merry christmas!

Merry christmas everyone!
as usual we are spensing christmas
at my in laws place.
Husband ended work early
and we arrived at about 4pm

After helping to prepare dinner
we dressed up for the dinnee
dinner startedvat 730pm
and ended at 130am
yes, traditional long dinner!
we did took breaks between the meal
with game, smoking break
and to open presents at midnight.
But I think our weight will increase
after all the good food.
haha

Christmas is such a big event here
feels like cny!
hope everyone is having a good christmas..

Cousin in da house!

Husband is very close to his cousin
They are playmates and close friends
since young
and i cant count the number of stories
how they used to spend every summer and christmas holidays together
However, due to some unknown saga,
Cousin and aunt stopped spending christmas with them.
I think it had been many years until our wedding
that cousin and aunt met the whole family

Husband is still very close to cousin
consider the fact that he was his bestman for the wedding
despite the fact that cousin currently works in south america,
husband do try to keep in contact
and spends all the time with him when he is in Paris
And luckily,
every december, cousin comes to Paris for his meeting
it was like the official time for husband to catch up with cousin
and plenty of parties
haha

This year, cousin can only stay 3 days in Paris
husband got a little upset that cousin was considering to stay at a friend's place
and not at our home
I guess cousin didnt want to bother us
since our apartment is small and we are married
in the end, my sister in law decided to come meet cousin
and requested to stay at our place for 1 night
so we agreed

FRIDAY
Husband left work early so that he can meet cousin early
See! so excited!! haha
Cousin and friend K arrived at ou home
and suddenly the party started at our home
instead of the designated pub 
all the friends started arriving at home
Thankfully, friend A came with more beers and snacks
After 2+ hours at our small appartment,
they finally moved to the pub
which i excused myself to clean up the apartment
and enjoy a quiet evening

based on husband's account,
they went to the pub till closing time
then a disco till closing time
and finally another disco till closing time
well, they arrived home at 0630
I was really surprised that cousin returned with them
and ended up sleeping at our home

SATURDAY
Due to husband's drunk sleeping style,
and the waking up
i ended up leaving home at noon
to grab a lunch and bought breakfast for them

Friend M arrived at 1400 to wake up drunkens up, haha
despite the brunch appointment at friend A home
the group left at 1630 for dinner instead
while sister in law returned to versailles

I get to enjoy another quiet evening again
before the men returned at 0230
because husband was down with flu 
thats why the night ended early

SUNDAY
I think we woke up around 1300
and waited for the rest of the guys to go for lunch
which started at 1500
i went along since it was the last lunch before cousin leave for home
Cousin and friend M left at 1700 to catch their train
and we stayed till about 1800 to finish the drinks

I guess husband is really happy
to spend so much time with cousin
and that he slept over at our home for all the nights
although he is disappointed that cousin didnt prepare christmas presents for him
I guess it will be long again before we get to see cousin again

PS: the arrival of cousin and intense gatherings

made me felt really lonely

at times i do understand the conversations

but most of the time, i was just dreaming in my head

I really miss the times to hang out with my friends,

having random conversations , drinks and parties

And I do miss spending time with my family too

I guess its normal to be home sick

even after my relocation for france for a year

I hope life will be better for 2015

especially my social circle...

Sick

I am / was sick
I cant say is a past or present tense
because i am continuously sick!
The month of december has been the month of sickness for me..
when is suppose to be a relax month without work
hmmm, im a workaholic??
I guess I can blame the weather for being unhelpful in my recovery
is getting cold

It started with bad cramps and all PMS that accompanied my period
that lasted a week before and after 
from end of november to start of december

after being happy from free of pain for 1 day
I got a very bad mirgraine
which was so bad and different from what i ever encountered
that i visited my first GP in France
just to be sure im not dying

The mirgraine causes 3 areas of my head to be in constant pain
and felt like someone hit my head with a baseball bat
whenever i have a sudden movement
eg from lying down to sitting up
i started by taking normal painkillers
but it was still here
One night, i had a terrible backache
that spread to my chest
and i couldnt breathe well
that was a sign to see a doctor

after the doctor assured me that it should be a mirgraine
and probably a gastric pain caused by painkillers
i was given stronger painkillers and mirgraine medications
thankfully the doctor spoke english
and now i have an official family doctor!
While im happy that is nothing serious,
the doctor added that if i still have pain after 3 days
or im in serious pain 
i should go to A&E immediately for a brain scan
and wrote me a reference letter to bring to hospital
ehhh suddenly sounds so serious
-,-''

Thankfully the medication works
and the mirgraine went away in 2 days
before i can celebrate my painless day
i started to have running nose
and i suspect that i have caught a cold
well, sadly, i did have a cold
the usual headache, weakness, running nose and cough
the cold weather doesnt help to improve my nose
and my dry cough transformed into an old man's wet cough

It has been 9 days since my flu started
now im still stuck with the cough
but all is better

I cant believe i have been sick for the whole month of december!
 husband caught my flu 4 days ago
OPPS?

