Strike, demonstration and fall

I always thought that strike means a group of people who decided to stop working for a short period of time and would demonstrate in front of their work place. Such was the case of my company a while back and some of my coworkers appeared in the front page of a local newspaper. However, that was it, there was not much buzz in the air since it didn't give much pain to people most of the people didn't even notice it.

In France, a successful strike means getting a lot of attentions especially from the media. People who work in service have edge advances in this because when they don't work, it directly affects the citizen. Example people who work in public transport system, garbage collectors, teachers... Nobody will notice or give a buzz if I go on strike since my action would not directly influence their life.


In this photo one of the high schools in Nantes was blocked for several days.


Some students were gathered outside of the school, I wonder where did the others go, they probably stayed home watching TV?


Garbage collectors were on strike, there were rubbish everywhere.


When the refineries were blocked many gas stations were running out of gas. When people got wind of one station that remained open, they rushed to fill some gas.


Something that I didn't expect: the park across our apartment complex was closed due to the social movement. I went there on Saturday morning as I wanted to show Aelig some fall colors.


Could only took some photos outside the park.


Now I remember why we fall in love with this apartment, we have the perfect view of the season changes directly from our living room.

I love fall, but it is a season full of strike and demonstrations.

Home visit by a doctor

Aelig is sick. She has running nose for quite some times and over the weekend, she threw out after each feeding and had fever over 39 Celsius degree. We waited a day and gave her some medicine, the fever was gone but came back several hours later. Unfortunately it happened during the weekend, our general physician only works on Saturday morning and Monday is holiday so we will have to wait until Tuesday.

But I didn't want to wait. As far as I know fever could be dangerous especially for baby. Her fever lasted more than 24 hours already so I think it was better to call a doctor. In France, during the weekend, we have to call the Emergency Unit in the hospital. Hubby hesitated but decided to call when her fever went over 39 Celsius. After describing all the symptoms, the hospital decided to send someone over within 2 hours.

The doctor arrived at around 10.15pm. He checked the chest and the back, looked at the ears and her throat. He announced that she has Laryngitis or some kind of throat problem which causes her to vomit after feeding. He prescribed us some medicines which we could get from a pharmacy (pharmacies here take turn to operate during Sunday and holidays). The visit lasted for around 10 minutes and only caused us 21.60 euros (which will be reimbursed later).

What a relief to hear that it was not a big problem. Even though I don't understand why in France they don't have 24 hours clinics like what we have in Malaysia, it is good enough to know that doctor could just come to your house when needed. Praise the French medical system and I wish one day, medical care becomes a right to everyone in the world in an accessible and affordable way.

Aelig @ 10th months

Since Aelig holds things pretty good now, we tried to let her hold her own bottle, and it worked out wonderfully. Now, bottle feeding time = parents having peace for at least 5 minutes.


She likes to play with herself in the mirror, we wonder if she knows who she sees in there.


New diet introduced to her from 9th to 10th months: sweet potatoes and the evil pain au chocolat, she absolutely loved it.


Meeting new friends. She starts to development some feelings: fear and jealousy! I forgot what Fabien was doing but when she sees that the other kid was moving towards her daddy she rushed to him at the same times. She knows how to climb up to our bed but has not mastered the skill to go down. She paused at the edge of the bed and called us to help her down.


We went to the forest to pick up some chestnuts. She was quiet all the way, I think she loved her bear sweater and felt good in it.


The highlight of the month: she could stand up without support now. At the beginning it was only for 5 seconds, now it could last for several minutes.


Our baby sitter requested to have shoes on her as she is learning how to walk now. On the other hand I read an article that suggested to let the baby bare foot while walking as this could give them extra sensitivity while stepping on the floor. So, we only let her have shoes on what it is cold.


The little angle is so active that she could turn into little monster sometimes. She started to venture into more corner in the apartment, her favorite being the recycling box where she could tear papers and then put them into her mouth.


Tonight I discovered that she was quietly sitting next to the bookshelf and took off some books and played with them. By playing I meant, tearing off my University class book.

Her happy hours mean our painful hours and we were reminded that the worst is still yet to come. We shall see.

Is silence always golden?

