Rennes

Rennes is the capital city of Brittany. I have been to this city several times, so this time I take it slow and easy.

Start off with Parc du Tabor. Have a nap, then read on the beautiful grass with some sun. I never understood why people can lay down on grass under the sun, now only I know it's too comfortable to do that. In Malaysia, the sun is too hot, you are basically having a sona. Exit from the park, I saw this, think it's cute.



It means I need to be taken on leash. I didn't see much dogs around, but France is really a nation having lots of dogs.



This is the house office the park. It's quite bit, while I was taking picture a guy driving in sport Mercedes drive in. I presume rich people live here.



There are lots of churches and cathedrals in Rennes, I like the achitechture.



Some houses in Brittany are built with this kind of stone. It's actually very cute. However it's very expensive nowaday.



This water wall is cute. I have to take this picture from the gate. You can't get closer.



Found these bridal gowns to be too much, I won't be able to wear them.



This is the Parliment in Rennes. It was burnt down once by the fishermen who did a demonstration.

Durian wafer

I love durian and everything goes with it. My boyfriend hates it so much.

I got this durian wafer from a chinese grocery, when we got home, he secretly hide it somewhere else. When I crave for it, he reluctantly gave it to me, and quickly open the door and cover his noise. I pity him, so have to hide the remaining wafer somewhere so it won't bother him.

Isn't it amazing how much different we are in accepting certain smell? His cheeses are as smelly as durian but I don't have to cover my noise and gradually accepting them. For him, his dislikeness for durian will never fade away I guess.

Cheek kiss after sport? Weird

We finally managed to play badminton in Nantes. We went to do the registration yesterday, and immediately we were allowed to play.

What I noticed is that after a game, people actually do the French hello kiss (cheek kiss) instead of shake hands. How weird, you are all sweeting and you are expected to faire la bise (hello kiss)?

We went in into a game with a couple, and ended I shake their hands. They must feel weird, but I really can't stand the cheek tough at this point.

Change!

Last week the gîte where we are having our wedding reception in France told us that they can't make it on 1 September. What! Appearantly that there is a bicycle race going on every year end of August. In 2007 it will be from 31 Aug to 2 Sept and all the roads around will be closed for this event.

This sucks big time! Well, just for my family. My sister and my sister in law may not be able to make the trip to France. Gosh!

Initial plan was for my family to come over from 18 Aug to 2 Sept. 18 Aug starts the school holiday for my nephews who will come with their mothers. The holiday ends 26 Aug, so they will have to skip class for a week, minus 31 Aug public holiday. So 4 days absent from class for primary school kids are acceptable.

Now, after negotiating, the gîte agreed to postponed to 8 Sept, which means if my sisters come with the kids, they will force their kids to skip school for 2 weeks, not acceptable even for me! Since my mother and aunt are coming, there are nobody handle to take care of their children, so that means they can't make it.

Sad! The French won't change the gîte because they got good deal. Besides, who will care if two Malaysians do show up for a wedding?

A natural socialist will swing left

Ségolène Royal, a popular candidate for the French presidency in 2007 election, is hot in the media these days. I do not know much a her, but the medias have been "caricatured"her in a way that I don't think Malaysia's medias will dare to do. Look at the caricatures and see for yourself.


Can you imagine that the media in Malaysia potrait Rafidah Aziz this way?



This photo tries to say that "a real socialist naturally swing to the left". Do you believe in it?

Free watermark software

I'm creating my website and one of the concern is posting private photos online. I found a free software to do the watermark, and it's very easy to use.

http://www.picture-shark.com/

Do you pee in your garden?

Growing in Malaysia, I have heard of so many people telling their kids to pee in the garden. I was told that it is a good fertilizer for the plants. I was laughed at when I told my boyfriend about this. His father, with gardening as his hobby, was surprised when I told him.

Ok, why then in Malaysia people do this? It doesn't seem like the plant was drying from the pee.



Did some research. I was right. Urine can be a good fertilizer. Go figure yourself.

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/well/resources/fact-sheets/fact-sheets-htm/Ecological%20sanitation.htm

Visit to La Gacilly

I love Lavender, love it's colour and smell. After our civil wedding, my partner has 7 days of vacations. He asked me where I want to go. I told him I would like to see "La mer de Lavender", which means the sea of Lavender. Ideally we should go to Provence, the Lavenders grow nicely there. However, in summer, if you don't reserve in advance, chances are every hotel and campsite is full. We have no choice, but to go to other option. We chosed La Gacilly, as we heard that they might have some Lavender. We were wrong, but the trip was still nice.


