A Malaysian in France

Our favorite Malaysian food

2024-09-07T21:22:00.002+02:00

I was in the kitchen peeling potatoes. My husband came : "Are you cooking chicken curry? Yeah!"

Two minutes later, my youngest approached me : "We eat roti canai tonight? Yeah! Can I cut the potatoes? I love cutting potatoes." Of course I agreed. I showed her the size of potatoes I would like to have. She finished cutting and put all the potatoes pieces into the wok.

5 minutes later, my eldest walked towards me. Seeing what was being cooked in the wok, she said: "Is it roti canai tonight? I'm very happy."

A dish that everyone loves in my family. Can I say that we are truly Malaysian? Haha 😂

Paris 2024 Olympic Games : Applying to be a volunteer

2024-08-17T18:18:00.025+02:00

When I joined my company, it had been the IT partner with International Olympic Committee during the last Olympic Games. I wanted to join the Olympic project but it was not in the same entity as I was. So when I received an email stating that all employees can apply for Paris 2024 volunteer program, I jumped on the bandwagon.

Here are the timelines:

May 2022 : Company informed that they could propose 500 candidates to Paris 2024 volunteer program and we should send in our application

Sept 2022 : I was informed that my application was accepted, and that the company would send my information to the volunteer program

Oct 2022 : Received an email from the volunteer program stating that they have received my information, and that the process for volunteer application would open in early March 2023, 2 weeks ahead before opening to the public

March 2023 : Sent in my official application to be a volunteer. I selected Paris and Nantes as the city I wanted to be based on. Many podcasts and emails were sent to inform us regarding volunteer program

Oct 2023 : Received proposition to be a volunteer in Nantes in which I gladly accepted

March 2024 : Participated in the Volunteer Convention in Paris, transport provided

April 2024 : Received the assignment and the planning, general online training started

Jun 2024 : One hour of webinar training for the venue of assignment

July 2024 : Picked up the accreditation and uniform + attended half day of onsite training

24th July to 8th August : Volunteered for 8 football matches

August 2024 : Received the thank you note and the volunteer certificate from the program

I was assigned to the football games

In the Beaujoire Stadium, Nantes

Between 24th July to 8th August, for 8 games

I was assigned to the Event Services team. It had total 537 volunteers for this venue.

I was very emotional when I see my company's name on the lanyard for the accreditation.

After the first match, I went home with the pink pointing hands. Had fun taking photos with my girls.

Three of us wearing the uniform. I got 4 T-shirts but the size won't fit hubby.

Some selling these pink hands for 200€. Can't believe it.

Overall it was a hassle free application process. I think the fact that my company was the IT partner and it proposed our candidacies directly to the volunteer program did help to the success of the application. I met many wonderful people during the period, and I was so happy and glad to have done it. I consider that this was one of the life time opportunities. I admired those foreigners who came from far and did not speak French. The journal was more adventurous and met with many obstacles and yet they made it.

How much does it worth the Paris 2024 volunteer pack?

2024-08-13T23:31:00.088+02:00

Yes, I was one of the volunteers out of 45000 for the Paris 2024 Olympics. I was stationed in Nantes, assigned to 8 football games in Beaujoire stadium. Very proud to be part of it and brought back very sweet memories.

We were given a volunteer pack consisted of 16 items from the sports maker Decathlon:

1 bucket hat (Bob in French)

4 T-shirts

2 detachable pants

4 pairs of socks

1 pair of shoes

1 sport bag

1 waist bag

1 windbreaker jacket

1 sleeveless vest

We were also given 1 Swatch watch and one water bottle from Coca cola.

After the last game, we were rewarded with another bag : A yellow waterproof bag with a towel, a soup and a pin.

Some groups were created to communicate among the volunteers on one application. After the closing ceremony, there are still heated discussions ongoing, one of the topics being volunteer items being sold on second hand websites with exorbitant prices!

On the website Vinted, prices vary from seller to seller and I wonder if people are really going to buy them. I mean One T-Shirt for 420€, pants for 250€, one pair of socks for 45€, Bob for 300€...Someone is selling the whole pack of 16 items for 3500€. I'm not selling mine as I feel that they are priceless.

After reading online I realized that some people are selling them to finance their stays during the volunteering period. I read that out of the 45000 volunteers, 20% came from abroad. We got one free meal and public transport during the days when we got assigned to a match, but rather than that everything else was at our own charge. Imagine you had to pay for the transport to that assigned city, accommodations, food, some leisure activities...It would be a huge budget. Anyway, some volunteers signed up and picked up their uniform, then withdrew themselves, and then sell the items online. These are unacceptable.

When you have yellow lawn

2022-08-24T22:23:00.003+02:00

This summer we have heat wave all over France. At one point in my city it was 42°C, hotter than in Malaysia. I prefer weather around 25°C so we decided to go North but still, we had 39°C in Bruges when we were there.

The photo above shows our lawn on mid July.

In mid August, lawn in my in laws place was turning yellow.

My father in laws told me that we have no right to water the lawn as it could consomme too much water and cause water shortage if everyone does it. It makes sense.

My car has no AC so driving around at this hot weather is very unpleasant. I decided to send it to the garage, and when I got it back in the afternoon, it was fixed with cool air flowing. Unfortunately, it only lasted for one week, as I know it was caused by more complicated electrical problem. The other garage we trust doesn't fix AC problem anymore. I'm not sure what to do next. It will remain unfix until autumn comes I guess.

Covid vaccination : You have a choice but not everyone does

2021-08-12T19:16:00.000+02:00

One day a friend from Malaysia sent me the photo above, showing on her TV screen, 110000 French were on the street protesting against the indirect mandatory covid vaccination. I don't watch TV anymore, so most of the time hubby would update me some news. Apparently starting from the 21th of July, anyone who wants to go to a place that hosts more than 50 people, would need to show a health pass. It could be a pass proving that one has got the the two shots of vaccination minimum one week ago, a recent negative Covid test (under 48 hours) or a recent recovery from Covid. It would be extended to entrance to restaurants, bars, cinemas, museums, trains...in August. So for someone who is against taking the vaccinations, he or she would have to take the Covid test every two three days in order to access these places. Currently the Covid test is still free, but the government would ask the French to pay from their own pockets soon. Some French don't like to be forced to do something, thus they go on the street and protest.

