probably has 4-5 only heh... ango's like one giant big lamp.. ango rocks!!

well... maybe not after i read this email from the "holy" anissa...

Hello everyone,
I’d like to inform you that a man (North African origin) has been taped by the Ango videos knocking at your doors. He apparently sales clothes. Note that when you close your door, he puts some marks on it. These marks are what the police calls “burglary information”. The cleaning lady is going to clean them up.
I ask you to lock your door and keep the Ango door shut. Do not open your room door if you do not recognize the voice.
Thanks.

aiyoyo scary hor?

n i've discovered the ultimate bimbotic race here in France.. no lah not the french hurhur.. shan't say it here its kinda racist i think? hahaha... i need to keep my head intact leh.. so cannot say cannot say... *zips mouth*

n finally i have a french buddy!!!!! he called thierry... u kno like thierry henry..yesssss.... he's a venezualean who lived in france since he was 6... damn exotic can.. not to mention damn bloody tall at 1.9m.. i felt like a midget when i stood between him n anna.. kinda feel like a lil primary school kid looking at the adults talk... well the most outstanding thing about him wasn't the height (tho i hafta admit it really was astounding tt i stood on a low wall n was only quarter head taller than him... gosh..).. the most unforgettable thing bout him was his UNI-brow.. yes... u kno like cyclops only has one eye.. he has one eyebrow that stretches across from the left eye to the right eye... wah sey.. have u seen that before anot??? damn i shud haf taken a photo with him.. nevertheless he's a nice guy... albeit slightly quiet perhaps not the partying kind but hey i ain't the partying kind either... :) rite....

alright the hair's jus about dry n this is kinda getting into a long post... so i'll stop here... bon soiree... its 12:10 am for me here n i still have intensive french classes tmr... sigh...

what i've been up to..

salut!

its been a while since i blogged.. got tons of photos to share!! so less words, more pictures eh! here we go...

Ivy n Roshni turned a grand 22 on 13th January 2007!! This is a potluck gathering to celebrate their birthdays! as mentioned in the previous post, there was a variety of foods, HERE THEY ARE! presenting: thai green curry, bread to go w the cuisine, roast chicken courtesy of desmond, a mexican dish right in the centre, sushi from wanling, stir-fried mince pork from edmond... we are having a party people!! rock the house down~!


And these are the people who attended... well there's more... like the senegalese, mexicans that i cant put into the collage cos there's just too many photos!


Let me introduce some new characters in our rooms. no. 1 on the list is the potpourri n the cheap striped bowl we bought to contain the potpourri.. our rooms stank quite a bit so we HAD to buy potpourri to freshen up the room and it did! plus heeding mum's advice, we also bought lemons to destroy the bacterial n icky smell in my fridge.. haven opened it since 2 days ago hurhurhur.. don't dare.. but i bet it shud smell really nice liao.. will open tmr.. n finally! the home-made chocolate banana spread we bought from the flea market! its lovely delicious yum yum!


One of our trips to city area... n being poor students, we packed sandwiches for lunch and ate at the park sitting at one of the benches like the old people... hahahha... its actually more fun that it looks ok!


This is where Jeanne de Arc was burnt at the stake..pretty creepy eh... n see it appears there's 2 people looking out the window.. but hey its all painted on! so freaky hor... n a nondescript photo of a regular street... sui hor..

This is the interior of the Jeanne de Arc chapel.. so pretty... it looks kinda old n derelict outside but the inside's so warm n nice.. n peaceful.. plus the curved wood is cool.. im still wondering how they curve the wood.... hmm..


During the trip.. guess someone got bored n decided to take chio photos of me wahahah... the final photo w a tiny me was taken at school that used to be a monastery for the people who contracted the black plague.. still don't know what that is hahaha.. will go find out.. lol...

Photo no 3. Found this man with his pet rabbit n dog sitting in the street. im amazed at WHY he brought his pet rabbit out too... n the dog is jus cool lah... he jus sit there n jaga the stuff while his master went to take a leak hahaha.. as if! how the hell would i know where the old man went.. he jus wasn't there when i walked past but when i wanted to take the photo there he was!

Bo liao photos... haha.. we were bored. n WHAT is that yellow thing?