Photo from http://ecycletours.com/content2002/01-photos.htm

We didn't see Lavender, it's not the session, they usually fully grow during the spring. Instead, La Gacilly is famous of it's artists and handcraft shops. We saw shop producing glasses, collectional toys, galleries; their products are quite expensive. The shop below produce and sell candles in different shapes.



What impressed me was the big posters hanging on the wall of building. I didn't know you can have an art exhibition this way. Some of the posters are displaying the flooding situation in Redon in 1999.



They have also exhibition about Himalaya.



We visited also the botanical garden of Yves Rocher, a French cosmetic brand who produce cosmetic using plants. I heard of Yves Rocher in Malaysia, which my sister told me that it's famous in France. I told her I have never heard of it in France. It was my fault though, because I don't know French brand much. It's true that it's quite famous here. The botanical garden is fine, just that when you are in French, you don't expect people to introduce you what is bamboo, what is curry, banana trees, where is pineapple grow from pineapple tree... Gosh, I knew these since I was young, simply because I'm a Malaysian, and we do have a lot bamboo and banana trees, we do know that curry is not a plant but combination of spices, and that pineapple grow from the middle of the pineapple tree. No brainer.

Places I have been to (2001- 2006)

The year 2000 had been the turning page in my life. Since then, I have been visiting a lot of places in US and Europe, something that won't have happened if my life page hadn't changed.

Jan 2001 - San Antonio, Texas, USA
Feb 2001 - New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Mar-Apr 2001 - New York, Washington DC, USA
Aug - 2001 - Corpus Christi, Texas, USA
Nov 2001 - Phoenix, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Flagstaff, USA
Dec 2001 - North Carolina, USA
Dec 2001 - Jan 2002 - Belo Horizonte, Jericoacoa, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Apr 2002 - Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA
May - June 2002 - Back to Malaysia
Jul 2002 - Singapore
Aug 2002 - Alps Mountain, Paris, Brittany, France; Turino, Italy
Dec 2002 - Jan 2003 - New York, USA
May 2003 - Back to Malaysia
Jun 2003 - San Antonio, New Orleans, USA
Jul 2003 - Philadeuphia, USA
Aug 2003 - Niagara Falls, Toronto, Canada
Nov 2003 - Boston, USA
Dec 2003 - Jan 2004 - Alsace, Brittany, France
Jun 2004 - Dallas, Houston, Enchanted Rock, Hot Spring, Arkansas, Johnson City, Fredericksburg, Wimberley, Texas, USA
Jul 2004 - Los Angeles, San Diergo, Santa Barbara, CA, USA; Tijuana, Mexico
Dec 2004 - Jan 2005 - Brittany, France
Feb 2005 - Back to Malaysia
Jun 2005 - Moved to France
Jul - Aug 2005 - Back to Malaysia; Bali, Indonesia
May 2006 - Back to Malaysia

The marriage procedure in France

Note: This information is gathered based on my personal experience. I'm not an expert in giving advise on this matter, but simply sharing my experience. You are advised to contact any relevant authorities for the up to date procedure.

How to get married in France

Once you decide to get married, you need to go to the Town Hall (Mairie) where you are going to have the wedding for a list of documents to prepare.

Each Town Hall might request a different set of documents. Here are documents required by the Town Hall in Queven:

1. Medical certificate within 2 months before you send in the application.

Note: Make sure the town hall give you also a booklet that have 2 forms for this certificate. Both of you need to go see a doctor and it's you who have to bring this form along. If you don't have it with you, you need to go to the Town Hall again and come back to the doctor for him to sign.

2. You will need to fill out the forms in the booklet which provide the Town Hall with the personal details of each spouse as well as a list of witnesses.

3. Extract of your birth certificate issued within 3 months to the day of the wedding (Original and translated copy).

Note: I didn't provide them a new birth certificate. Instead I told the Town Hall that unlike France, Malaysia only issue a life time birth certificate. The officer in the Town Hall called their judge, and the judge agreed that I only need to provide them with a translated copy which is made within 3 months, and a certified copy of my original birth certificate. All of these can be done with the Embassy of Malaysia in Paris.