After more than 5 years in France, my perceptions for many things here have changed, mostly towards the positive side. One that hasn't is my opinion towards the strikers / protesters who use whatever methods they could to get heard and to achieve, sometimes, their personal interests. Egoism was the word I used when being interviewed on the TV and on newspaper during the CPE demonstration back in 2006.

Today, unfortunately, my view stays the same. For me, it is very simple, everybody in this country is entitled to go on strike, in the condition that they do let others live their everyday's life. The CPE demonstration had made the commute to my French classes extremely painful. Today, those who are not happy with the retirement reform are once again using methods that would annoy everyone in order to get attention. It has created huge inconveniences for those who are not on strike. I had to face the risk to not have enough gas to go to work, stuck in traffic because the protesters were distributing their brochures, rushed to office to find out that the meeting was delayed because the client got stuck in the traffic jam (due to strike).

My question, who granted these people the right to block schools, public transport system and refineries? Some even go further to destroy public properties. No, the French laws do not allow it's people to do it, but, over the years, it has been tolerated. Not every French agrees on these egoist teleological approaches, but they keep quiet.

This leads me to think, is silence always golden? Like the saying "the squeaky wheel gets the grease", shouldn't those who do not agree on these selfish actions, stand out and express ourselves? I, actually tried to, but chicken out at the end:

- On the way to work, I passed by a high school. The entrance was blocked by chairs and tables; students were gathered outside the school. I told myself that they are wasting the tax payers money but I didn't dare to voice it. I intended to take photos but when I saw the huge group of young kids, I snapped and RUN AWAY. Since when high schoolers look and act like gangster?
- After 1 hour of driving I was 5 minutes away from my office. I got stuck for 20 minutes because the strikers were distributing handouts in one of the roundabout. They were trying to hand it to me but I didn't stop and didn't turn down my window and instead giving them a nasty face. That was all I dare to do, sadly. I almost shout at them but I hold my tongue.

Luckily I can still voice through blogging.

A moment of pause

A friend sent me a link to an online news site, which announced the lost of a friend we got to know during our day in Austin, Texas. She jumped out from the fourth floor of an hotel in Scotland during her business trip. It comes as a big shock to me as she looked always cheerful and happy when she was surrounded by people.

It is a moment of pause, to wonder, why a bright person like her would choose to end her life? She just got her MBA from London Business School, working with one of the world top management firms McKinsey = leading a promising career life. For personal development, she just got married and found her faith. She was also very close to her family members. She was an adventurer, had traveled to many countries in the world and have friends from different backgrounds and cultures.

All these, we could only see from the outside. We do not know what was her thought and what was she struggling from. There must be something bordering her that she couldn't overcome by herself. Human mine is hard to read.

Melanie, rest in peace, will keep your cheerful face in my memory.

I park under a chestnut tree

Nobody told me that I should avoid to park under a tree, or be more specific a chestnut tree. I found it out the hard way, after paying 160 euros to repair my car.


It is the chestnut season, almost every minute there is spiny burr falls and release the fruits inside.


Free chestnut and hazelnut on the floor.


Well, it becomes a problem when the leaves and fruits fall on the car and stuck between the windshield and car hood. It prevents water from evacuating effectively. Such had happened to my car and it caused some water caught under the front passenger seat. At the beginning I didn't pay much attention and the car started to stink. And I told myself, luckily it is under under warranty. But no, the garage told me that this could happens anytime so it would not be covered by the warranty. So, 160 euros down into the drain. :-(

A stupid mistake

Hubby celebrated his birthday this week so I was planning to buy him a present.
We both love Katie Melua, and coincidently I heard on the radio that she was realizing a new album. I was all excited, I ordered it online.

When he arrived home, I had Aelig holding the CD with both hands and brought her to hubby. We were all happy to listen to the new CD when hubby said: I think I bought you this album last time.

Ah, I didn't recognize the CD cover even though I was listening to the CD over and over again. What a stupid mistake? I just bought a gift to my husband, the same gift that I received several months ago. I'm speechless, I'm hopeless, I'm 无药可救.

Pissed.

9th months

Two days after she turned 8 months, she started to crawl. Now she is venturing into every corner she could reach in the apartment, we need to constantly keep an eye on her.


We have no choice but to put her in a closed playground. She does not stay too long inside, she yells and yells until we come to pick her.


