in the world of Bridget Jones'...

23 Feb 2009 11.20pm Grenoble

I am now sitting in my room listening to “hakula matata”. Today was the first day of school after the winter break. I had my awful lessons with those awful French kids again. I was late for the class and when I went in to the LT, the prof was just talking to my group members. Crap. I walked towards them pretending to be cool and the prof saw me and then talked to me in French. Of course I didn’t understand what he said. And of course this stupid dwarf gal laughed again into my face (by the way she is a head shorter than me). I was still looking cool, but I cursed her in my head for at least a hundred times before I smiled at the prof and said “ erm, I didn’t quite understand what you have just said.” That was hilarious, I think. I was so proud of myself to be so thick-skinned now. The prof then said in English to me. It was about an email I sent to him two weeks ago and I had some questions to ask him after I was totally fucked up by my group members. He never replied to me of course. But smart as I am, I figured it out myself eventually. So after he explained to me again, the same guy from my group asked me the same question again as two weeks ago -- “tu comprends?” and I gave him the same answer as two weeks ago --- “non.” But this time I was able to say something more, thanks to the French intensive week:“vous parlez trop vite pour moi.”  He seemed to be impressed that I actually spoke to him in French, so he was NICE enough to explain the question to me again, IN FRENCH. “That helps a lot” I thought to myself, sarcastically of course. But it was a miracle that I actually understood. Of course I did not understand his explanation in French ---but rather, I did research on my own two weeks ago and it was exactly like what I thought --- can’t imagine French people need two weeks for something we usually do in NUS for two hours. So after we split into two subgroups, two Swedish gals in my subgroup came to talk to me in English. It was exchange students type of conversation, talking about weekends and parties, and skis, and parties. And this same NICE guy was now the only one in the group now not speaking English and he was like “hey, no English!” I laughed, saying “sure, sure” but was thinking “what the hell is this your business? This is a free country for crying out loud! ” I met Karen the Mexican gal after class and the first thing she said to me was “I hate French people”. Well, haven’t I said that enough in the past three weeks?

So I was glad when the school finally ended but the weather just turned to be so cold that I realized that I was actually shaking when walking on the streets. I was planning to watch “west side story” the musical in two weeks, but I was not sure if it will be in English or in French. I guess the French people can’t change everything into French, can they?

21 Feb 2009 7.15pm Grenoble

I woke up at 10.30 this morning feeling awfully comfortable. The weather was good with beautiful sunshine and after breakfast I decided to take a walk in the city. I did not wear my boots today because it was warm and instead I just took my sneakers and a thin coat. The city centre was not crowded as usual, but because of the good weather, a lot of people were sitting near the sidewalks of the streets sipping coffees. This is very French, I have to say.

I found this big book and music store in the city centre and bought two seasons of “Friends” DVDs and a French little book for kids called “Le petit Nicolas”. I was trying to persuade myself that all those things are for learning of French language, but in fact, I was just in the good mood of spending some money. And plus, if I don’t find entertainment in my room for myself I will be literarily watching the walls only like in jail.

On my way back, I went into a florist and bought a petal of rose. It was champagne colored and the shop assistant wrapped in such nice papers and it almost looked like a bouquet. I hanged around on the streets and had discovered this wet market near where I lived. I decided to visit this market and buy some fresh food next weekend.

In general I was in good mood today, probably because of the weather. I like it when it was warm and sunny. When I passed by this boulangerie, I saw this dessert looked like a giant whipped cream ball. I could not resist it and went in to buy one of those. I didn’t even know the name of the stuff, but who cares. So I ate it while I walked back to my room. It tasted sugar, only sugar. I called it the “ultimate sugar ball”. In the end it was just too much sugar for one person I guess, I had sugar high.

20 Feb 2009 8.40pm Grenoble

It is almost the end of the winter break week and today it is official, I have been in Grenoble for 20 days. It is significant for me, probably the longest 20 days in my life. My mom had concluded that I felt so bad here because I am alone. I could not agree more on this point. Remember that when I just arrived in Singapore, I did not complain so much. Of course RIB was a much better place to stay and I was practically moved from “countryside” to a modern world. And now I could not say it was completely the reverse but more or less so. Here the toast is to my courageous and heroic act of surviving in this small town in this Frenchy world.

I have finished my French intensive class for the semester and I myself was sure that I have improved a lot. Of course not to say I can perfectly understand what people on the streets or in school are talking about now, but at least I am able to make a better guess.  I am still reading English books and watching English movies -- that’s the only comforts that I am getting from my miserable life now. Yesterday I saw something like a meteor in the sky while I was walking on my way back from grocery shopping. I immediately made a wish upon the moving shining object and the wish was to speak fluent French. Pathetic.