4. Proof of the residency - electricity bill or other bill with your name on it.

5. Photocopy of your identity card (with photo).

6. Photocopy of the identity card of your witness.

7. Certificate of custom (A paper saying that the law of Malaysia allows you to get married).

8. Certificate of yous single status (A proof that you have never been married).

Note: Item 7 and 8 can be done together. Please call the Embassy of Malaysia in France to verify all the information.

Apply from France

You will need to go to the Embassy of Malaysia in Paris. Make sure you call them and make an appointment before going. You will fill in the form and swear in front of them that you have never married. They will issue you a "surat akuan" with some forms. You will need to send all these along with a photocopy of your IC and RM5 to:

Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara Malaysia (Attention Puan Nor)

Bahagian Perkahwinan dan Perceraian

Aras 1, Lot 2G5 Presint 2

Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan

62100 Putrajaya

Tel:03-8880-7000

Once they receive your application, it will take them 7 days to issue you an English version of "Pengesahan Taraf Perkahwinan", where you should ask them to send it to:

Kementerian Luar Negeri

Bahagian Konsular

Wisma Putra

No.1, Jalan Wisma Putra

Parcel C, Precint 2

62602 Putrajaya

Tel:03-8887-4159

Kementerian Luar Negeri will certify and sign that this "Surat Pengesahan Taraf Perkahwinan" is actually signed by the right person. You need to pay RM10 for that. They will then send this letter to you in France.

You can then send this letter to the Embassy in Malaysia in Paris:

Ambassade de Malaisie (Consular Department)

2 bis, rue Benouville

75116, Paris France

Tel:(331) 4553 1185

Fax:(331) 4727 3460

Email:mwconsparis@free.fr

Once the Embassy receive this, they will translate the "Pengesahan Taraf Perkahwinan" to the required certificate of single status (Item 8) and issue you a certificite of custom (Item 7). You will need to pay 5 euros for Item 7. This can usually be done within 2 weeks.

Apply from Malaysia

I did mine in Malaysia May 2006. My family got me the form from Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara Malaysia. I then went to see a commissioner of oath, he signed and I paid RM4. Then, I went to Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara Malaysia in Putrajaya to submit the application (RM5) with a photocopy of IC. Service was nice and fast. One week later, I went to collect the "Sijil Pengesahan Taraf Perkahwinan", then go to Kementerian Luar Negeri to get it sign (RM10). Service was nice but slow due to the crowd. I then sent it by poslaju to Embassy of Malaysia in Paris. They sent me Item 6 and 7 to my address in France within 2 weeks.

The Civil Marriage

Once the town hall receive all the necessary documents, they will make an announcement of the marriage. Your wedding day will have to be 2 weeks or one month after the application, depending on the city you live.

On the wedding day, the ceremony will last for around 10 minutes. The mayor will ask the bride first for the consent of marriage follow by the gloom. You will be given a "livret de famille" and several extract of the marriage for future administrative purposes.

The Carte de séjour

As soon as you are married, you can go to your prefecture to process your carte de séjour. In Nantes, I need my passport and the livret de famille to get an appointment to process the carte. The prefecture only open from 1.30pm to 4pm, so people were queueing to fight for the 20-25 numbers available for the day. My appointment was scheduled to 2 months after. That means I can only work when I get my temporarily carte de séjour on the appointment day.

On the appointment day, you need to provide these documents and your French spouse has to come with you:

1. Photocopy of your passport including pages that indicate your status in France (visa)

2. Extract of your birth certificate accompany by a translation in French

3. Livret de famille

4. Extract of your marriage provided by the town hall where you got married

5. Justification of your residential (electricity bill, phone bill...)

6. Identity card of your spouse

7. 4 photos, preferably in black and white, clearly showing your face

8. Your current carte de séjour

9. The appointment paper

How to get a student visa to France

Note: This information is gathered based on my personal experience. I'm not an expert in giving advise on this matter, but simply sharing my experience. You are advised to contact any relevant authorities for the up to date procedure.

How to apply for a student visa to France from Malaysia

If you are going to study in France more than 3 months, most likely you will need a student visa. Here is a list of documents that you need to prepare:

1. 1 application form duly filled in capital letters and signed.

2. 3 passport size photos.

3. Valid passport - validity not less than 1 year.

4. Copy of your A level certificate/last diploma.

5. Letter of acceptance from the University/School/Institute in France. *Kindly provide the receipt as proof of payment made for the fees

Note: Usually Universities in France will ask you to pay the fees once you are in France with your student visa. I told the embassy about this by the time I applied for my student visa. I called the Univesity to see whether I can pay in advance, but they said it's not possible. The embassy said they will call the university to verity this information.