Before continuing on the Covid vaccination, I thought about the parking policy in my company. When I was working in R town, we had a ground floor and outdoor parking spots. Ground floor spots were reserved for managerial employees, the majority of the employees had to park outdoor which was not enough to host everyone, so some had to park in a public parking. I thought this was reasonable, until I got transfered to N town. When we moved to a new building, there was also a ground floor and outdoor parkings. This time, the management had decided to grant everyone the equal access right. Everyone has the access card to ground floor, base on first come first serve basic. I was shocked at the decision but now I think it is quite normal.

I just want to tell those protesting on the street, that you should consider yourself lucky because you get to choose to take the vaccinations or not. In certain countries, people are living in anguish, fear and uncertainly because they don't know when it will be their turn to get the shots.

In France, we have to wait for our turn to get the vaccinations according to our age range. The priorities were given to the elderies and the first line medical workers. At the beginning, it was very hard to get an appointment. Hubby's grandma was so frustruted as she didn't know how to reserve a timeslot online. My mother in laws helped her but the spots got taken so quickly they had to keep trying. After a while the process was becoming fluid, and I patiently waited for my turn. On the 31th of May, the vaccinations were opened to everyone above 18 years old and under 50 years old. The websites got congested and I couldn't get a spot. At that time, I realized that most of my friends had already gotten their spots because before the 31th of May, when there were spots left, those under 50s could go and grab them. Anyway, several days after, many spots were added and I managed to get timeslots for both me and hubby at the vaccination center closest to our place. A few days later, I went to change my appointments to Sundays, as it suited better my needs. Imagine French working on Sundays...The government is really trying to speed up the vaccination rates.

When I thought most of the countries in the world are having the same online appointment booking process, I was suprised to learn that it was not the case. Every country is trying to buy the doses but the supply is limited. The developped countries are vaccinating their people at full speed whereas some other countries are struggling to have sufficient supplies for the whole nations. This results in unfair distribution of vaccinations.

My family lives in Malaysia so I get to have some updates regarding Covid vaccinations. They need to register in a website and wait for hospital staff to contact them. The priorities were given to the elderies so my mother was the first to get the doses. Surprisingly, my aunt who got medical history was contacted several months after my mom to a vaccination center very far from her house. Surge in Covid cases put the country in and out of confinements and I feel that people started to get panic. People started to use their own influences and contacts to get the appointments. The process is opaque so it is hard to know what criterias were used for the appointment distributions. Beside waiting for a call from the hospitals, people got the appointments through their doctors, their companies, their professional associations, and even, through paying RM200. I saw my friends posting on FB asking when will be their turn?

In terms of type of vaccines, I remember when I booked the appointment, you have a choice but it seems that one vaccination center would use only one type of vaccine. So when I booked, I chose the center instead of type of vaccine. The chart above shows the effectiveness of each type of vaccine. To my surprise, beside Pfiser and AZ, Malaysia is using Sinovac which has 50% effectiveness and a lot of Malaysians have accepted it. It makes me think, the Malaysians are accepting it because they have no choice or because they believe in the Chinese vaccine? I realised that we are getting very different information regarding Covid related topics. In Europe, the Chinese vaccines may not be accepted by the people, but they got vastly accepted in Asian, Africa and South America. The mainly China has used only their Chinese produced vaccines. Are the medias separating the world or the world is divided by the Chinese supporters vs Western supporters?

The Magical Moments

2021-02-17T22:28:00.002+01:00

One morning, while I was sleeping, hubby sneaked into the dressing and got something out of it. I opened my eyes, he waved something to me and said : "I almost forgot!". Half sleeping, I didn't know what he was referring to. He went to wake up the little one and then I heard she screamed out loud. "I got a gift! The mouse gives me a gift!". I finally understood what was going on. She lost a tooth the night before, and hubby has bought some gifts waiting for the moment to come. Here it was, she put the tooth under the pillow and hubby went in to replace the tooth with a gift. What a magical moment for her!

The other day, she got two loosening upper front teeth, and she was very anxious. Her sister claimed that she can communicate with the mouse so she has got some questions from the little one.

"Big sister, if I lose two teeth at the same times, do you think the mouse will send me two presents?"

"No, you will only get one, as it will be too heavy for the mouse to carry two presents at once. If I were you, I would just put one tooth under my pillow, and put another one the night after, so that you get one present each time."

"Ok. Can you use your brain to tell the mouse that I would like to have a Harry Porter wand?"

"Yes, sure."

And there you go, one tooth fell. She put it in a container and put it under her pillow. As usual, hubby took the container and replaced it with a present.

Around one week after, during one evening, her other tooth was half falling. She tried to pull it out as it was hurting her. I helped but in vain. She reiterated that she wanted to take it out not because she wanted a gift, but because she was tired of having a tooth half hunging. Finally, her sister helped by twisting it.

And voilà her without her two front teeth!

The little one with the gift from the mouse (her daddy actually)

I was chatting with the elder one, and we were discussing about the moment Santa Clause was dropping the present on Christmas Eve. I wonder when should we tell the truth, that Santa doesn't exist. She told me it was really a magical moments for them, and I shouldn't spoiled it. We had a neighbor dressed up as Santa for Christmas 2020. While the little one was really excited about all the presents, she suspected something as she can see that the beard on Santa was a fake one. Recently, her classmates told her that Santa was actually her parents, but her sister reassured her. I agreed that Santa, the mouse, the Easter rabbit are all helping to create magical moments for the kids. I hoped she could accept it well when she discovers the truth.

Roller skate and and second lockdown

2020-11-01T17:52:00.000+01:00

We started to give the girls pocket money.

Not much, 5€ a month.

We can see they treat the money differently.

One wanted to save it until a certain amount, then buy a toy that cost more.

The other wanted to buy something immediately, she doesn't have the patient to wait and save.

Sometimes, one persuaded the other to save together, and buy something together.

Sometimes, they fought as they disagreed on how to spend the money.

I told them they could increase their income by selling stuffs they no longer need or use.

We did two garage sales with a club not far from our houses, and they shared the income.

We also try to sell stuffs through the boncoin (the French's equivalent of craigslist).

Most of the time, they identify things they want to sell, and I help to put them online and deal with the buyers.