Love-hate relationship with french classes - 5

I unofficially terminated my french classes

I cant find an easier way to explain what happen

except by a timeline:

9 dec - first day at new school with all the drama

10 dec - no school

11,12dec - MC

15 dec - Despite being sick, i went to school

i think i was sounding really bad

or feels like im trying spread my virus to others

that the teacher say i can leave class

after signing my attendance

which was done first 30mins of the class

but i stayed till 12pm

Had difficulty to catch up in class

16 dec - the day before,

teacher told me that i can stay home if im still sick

so i stayed home

17 dec - no school

Received a text from classmate N

there will be a level A2 test

the next day

is normal to have a level test to make sure we understood the level

before the end of the course

considering how many days i missed,

how yucky the previous teacher was,

i know i wasnt apt for the test yet.

18 dec - I was sure i will need to retake this level in 2015

and that im going to miss 3 last days of the class

because of christmas holidays

which means i wont complete enough hours to get the certificate of completion

i decided to stop attending the class

So, unofficially, i stopped attending my class.

And im glad i did it

at least i appreciate the time to recover,

to prepare for christmas

and enjoy the last bit of holiday

before work restarts in January.

Just to follow up on my class buddy's story.

After her 1 week holiday (which the previous teacher approved),

she tried to contact the teacher but she didnt reply.

When the teacher finally replied by text,

how professional huh,

she told class buddy that there is no more vacancy in the new school,

she will need to retake the level A1 in January 

and to pay on her own 

since gov funding is only for 2014.

Eh, in the first place

at the beginning of the course,

class buddy told them that she cant attend the course

because she has a 1 week holiday

but the school was desparate for money

that they told her is fine to go for holiday

as long as she attend the rest of the course

now they simply kicked her out,

because she went for holiday???

All of the sudden, it became her fault

I missed class 2 days for my trip to bordeaux too

but lucky for me,

that happened in the old school

where the previous teacher dont mind

I am speechless.

Anyway, i guess since we are going to be paying customers

we will definitely not choose this school 

to repeat the course.

I guess I really appreciated my first course

that helped me to improve my french

but for this second course,

I am glad that it is over...

 

Inspirational speeches

Inspirational speeches

Just to share some speeches that i watched recently
i think they are really great in terms of stage presence,
engagement, entertainment and content
kinda make me miss my old job..

anyway, i am really impressed with Chew Chor Meng
I dont think i can ever do such speech
in mix of mandarin, teochew and hokkien
If interested, google on youtube!
:)

My nightmare with UPS

Sadly, I think international delivery services dont do their job well
in france / paris
Especially when most people live in apartment 
that require access codes into the building
and there is no door number stated in the address
all you get is the building address
My first nightmare was to receive the juicer from Aven
which was delivered by Fedex
they did informed me of the delivery date and time
but did not call to ask for the access code
so they simply left and stuck a notice
in front of the building door
Despite of this, at least i just called them,
provided the access code, 
which level im living,
and schedule for a redelivery
and it was done.

I ordered some stuff from Forever21
to be included into the christmas gifts
and i made sure that i ordered in time that it will arrive this week
before Christmas
I was not able to choose the company for delivery
and they used UPS
Since we will be in Versailles for Christmas
and not at home
but the package was returned to the sender
WTF

Anyway below is my complaint letter to UPS
because im lazy to explain the whole incident:

Dear Sir / Madam,

I am truly disappointed by the following delivery incident that i will like to lodge a complaint.

Despite UPS's good reputation in the delivery services in the world, I am truly disappointed and shocked by this incident and how it is being handled. I believe UPS understands the importance of timely delivery, especially during this festive season.

Firstly, I was not informed of the delivery. I did not received any email or phone call to ensure that someone will be present to receive the package. 

Secondly, I live in an apartment thet require access code to enter the building, which was not provided to UPS as I was not informed of the delivery. It will be impossible for the delivery to gain access to the building and delivered the package. This led to my displease that the reason for the return of the package to be stated as (on your package tracking progress status website ) :"The receiver does not want the product and refused the delivery". This is totally unacceptable that I, the receiver, has been blamed for the return of the package.

Thirdly, I believe UPS is aware of the massive amount of delivery request during this festive season and will ensure that customers placed their trust to ensure that their package will arrived before Christmas. I abided by the recommended timeline to ensure that i will be able to receive the package before Christmas as it contains gifts for my family. However, due to this incident, I will not be able to receive the package in time when i placed my trust in UPS.

Fourthly, I did not received the UPS InfoNotice® to inform me that an delivery attempt was made. 

Fifthly, according to your package tracking progress status, the delivery attempt was around 14:00 and within a few hours, the package was returned to the sender. This short time window did not allowed me to contact UPS to clarify the situation or to schedule for a new delivery schedule for the package. Since I was not informed of the first delivery, I am not allowed to schedule for a second delivery?

Lastly, based on the above mentioned, I think it is totally unprofessional of UPS to simply advise me to contact the sender to rearrange for a redelivery when UPS has failed on its part to ensure the timely delivery of the package.

I regret to inform that I will not be able to entrust UPS for delivery services in the future.

Anyway, I dont think I will receive any formal reply from UPS

at most maybe a sorry for the incident blah blah blah

I have emailed Forever21 for them to resend the package

but no reply from them yet

and i guessed the package has not reached them

I guess i will not see the package till Christmas is over

for anyone who want to send me a package

I will really prefer to receive it at the post office

at least its just 200m away

and i know it will be there