4 seasons

This is my first experience
living in a country with 4 seasons
especially after 30 years in the hot, hot and hot singapore

my experience of winter
was to constantly wrap myself up with layers of clothes
and the freezing wedding
so, I was looking forward to spring (about march to june)
where i can wear lesser layers
and made use of my singapore clothes

sadly, spring disappointed me
it is still cold!
the average day temperature may rise to 17degrees with sun
but the morning and night were back to below 10 degrees
i am embarassed to admit
that i wore my winter coat a few times
because it was too cold...
okay, i managed to wear 1 layer less than winter
and kept 1 thick blanket away

May / June is better
with more sun and average day temperature of 20+degrees
but i dread waking up in the morning and in the night
where temperature drops to about 10 degrees
now i understand why everyone may be in tee-shirts
but holding a jacket 
when they are out
it is difficult to dress up with 10 degrees difference in a day!

initially i was very fearful of summer
husband has been scaring me that it is hotter than singapore
and can reach 38degrees!
so being kiasu, i went and bought a small fan for our apartment
at anytime ready to blast some needed wind around

the fan has been home for 1month
i have only used it 3 times
first time ... to try
second & third time.. was during the night there was no wind and the room was stuffy,
the fan was blowing at level 1 and not directed at us
-.-"

and it does not help that sometimes it can rain the whole day
and reduce the day temperature to average of 17degrees
anyway summer is due to start 2 weeks later to September
im unsure how i will be able to handle it

like now, even when it is really sunny
the cool breeze makes me put on my cardigan
i guess my body is bad at adapting at the changes in temperature
at least now, is lesser layers of 1 top and a light jacket to go out
but still need to wear stockings for skirts, shorts and dresses...

i know everytime when i complained about the weather
the singaporeans will remind me how grateful i should be
hmmm is a tough choice..
singapore being hot and humid but freedom of clothing and plenty of air-con areas
paris being hot and dry but limited choice of clothing and most malls/ shops have no aircon
that i literally was shopping in sweat..

i shall see how summer will be
and im definitely looking forward to the summer sales that is starting soon!

ps - the day is so long now
sun rise about 530am ( feels like 6.45am in singapore)
sun set about 10pm (feels like 6.45pm in singapore)
i dont look forward to the longer days to come...
my body clock feels strange...

Free french lessons?!

As part of the assimilation process
for foreign spouses
france provide free french, cultural and history classes
up to 400 hours of french classes!
it sounded so good
that i didnt take any french classes back in singapore
or to plan for classes in paris
since it is quite expensive about euro 200 per week

the procedure seems easy
at least on paper :
- arrive paris
- send documents to immigrations to inform my arrival (within 3 weeks)
- appointment with them
- sign a contract of agreement for classes
- medical check up
- class starts!

as usual;
france administration amazed me..
I arrived paris in april, 
sent them the documents within 1 week,
received their acknowledgement
and wait....
and wait..
and wait...

after 1.5 months,
still no news!
i blamed the end april's public holiday
and the may's public holidays (3xthursday holiday = 3 long weekends)
for the slow processing of my documents

since the husband and i are trying to plan for our singapore trip and wedding
we need to know the frequency of the classes and can i take 2 weeks off for singapore
and whether i can join my sister's family in geneva in september...
so we called the immigration and received bad news!

a) ONLY 1.5 months wait?
apparently 1.5 months is not a long wait
according to their criteria
i am to wait up to 3 months 
just to get the appointment
which makes me wonder how many foreign spouses is coming in a day
-.-"

b) no details of the classes
we will only have information at the appointment
but with summer holidays coming (school is closed from july to september)
I guess my classes will start in september
which may mean i will have problem going geneva????

c) classes can be postponed
since we do not know the frequency of the classes
missing a day's class may be a 2hour or 8hour of class
if we are to leave for singapore for 2 weeks
we need to tell them at the appointment
and they will postpone the start of my classes
after the singapore trip
which means more waiting?!

initially we planned that i can learn french for this year
and not worried about jobs etc
but with the waiting and delay,
*i guess the classes will spread over to 2015

arrrrrggggh
hope for good news soon...

new dishes!

Husband made curry chicken!
Maybe we didnt add enough
Of the curry paste
It has the taste of curry
But not spicy
So it was great for me!