At the beginning of September, when all sportive and club activities were going to start, I quickly put the pair of roller skates to sell. We rented them brand new from the club, and bought them the second year around 100€. After three years of usage, and trips on the road outside our houses, they looked worn out. We decided to put them on sale for 40€. We only got two requests. Finally managed to sell them after agreeing to send by postal to the buyer.

They girls got 20€ each even though the skates belong to the eldest. We were going to Center Parks, and they have paid activities, so I advised them to choose an activity and pay with their money. They told me no.

With this money plus their monthly pocket income, they requested to go to the toy store as soon as we picked them up from the grandparents after school holidays. The eldest one wanted a makeup set, and the young one wanted a toy she has been eyeing on.

I'm sorry girls, we are back to lockdown. The shops beside grocery stores are closed. They will have to wait, or buy online. So eager for COVID to go away and back to normal life.

Covid 19 Lock Down : My house is my playground

2020-05-08T19:30:00.000+02:00

We have been confined at home since 17th March, one day before Malaysia. Hubby handles all the groceries shopping. I only drove out once for some food during this period. As for the girls, they stay confined at home. Sometimes we have a walk around the neighborhood but we make sure we keep some distance from others. We also played football at the parking lot just across our house.

Beside school, the play most of the times, together or alone. It has been 4 years we moved in to this house, it has become their playground during the lock down.

The wall is her game center. The little one designed her games and asked us to participate.

They got a lot of Play-Mobile as gifts. All are mixed up because they picked up what they like and just damped everything they don't like into boxes. Kitchen area is being transformed to play area.

The big sister has taken over the living room area with her barbies and the accessories. Her uncle got them from a coworker and gave all to her.

PlayMobile workshop with her little sister (another kitchen area being taken over).

They were playing with water in the room so we chased them out. They like to serve drinks to each other, and damp some animal toys into their swimming pool.

At the beginning of the confinement, the little one's teacher mentioned that she should continue playing with puzzle. She saw this magnetic world-map in her new school's open house, and felt in love with it. We managed to find it online, and ordered. She asked everyday when her puzzle would arrive. Well, it came only 5 days after. She can point out France and Malaysia easily now. The new game is for me to name the countries, she would take it out one by one. If she couldn't find the country, I would give her some hints, like the location or the color. To end the game, I need to say the country name the second time in order for her to put each country back to its place.

She invented a game involving the world-map puzzle and asked all of us to play.

She really likes world-map, she asked to buy a book explaining all the continents in the world. We told her she has to use her own money and she agreed. With the attached map and postcards in the book, she designed a game. Each postcard was linked to a color, and she drew a map explaining the location of each color. Then I have to place the postcards on the world-map according to the color-code. For some postcards, she clearly put in the wrong place, like putting Mount Rushmore in Africa. Well, her game, her rules.

She loves drawing. She drew lots of things and put them inside envelops. She was using the real envelops with stamp already printed on. Luckily I found a stash of envelops from our old bank so she could play with it.

Sometimes they are the best buddy to each other sometimes they fight. In the photo, they presented us a poem.

Enjoying the sun while camping the garden.

Hubby bought a game which is suitable for the whole family. It's called Zombie Kidz. The whole family has to fight the zombies and lock down the four corners. Each character has its own superpower. When you succeed in locking down all corners, you put stickers on a booklet until you reach a number where you get an envelop. In the envelop, it could be a clone for one of the characters, or a new zombie. The players can decide to take on a mission or a challenge.

She could also play with simply an umbrella and a water spray.

All in all, they got lots of games to play so they are not bored at home. Their TV schedule is just like during the school times. The only drawback : they are invading lots of areas in the house! It just slowing me down when I have to do house cleaning.

Covid 19 Lock Down : My house is my school

2020-05-08T17:56:00.001+02:00

France has been locked down from 17/03/2020 to 10/05/2020 due to Corona virus outbreak. The school was closed, and will only reopen on 14 May, under some restrictions:

1. Each class will only have maximum 15 kids

2. Half day school with no canteen and no after school care provided

3. Each student will come two mornings per week

4. Students should keep their distance. They are not allowed to play together

5. School will not provide face mask, students can bring their own

Since the school can't bring back everyone (all classes have more than 15 students), the school principal had created a survey to know how many kids would go back to school. We decided to not send the kids back due to these reasons:

1. We are both working from home, we should leave the spot to parents who need it

2. Our kids don't want to go back after hearing that they can't play with their friends

3. Our kids have never worn a facemask, we can't guarantee they would wear one at all time, there is a risk of contamination

Anyway, since 17/03, hubby has been their teacher. There was no online courses and there will never be one. Teachers send weekly workloads through the school principal by email. Hubby picks up the print out at school every Monday. He wakes them up on school days, and classes start around 8:30am, the same time as if they were at school.

The little one has no homework. She mostly just do colouring, writing ABCD, matching photos. Then playing all day. The big sister has a lot of work. She cried a lot because she didn't understand or did some mistake. Hubby has been patient, but he yelled at her sometimes.

It has been hard on hubby. He handles all the teaching and cooking, and only manages to work half day. My work has been busy since we are starting a new project. I thank him wholeheartly to contribute lots of his time to the family.

My only intervention is to ask them tidying up! I have bad mood when the house is messy.

My only regrets:

1. School year-end performance is cancelled. It was scheduled to be on the 2th of June, the big one has been practising a secret dance with her friends.

2. This is the last year in this school for both of them. I wish they have more time to say proper goodbye, but it seems that they won't go back to the school anymore. The summer holiday is just around the corner and it doesn't seem that the viruses would go away soon.

Her style

2020-01-10T18:44:00.004+01:00

Awena has been in a phase where she dislike everything girly : skirts, pink color, princess... She wants nothing related to them. She was quite choosy when shopping for her clothes and shoes, condemning everything in the girl's department, until she saw the choices in boy's department.

One day, after a movie, we went for shopping for Aelig. Surpringly, Aelig didn't find much to buy that day, but her sister bought a total of 10 clothes. She was facisnated with boy's T-shirts and pants. The shopping queen Aelig bowed to her sister, and urged me to let her sister go home with her choices since it was rare that so many things please her.

At home, Awena quietly removed all the price tags and tidied up her wardrobe.

All the price tags that she removed.

