I come back to France tonight for 3 weeks (more or less). I tried to get ready yesterday so I watched "Violence des echanges en milieu tempere", a french movie about people who are very sad and can not find a job (A typical french movie). Still, it did not discouraged me! Merry Christmas everyone and see you in France (or somewhere else when I'll be back, full of sad and unemployement stories).
PS: took this picture in Osaka aquarium, Diving Santa, great idea desu ne
Korea! After a hard day of work in Seoul, I came back to my hotel to find it surrounded but hundreds of policemen... Revolution? Riots? Does Korea also has "racailles"? Are they gonna burn Huyndai cars? Actually no, there was just a few hundreds of people demonstrating for working class rights (or something like this, my understanding of Korean is limited). I took this picture with my coworker (and friend) Vincent in front of Paris Baguette, so the threat looks even more serious (Paris/Riots, you see?). For your korean culture, Paris Baguette is very famous in Korea and they make really good donuts. But don't try to find french bread in this place or you'll be very disapointed.
Reading the local news today: "National Police Agency Director-General Hou You-yi (侯友宜) yesterday said he was upset about a case in which a highway patrol officer, who was allegedly drunk driving while on duty, rammed his patrol car into a motorist, killing him instantly."
We can understand he was upset, I guess our Sarko would get really furious. But let's read the rest of the article:
"Highway Patrol Officer Chang Cheng-lung (張城龍) rammed into Pan's vehicle while Pan was changing the tire. The accident killed Pan instantly. When police arrived at the scene, they administered a breath-alyzer, which Chang failed."
Ok, he was drunk. Drunken policeman, nothing so special at this point.
"Chang told the investigating officers that he failed the breathalyzer because he had eaten ginger duck before going to work. "
J'ai recu des remarques comme quoi mes photos de vacances faisaient trop club med, carte postales, etc... Voila donc pour changer une photo de singes avec en arriere plan un temple typique de Bali, qu'on voit tres mal oui je sais.
Dans le cadre de mon carrier plan actuel, a savoir de passer Diamond member avant la fin de mon vie, j'ai file directement au Japon en rentrant de Thailande. De toute facon mon appart est degueux, ca m'arrange. Mais la transition est rude et passer du pays des ladyboys au pays des salarymen... j'aurais du faire un break a tw finalement. En tout cas un truc m'a sauve la journee hier matin, comme bien souvent c'etait un cafe... oui mais un cafe au japon... a la machine... sur l'autoroute... D'abord la machine s'est mise a jouer samba de janeiro quand j'ai commande un mocha. Deja ca m'a fait sourire, mais apres l'ecran LCD s'est allume et la! magie! Plusieurs cameras a l'interieur de la machine me montrent les petits grains de cafe en train de se faire moudre, l'eau qui chauffe et le gobelet qui arrive par un petit tapie roulant. C'est ghost in the shell! Charlie et la chocolaterie! Un petit bras attrape le gobelet et lui colle un couvercle dessus (toujours avec Samba de Janeiro a fond). Finalement je vois le gobelet atteindre la sortie, pousser par un petit piston et... le voila! en vrai! Je vois deja venir les remarques desobligeantes, genre "boou le geek!" et tout ca... Et oui, le cafe etait degueux.
"- Why do you switch off everything everytime you adjust the screw? - It's a rule. - But it's stupid rule, who made it? - Me."
A new contest: guess where I am now? There is a 49ers shirt for the winner.