Last but not least.. MORE photos... alrighty.. im exhausted.. n its time to go for my on-line discussion for projects.. till later... au revoir!

lazy day

been a while since my last post.

im still cooking but the urge to take photos of my food is being superceded by the urge to jus gobble it down cos im hungry hahaha... so no photos on my side.. what i do have are photos of the things i bought. omg... so much stuff i just completely blew my budget already so mummy n daddy please be prepared to wire money to me terima kasih!

so anyways i have photos but shan't put them up, they r more for me to keep track in case i forget what i bought hahahaha... yes it happens... all the time...

today is ivy n roshni's birthday... we had a major celebration last nite with food n drinks. everyone chipped in an item so its sorta like potluck with a unique difference cos now its not jus potluck of foods we see in singapore, its a variety from mexico, india, senegal, singapore and china, japan, germany etc... amazing eh... the mexicans make such a mean meal from cheese and ham and onions.. pheeewt so nice! plus we had this singapourienne guy who could roast such a delicious chicken! woah bagus neh!!!!

well i contributed too... me n fang.. we toasted bread n cooked rice hahahaha.... yes not alot but HEY without these complements the food wouldn't have tasted as good!

i've just had intensively painful 6 hours of french classes today.. one word: intense. my head is still swimming with french vowels n consonants n verbe n adjective n sujet... im very well-versed in french liao.. well at least until i wake up tmr... hahaha.. things don't tend to stay in my head for long..

next week still got another session.. i must persevere for the half credit that i can get at the end of the term!~ hang in there!

its 8pm now.. i shall stop here to go make some dinner.. tried the cafeteria food n it completely sucks.. i am seriously contemplating setting up a stall selling food at 3.50 euros to the students (jus 0,50 euros cheaper than the cafeteria) cos i think we can cook better than them man! eeks they make spinach look like shit n long beans look way past their expiry date. the best thing: french fries... hahaha.. cos its frozen n deepfried...

au revoir!

the last few days

Bonjour! I shall begin today's post with food glorious food that wenfang n i have prepared for ourselves over the last few days. delectable eh! i bet ur droolin now. hahahahah... it can b one of the first times im actually cooking for other people to eat. so i am pretty amazed at what i can come up with. quite proud of myself and contented to know i will not die of hunger in future. cooking is pretty fun and it lets u get creative with food. you can think of wad u have at hand and come up with interesting ways of pairing it and cooking with wad sauces wad methods etc etc.




This is the inside of the cathedral that we posed with on the first day. only got to enter it recently cos we didn't know how to open the door back then. hahaha don't laugh hor... the door really looks shut mah we tot its closed... how would we know... there's also some photos from the musuem we visited. it was free so happily we entered and admired all the paintings. got art overdose and we saw this really interesting painting that was hung upside down. --> see below.

Joan of arc tower. unfortunately it was closed so all we could do was take photos of it from the outside. looks like part of a castle. quite run down n i would very much like to see the inside of it tho! den i found a hsbc bank... so cool! had to snap a photo of it. hahahaha... cannot resist. (hsbc bank is the first photo from the left)

pictures speak louder than words so i shall call it a day and allow everyone to feast on the pictures more. au revoir!

our nasi goreng nice hor?

good morning world. its a bright sunday morning 9am here in France, Rouen. Gonna take breakfast in a whiles, special k cereal with milk.

But before i do that, here are some photos of the delicious nasi goreng!!!

we cooked meesua for dinner last nite too n boy oh boy was it mouth-watering. ivy crashed our dinner and fell in love with the meesua she took the whole pot of leftovers back to her room! we r such successes at cooking hahahaha... next time we'll cook n film with webcam cos ppl dont seem to believe us tsktsk hahaha...

going to head out to Rouen city later to attend their Catholic mass. Im no catholic but the cathedral just looks so mesmerizing I HAVE TO ENTER IT and see the inside for myself. After tt its off to the flea market cos its SUNDAY. Woohoo... however i must ren! cos mega sales starts on the 10th jan! yesss finally trench coats n boots here i comeeeeee!

First entry

Today is the 6th Jan - 3rd day of being in france! whoopie its a lovely country with fresh crisp cool air. the buses and cars do not emit the same level of pollution as in Singapore. Ahhhh.... absolutely delightful!

Have been relatively busy yesterday, it being the first day of checking into the hostel. Had to unpack, repack, clean, scrub (yes i scrubbed the floors... and the tables and the drawers ...), put fresh sheets on the bed, pillows and comforter. Coming to France seems to have the effect of domesticating me. I can cook, clean, wash with the efficiency of a seasoned housewife. WOW.

Before coming to Rouen, I was so preoccupied with packing my bags, bringing thick clothing, getting all worried and stressed out over issues that now seem so irrelevant. Upon reaching here, I realised there was no need to worry about all that. Just gazing out my window spreads a peaceful warmth all around. I feel at ease and relaxed. Happy.

I just took my lunch with Wenfang. She is an amazing person. She can cook nasi goreng, And a very fantastic-tasting one at that! She did most of the cooking while I did the washing. And our portions were just right. Heh.. thanks to always watching mummy cook. We prepared enough rice and ingredients for 2 people. We are now satisfied and happy having fed ourselves and showered. Think its time for a nap hahahahaha....

This sat is gonna be pretty relaxing. Just hang around chill in the room. Do nothing. The other gals have gone out for a walk to check out the place. Im just goin to sit in my room and look out the window. Mayb go out tmr bah... I miss the city area and the shepherd's pie - the first thing I had in france.