This week, her sister was invited to a birthday party, so I decided to have a date with her. We went to watch Frozen II (second time for her since she watched with hubby the day the movie was on cinema). It was the winter sales period, she had been complaining about her shoes so we went shopping. She browsed through the whole boy's area, selected those she liked, tried 7 of them, and urged me to buy her two pairs instead of one. I surrendered since we spent 1,5 hours trying out those shoes.She went to school the second day with her new pair of shoes.

Grandmas and blablacar

2019-08-10T15:06:00.000+02:00

"I really miss great-grandma, why doesn't she come to our place anymore?" My daughter asked.

I sighed. My husband's grandma used to come visit us once a year, and stayed for a week during summer. I have asked her many times when does she want to come to our place. She refused, as her health was deteriorating, she felt weak to move around. Beside, her sister who lives beside her just lost her husband, so she didn't want to leave her sister alone. There was also a problem of her sister's cat. When her sister was not around, she has to take care of the cat. Once they put the cat with someone else as both of them had to be away, the cat refused to eat so they had to hurry back.

We met over Easter, she was in good health, and she agreed to come to visit us during summer.

One day, I woke up with an idea. We were going to a gathering with friends just 30 minutes from her house. We could go pick her up and bring her with us home. She can join us for the school year end performance, plus my daughter was celebrating her birthday that weekend.

With that idea in mind, I called her, she was delighted to announce :" I can come to your place now, the cat is dead. If its ok, I would like to bring my sister along, so that she can go to her daughter's place. She hasn't been out often and I'm worried about her." We can only fit 5 people in our car, so I contacted a friend who was going to the gathering, and she has one spot left in her car to bring my grandma's sister.

Then I have to arrange a return trip. They don't want to take train as it becomes too stressful to change train and bring their luggages around. I checked the bus schedule, it was going to take 11 hours as there was no direct bus to their town. The journey by car would only take 3 hours. I then thought of blablacar, a website which proposes carpooling services. Nobody was proposing the trip from my town to their town, but I found one from town R to their town, and the person was willing to send them directly back to their house.

With the logistic arranged, grandma's sister finally accepted to come along. Unfortunately, the carpooling person cancelled the trip as she made a mistake on the date. I told them to come anyway and we will find a solution for their return trip. I kept checking the blablacar anouncement and sometimes trips just came out last minute.

We went for the gathering during the weekend in a camp site. After checking out, I went to pick up the grandmas. Luckily my GPS worked. They were both ready. My grandma was in a traveling mode, but I can sense that her sister was anxious. My GPS died on me, but grandma knew the way back to the forest. We got lost somewhere due to some constructions, but we managed to find the camp site.

Then it came a challenge. Grandma's sister was not comfortable to sit in someone's car as she didn't know my friend and her family. I had talked with grandma, I was going to ask one of the girls to go over so that both grandmas can ride in our car. The girls have known my friend's kids since very young, I figured one of them would be willing to ride with their friends. I was wrong, they both refused at that moment, even though they had both agreed during the weekend. We were all waiting on who would get into my friends' car. We sweet talked to our girls, they once again firmly refused and I can feel that they were hurt seeing me trying to send them away. I wanted to go over but my husband needed me to be his co-pilot. Grandma had been volunteering to ride with my friend, and at the end, we let her go because there was no other solution. She had travelled with my friends to Malaysia and she was a chatty box compared to her sister, so everything went well. Grandma sister was comfortable with us and at one point, my daugther was sleeping in her arm.

Everyone arrived in S town where my friends live, and grandma's sister's daughter arrived just in time to pick up her mother. They were to spend a week together, then grandma's sister would come to my place in order to take the return trip back with grandma. We then continued our journey back to our place.

We had a wonderful week with grandma. She went with hubby on Wednesday to see how he handled the day with all the activities going on. On Thursday she went with me to be a volunteer for my daughter's school sportday. On Saturday she witnessed the school year end performance, where both girls danced on stage. On Sunday we celebrated my daughter's birthday. Grandma's sister arrived in the evening and they were going back on Monday morning.

Grandma joining us for the school's sport's day

Making a cake with the girls to give to the school. The school then sells the cake to raise fund.

The school year-end performance

Hubby reading his father's day card before heading out to the treasure hunt activites he prepared for his daughter's birthday

During the week I kept checking blablacar to find a trip to send them home. I found some who proposed the trip but they refused to send them all the way back home. They only wanted to drop them somewhere on their way. Grandma said she had someone willing to come pick them up, or they could take a bus, or a taxi. Luckily, I found a trip that seemed perfect to me : pick up point 10 minutes from my house and the driver agreed to send both of them back to their house.

The day came, I was sad to see them leave. I sent them to the pick up point, the driver was late as they got stuck in the traffic jams downtown. 30 minutes later, a couple in their 50s arrived in the parking lot. They assured me that they would send my grandmas home.

I went to work. In the afternoon I received messages from grandma, saying the couple were very nice, they chatted a lot, they had lunch in a rest area. Around three hours later, I received a message from the driver with a photo : they were having coffee in grandma's sister's house! Overall it was a great experience. Both grandmas were happy with the trip, but I admitted I was quite worried after they had gone. I won't dare to do this in Malaysia, but I feel that overall people are more trustworthy in France.

Being illegal alien for 8 days

2019-08-05T22:13:00.001+02:00

My resident card was expired and I only got the new one 8 days after. I was not sure if I was legally staying in France, since the Prefecture didn't give me a temporarily one. I only had a letter with me stating that I could pick up my new card on which day. Luckily I didn't plan to leave the country so life just went on as usual. I only got a notice from my HR asking me to send them the new card as soon as I have it.

The whole renewal process has changed since last time. We had to take an appointment online, directly with the Prefecture (not my local Town Hall anymore). I couldn't find information regarding how many month in advance I need to start the renewal process, so I played it safe. Went to the website in December 2018, 7 months before my card expired, and got myself an appointment in March 2019. It was a smart move, as in May I went to the website to check again, the earliest appointment I could get was in October. It would be a big problem if I got an appointment after the card expired.

I was choosing which category I could apply, and I tumbled into an EU permanent resident status, where you no longer need to renew your card. It was permanent, forever. I photocopied all the documents : income taxes, payslips, proved of residency, a statement saying that I would follow the values practice in France...All these were useless. The officer only took the prove of my address (an electricity bill) and my photos. She told me I came in too early, since my card was still valid she didn't need to give me a temporarily one. And, she told me I can only apply the one category : marrying a French. I have to renew it every 10 years. She said she would send me a letter in April telling me when I can come to pick up my card.

