WILL_in_Lyon

This is Perouges ... ...

• It is easy to see why this place is used for filming my period dramas.

• Kayla walked her way through the village's cobbled flooring with excellent balance!

posted by Will in Lyon @ 10/15/2006 12:48:00 PM 0 comments

Its been a while ......

posted by Will in Lyon @ 10/14/2006 05:15:00 PM 0 comments

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

• In the last couple of weeks after MIL and SIL went back to Singapore, wifey and KK has settled in rather well, I must say.

• Wifey seems to be managing her SAHM (stay at home mum) role quite well. The daily routine is comfortable. I usually leave for work while she and KK are still in bed. She will only wake up when KK does. She will take care of KK's needs (food, bath etc) and settle her lunch. Plus, prepare the raw materials (wash the veges, cut the meet etc) for dinner. I will arrive back home at about 6 pm or earlier to do the cooking. On the social front, wifey now has a bevy of new international fellow housewife friends - 1 from Singapore, 2 from Hong Kong, 1 from Japan and 1 from Korea. The Hong Kong friends are the most proactive in asking her out for shopping, dinner etc.

• KK is getting more and more independent. She appears to have matured emotionally and intellectually, and boy or boy, she has grown taller and heavier as well. She has adjusted to playing by herself and asked for us to play with her when she gets bored. She is beginning to articulate and verbalise her thoughts. She is responding positively to discipline. The rare few times that wifey and I had to discipline her, she responds positively by behaving very well thereafter for the rest of the day. Also, through her own way of giving us a hug at the moment of the discipling act, she seemed to be asking for forgiveness or was expressing her remorse. Both wifey and I understood that she needs other kids to play with. To date, she had played with 2 Japanese kids and 2 Korean kids. We will keep looking out for such opportunities for her. In addition, we are trying to enrol her in a creche where there are many other kids of her age for her to play with.

• For me, work is getting heavy but interesting and more meaningful. I also have 4 overseas working trips in the horizon. Poor wifey will have to be alone with KK for those periods. At least, the car will be ready by then for her to visit her friends, I hope.

• My very good friend Moonbeam has requested for photos. Well, I will post some here.

• Below : A shot of the open concept kitchen from the living room. See wifey busy learning the ropes of a great chef?

• Below : The River Rhone that runs alongside the apartment and my office.

• Below left : Shot taken in the park through which I take my daily 10-min stroll to work.

• Below right : One of the very many charming architecture that you can find here. This is a church near the apt.

• Below : KK posing with the sofa bed that i bought from Ikea. This will be moonbeam's when she comes visiting :)

• More pixs at the next entry.

posted by Will in Lyon @ 9/03/2006 08:02:00 PM 5 comments

The 2 Weeks

• Well, MIL and SIL came to stay for 2 weeks in tandem with wifey and KK's arrival in Lyon. To be exact, they arrived on 6 Aug 06 and left on 18 Aug 06. The short return flight from Paris to Lyon cost about S$900 per pax. That was exorbitant! And Air France lost MIL's luggage as well. Not much value for money, I would say. Now we learn. The best alternative would be to take the comfortable SNCF train from Paris to Lyon, in 2 hours. It cost just 120 Euros or S$240 for the return trip.

• MIL and SIL played a great part in helping wifey and KK settle in. There were numerous trips to Carrefour, Supermarche, mini-marche, Chinatown and this gaint of a shopping outlet called Auchan to buy neccessities and food items. The travelled largely on the metro, tram and our 2 trusted pair of legs. It was quite convenient really. The wife of a fellow Singaporean here showed us around Chinatown and the Singaporean colleague himself brought wifey and myself to this Asian Supermaket called Paris Store in his state-of-the-art brand new beamer. There is really no lack of authentic Asian supply of food, be it raw or preserved or fresh. The only difference is the price. We of course have to pay much more. 'Think Euro', I had been telling myself. This would make the process of having to pay 4.70 Euros (S$9.40) for a bunch of Kailan more bearable.

• SIL was really amused with the 1 Euro wine on sale in all supermarches. Along the same vein, I realised that the hard liquors are very cheap as well. It cost about 25 Euros for a Chivas and 8 Euros for a Vodka Absolute. And these are not even the duty free prices.

• These 2 weeks also saw experimentation with the different brand of rice. Stick to Thai rice, I would advise. Trust me. I also brought the family to La Chine, to date, still the best Chinese restaurant I know of. Of course, they also tasted the zi cha style Chinese food from the restaurant along Rue Ney. I did take aways on 2 occasions, the first night and the last night of MIL's stay here.