We added French green bean to her diet. You can see that she loves hams, they were added into her mashed potatoes.


She loves to be carried around, so it suits her well to sit on daddy's shoulder.

The highlight of the month is of course her first long distance trip to the Jura Mountain and Switzerland.


She slept most of the time during the journey. When she woke up she got great-grandma on each side waiting to pamper her.


She fit well inside daddy's backpack. She is ready to go hiking with him.


Discovering hiking with us in the Jura Mountain.


Arrived at the destination after 1.5 hours. Bravo Aelig!


Crossing the French border towards Geneva Switzerland. This was the first time both Aelig and the 89 years old grandma visited Geneva. Hubby and me had been there in 2009 when my family visited France.


Posing at the lake Les Rousses overlooking Switzerland.


Visiting a cheese factory. See how many cheeses are stored here for fermentation.


The cheese girl.


This is not an advertisement. Anyhow, if you would like to hire her to endorse your product, please contact me. :-)


Four generation: great-grandma, grandpa, daddy and the little Aelig. She is a lucky girl to have so many family members who love her dearly. The next milestone in her life is to fly over to Malaysia to be with another group of family members. Another family reunion in her agenda!

Doggy bag in France: yes or no?

I found it funny that sometimes I could do things that hubby won't simply because I'm not French. He won't do it because "ça se fait pas" = not a common practice in France.

Example, our grandma treated us to a fine Indian restaurant during our vacation. Both of the grandmas are not big eaters resulting in a lot of leftover. We finished their plates but there were still lots of rice untouched. Those were very delicious rice and I didn't want to waste it. When the waiter approached us, I nicely requested a doggy bag and he agreed immediately.

Once the waiter left, one grandma told me that she would never asked because in France they do not ask for a doggy bag in restaurant no matter how much food left. They all admired my courage to do this as they think it was the right thing to do.

Well, sincerely I do not see this as problem. I know it is not common in France, but I would rather ask then waste the food, plus the waiter could very well rejected my request if he felt reluctant. Instead, he properly packed the rice and it served us well for the next dinner.

We don't always have to do what the French do, do we?

They worth our respect

Despite the car incident, we arrived safely in Divonne Les Bains and had a splendid time hiking around the area.

I would like to pay my respect to both hubby's grandmas: one is 80 and one is approaching 90. They hiked with us on the Jura Mountain. Together with them we did several hiking and managed to have magnificent view including the Mount Blanc.


Grandmas making effort and following us up to the mountain.


She had some problem with her feet, each step brought her pain but she didn't give up.


A little victory gesture à la Malaisienne when we arrived at the destination.


We are rewarded with a breathtaking view!

Talk about bad luck!

We were supposed to be in Divonne Les Bains today for our one week precious vacation in the mountain.

Things didn't turn out as planned, our car broke down on the way there. Smoke coming out from the engine and we thought the car would caught in fire. It was 3am, we were cold and tired with a baby and two grandmothers. Our insurance sent a towing car two hours later. They sent a taxi to pick us up and booked us a hotel in another city closeby. Since it was the weekend, the Renault garage was closed, and the insurance agent had a hard time finding us a rental car, everything was fully booked. Finally, a taxi sent all of us back to Nantes.

We will try again with my car tonight. Wish us luck and hope we could restart our journey uneventfully.

8 months + 5 days

During the week after putting Aelig to sleep, I'm usually exhausted, thus didn't manage to post when Aelig turned 8 months. Trying to catch up here by summarizing her achievements and milestones from 7 to 8 months.

Food

So far, she has tried:
Ham, sausage, potato, carrot, zucchini, leek, eggplant, melon, banana, strawberry, apple and plum. She accepted all of them even though sometimes her face expression showed that she didn't really enjoy them. This photo shows the strawberry banana combo hubby prepared for her.


Hubby brought her to pick some strawberry. She ate several, here is the proof!

Movements & positions

She could sit still without support now. This photo was taken during our day trip to Pont Aven. We were picnicking with friends and she was playing alone.


She loves playing in the garden. I can see that she is an outdoor girl.


We could now go shopping with her since she could sit well in the shopping cart.