I left the Prefecture with a very sad feeling. The whole atmosphere made me felt like a second class citizen, like I was begging them to let me stay. In fact they didn't do anything to me, but an officer was yelling to people in waiting room. There were lots of foreigners, begging to get an appointment because they didn't know how to do it on internet, some didn't come with the right documents, or the original documents... they were anxious, they were hopeless...

April came, I didn't get any letter from the Prefecture. I started to get worry, because how if they didn't take into account my renewal application. I have no proof that I was there. I sent the Prefecture an email, but no reply. Luckily, in early May, the letter finally arrived. I was to collect my new card 8 days after my current expired, even though I started the renewal process 4 months in advance.

Came the day to collect my card, I arrived in the Prefecture, and saw a line queuing from the building outside. Since I have an appointment, an officer let me in directly. But people in line, they mainly came to ask questions. Like, their cards expired in two months, and the earlist appointment online they could get were in 5 months. And they needed to leave the country. A very messed up situation if you asked me. I so didn't want to be in their shoes. I was observing people around me when waiting for my name to be called. This time the atmosphere was a lot better. The officer who was yelling last time stayed calm this time. She was very polite and helpful. Someone didn't pay the duty fee, she said ok and allowed him to come next time. Ok, I paid 269€ for this renewal, I wonder if that person was waiting for his salary to arrive before he could afford to pay the fees.

It was a no hassle process for me. Book an appointment online, pay the fees online, come one time for the renewal process, another time to pick up the card. The appointment times were pretty much respected. However, for people who are not family with computer and internet, who have complicated situations and need to ask questions, it could be a very stressful situations. Long queues every time at the information counter, and they are not always courteous.

VAT tax refund drama

2019-07-28T21:19:00.003+02:00

"I wouldn't have bought the phones if you didn't promise a VAT tax refund!" I heard my niece speaking over the phone, with a shop she just bought the I-Phone from in UK.

My family came visit me early July, after attending my niece's graduation ceremony in UK. It took them some times to walk out of Nantes Airport, as they were looking or VAT tax refund counter/machine, as they didn't manage to get any tax refund when they left UK. An non EU visiter can claim a value added tax refund when he or she purchases over a certain amount of items when he or she leaves the EU country. In France, the VAT is at 20%, and one can get back around 12% after deducting the administration fees.

The drama started when they bought three I-Phone in a shop in UK. Not only the shop proposed to trade in their current phone, they also promised a tax refund. Apparently after taking into account all these incentives, the price was a lot cheaper than buying in Malaysia, so three of the group bought one. The did it the last day in England before heading to France.

When they were taking their flight in UK to France, they were told that since they had not left European Union (EU), they couldn't claim the tax refund. Beside, all tax refunds required a Retail Export Form ("bordereau de détaxe"), which the I-Phone shop didn't provide. As soon as they arrived in my place, my niece called the shop to ask for the form, only to be told that they needed to go to the shop as a passport is needed in order to process the form. Both nieces were in the room dealing with the shop, calling the support numbers, emailing...

They bought other items in UK too, so I assured them I would help them through the process since I was going with some of them to Switzerland. Switzerland is not in EU, and there was a tax refund machine in Nantes Airport, so I figured we could do the tax refund inside Nantes Airport. They believed me, and happily did more shopping in Nantes.

Except that I was wrong.

The day we were flying to Geneva from Nantes, we went to the information counter and were told to use the tax refund machine in the reserved areas. We passed through the security control to arrive at the reserved areas, we were told the machine was just after the passport control. We headed towards the passport control, the officers told us it was not possible to use the machine without giving any explanation. And then I found out that our gate was before the passport control, I guessed even though Geneva is not in EU but it was still considered a domestic flight. I checked with a very nice airport security control officer, she told me to go back to the information counter then come back again.

"You may be able to do your tax refund in Geneva Aiport, or go to the Embassy of France in Geneva." The information counter officer told me. Ok I didn't know Embassy of France handles tax refund. We went through the security again, I walked to passport control, hoping that they would just let me use the machine. But all I got, was yelling and yelling from them as if I had committed a crime. I felt very sorry for my family as there was nothing I could do but to wait & see when we arrived in Geneva.

It was almost mid-night when we arrived in Geneva. The information counter was closed. We went back there the second morning to pick up our rental car, and I finally managed to ask someone about the tax refund. She assured me that my family could do the tax refund the day they head back to Malaysia. The trick was they needed to go to the French side, get a stamp from the French custom, then come back in to the Switzerland side to do the tax refund. It sounded complicated for me.

After more shopping in Switzerland (where I discovered their VAT is only 7.7% vs 20% in France), it came finally the day when they needed to head back home. I got confirmation from the Global Blue counter about the process, then brought my family to the French side. They went inside, found the French custom, and via Whatsapp told me the French was not friendly, and was just being there without wanting to help. I probably didn't explain well, they thought they could get the tax refund there and were disappointed when the French custom just said no. However they managed to get a manual stamp on items purchased in UK, and electronic stamp on items purcharsed in France.

After they went through the security control in the Switzerland side, they finally told me they got the tax refund! Since they asked for cash, they got charged again some fees, so they didn't get the 12% as expected for the purchases made in France. Beside, in the note displayed in the French counter (photo above), it stated that if you got a manual stamp you need to mail it, but actually they got the cash refund right away with the counter.

So much drama and it sure had reduced their desire to do shopping during their trips here.

Durian and love

2019-02-03T11:43:00.002+01:00

My mom knows I love durian, so she bought some and freeze them during the durian season.

Now, in between meals, she would de freeze some and invite us to eat. My husband loves it too. I felt so loved.

From France to Malaysia

2019-02-03T11:36:00.000+01:00

I was preparing gifts to bring back to Malaysia, and I went for the classic one.

My family loves ciders, especially those from Brittany. Added in some wines and champagnes. It would be so much easier if we can hand carry them.

Butter cookies, candies, foie gras and sesame sticks

Fresh walnuts, saucissons and chorizo

Different type of chocolates. The seller told us that these will melt at 30°C, so we handed carried them in the planes.

Different type of cheese including 9 packs (16 pieces) + 1 family pack (32 pieces) raclette cheese.