I bought frozen dumpling skins
And made dumplings (wantons)!
Taste great for the first try!

I guess 1 step closer to diy xiaolongbao?
Haha

apartment improvement

Our apartment may be small
A simple 2 room apartment
But still comfortable for 2
Especially after reading and hearing
About tiny parisian apartments
With shared bathroom and no cooking area
So im grateful 
for our attached kitchen and bathroom

Since husband stayed here for 6 years
Is a typical bachelor pad
So I started the slow process to convert it
Into a couple home
With diy tricks and projects

From invisible bookcases
To rearrangement of furniture
The biggest spending and project will be
building the new wardrobe, cabinet, cupboard!

Wardrobe is the main focus
Because we only have a 1m wardrobe to share
With 80% filled with husband stuff...
While most of my clothes were hanging 
on a rack
Can imagine how messy it was!

For weeks, We have been searching online for 
an affordable bigger wardrobe
But many times disappointed 
When the prices were too high
Or sold out

In the end,
I made the decision
To buy everything from ikea!

We spent a weekend to build all
And gave the bedroom a new look
Definitely a lot better witg more storage space
No more messy corners of stuff!

With all the new furniture

The room looks brighter with the white

Compared to the yellow walls

I guess the apartnent "renovation" 

Can stop for now....

missing singapore food?

People always ask:
What food will you miss?
At times, I do miss the usual fare
Of zi cha, my mum's cooking, cha siew rice..
But no stronge craving..

However,
I really miss fried chicken!
I realised it has been a long time
Since I ate something fried
(apart from french fries)
Cooking here is mainly grill, panfried, steam..
No deep fried!
I really miss having kfc, popeyes chicken,
Chicken cutlet, nasi lemak chicken wing..
Is great to eat less fried stuff
And kfc is not easily accessible here
But I really crave for it...

Doing it at home will waste too much oil
So in the end
I did an oven baked "fried chicken"
Not really the real fry..
But I guess is better than nothing...
Hope I wont miss anything I cant create!

night at museum

Similar to singapore
France has a night of free museums' visits
"la nuit des musees"
Where most museums were opened till midnight
As we worried for long queues
We only chose to visit
The natual hiatory museum
Which is about animals
We were expecting to see many bones displays
But its mainly animals display
Without english explanation
A little boring
A zoo visit will be better
But I guess is to keep the animal display
In case one day, all animals are extinct..
Is still a wonderful experience to visit a museum at night
Look forward to the next year...

weekend trip - part 3

Friday : etretat - le havre - honfleur

After breakfast in hotel
We left for a last walk along the etretat beach
And took the bus back to le harve
As we planned our schedule well
It wasnt long before the bus came
And we head to honfleur
A little rain but weather was fine

After about a hour
We arrived honfleur
A small city (bigger than etretat) by the sea 
With many boats parked
A little similar to clark quay in singapore

Although we booked the hotel online
They had a cheaper room
So we changed our room to save a little
From euro 102 to 87 per night
Our hotel was built in 16th/18th century!

After we settled down
We went for crepes & oysters
Despite husband said is not oysters seasons
They were fab!

We explored the city
And accidently walked to a hidden museum
Before it closes
Not really intetesting about a composer
But was a good way to spend time
And we were alone 

Then we randomly chose a bistro for dinner
The food was not great
but we were not very hungry
We went back room to enjoy the bathtub and tv
With a bottle of famous rose cidre 

Saturday : honfleur

We woke up to the food market

Selling fresh fruits and vegetables

The greedy me requested us

To buy many food and drink

For brunch in bed room

It was great...

And I tasted the best strawberries

Each bursting with strawberry-ness

-

After the heavy brunch
We climbed up to the cote de grace
And visited the church
Husband never been up there
All thanks to the recommendations 
from the cidre seller
That we saw the beautiful view

We went for a seafood platter dinner
A must-eat when near sea
And went back to our bedroom for tv
Haha

Sunday : honfleur - le havre - paris
We checked out
went for a late breakfast
And it was time for bus back to le harve

We had 2 hours wait for our train
So we went to the le havre shopping mall
Till it was time for us to leave

It was a good trip
Discovering new places in france
I was telling husband I prefer the smaller cities
Than paris
And trying persuade him to change job
Haha

Good to be away from routine
New environment
More quality time
And new memories created..
Look forwar to the next trip!
^,^