Shortly after she managed to sit in a balance way, she discovered that she could turn to her stomach and raise both her hands and legs. Since then she has lost patient in sitting, as soon as we put her on the floor she moves on to the crawling positing.


And now she wants us to give her our hand to support her standing up. I love the moment when she takes my hands and looks at me anticipating me lifting her up.


This weekend she found her way to be on her knee in her crib. She is very happy with this new position. Now I'm worried, how long will it take before she figures out how to climb out from the crib and....fall?

Sleeping pattern
The first week we put her in her own room, she was sleeping well but still woke up around 4am for feeding. The second week I believed she was being disturbed by the new skills and positions she acquired, as she woke up frequently on her crawling position, crying. Last week, she slept through the night most of the time, woke up once at 5am and once at 6am, and went right back to sleep after feeding.

I'm proud and elated at all her achievements. I keep reminding myself that I need to treasure the time with her since she is growing so fast, very soon she will move around all over the place and we have not done anything to childproof our apartment yet. It is time for action!

A company farewell party

The last day I was with my company in Malaysia, my boss brought me and my coworker to a private club to enjoy a delectable buffet lunch.

One week before I left my company in the USA, my managers organized a farewell lunch with our team members. They also offered me a photo album with my name carved on the front page. All these were paid by the company.

Things are different in France. Most of the time the person who is quitting will organize a farewell party (pot de départ) in the company pantry or meeting room, he or she will bring in some drinks and snacks. The coworkers will then start "an envelope" to collect some money among themselves and use the money to buy something for the person leaving.


I had the opportunity to participate some of the farewell parties and contributed to the envelope. This time, it was for my manager's manager, someone with whom I worked directly with and someone whom I admired. Let's call her C here. I was heavyhearted to learn that I would no longer working with her. C decided to become a school teacher and, envisaging to have time for herself, for example taking adult piano lessons.

This time around, I was the one started the envelope. I sent an email to the mailing list (by first removing C) and informed them where they could contribute their part. I suggested everyone brings in a family photos but nobody replied. Later I found out from a coworker that a family photo is private and she didn't feel like giving it to a manager. Well, after talking with many people outside the team, I figured we could take a team photo as a sentimental souvenir. I felt that our team members were not motivated, so I shared this idea to another manager. With his support, I conveyed the message to everyone and I got one pitiful reply out of 100 people. To diverse C we asked a manager to set up a meeting with her during the time we were taking the photos. I was afraid we wouldn't have enough people showed up, but to my surprise, more than 40 people turned up. At right at that moment, C arrived with her car seeing all of us gathered in the parking lot. Well, there go the surprise!


Even though I worked with C for more than 2 years, I realized I do not know her well outside of the work context, thus having a hard time figure out what presents to buy for her. Eventually we talked to her husband and found out that she wanted a piano. Well, a piano was way out of our budget so we bought her a piano bench (tabouret piano in French, a new word I learnt). With everyone's contribution, besides the piano chair, we got her a Hello Kitty pencil box with some pens, two team photos and a Yves Rocher gift card (for facial, massage...).

C, all the best to your future endeavors. Bonne continuation!

I don't want to work because...

My coworker was so irritated today that she complained about the French social system in front of me. Apparently, she received an email from her husband saying that their house keeper is quitting. When asking her why, her reply:"I can not work over 15 hours a week else I will lose my stipend from RSA."

This coworker earns a good living and her husband works like crazy as he is holding an important position. Due to their above average household income, they need to pay the maximum prices for most of the services for children: canteen, childcare, extra-curriculum activities...and her housekeeper is only three years older than her. Her point is, they are in the high income group but they work hard and pay a lot of taxes, which end up helping these people who want to work minimum. These group of people will complain about their shrimpy retirement even though they are the one at fault since they prefer to work minimum when they are young.

Listening to her, I could only smile. This is one of the fundamental problems of the social systems. Every helps start with a good purpose, but it couldn't prevent people from abusing it. A good control is necessary, but how to distinguish someone who couldn't find a job (thus should get minimum help) from someone who prefer to work the least possible to be able to receive help?