Some Longchamp bags

Everything arrived safely in good conditions. I thought I was pushing too far, buying too much stuffs but at the end, they all fit in the suitcases without exceeding the weight limit.

Convinced by Jackie Cheung

2018-12-23T10:33:00.000+01:00

I started listening to Jackie Cheung's songs in the 80s when Hong Kong pop songs were dominating the Chinese community. He was not my favorite, but he was famous enough to make people know him.

I had less opportunity listening to his new songs after I left Malaysia. When I saw friends posted news about his latest concert in Paris, I decided to go. He was called god of the songs, I knew he would give us the best performance. Beside, going to Paris with friends is always a nice getaway from the routine life.

There I went, on the 28th of November. My friend took care of the bookings, she almost missed the train though, got in two minutes before the train to Paris departed. The concert was simply awesome. He totally convinced me that he is the best. At 57 years old, he sang 3 hours, with 1 or 2 minutes break from time to time while his band took over, allowing him to change and take some drinks. His songs touched my heart, reminding me of those old days, while discovering many new songs that I checked later on YouTube.

His concert was very different from Eason Chan's that I attended one year ago. He brought over a music director with a band, orchestra, dancers and stage art performing team. I was especially impressed by the lighting system. The only regret I had was the fact that he had to speak in Mandarin instead of Cantonese. A lot of songs were sang in Mandarin even though there existed also Cantonese version. I guess he had to speak the language where majority of his audiences can understand.

Beside the concert, we also went to Miro's exhibition, and visited the gallery in Pompidou center. There were easy access to lots of Asian foods. We ended the trip by visiting the Chinese supermarket in Chinatown, where I got mangosteen, and other fruits that are more expensive in my town.

Arriving in my town train station, I quickly hopped inside a tramway as hubby was supposed to wait for me at one of the stops. When I finally sat down, I saw 7 missed calls from hubby. He wanted to give me a surprise, and was waiting with the little one around the train station. He was so mad that I didn't pick up the phone. My phone was in my backpack as I was holding two bags full of fruits and roasted porks from Paris. We finally managed to meet somewhere.

Now, I still have Jackie'q songs lingering in my head. Sometimes I couldn't concentrate at my work, a very bad timing as I had bunch of works to catch ip after absent for two days. Will definitely go buy his CDs when I have chance.

New school year 2018

2018-11-11T17:05:00.000+01:00

The school year starts in general in Sept in France. I always wonder why they would "start" something in Sept, the 9th month of the year, instead of in January. When I told my coworkers about this, they can't imagine that in Malaysia we start the school year in January, and, without a long summer holiday break! Anyway, the girls were eager to go back to school.

Sept 2017

Sept 2018

Every morning except Wednesday during the week, I have to prepare them for school. I usually wake up earlier to prepare myself, then wake them up to have breakfast together. It was a stressful moment, as either they complained about the breakfast, or they fought, or they took their time for everything. Especially the youngest, she would first lay down in sofa, refused to eat anything. Then by the time everyone was done, she came and requested breakfast. Of course I refused, I didn't care if she went to school with empty stomach, I had already warned her enough about the consequence. At one point, the eldest required a different hair style per day, and she had it listed on a paper. Some of them took me 10 minutes, and sometime she changed her mind last minute.

The school gates open at different time as one is in primary and one is in kindergarten. I have to send the little one to her class, sometimes she wanted me to stay to see her play a game, to show me something she has learnt. When I finally managed to walk out of school, there was traffic jams waiting, and I showed up always a bit late at work.

A morning kiss to her sister before entering their school compound (primary school and kindergarten are separated by a gate).

Schools here will have 6 or 7 weeks of classes, then follows by a 2 week break. A lot of parents appreciate the break, including me. The girls usually go to their grandparents, that leaves me some personal time, and very relax mornings. It is amazing how having kids and without kids can change one's day.

After the break de la Toussaint, we suddenly manage to have less stressful mornings. Hubby wakes them up before going to work, and the youngest stopped laying down on sofa, instead she comes directly having breakfast with us. And most importantly, the eldest prepares breakfast for me, and she is very proud about it. I still have to rush the little one to eat faster, as she can spend all her time talking or day dreaming. The eldest is less picky about her hairstyle as well. Sometimes they are done earlier so they read on sofa or play together while waiting for me to get ready. I always try to clean up the kitchen after breakfast.

The little one was chosen as class representative. That was a surprise to me, but well three of them were chosen because there was a tied at vote for two of them. The election process was quit formal, they had to write the name of the person they chose on a paper and put it inside an envelope, and the teacher counted the vote by taking out the paper one by one. A democratic process at young age.

I always remind myself, that there is only less then 2 school years left that they will go to the same school together. At one point, the eldest will go to middle school, and they will each have their own circle of friends, and school life. Therefore, I should appreciate these mornings, when they are still eating and playing together.

Separation and Togetherness

2018-10-27T11:25:00.000+02:00

These several months have been very hard for me. There were several coworkers leaving the company. People I had been happily working together for years, people who gave me a lot of autonomy in my works and who made me discovered what I was good at. I didn't know it could be so tough until I realized we would no longer having lunch together, nor bitching about something or someone anymore. Farewell parties one after another, and there is still one planned in November. I almost cried during a meeting yesterday, thinking that I would be hearing his voice and jokes for the last time during work environments. Thanks for being my coworker Céline, Patrice, Regis, Noëla, Vincent, Samuel and soon Nicolas.

The photos below warmed my heart. Separation at work, but I'm seeing my girls bonding everyday. Of course they fight, they yell at each other, but they also have fun together.

The big sister reading to her little sister during her bath time.

The big sister fasten the bell for her little sister.

Reading together

Playing together

I felt so proud that day at this playground. The little one wanted to do this game, but I was tired having walking for several hours that day. I refused to go queue with her. The big sister, after playing somewhere else, came to her and proposed to queue with her. She did several rounds under the watch of her big sister. Not only that, the big sister stopped people from jumping queue in front of her sister, and yelled away kids who tried to play several times without queuing. She didn't keep quiet if some kids didn't respecting the rules. She also brought her little sister to play swing. She started to show that she was capable to protect her sister.