A lot of people would spend their week-end on the mountains skiing because the school had organized such event. However it turned out to be very not funny when today the organizers had made an announcement on the white board for room distribution that 4 people regardless of gender will be staying in one room and “YOU CAN MAKE LOVE” but “WE WON’T PROVIDE CONDOMS”. It looked utterly childish to me but Chris had given the comment that “they are engineers.”

I went to IKEA again this afternoon and on my way back, I passed by this supermarket named “casino”. There were plenty of things inside and I found a lot of Asian products there such as NISSON cup noodles and soya sauce. Of course, these things cost insanely a lot in Europe. It is like cheese and wine in Singapore. As a result, I bought a bottle of wine instead. Should best utilize my money here.

19 Feb 2009 11.45pm Grenoble

Now my flu was almost gone and I was not sure if it was the flu or something else, anyway I was turned into to this anti-social nerd recently. I refused to go for all the parties and gatherings and the excuses that I gave to myself were that I was lazy. I was lazy, too lazy to shift around. I was very satisfied with my room and my bed and my laptop so after school everyday, I went back to stay in my room until midnight.

This week was not exciting, with French lessons everyday and nothing else. I went to Carrefour today and bought a bottle of 3-euro rose. I was again amazed by how cheap the wines are here in Grenoble. After a third of the bottle, I was dizzy. Crap. I therefore drank about 2 liters of water before I felt normal again.

15 Feb 2009 8.20pm Grenoble

My sickness got better on Friday after I slept for more than 20 hours in a row and woke up in the afternoon around 3pm. I received a call from Julie around 6pm while I was on my way back from grocery shopping. I finally decided to live my back Chinese way of life with rice and vegetables and soups, staying away from pastas and baguettes. Julie called to ask if I wanted to see a movie at night. Despite the fact that I really did not want to go out late and come back alone, I was really thought if I did not get any mental entertainment again in this small town, I will be rotten in my room. So I met for the guys and gals at this cinema called “le club” to see the latest American movie called “He’s just not so into you”.

The movie was in English with French subtitles.  The student price was slightly more expensive than a movie on a Friday night in Singapore. The cinema was a shock, however. It was small, like every other facilities here, without drink and popcorn booth. I bought the ticket and walked up to the third level. It was free sitting, in a room around 20-30 m2. It was packed and small, reminded me of the video screening in the tea houses on the streets in Chengdu when I was in primary school. The movie was a comedy. I noticed French people laughed at different point of time to some of us, maybe because of the subtitles. It was a good movie, relaxing and funny, suitable to adjust my mood. But next time I will remember to bring some food and drinks.

Saturday morning, I woke up at 630am and together with a group of ten people we took a train at 7.45am towards Lyon. Lyon was the second largest city in France, so as I heard, and it was about 2 hours away by train from Grenoble.

When we arrived in Lyon, it was 930am. It was freaking cold and snowing like hell. We walked on the street, trembling, at least I was. I cursed the weather in France. I thought Lyon will be warmer than Grenoble but it seemed that I was wrong. I did not eat anything for breakfast so when we passed by a bakery shop I went in to buy a quiche. It was a French stuff, made of egg and cheese and some other things, it tasted creamy and weird and I felt like puking after half of it. Julie got a bite and she told me that was goat cheese. The snow got harder by the time we reached the city centre but we still managed to stop on the way to take some photos. Before going to lunch, we went to Musee de Decoratif. There I saw typical French furniture and decorations from the old days. It was interesting and nice, but it was too much of decorations for me. I think I still preferred the Chinese type with simple designs.

Out of the museum, we walked up the hills. Half of Lyon was on the hill. The road on the hill was narrow, with buildings on both side of the road. The walls of the building are colorful, with mainly red and yellow colors. Around 1pm, we finally settled in a small French restaurant. The food was very French, I guess. Everything was with cheese and the servings were very large for me. I barely finish every dish because I was just too much. It tasted all very greasy and cheesy and I think I just got the quota of cheese for me for this whole month. The rest of the group seemed to enjoy the meal very much, though. After the meal it was already 3pm. We went to visit the other tourist cites such as the roman theater and the cathedral Notre-Dame de Lyon.  Before the dark fell, we were back to the city centre again.

It stopped snowing but it was still cold. Lyon at night was lovely, vibrant and splendid, with all the lights and people on the streets and shops of all different kinds. The buildings were classically French --- elegant and beautiful.  I was attracted this city at night immediately, much more than at day time. I suddenly missed Singapore, the night life and the warmth, the characteristics of a modern city, the convenience, the Starbucks, the 7-11s… I initially thought I would like Grenoble because it was a quiet small town --- peaceful and calm, but I was wrong, I do not like Grenoble, not at all, not without Kynokuniya or Boarders, not without big shopping malls, not without HMV, not without 24-hours McDonals and 7-11s, not without Carrefour and IKEA open on Sundays, even though the wine is only 2 euros a bottle.