Dormir dans le train
Finalement le retour a Taiwan aura ete assez bref, me voila au japon depuis maintenant deux semaines. L'idee a la base etait de venir voir la miss pour le week-end a tokyo et d'eventuellement croiser Boris en vadrouille dans le coin. En fin de compte j'ai pris quelques jours pour aller visiter (revisiter) Kyoto avec Boris, en attendant que les japonais me trouvent du travaille (oui bon d'accord j'avais un peu arranger le truc). Quand on propose ses services a une compagnie japonaise, du genre "je suis la les gars, utilisez moi!" on est pas decu. Ils ont meme reussi a me faire bosser samedi dernier dans un bled immonde evidemment. Extrait de dialogue: - Tu vois cet endroit du japon, meme les japonais aiment pas y venir. C'est pour ca que le gouvernement a donne de l'argent pour qu'ils fassent l'usine ici et que ca attire du monde. - Ah, vaudrait mieux finir tot pour pouvoir rentrer a tokyo ce soir alors? - Oui, et ils t'attendent au bureau pour aller manger avec toi ce soir. - (oh merde) Donc le dinner. Avec le boss de la boite qui a reussi a me convaincre de boire de la biere, du vin du chili, du soju coreen et du sake japonais (tout en meme temps, sisi). Pour me feliciter qu'il disait, j'imagine pas le traitement s'il avait juge bon de me punir (faut s'attendre a tout). A la fin du repas il s'eclipse evidement, me laissant avec mes deux collegues a qui il a donne carte blanche pour m'emmener boire quelque part (comme si on avait pas assez bu). Nous voila parti donc dans Ginza, a chercher un club a hotesses. Premiere rencontre avec des bunny girls pour ma part. Mes comparses sont decus parce qu'ils ne peuvent pas toucher. Pour ma part je realise qu'une fille habillee en lapin... il n'y a que dans nicky larson que c'est mignon. Le bar ferme, on se deplace de quelques metres pour aller dans un autre club a hotesses mais etrangeres celles la (comprendre philippines ou chinoises) qui insistent beaucoup pour me faire chanter des trucs en chinois (elles ont pas compris que meme si j'habite a tw je peux pas lire le mandarin). J'ai quand meme reussi a chanter en philippin, la vodka et le sake m'ont transforme en babel fish. Le lendemain matin, je comprends que je suis en train de passer un test: mon collegue m'attend a 9h a la Tokyo station pour aller travailler (shinkansen pour nagoya), vais-je reussir a me lever? Miss a cote de moi en voyant ma tete s'ecrie "trop mignon!". L'indulgence fait parti de ses qualites, ou alors je lui ai mal explique le sens de mignon en francais... J'avais recement fait la meme en coree, officielement j'avais "rate mon avion"... Aujourd'hui pas question, je retrouve mon collegue qui a bien une tete de gars qui frequente des femmes-lapin. Je suis rassure dans un sens, les japonais ont beau etre le peuple elu (par qui j'ai pas encore trop compris, un dieu? le ciel? Newsweek?) ils sont au moins inefficaces que nous les lendemains de cuite. Mon seul pantalon etant tout sal, j'ai du partir en short pour travailler. Et la, honte supreme!! (il n'y a que les touristes pour porter des shorts) En plus mes jambes poilues font rire les collegiens dans les trains de campagne. Pour me venger, j'ai pas reveille la fille qui dormait en face de moi (et elle a rate sa station).
Came back to Taiwan this morning, after one month in France (yes, that's pretty long...). The weather was nice so I could take nice pictures from the plane.
Last week I got a pack of "Petits ecoliers", my favorite chocolate biscuit. I love it because there is a lot of chocolate on it, can't find this type in Asia. Unfortunatly there is no air conditionning in the shop (Monoprix in this particular case, which is a quite big shop). It is very hot in France now, over 30 degrees celcius in some regions and around 28 maybe in Paris. As a consequence, the chocolate was completly melted in the box when I opened it just after I got out of the shop. All the biscuits had became one piece of brown/black near-solid food (a standard box contains exactly 12 petits ecoliers). Yesterday I got a bottle of Yop in Monoprix (again). I love Yop too, it is some sort of liquid yogurt. Got back home, open my bottle of Yop and, what a surprise, the bottle is half-full. Yes, someone got a yop (half of it to be precise) and left it in the store. Ok, I used to do it when I was a kid (also, eating the half of a petits ecoliers pack). But I didn't put it back next the other bottles after!
The video of the day :
Yes! It is a drama/gym/english-lesson/karaoke program! If they would tell the news and the weather forecast in the same time it would be the perfect all-in-one tv-show.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Pompe vers le haut de la confiture
Today it is hot in Paris, no AC, I could hardly focus on anything related to work. I found some interessting stuffs anyway. First you should check http://www.myspace.com/sexysushimusic (thank you Yannick to make my discover myspace). I can not report all the great videos you can find on youtube.com Just reminds me about Technotronic, "Pump up the Jam" (込み合いをポンプでくみなさい) Ah yes also I found something related to work in wikipedia: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotation I understood at that time that the program I am working on makes rotations with a wrong formula so I totally gave up to do anything usefull today.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Train
Going back to Paris by train, nothing special except the fact that it is almost 10pm and still sunny.
What is new in France? My coworker can watch the world cup in hd on their 82 inches LCD screens (so that's where all those Taiwanese products are going!). My grand mother is raising pigeons in the garden, big ones, already saw two of them in the fridge (my cousins loves it, my grand mother says so). Of course everybody loves football, but it's been just two days now so it is some kind of hard to get used to it. Always surprising to see how french people can change their mind so fast. Everybody complains because it is too hot, but actually everybody complains because June was too rainy. Bread in Paris is definitely the best. So what's new? Nothing much... Let you know if I find something.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Korea-France, time to go to work for supporters
Time to go home, it is 6am after all. Some Korean compagnies gave a day off to there employees to watch the match. In a country where you hardly get more than 5 days vacation per year, it is some kind of national day.