But for how long? That's a question I often asked myself. For how long will they do stuffs together? In less than two years, the big one is going to secondary school, the little one to primary school. Will they still play together? Or will it be time they play separately? Will they seek out each other? Will their share their happiness and sadness? It is hard to tell. But in general, I notice, siblings are less close in France compare to Malaysia. When they have their own families, they see each other during Christmas, or weddings, or family gatherings. Some manage to travel together but it is rare. My sisters and nieces are traveling this Christmas and will stop by to pay me a visit. I'm eager to see them. I don't know if age matters, but I'm feeling even closer to them now despite the fact that we are living thousand kilometers away. Love has no distance I guess.

We are letting them go

2018-09-02T23:02:00.000+02:00

I'm someone who throws unused stuffs easily. Except books, photos, some sentimental gifts, I can let go of anything. I enjoy cluster free environment. Beside, since I'm the one doing the housework, less things to handle mean less hassle.

My youngest is 4 so its time to let go of baby equipment. We have two cars it means 4 car seats for the kids. Plus it has infant car seat, baby cradle car seat, toddler car seat, ... it never ends until the kids turn 10. Car seats aren't cheap, so far we only invested in two. Someone lent us an infant car seat (for baby up to 6 month old), never used a baby cradle car seat, borrowed one toddler car seat + one given by someone. Currently, they are both on booster seat (one bought entirely new, two second handed and one given by someone). Now, its time go get rid of the first infant-toddler seat we bought (see photo). I was looking at how to install it in the car on YouTube, and it reminded me that baby from 0-6 months have to sit against the traffic flow. How we were eager that the baby grew faster so that we can finally switch the seat facing the direction just like the adult. It was also troublesome during winter, as with all the thick clothes it was difficult to fasten the seat-bell. It is so much better now, and I'm just waiting for the little one to be able to fasten and unfasten the seat-bell herself.

We bought the stroller when the eldest was almost 3 month old. Hubby carried her around with a baby carrier wrap. Both kids were not much in the stroller, they tend to walk like the adult. It has been over a year that the little one didn't ask for it. So, time to get rid of it.

Balance bikes has become quite popular in France. We got one from the leboncoin (French craigslist) for 20€. A new one could cost as much as 120€. The little one got a bike with stabilizers plus a real bike for her birthday. Well, hubby went with her to pick up the bike, but she saw the one with stabilizers, tried it and fell in love with it. She was crying so hard when she got home with the bike hubby planned to buy, that eventually we agreed to buy her the one with stabilizers as it was more adapted to her age.

A friend gave this to me, the little one has not paid much attention to it anymore, so time to let it go.

Lastly, hubby has invested in a scale that would send the result directly to his cellphone, so the traditional one should live a second life with a new owner.

Selling things on leboncoin is one way to get rid of stuffs, but I'm not sure if it is efficient though as the website is overflow with announcements. I saw people selling clothes for 2€ and they just uploaded tons of photos to the website. I participated in a garage sale, managed to sell some kids clothes. I also donated quite some clothes to the school (who get paid from the organisation who collects clothes). Anyway the five items above are on sale and I hope they get a new owner soon.

Summer holidays childcare options

2018-08-30T00:03:00.000+02:00

8 weeks of summer holidays could be a headache for parents who work. In my case, we use a combination of solutions:

1. Taking time off and heading for vacation somewhere with the kids

A week vacationing in the Alps mountains. Hiking, swimming, sightseeing. We got a rental apartment with my CE with subsidized rate. Hubby was pushing us almost everyday to go hiking somewhere. The little ones walked better than me. Aelig was sicked almost the whole week, she got red eye and running nose. She had to wrap her nose every two seconds and that irritated the skin under her nose, which made her very uncomfortable. Even so, she continued walking with us. Awena enjoyed so much indoor swimming she urged us to bring her there everyday.

Another week in Provence. I had always wanted to go to Provence to see the famous lavender fields. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the lavenders were already cut off where we stayed. It was Awena's round to get sick, she had sunburn and refused to go to the swimming pool as it was outdoor. Aelig on the other hand enjoyed the children club. She chose to stay with the club instead of heading out visiting the villages around with us. The rental was with hubby's CE, including three meals per day. Hassle free holidays indeed.

2. Working from home

My company allows working from home so I took advantage of it. The kids stayed with me for a week. The other week Aelig went for the summer camp and Awena stayed with me. When both were with me, I organized play date so that they got to have fun with their friends. They knew they shouldn't disturb me when I work. When Awena was with me without her sister, she played quietly beside and knew to not make noise when I was over the phone with someone.

3. Sending the kids to grandparents

We are lucky to have grandparents who are willing to take care of the kids. I entrusted them 100%. They eat and play well there. Went to the beaches 8 times. My MIL even had Aelig doing summer school exercises. They also got to visit some relatives, a real bonding time with the big family. Not forgetting, it also means parenting holidays for us! No kids for several weeks, it was heaven for me.

4. Going to work with the kid

When Aelig was in the summer camp, Awena went to work with hubby for a day. She was curious to see her dad's office. She went to have lunch with hubby and a coworker, and managed to take a nap in the office.

5. Summer camp

Aelig has participated in summer camps since 4 years old. She really enjoyed it, so we sent her to a different camp every year. They sleep in a tent, and was trained to participate in cooking. The Town Hall organizes an information session around March, and parents have to fight for a spot for those popular camps. One Saturday morning after the information session, hubby would be on his computer at 9am sharp, and fill the online form as quick as he could to secure a spot. Luckily, we always got what she wanted.

These were options we chose to make sure the kids have a fulfilling summer holidays. In the past, when we still had a babysitter, we paid her to take care of the kids. We also sent Aelig to leisure center. These options were quite expensive, we can't afford to do this the whole summer. Overall, its best to have family nearby who are willing to help.

Durian : king of the fruit or shit

2018-07-28T17:55:00.000+02:00

The durian season lasted longer this year. Prices dropped due to oversupply.
This is great news for durian lovers in Malaysia.
There is a Malay saying : "Durian runtuh, sarong jatuh", which means when durian falls, the sarong falls as well (as people would pawn their sarong in order to buy durian).

I for one is a big durian fan. It is definitely the king of fruits for me. Unfortunately, the prices soared and this fruit has become too pricey or you could even consider certain species (Musang King...) as luxury fruit.

Oh I miss savoring durian at those all you can eat buffet durian store with friends and family.