6. Proof of the applicant's financial means for the duration of your stay in France.

*430 euros per month (if no accomodation)

*215 euros per month (with accomodation provided free of charge)

Note:I provided a letter from the bank stating the amount I have with the bank. It will take 3 days to get this letter from your bank.

7. If accomodation is provided free of charge, please present a letter from your friend or family with whom you are staying, together with a copy of his/her passport or identity card or resident permit.

8. Letter of motivation.

9. The application fee (not refundable) is 99 euros (pay in equivalent Ringgit Malaysia) which has to be paid at the time of application.

Notes

1. I applied for the student visa in August 2005. These informations might be outdated. In any case, please contact:

Ms Telmah Lopez

telmah.lopez@diplomatie.gouv.fr

The Embassy of France in Malaysia

194 Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur

Tel (603) 20-53-55-65

Tel (603) 20-53-55-51

2. You are required to apply your visa in person.

3. It takes 3 days to process the visa.

4. If successful, you will be given a 3 months visa to enter France. You need to enter France within this period. After you have arrived in France, you need to go to the prefecture in your town to get a "carte de séjour". Usually it will last for 6 months, it can be extended without extra fees. If you wish to avoid the hassle to have to extend the carte de séjour, you can pay for 2 semesters at the beginning of the school, and the school will provide you receipt. The officer in the prefecture will give you the duration according to how many semester you have paid.

5. Usually the school will have an officer from the prefecture present from September to October.

Map the countries you have visited

I discovered this website where you can map the countries you have visited. Pretty cool.

http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries

Here is my map.

My civil wedding

We are going to get married 3 times. The first one, our civil wedding, went well.



It was a sunny day. We have 22 close family and friends going to the town hall with us. Everything was very well organized. Apparently Fabien's mother has planned and coordinated with everyone long time ago. I wore the wedding gown belong to Fabien's mother (she wore it 28 years ago). His brother designed the bouquet and decorated the tables with flowers. Here is the flow of the event:

1. Welcome by the Mayor
2. Mayor explaining the law of the marriage
3. Moment of saying "I do"
4. Poem with traditional theme about Brittany by the two grandmothers
5. A chinese song by a friend while her husband played guitar
6. Signing the marriage contract by all parties including the witnesses

7. Everybody sings the song "Quand on n'a que l'amour"
8. Poem by Fabien's mother

During the ceremony, musics were played including traditional chinese and brittany musics. A Malaysian flag and a Brittany flag were on the table.

After the ceremony, everybody went to Fabien's parents house for the "Vin d'honneur" or appetizer. We have also photos session with the guests. Some guests left while some stayed for the dinner. I wore a traditional Malay dress, baju kebaya during the dinner. My favorite dish is the wedding cake, made by Fabien's mother, decorated by his father. We did "yamsheng" like in Malaysia.

When you are registered, are you married?

In Malaysia, you can find many couples get registered (legally married), but still living separated, until they have their wedding ceremony. I don't know how it works in France.

Well, most of the French get registered in the morning and have their religion ceremony in the afternoon. It's done within a day, so they won't have this problem.

Me and boyfriend got registered in front of a Mayor last weekend. However, we considered ourselves only engaged and we became each other's fiancee. Not for his family though. They keep calling me Madame Le Bars. It's weird, I still want to be called mademoiselle. :-)

Zidane headbutted Materazzi

This was the first time I watched and followed the world cup. I didn't understand why people "workship" Zidane so much, but after a while I realised that the French relied on him a lot to win the games.

In the final France Vs Italy, we were in the music festival, watching from a giant screen. When Zidane headbutted Materazzi, everybody was shocked and asked why he did that.

I think he deserved the red card for his action. However, should Materazzi be left out by insulting him? Should Materazzi still be considered a hero, if his winning came from using dirty trick? For me, Materazzi is not better than Zidane in this game.

I always thought that sport is not all about winning but it involves sportmanship. I think I'm wrong. Afterall, winning is the most important thing and you can use whatever tools/tactics to gain it. Many people commented that this is just pure "word exchange" and is "very common" in football, where Zidane lost by stepping into the trap set by the Italians.

I didn't know that football is that dirty. When I watched badminton, if the party who lost throw their racket away, he or she is considered "not gentleman". It seems that in football it's 1000 times worst!