Korea goals against France
Ok this is it, Korea goals against France. That means we gonna spend a terrible week at work: "How are you today? not so good I guess, you must be very disapointed...". For the rest I do not care so much, actually it was funny to see the korean supporters. I am sure you noticed that Korean supporters have a very high motivation and involvment for this world cup. Do not believe they understand so mutch about the game though: when one Korean player got a yellow warning I saw Korean girl screaming happily until her friend explained her that it was not actually a good thing to get when you are playing football. I guess she thought it was some kind or reward for the perfect Taekwondo kick he just executed on the french player.
3:45 am Waiting for the game to start. Some are already sleeping... During the second part of the game, France leads 1 to 0, so it is not as happy as before...
France-Korea from City Hall in Seoul
Just before 4am in Seoul, we went to the City Hall to watch the match. The place was full of course and this is the closer we could get to one of the screen. Last week 300000 people gathered to watch the game against Togo. Now again it is full, even if it was very early in the morning (or late in the night for people who've been waiting since 3pm on Sunday afternoon).
Il est 19h en Coree, le match qui va opposer la Coree au Togo commence dans 3h. Et ils sont environ 50000 dans le world cup stadium a attendre le debut du match. Au moins on peut pas dire qu'ils ont des tendances declinistes les Coreens, ceci dit le triomphalisme a ce stade ca fait un peu peur...
Visiting Shanghai on Saturday afternoon. The most famous sport near the river is the bund. Nice view on Pudong, the business disctrict on the east side.
On Friday night, party in the Park97. The club is located in a park of the old french concession. Nice place, good music, posh people: nothing special. The DJ on the video is JD Davis (Ghetta familly).
Just arrived in Shanghai after a week in Kunshan, a city 1 hour far in the north-west which is supposed to become a science park. Interessting but not so different from Taiwan so far. Except nobody can speak english and I constantly have to improvise a Pictionnary game to get something (I am pretty good at drawing a plug adapter, I still have some issuses with the umbrella). I was surprised to see just a few bikes, well actually many of them are electrical bikes (yes, don't need to push the pedals). Disapointed also not to find any reference to the communist country that China is supposed to be. I'll go sightseeing in Shanghai tomorrow, tonight is about nightlife of course, Shanghai is pretty famous for it so let's go and check it.
Pour ma famille qui s'inquiete et se demande si je vais bien. C'est la grande forme, j'ai bonne mine sous mon masque (sisi je vous jure) et je ne crainds rien avec mon beau casque blanc. Je viens de rentrer ce soir a Taiwan apres deux semaines au Japon. Je repars demain pour Shanghai. C'est la premiere fois que je vais en chine donc je vais essayer de faire quelques photos pour une fois.
I come back to France tonight for 3 weeks (more or less). I tried to get ready yesterday so I watched "Violence des echanges en milieu tempere", a french movie about people who are very sad and can not find a job (A typical french movie). Still, it did not discouraged me! Merry Christmas everyone and see you in France (or somewhere else when I'll be back, full of sad and unemployement stories).
Korea! After a hard day of work in Seoul, I came back to my hotel to find it surrounded but hundreds of policemen... Revolution? Riots? Does Korea also has "racailles"? Are they gonna burn Huyndai cars? Actually no, there was just a few hundreds of people demonstrating for working class rights (or something like this, my understanding of Korean is limited). I took this picture with my coworker (and friend) Vincent in front of Paris Baguette, so the threat looks even more serious (Paris/Riots, you see?). For your korean culture, Paris Baguette is very famous in Korea and they make really good donuts. But don't try to find french bread in this place or you'll be very disapointed. 
Rien a voir avec Jean-Louis Aubere, c'est bien le dernier maxi de TTC qu'on trouve chez les excellents disquaires de Shinsaibashi a Osaka. 
J'ai recu des remarques comme quoi mes photos de vacances faisaient trop club med, carte postales, etc... Voila donc pour changer une photo de singes avec en arriere plan un temple typique de Bali, qu'on voit tres mal oui je sais. 
Dans le cadre de mon carrier plan actuel, a savoir de passer Diamond member avant la fin de mon vie, j'ai file directement au Japon en rentrant de Thailande. De toute facon mon appart est degueux, ca m'arrange. Mais la transition est rude et passer du pays des ladyboys au pays des salarymen... j'aurais du faire un break a tw finalement.
Came back to Taiwan this morning, after one month in France (yes, that's pretty long...).
My aunt's (sorry my unkle's) house. Actually it's a house for vacation, on the beach, yes. 
3:45 am
Some are already sleeping...
During the second part of the game, France leads 1 to 0, so it is not as happy as before...
Japan made it beautifull, China made it functionnal. The opera of shanghai in the background. 
Pour ma famille qui s'inquiete et se demande si je vais bien. C'est la grande forme, j'ai bonne mine sous mon masque (sisi je vous jure) et je ne crainds rien avec mon beau casque blanc. Je viens de rentrer ce soir a Taiwan apres deux semaines au Japon. Je repars demain pour Shanghai. C'est la premiere fois que je vais en chine donc je vais essayer de faire quelques photos pour une fois.