In France, we can buy frozen or whole durian but they are expensive and less tasty (imported from Thailand). I was watching Fort Boyard (French Amazing Race) the other day, they were at the "eating awful thing moment", it was then I wonder if they would put durian as awful thing to eat. And bingo! The chef introduced durian to the contestants and asked them to eat durian puree. I was like, let me eat all of them! Most of the contestants puked, they had to close their noise with their fingers before eating.

This shows how much your environments shape your tastes.

A postcard to ourselves, from one year ago

2018-07-28T16:27:00.000+02:00

Last summer we visited Busan in Korea. At Gamcheon Culture Village, it proposed a service : to send you a postcard you wrote one year after. We found it was a great idea, so we did it.

Naturally we forgot about it. This summer, when we got back from vacation, I suddenly thought about it. There were late to mail the postcard, I told myself. One day later, hubby came home and brought the postcard to me.

Here it goes : a postcard we sent to ourselves, one year ago.

I laughed at what my husband wrote : We were walking, and mom is going to complain again, that we should have taken the bus, etc. Yeap, a huge difference between us. Among the tourists, you can see Asians riding buses, cable cars, while the Europeans walk. It was an hot summer around 33°C, we were visiting Taejongdae Park. It was hilly and everyone else was queuing for sightseeing train. And because I was with a French, I had to walk (uphill, under hot sun).

Anyway, glad to receive the postcard, a little souvenir from our last trip.

The unworthy mom

2018-06-28T22:21:00.002+02:00

One morning, we arrived at school to discover that some students were in sportswear, a bus was waiting at the entrance. My daughter immediately realized she missed something : she forgot it was sport's day for her class! There were so many activities going on that I completely forgot as well. She cried, urging me to explain to her teacher what was going on.

Shame on me, I still walked toward the teacher. She was disturbed as my daughter didn't wear sport shoes. As for lunch, other students can share with her. I didn't know what to do, I still had a young one to send to the class, and then had to rush to work. The teacher finally said she was going to find a pair of shoes for her, I handed over the snack box that I prepared for my younger daughter, and left.

On the way to work, guilt fell all over me. How can I forgot this? I'm supposed to be the secretary who handles all their activities until their are old enough to take over the responsibility. Ideas flashed through my mind to handle the situation.

As soon as I parked at my company's parking lot, I called two moms. The first one to ask if she was accompany the class to the stadium, but she was not. I kindly asked her to bring some snack for my younger daughter (her daughter was in the same class), as I had given the snack to the elder. The second one, I was sure she would be with the class, so I asked if she could bring some food for my daughter. Luckily she had some spared one and she gladly agreed to share them with my daughter.

The whole morning I was feeling guilty. I don't know how other parents handle things, it just doesn't work well with me that the school sends out emails about activities, put a note weeks before, and expecting me to remember everything. We need to put a calendar in a visible place to jot down all the ongoing stuffs.

When I got home, I saw a pair of sport shoes on the kitchen counter top. So the teacher did find a pair for her, thanks God! She was all happy and didn't at all blame me for anything. She was surprised to know that I called her classmate mom to share food with her, as it was done naturally. And, since she had enough food, she didn't eat the snack from her sister. They went to after school class and she handed back the snack box, but the teacher told her that her sister already had one (the mom I called did send a snack for my younger daughter).

This makes me realize how important to have some network among the parents. As an introvert, I don't usually go towards them. And I have a big problem : I do not recognize easily people I had talked too! I just don't know who's who's mother or dad. This is quite a drawback to socialize with the parents!

Where is Mona Lisa?

2018-05-24T23:17:00.001+02:00

The school organizes a stage performance for the kids every year. This year, only students from elementary classes participated, whereas the kids from kindergarten stayed with the parents.

The theme was about the portrait of Mona Lisa, La Joconde in French. Students were acting as tourists visiting The Louvre Museum. They were looking for the Portrait, all the performance were mainly through singing. What struck me was, that some students were chose to sing solo from time to time, and they sang badly sometimes. I mean, some were out of tunes. Maybe the goal was to make students participate, it didn't have to be perfect. This is unthinkable during my times as elementary student. Teachers at that time always chose students with perfect voices. There were singing competitions for every grade, and the winners got to represent the school for a higher level competitions. French school do not organize singing competition apparently.

During the performance, I suddenly felt that my kids are so lucky to be in this country. All those paintings, monuments in Paris, are from their heritage, and they could just go see them. I mean, I'm not sure Malaysia has created any great arts for the human history.

Mom, we would like to go home for lunch

2018-05-15T23:44:00.000+02:00

One day, my daughter asked me why can't I bring them home for lunch.

"Mom, all my friends go home for lunch at least once a week, why do we have to go all the times?"

"It is very unfair, I hate going to the canteen. Sometimes I have to sit alone because those boys won't

want me to sit with them, and all my girlfriends went home."

"You are working from home anyway, why can't you pick us up for lunch just like other mothers?"

I sighed.

While we are advised to not compare our kids to others', we parents are being compared to.

I don't know how they do it, but there sure are a bunch of parents able to send and pick up their kids, without ever going to the after school classes or canteen.

Kids here have school in the morning, a long lunch break, then resume the class in the afternoon. (In Malaysia, kids go to school either in the morning or in the afternoon, not the whole day). For lunch, they could either go home, or go to the canteen. Kids who go home, get picked up around 11:35am, and go back to school at around 1:35pm. Yes! Two hours lunch break!

I do not have 2 hours lunch break + 20 minutes for the drive. So I immediately said no to her. She was so disappointed, she kept asking, once a week. I was so upset, and torn apart.

Yes, sometimes I work from home, but I have made that extra efforts to go pick them up right after school so that they don't have to stay in the after school class waiting for us.

But, when they are at home, sometimes I can't 100% concentrate on works. They fight, they scream, they ask for things, they want to share things with me....even though I told them million times that I AM WORKING!!! They should consider themselves lucky because they only stay late twice a week in school, but still, they want more.

I felt that I have done my best. My lunch time is for myself. I get to each whatever I want, at the time I want, even in front of the computer continuing working, it was purely my choice. I do not want to put an alert to go pick them up, cook for them, eat with them, clean the dishes, entertain their demands. I need a break from them, isn't it too much too ask??

But, I yielded, as always, guilt to disappoint my child, guilt that they don't get to eat lunch at home while many others can. We did it once, it went well, they were happy, they asked for more, and I said we shall see.

The kids just drained up my energy. I don't even have any time/energy left to blog.