• Of course, there was shopping at Bellcours, where the branded goods stores like LV are located. MIL and SIL bought 4 LV bags in total. I think they cost about S$100 cheaper per item before tax deduction. Yes, there is a further 12 % or so in tax refund.

• And there was some sight-seeing at Fouvier (landmarked by an historical and grand cathedral that overlook the entire Lyon area) and the Hotel de Ville area. Nothing really exciting I must say.

• And one day, there was a notice in French pasted on the lift door at the lobby. I have a sneaky feeling it was meant for us. Afterall, we are the new kids on the block. My limited knowledge of French was enough for me to understand that the content related to the courtyard not being an ash tray and the proper disposal of cardboards in the 'green' bins. Well, I briefed Grace, and in particular SIL on a certain habit of hers.

• MIL and SIL flight from Lyon to Paris was at 7.15 am. I booked a taxi that arrived at 5.30 am to bring us to the airport. Needless to say, we woke up at an ungodly hour to prepare. The one-way fare was 70 Euros. Wifey and MIL cried at the departure gate. The journey back cost another 50 Euros. Wow, 120 Euros (S$240) for a return taxi trip to and from the not so far away airport.

• Welcome to France.

• The French.

posted by Will in Lyon @ 8/28/2006 09:45:00 AM 1 comments

The Arrival of My Beloved Family

• Well, my time has been pretty well occupied with my family and work. I guess this is a good thing. The previous luxury of time to blog on daily occurences was an indication of too much time, too little to do and also too little meaning.

• Wifey, KK, MIL and SIL was scheduled to arrive on 6 Aug (Sunday) at 10.45 am. My friend Sunny picked me up at 9.45 am. We arrived early and sat down at a cafe for a cup of coffee. 10.45 am arrived, then 11.00 am, then 11.15 am and then 11.30 am. No sign of my beloved family. I knew something was no quite right. I soon received a call from wifey that Air France had lost KK's stroller and MIL's luggage. The French. Really.

• After making a report with the Air France ground staff, wifey, KK, MIL and SIL strolled through the arrival date. I was really happy to see them. The first thing I did was to carry KK. She did not resist but seems confused. Wifey explained that she just woke up from a nap, but I had a feeling that she did not really notice my absence till this reunion.

• Sunny managed to packed all the luggages and us into his Hyundai Sante Fe. It was just nice. We would not have space for the stroller and MIL's lost luggage bag. Blessing in disguise? I guess not. The alternative was there - the readily available taxi service, the exhorbitant price not withstanding. It would easily cost 50 - 80 Euros for the 15 min trip from the airport to the apt.

• That day, wifey and KK settled in quite easily. KK , MIL and SIL knocked out in the afternoon but wifey managed to hold out, sleeping only when it was time to sleep in Lyon's context. Dinner was takeaways from the Chinese restaurant along Rue Ney. Brought SIL along and she must had regretted. Well, I told her it was walking distance but she did not expect a 20 - 25 min walk each way.

• Ref the lost luggage, MIL's was found and delivered to the apt that very night. KK's stroller was still missing. This would turn out to be a saga by itself.

• The next few days were quite full of activities, in between KK's nap. We need her to ease into the local time at Lyon. This would reduce the possibility of falling sick. I must say that she adapted quite fast and well. By the 2nd day, she was already adjusted.

• The trips around Lyon were mainly to the park (actually I think it is a botanical garden), shopping areas, super marche, Carrefour and all. We travelled via public transports. It was tough bringing KK around without the stroller.

• Talking about the stroller. I called Air France almost daily to check on the status. On Monday, they told me they found one in Paris and would be making arrangement to send it over to Lyon. On Tuesday, I was told the same thing. The excuse was that they had teletext a message but there was no reply. On Wednesday, I was told that the stroller was still in Paris and they would send a reminder. On Thursday, it was still status quo and I was really getting hot under the collar. They now explained that they could not confirm if the stroller was ours and asked that I fax to them a letter articulating the description. I told them off. Firstly, I did not have a fax at home, and I had no access to one as I was on leave. They suggested the hotel and I told them that we were not putting up in a hotel - we had our own apt. I asked them about emailing the said description. They said they had no email account. No email account??!! Which big airline do not have a customer service email account??!! The French. Next, I asked why couldn't I simply give them the description over the phone. I put it to them in no uncertain terms that the lost of the stroller was their fault and not mine, and it was not fair that I be subjected to further inconveniences. If they had to, they jolly well fly the stroller to Lyon and have it delivered to the apt for us to identify if the one found in Paris was our stroller. I then asked if they had lost more than one stroller for passengers at the same time, the reply was a non-reply - silence. The next day, I called again and was told that the sttoller had arrived in Lyon and that it would be delivered the same day. The stroller was delivered that afternoon with an 'Urgent' tag on it. Well, at least they heard me, albeit 6 days late. Better late than never.