The name confusion

Some coworkers were working with some Chinese and some Indians and they were talking about how their names confused all of them. Here went the hilarious conversations:

A: You know it is very tough to work with the Chinese.
B: Why?
A: You don't know what their name actually are.
B: How's that?
A: There is this guy who's name is Zi Zhang, how am I supposed to know whether Zi is the first name or last name.
B: So what did you call him?
A: I called him Zhang and he replied, but later I found out Zhang is actually his last name.
B: Ops.
A: There is simply no way to guess which one is the first name.
B: You know same things happened to me when I was working with the Indians.
A: What happened?
B: We were in a conference call and I kept asking questions to this Indian guy but he never replied.
A: Why?
B: Each time I asked a question, I said "so Siddiqui could you please confirm this and that" and nobody answered, but I recognized his voice, he was there. Then I realized his first name was actually Apurv, since I was calling him with his last name with a French pronunciation, he didn't know I was talking to him.
A: Ops


I was sitting next to their office and their conversation made me smile. While it is confusing for the French to distinguish the first from the last name for the Chinese and Indians, it was confusing for me as well to identify the first name from the French's. Sometimes a common first name could be used as the family name, for example Thomas, Vivien. There are regional names that I had never heard of and some of them do not follow the usual French pronunciation. For example, most of the time you do not pronounce the S when it is situated at the end of a word, but there is always exception to the rule: for Mme Le Pous you need to pronounce the S because it is from the Brittany regional.

Well, life is a continuous learning experience.

Passport

Aelig has her own passport!
The application process was so fast and efficient. It was probably done in 5 days but we went to take it 10 days later. I thought it was going to take 5-6 weeks so was happy to discover the speedy processing time. Now we could bring her anywhere outside France. Plan in process: Switzerland in Sept and Malaysia next year!

Here are the papers that you need to gather to apply for passport for a minor:
1. Application form (could get it from the Town Hall or their website)
2. 2 photos (could take it from any photographer or directly with the Town Hall)
3. Application fee (in stamp form) = 17 euros with photos, 20 euros if the photos are to be taken in the Town Hall
4. The livret de famille (French family book listing the married couple + kids)
5. Any document that could prove the French nationality from any of the parents
6. Any paper that could prove your current address

When filling the form, we didn't know what to put for her eyes' color. Sometimes her eyes are blue, sometimes they are brown, sometimes they are mixed color. The officer approached Aelig and had a close look, she said we might want to put "other". Eventually she entered a color that we predict to be the right one in two years. We shall see in two years if our prediction is right!

The end of breastfeeding

Aelig was with her grandparents for a week. I use this opportunity to totally stop breastfeeding. I had some engorgement at some point but it went away quickly. When we went to pick up Aelig, she emptied the last milk stocked and since then I do not sense any milk coming. Well, it is time to stop.

The weaning process took around 3 months. I went back to work when Aelig was about 3 months old. I intended to continue breastfeeding as long as I could, but it was too tiresome to have to wake up early in the morning to pump and handling the storage in the fridge. I provided milk to the sitter but it only lasted for one month then my milk supply dwiddled. Since then, I breastfed every morning and evening.

Here is the electric breast pump set I used. I rented the machine from the Pharmacy and I paid 0 for it. The French government paid for the rental which costed around 12 euros per week. :-) Thanks S & A for lending me the equipment & accessories, I was braver to try out the electric pump since I had these handy, and the manual one didn't work on me.


It took me so long to wean as emotionally I was not ready to let go the precious moments I had with Aelig, then she refused to drink from a bottle during the evening. She expected me to breastfeed her. Thing took a turn when my coworker introduced me to one type of bottles with the teat imitating the teat from a breast. Gradually, she get used to drinking from a bottle at home. Since then, I only fed her to put her to sleep, and now she could go to sleep without breastfeeding.

What a journey! I was afraid I won't have enough milk at the beginning but I did. Expressing using an electric device + storing were totally foreign to me, but little by little I got familiarized with it. The first time I pumped, I got the pitiful 10oz. With perseverance my inflow doubled. I thought I would never be able to go through the weaning process, but mentally I was ready and so did Aelig. I'm elated with the result. The only big inconvenience I encountered was when I had to be away: I still remembered having engorgement when I was watching the Moulin Rouge show in Paris. I had to press my breasts from time to time to release the pain. Here was the result when you do not breastfeed for one day: 6oz of milk expressed in one go for the first time!