What can Zidane do actually in that situation? Can he complaint to FIFA after? FIFA must be very busy with all these complaints if these kinds of insults are common in football games.

Music festival in Terre Neuvas

The first weekend of July, we went to a 3 days music festival, attended by almost 40,000 people, and around 40-50 groups and individual performers. We camped in the site and had meals in the festival scenes. We were not allowed to bring in camera so all photos are taken from ouest-france.fr.



Wampas. He is a weird performer, he actually put mud all over himself.



Patrice, a nice raggie performer.



Little Richard from US. Rock and Roll.



This band actually won the Eurovision Song Festival this year. They are all on costumes and masks.



Indochine. A famous band in France.



Benebar. I like his songs.



Bonnie Tyler. She doesn't sing as well as when she was younger.



Chuck Berry. A very humble and talented singer.



Look at the crowd!

Malaysia in May

I went back to Malaysia in May and stayed there for one month. With all the help from my family members, I managed to have my sijil bujang done in one week and then sent it to the Embassy of Malaysia in Paris. Before I got back to France, my boyfriend's family received the certificate de celibataire and the certificat de coutoume. So, the civil marriage is set to go.







This time back home, I managed to get highspeed internet connection at home. So much convenient. While updating my boyfriend about the progress I made for the marriage here at home, my main activity was shopping eating shopping eating. My sisters and aunt took turn to drive me around. First look for the wedding ring, then the gown. After visiting several bridal shops, I managed to buy one day gown and one night gown. The ring is on hold as we won't need it until next year.

My eating trip was again fabulous. However, I felt that I prefer more and more to eat homemade meal then going outside. The comfort at home is incredible. Everyday I woke up, breakfast was prepared. Came back from shopping, just watched TV until dinner time.

Tulip! Tulip!

We are growing some tulips in our garden, and they are doing well!

Spring is here!

In Malaysia we have only one session: Summer. While in France, they have 4 sessions. The cold winter is finally over, and we are starting to have warmer weather. I enjoy seeing the dead plants having green leaves again. This is like a rebirth! Very touching!

The majority lost!

The majority lost to the minority!! This is so strange!

Yesterday, in front of the Pole Etudiant, the majority of the students wanted to go in to the building and vote. However, they were blocked by a group of minority students who don't want the vote to take place. They were probably scared that the result will be that they will resume the class.

So, due to a small group of students who don't want to resume the class, the majority of the students couldn't vote and have the face the consequance of losing a school year. What a pity!

They are going to lose one school year! Oh my god!!

The France government has withdrew the unpopular employment law: the CPE. Lots of people thought that would be the end of the demonstrations and the strikes, that the students will now go back to the class. They are wrong!!

In my university, there were supposed to have a secret voting session to determine whether the students want to resume their cours or not. They failed to do that because a group of aggressive students blocked the entrance to the Pole Etudant where they were going to vote. As a result, students who want to continue the blockage and the one who want to resume their cours were having some arguement outside the Pole Etudiant. Since there are voting session, that means they will not have the final examinations, that they are actually going to lose their school year!

One week ago, the president of the university sent the students a letter, asking them to come to vote on 13 April. This action is necessary as many think that the students who came to vote last week (with the result that they will continue the blockage) were not really representing the majority of the students. Students who actually want to resume their class are scared to show up in the General Assembly as they are many students who are aggressive and who want to continue the blockage.

What a waste! One year! Those foreign students are so unluckly! The money and time they have invested are worthless now.

From the CPE see the mentality of the French youth

The CPE, a new French employment law for the youth who are less than 26, is suspended due to the massive demonstration. This law was introduced by the Prime Minister in Jan 2006, and it was passed by law in Mar. More than have of the universities in France have been blocked by their students, who decided to stop the class and go on strike. Eventhough this law is gone today, some students have voted to continue the blockage.















This law was introduced to combat the high unemployment among the youth: around 24%, the highest among the European countries. It was said to be able to create more job for the young. However, it has an unjustice element: the employer can lay off the employee within 2 years of the employment without giving any explanation.



There are certainly pros and cons in this law. What I want to point out is the youth's mentality. They are not the group of person who are directly affected, as they are still in the school. Those who are currently unemployed,
are actually pro the law so that they can find a job. The students, who has not been out in the real working world, think that this law will only give disadvantages to them. If they are unemployed, the government will give them some money, they will not go hungry. So, there is no urge for them to work. What they want is a job that will give them security for the rest of their live.