• And the trips out with Kayla became a breeze and more enjoyable.

• Lets talk about the trips out at the next posting.

posted by Will in Lyon @ 8/25/2006 11:00:00 AM 3 comments

Updates 1 (1 - 5 Aug)

• I have not been upkeeping this blog since end of July. Well, there had been heavier load at work as the consultant was in town, and more importantly, there were loads of chores to be done before wifey and KK's arrival on 6 August. I guess this also spells the end of my daily entries. It would mean perodic updates, like this one.

• Some "highlights" to summarise the days from 1 - 5 Aug.

• 1 August 2006 - I found myself an English speaking Volvo agent and the preliminary arrangement to place an order for a 2007 S40 was tied down within a day. This was pretty fast compared to the 'going no where' wheeling and dealings with some French speaking only agents in the past week. To keep things in perspective, just allow me to state that a Volvo much cheaper than a French car like Citroens etc of the same capacity.

• 2 August 2006 - I had to go to the post office (called La Poste here in France) to collect some parcels from France Telecom. I think these are the hardwares to set up the cable TV and ADSL internet access. I proceeded there after lunch at about 1 pm. It was a 20 minutes walk from my office. When I arrived there at about 1.20 pm, I was disgusted to find that it was closed for lunch till 2 pm! Which post office in the world closes for lunch !!?? The French.

• I had no choice but to window shop at a nearby supermarche. Needless to say, La Poste did not open on time and at 2 pm, there was a queue of about 10 pple waiting outside, excluding me. It opened its door at about 2.10 pm. The place was warm and stuffy - yes, they had no aircon and not even a fan. I collected my parcel without fuss after 35 minutes. Thank goodness there were 3 counters in operations.

• Next, I discovered that I had forgotten to bring my apt's key. This meant that I had to walk back to office with the 3 boxes (about the size of a shoe box for a size-10 high cut pair of shoes) instead of dropping it off at the apt which is just 5 - 10 minutes away. Well, I had to endure the consequence of my own mistake.

• The walk back to the office with the 3 boxes was a torture. That evening, I requested HK kaki to give me a ride home. Whew, thank goodness.

• 3 August 2006 - At about 8.10 am, 2 technicians from France Telecom arrived to install my cable and internet access. Quite punctual, I must say. I was expecting time to be ultra late as always. Well, France is full of surprises.

• And a surprise followed next. In my arrangement for the technicians ( I paid 50 Euros for their services), I had requested for English speaking ones. I was told, pas de probleme - no problem. However, the 2 technicians, though nice and polite, could not utter a word of English. I ended up calling my Korean friend Sunny to play translator.

• They were done in an hour. All systems were working. There was however an ethernet cable that ran across my living room floor to connect the decoder (which fed off the television pod) to the livebox which fed of the telephone pod. Yes, the television and telephone pods were located apart in the living room. And only in the living room. There are tv and telephone pods in all rooms and they are located together side by side. Sigh, only the living room .......... ...........

• In the afternoon, I received a welcome call from Skynet - the French freight-handling company - telling me that the boxes from Singapore would be delivered the next day. At last.

• 4 August 2006 - I was looking foward to the delivery of the boxes. At about 10.30 am, I received a call from the delivery staff who asked me when I wanted the boxes delivered. I set a 11.30 am - enough time for me to stroll home, change and have a cuppa tea before the hard work.

• They arrived quite promptly at 11.35 am. The boxes came in 2 pallets and the pallets had to be opened to move the boxes up one by one. I was horrified and annoyed to note that the boxes that I had marked prominently as FRAGILE and THIS WAY UP had not been duly tagged by the Singapore freight company. Needless to say, the French chaps moving the individual boxes up to my apartment did not accord the tender care needed for these boxes. I was thinking : "There goes my computer, LCD monitor and all the electronic items!!". I hit the roof when I found my LCD monitor being placed inside an unmarked duffle bag together with another box. I called Singapore immediately to register my point and put across their liability should there be any damage as a result of the non-tagging. Within 15 minutes, the French agent appeared at my door step - the Singapore agent had called them to pin the blame on them. Quite clearly, the fault was not theirs. The French have their idiosyncracies but this time round, they are in the clear.

