Hello guys, landed in Changi nearly 12pm and resting at home now. Will update the blog only when we leave about 11 Sept. In the meantime, got some last updates about this great place at "creperie de josseline" at rue montparnasse. here's our last lunch, crepe was really excellent, lady i/c was really nice and we finished the food in 15min. :-)
we came
we saw
and we whacked them in 15min
mine was bacon and egg, cholesterol plan gone
jo likes the dress, very elf-ish
hotel sign is right outside our window, very bright 
jo trying to 'on' the blower, very frus, blower decides when it should go on or off 
yet another self couple portrait shotthis is the start of our 3rd week here, temp suddenly dropped to 17°c this morning, cold man, autumn is early. Not so homesick, was standing out at the internet cafe last week at night and suddenly realised that we can settle down here, got to admit that it's a quirky place, with quirky people and habits. The extra crash classes we took back in April is helping a wee bit, we can understand a bit more, and the french folks seem to appreciate us trying to speak more french.
.. funny, the thing that reminds us of home is the food. The pho that we are having is a bit like beef noodles with soup back in singapore, the japanese food over here DOESNT... always comparing, tsk tsk. We haven't been out late at night so much due to security concerns but with London just a few hours away, and seeing the police search muslim guys with bags, the idea of something happening just seems a lot closer you know? a minor precaution we've been doing is to take the metro carriage either at the end or the front.
Met a couple of nice folks in church yesterday, and one of them said that Singaporeans they've met in church speak English with a Brit accent!! so funny.
Okies, got to go, Jo's sleepy, got to go back to hotel to sleepz.
Wes
This was what happened when I called home today. Still laugh when I think about it, don't think anyone at home realised what it was like on my end.
Dad : Hello!
Jo : Hi Daddy! How are you?
Dad : My butt hurts...
Jo : Huh? How come? Did you fall?
Dad : Hold on, hold, your sis is here....
Sis : Hello!!
Jo : Hi! Hi!
Sis : Find your house yet? Been praying that you guys will.
Jo : (explains situation in paris a little)
Sis : Oh, ok, dance was good today
Jo : Really? what happened?
Sis : Hold on, hold on, Mommy's here.
Mom : Hello! Are you eating and sleeping well?
Jo : Yes, mom.
Mom : Ok, go sleep early, I will hang up now.
Jo : uh.... i just had lunch over here.
Mom : (aside to 10 year old nephew) cannot cannot... ok, just one line..
Nephew : Hello Anutie Jodie, i saw your email, i miss you very much, bye bye.
Jo : uh....hello?
Brother : Hello? How's things?
Jo : Ok, (describes things a bit here with tight security in Paris)
Brother : What you expect right? Ok, hang on..... (aside to 2 year old nephew) ....say bye bye to gu gu.....
Nephew : Bai! Bai! *dial tone*
All that in 2 minutes.
The funny thing about paris is that folks here don't really bother about how their cars look. Vehicles appear to be more functional than anything else. Unlike in Singapore, most people here own citrons, renaults and peugeots. You hardly see Benz and the other big cars.
Maybe it's because a typical parking situation in paris goes like this: cars are parked with one end of their car kissing the end of either the car in front or behind them. At the other end, there is a max of about 50cm space. To get out of your lot, make full use of your bumpers. Bump the bumpers of the cars in front and behind you as you slowly adjust and move out of your space. This process normally about 10 to 15 min before your car is freed.Occasionally, cafe owners will come out of their cafes to watch, shout directions and cheer you on.
And dvds titles translated to french become more informative than anything else. 'White chicks' in french is 'Fausse Blondes Infiltrates'. Makes sense, I guess, rather than calling it 'Blanc Poulet'.
Jo
Hi all,
It's 1233pm here and we're heading to church at 5pm. can't wait to hear english being spoken. just something on my mind that keeps popping up, there are a lot of beggars on the street here, some as young as women in their 20s, some with dogs and some really old men. have read matthew and says to give but some of them are really drunk and i do know where the money is going to end up. been trying to think how they can be helped but i don't know the language or culture or the system here if they are getting help at all. see how in long run...
we've settled on a rough schedule of getting up at 9plus to grab the free breakfast in the hotel, hot chocolate or cafe or tea plus a croissant and part of a baguette then going back to room to pray and reflect then going to ze internet cafe for writing to people then going to 1 place to recce before crashing back at hotel for 1 hour and eating dinner at 7pm-ish. quite funny, eating CHINESE food {bwahahaha} for dinner for 4 out of the 7 days we've been here. but it's good leh surprisingly. btw, the mussel place is called LEON'S, touristy place but HUGE pot of mussels no less. the other times we eats MCDONALD'S!! cheap stuff leh and got menu in english. Miss you guys and miss COD:UO.
wes
hey guys
jo loves paris in the summer. it's not too cold and not too warm. and she's just had a pot of mussels in cream sauce. we're feeling better after the long flight and have been sleeping like crazy to recover. sun sets at 10pm over here and it's up at 6am. our body clocks are going a bit off too. btw, the keyboard in the internet cafe is not QWERTY and it's really hard to type. :p
the thai airways flight here was nice except there was no personal video screen, quite funny, there was 1 big screen somewhere in the front that screened a movie near the end of the 12 hour flight.
btw, some of the people over here doing our papers have gone off for the summer holidays and because of that, we will have to come back to Paris in mid sept instead of 1st week sept as planned.
love,
wes and jo