• After arranging the boxes, I went back to office. I would have the entire Saturday to unpack.

• That evening, I had dinner with ASEAN and other Asian colleagues at a Korean-Japanese fusion type of restaurant. Expensive food with little to enjoy. My last visit.

• 5 August 2006 - I woke up early and spent the entire day unpacking the boxes. I tested all electronic items except the computer. All were thankfully in working order. I finished the chores at about 3 am in the wee hours. This included cleaning up the house again. You wouldn't believe the amount of dirt that came with the boxes. Lets just say that it was enough to blacken the sole of your feet.

• I set the alarm to wake up at 8 am. I did not want to miss the flight. I was really happy when I got to bed.

posted by Will in Lyon @ 8/10/2006 04:49:00 PM 4 comments

Lazy Monday

• I woke up quite late. I was woken up by the call from the Darty delivery staff to be exact - at 8.20 am. They informed, through halting English, that they would arrive at 11 am. I thought to myself, hmmm, we shall see.

• Whilst waiting for the delivery staff to arrive with the TV, I continued to with the kitchen. I completed it by about 10.30 am. I left the dish washer and the fringe untouch for wifey to have her share of contribution :)

• I was pleasantly surprised when the Darty staff arrived quite on time at 11.10 am. I was buzzed for the first time. Visitors had to buzz for the owners to open the main gate into the apartment lobby. Pretty much like what we have at some condominiums in Singapore. In a minute, 2 young chaps came through the lift with the TV. They were pleasant people with the patience to communicate with me haltingly in less than rudimentary English. I tried to bridge the communications gap with my very rudimentary French. Well, we got through it. They were quick, and most importantly, nice. The TV was installed and the channels were tuned in 20 minutes. Not bad, I am now very inclined to buy from Darty again in the future, where needed.

• The only negative thing was - and it was not their fault - that they did not take off their shoes. I just spent time, effort and money polishing up the parquet flooring over the previous weekend! Well, this is the culture in France. They do not take off their shoes. Naturally, I did not blame them. I simply cleaned the floor again. At the back of my mind, I knew I would have to do the same again and again in the near future. I have the technician coming on the 3 Aug to fix up the internet connection and cable TV, plus the sofa to be delivered by Ikea sometime after 7 Aug.

• The rest of the afternoon was spent lazing around the apartment till about 4 pm when I made my way to Carrefour on foot to buy some more household items. It was an half an hour walk each way. But hey, I had time.

• Whilst at Carrefour, I received a call from HK kaki to have dinner at his place. His wife was cooking. I agreed readily. Also to be present at the dinner was a consultant that I would be working closely with.

• Dinner was great! Home-cook food is rarity in France, till now, at least. The wife cooked Thai curry, pan fried porkchop, traditional chicken soup, pasty prawns etc. Wow, it was great. I requested the wife to give wifey a series of cooking lessons! Dinner ended at 11.30 pm. By the time I got back to the apartment, I was dead tired, possibly accentuated by the red wine I had over dinner as well.

posted by Will in Lyon @ 8/03/2006 02:41:00 PM 0 comments

The Kitchen

• I intended to check out of the hotel on this very day. Between 9.00 am to 9.45 am, I managed to shift all my luggages to the new apartment viz 3 trips, and on foot. The total bill for my 20-day stay was 2050 E. Thats more than S$4000.

• Back at the apartment, I arranged my clothing into the walk-in cabinet and proceeded to work on the kitchen.

• I decided to clean shelve by shelve and drawer by drawer, all the items included. There was easily more than 100 items. My oh my, the landlord's wife must be a shopaholic. It was crazy to have so many things for a small family. And I smacked my forehead in dismat when I recalled that I had packed some kitchen stuff to be delivered through the freight as well. What a monster of a kitchen it would be !

• By the end of the day at about 7 pm, I was only 3/4 done. Yah, it was alot of things and work, hard work. I was tired and decided to continue on Monday. I had taken 1 day of installation leave (total I was entitled to 3) on Monday in anticipation of the delivery of my new television set. I had wanted to take just half a day as they promised to delivery between 8 am - 12 noon. But I would have none of it - I just could not trust the French to deliver upon their service assertations. Who could blame me after all the negative experiences in the past 3 weeks?

• It was another easy-to-fall-asleep night as I was fatigue. Another week to seeing my dearest wifey and KK. Somewhere within me, I had a bit of a mix feeling as well because I know real well that would be when my mum would start to miss KK :(

posted by Will in Lyon @ 8/03/2006 02:24:00 PM 0 comments